41st & Central: The Untold Story of the L.A. Black Panthers - SCREENINGS

March 26 - April 1, 2010

The Pan African Film & Arts Festival Presents...
"41st & Central: The Untold Story of the L.A. Black Panthers"
In a Limited Engagement
Culver Plaza Theatres
9919 Washington Boulevard Los Angeles, CA
Showtimes:
Friday-Sunday
12 p.m. | 3 p.m. | 6 p.m. | 9 p.m.
Monday-Thursday
12 p.m. | 2:45 p.m. | 5:45 p.m.* | 8 p.m.
*No Q&A
Tickets: $10 Click here to purchase
Group Sales (20+): $8:50
For group sales, please email groupsales@paff.org

Doc Alliance Films: Free stream of The Restored Films by Jan Spata

From March 22 - April 11, Doc Alliance Films offers a free worldwide stream of three selected films from The Restored Films by the master of Czech documentary filmmaking, Jan Spata. The Restored Films was awarded by the Czech Film and Television Academy for The Best Audiovisual Enterprise of the year. Each of the films will be available for one week at www.docalliancefilms.com

St. Patrick's Land (1967), a travel essay on Ireland; at the time it was considered the best film made about the country. From March 22 - 28

Between Light and Darkness (1990), the photographs of Jindrich Streit and the lives of his subjects in the border region. From March 29 - April 4

The Greatest Wish (1964), a sociological probe into the actual values of young people under socialism. From April 5 - 11

Eighteen films by Jan Spata were digitally restored and transferred into HD format and are now available on four DVDs. A selection of five digitally restored films is also in theatrical distribution.
For more information about Jan Spata and the project, visit www.janspata.cz

DOC ALLIANCE FILMS: FREE STREAMING OF FILMS BY KHAVN DE LA CRUZ

Doc Alliance Films presents a series of 5 FILMS by Khavn De La Cruz, the outspoken, experimental Filipino filmmaker with a desire to explore and cross boundaries. Khavn De La Cruz has made 23 features and more than 70 short films, most of which have received prizes and screened at international film festivals.

Visit www.docalliancefilms.com to watch!

SQUATTERPUNK (79 min), available now

In the midst of the squalor they were born in, the impoverished Filipinos of Squatterpunk still find a will to live above the preconceived notions of suffering that accompany their state of life.

BAHAG KINGS (74 min), available now

A group of tribal leaders from the jungle search the city like a hard rock band. Or is it a rock group looking for the jungle? The filmmaker was arrested for the film, together with his half naked kings. Funny, unpolished, musical and (hence) also a little bit political.

RUGBY BOYS (7 min), online NOW FOR FREE!

The winning film at the Oberhausen short film festival, Rugby Boyz presents a disturbing and compressed portrait of life in a poor neighbourhood in a Philippine town, where among the shacks the only source of entertainment for children is karaoke, rugby, and sniffing paint thinner. A cruel irony on the hope these children bring.

CAN AND SLIPPER (2 min), for FREE STREAMING staring April 1

A boy from the slums plays football. His soccer ball is an empty can of Coke and his soccer shoes are a pair of flip-flops. A shocking message about the real world awaits you at the end.

OUR DAILY BREAD (3 min), for FREE STREAMING staring April 1

A short documentary on how one family lives out each day to earn their daily bread. How one man's trash is literally transformed into this family's treasure.

"When You're Strange" Opens on April 9 in Los Angeles at the Following Theaters:
Sunset 5 Theatre (8000 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood)
Playhouse 7 (673 East Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena)
Laemmle's Town Center 5 (17200 Ventura Boulevard, Encino)

The film is Rated R by the MPAA for some sexual content including references, nudity, drug material and language. The Running Time is 89 Minutes.

WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE - A FILM ABOUT THE DOORS, uncovers historic and previously unseen footage of the illustrious rock band and provides new insight into the revolutionary impact of its music and legacy. The film also features scenes from "HWY," Jim Morrison's unreleased film from 1969, which he starred in and made with a group of filmmaker friends. Directed by award-winning writer/director Tom DiCillo and narrated by Johnny Depp, the film is a riveting account of the band's history and the first feature documentary about them.

The film reveals an intimate perspective on the creative chemistry between drummer John Densmore, guitarist Robby Krieger, keyboardist Ray Manzarek and singer Jim Morrison -- four brilliant artists who made The Doors one of America's most iconic and influential rock bands. Using footage shot between the band's 1965 formation and Morrison's 1971 death, WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE follows the band from the corridors of UCLA's film school, where Manzarek and Morrison met, to the stages of sold-out arenas.

WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE captures the zeitgeist and upheaval of an era while providing insight into who The Doors were, what they became, and what they mean to our culture, especially today.

Produced by Wolf Films/Strange Pictures, in association with Rhino Entertainment, and released by Abramorama. Additional credits for WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE include producers Dick Wolf, John Beug, Jeff Jampol, and Peter Jankowski. The film is written and directed by Tom DiCillo ("Johnny Suede," "Living in Oblivion"). Narrated by Johnny Depp. More info here: whenyourestrangemovie.com

Rhino will also celebrate The Doors' legacy as one of America's most influential rock bands with the release of the film's soundtrack, which combines studio recordings and live performances with newly recorded readings of Morrison's poetry by Depp. WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE: SONGS FROM THE MOTION PICTURE will be released Tuesday, April 6.

The soundtrack contains several selections of Jim Morrison's poetry as read by Depp, 14 songs that survey The Doors' six landmark albums with original studio versions of classic tracks ("Touch Me," "The End," and "L.A. Woman") along with rare live performances from The Ed Sullivan Show ("Light My Fire"), Danish TV ("When The Music's Over"), and the Isle Of Wight Festival ("Break On Through [To The Other Side]"). The set also features interview clips with all four band members.‬

NO TOMORROW takes viewers inside a suspenseful death penalty trial and challenges their beliefs about capital punishment.

Please join us for a screening of this new documentary by Roger Weisberg and Vanessa Roth.

2010 Kansas City FilmFest - Friday, April 16 at 9:45pm, AMC Mainstreet Theatre, AMC 3, 1400 Main St, Kansas City, MO.
Ticket available at http://kcjubilee.org/festival

2010 Arizona International Film Festival - Saturday, April 17 at 3:00pm followed by a debate about capital punishment featuring local experts, Crossroads Festival Cinema, 4811 East Grant Tucson, AZ, and Friday April 23 at 2:00pm, The Screening Room, 127 E. Congress Street, Tucson, AZ
Ticket information available at http://www.filmfestivalarizona.com/ ph.520-882-0204

2010 Atlanta Film Festival - Wednesday, April 21 at 7:15pm and Thursday, April 22 at 12:05pm, Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, 931 Monroe Drive, Atlanta, GA
Tickets available at http://atlantafilmfestival.com/content/view/461/204/ or by calling 404-352-4225.

SUNDANCE INSTITUTE PRESENTS SING FASTER: THE STAGEHANDS' RING CYCLE AS PART OF RING FESTIVAL LA

Free Screening Saturday, April 17 at 7:00 pm at the Hammer Museum

Followed by Q&A with Award-Winning Filmmaker Jon Else
Los Angeles, CA- Sundance Institute will host a free screening of director Jon Else's documentary film Sing Faster: The Stagehands' Ring Cyclethis Saturday, April 17 at 7 pm at the Hammer Museum (10899 Wilshire Blvd at Westwood in Los Angeles) as part of the LA Opera's historic Ring Festival LA, taking place from April 15 through June 30, 2010. As one of the Ring Festival LA cultural partners, Sundance Institute will be hosting the screening of this acclaimed documentary followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Jon Else.
Sundance Institute presentsSing Faster: The Stagehands' Ring Cycle
Saturday, April 17 at 7:00pm
Hammer Museum, Billy Wilder Theater (10899 Wilshire Blvd); Los Angeles, CA 90024; 310.443.7000
Free Screening
Followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Jon Else
This program is free and open to the public. Tickets are required, and are available at the Billy Wilder Theater Box Office one hour prior to start time. Reservations not accepted. Parking is available under the museum for $3 after 6:00 p.m. Visit http://hammer.ucla.edu

LA Opera has joined forces with Sundance Institute and other Los Angeles cultural and educational institutions to stage the first significant citywide cultural festival since the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival. Ring Festival LA will showcase a wide variety of exhibitions, symposia, museum shows, conferences, and special events. All of these events will be thematically related to the first-ever presentation in Los Angeles of Richard Wagner's famed four-opera drama, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

Sing Faster: The Stagehands' Ring Cyclepremiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999 and won the coveted Filmmaker Trophy. In this award-winning documentary acclaimed filmmaker John Else goes back stage at the San Francisco Opera's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle to show this rare event from the point of view of union stagehands. Electrifying time-lapse photography of the onstage action is juxtaposed with the epic drama happening behind the scenes as stagehands hoist giant mechanical dragons, move thousand-pound sets, catch up on some baseball, knit sweaters and play a fierce game of poker. Sing Fasteroffers a unique and wry perspective on Wagner's outlandish operatic spectacle. (David Courier, Senior Programmer, Sundance Film Festival).

Jon Else produced and directedThe Day After Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb(1980),Yosemite: The Fate of Heaven(1989),A Job at Ford'sfor the PBS seriesThe Great Depression(1992),Cadillac Desert:Water and the Transformation Of Nature (1997),Sing Faster: The Stagehands' Ring Cycle (2000), Open Outcry(2001). He was series producer and cinematographer forEyes On The Prize: America's Civil Rights Years(1987), produced and directedWonders Are Many: The Making of Doctor Atomic(2005),and photographedInside GuantanamoandAfghanistan: Hell Of A Nation. He is a MacArthur Fellow and directs the documentary program at the UCB Graduate School Of Journalism, Berkeley.

In his previous documentary, the internationally acclaimed 51 BIRCH STREET, Doug Block looked at his parents' seemingly ordinary marriage and uncovered a universal story about an archetypal, post-WWII, suburban family. THE KIDS GROW UP is a follow-up and companion piece in which Block turns his lens on his family once more, this time from his own vantage point as a parent, to tell a larger story about fathers and daughters, marriage and modern-day parenting.

Lucy Block is the filmmaker's only child and, from the moment of her birth, Doug has documented much of her life - and their relationship - on camera. Fluidly moving back and forth in time over the course of the film, we see Lucy transform from precocious child to serious and self-possessed young woman literally before our eyes. We also observe the eternal father-daughter struggle of control versus independence play out through the camera with great warmth and humor.

Told from Block's engaging first-person perspective, THE KIDS GROW UP is a rarity among documentaries. Sons and daughters frequently make films about their parents (including Block himself). This time a parent is making a film largely about his child. And since Lucy is among the first generation of children that grew up with digital camcorders, it may be the most in-depth, longitudinal portrait of a little girl growing into adulthood ever captured on film.

But just as Lucy is but one member of a family, her story is only the central focus of a larger one about the joys and angst of parenting and the aging of the baby boomer generation. As Doug Block struggles, often less than gracefully, with letting go of his daughter, a very personal experience once again takes on a universal dimension. And in the end, THE KIDS GROW UP is not just Lucy's coming of age story but very much her father's as well.

Location Name:  IFC Center

Address: 323 Sixth Ave. @ 3rd St., New York, NY

Nonviolent protests gave way to military brutality during a September 2007 revolution against the Burmese military junta. Buddhist monks, students and ordinary citizens were inspired to march, and in some cases die, for the rights they had been denied for so long. Oscar® nominated Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country documents these dramatic days and premieres Tuesday at 9:30PM. Watch the trailer now at HBO.com.

"Long Days Working Hard: Long Beach During World War II," the renowned documentary commissioned by the Long Beach Memorial Heritage Association and produced by Cal State Long Beach's David Kelly (an Irvine resident), will air on KOCE (PBS) April 20 at 10 p.m. The documentary follows the historical trends that resulted in Long Beach becoming one of the country's top wartime cities for industrial development, jobs and economic activity. For purchasing information, go to the website www.ccpe.csulb.edu/amp or call (562) 985-4352.

 

A Cinematheque Favorite Returns in Stunning 70MM to Celebrate Earth Day, With Filmmakers In Person!

Thursday, April 22 - 7:30 PM, Aero Theatre
Earth Day 70mm Print!
BARAKA, 1992, Magidson Films, 96 min. Inspired by the Sufi word meaning "breath of life," BARAKA is a mind-expanding, spiritual journey around the globe -- shot in 24 countries on five continents -- from director-cinematographer Ron Fricke (who photographed the earlier KOYAANISQATSI) and producer Mark Magidson (the Imax film CHRONOS). Filmed entirely without dialogue in a stunning cascade of crystalline, time-lapse 70mm images, BARAKA is quite simply breathtaking. Discussion following with producer Mark Magidson and director Ron Fricke (schedule permitting).

Location Name:  American Cinematheque at the Lloyd E. Rigler Egyptian Theatre

Address: 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028

EARTH DAY EVENT

This weekend Earth Day events will take place around the world.
In Los Angeles, a special screening will take place of an environmental documentary that the United Nations has selected as the
Climate Change Film of the Year:
'The Antarctica Challenge: A Global Warning'

"Far superior to An Inconvenient Truth", The Gate Magazine (Canada)
"One of the most important documentaries of our times." Mediapeers (Germany)
"An extraordinary documentary," Dr. Malcolm Wilson, Nobel Peace Prize, 2007

WHAT: The Beverly Hills HD Film Festival
WHEN: Saturday, April 24, 6:30 PM
WHERE: The Wilshire Screening Room, 8670 Wilshire Blvd, #112, Beverly Hills, CA 90211.
WHO: Filmmaker Mark Terry will be in attendance
INFO: Email: mark@polarcapproductions.com (416) 480-1996
TICKETS: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/93007
WEBSITE: http://www.theantarcticachallenge.comGreetings

Mormons can be movie lovers too. The problem is that their religious leaders strongly discourage R-rated content. As one Mormon prophet explained, "The mind through which this filth passes is never the same afterwards." In order to better serve their Mormon clientele, enterprising video stores in Utah started to offer "clean" versions of popular titles like The Matrix and Titanic. Using digital editing software, self-appointed censors removed nudity, gratuitous violence and profanity, then mass duplicated the clean versions for DVD rental. Soon the idea took off, and multiple franchises sought to capitalize on brands like Clean Flicks and Flick's Club. For a brief spell, it seemed like the perfect business.

Unfortunately, no one consulted the copyright holders. Hollywood figures such as Steven Soderbergh, Curtis Hanson and Michael Mann became vocal opponents of having their work re-edited. As quickly as the clean movement blossomed, it started to unravel, with legal threats from Hollywood, accusations among rivals and even a sex scandal in the backroom of a clean video store.

In Cleanflix, directors Andrew James and Joshua Ligairi chronicle the rise and fall of the clean movement. Having grown up in the Mormon community, the duo gained close access to the main players that outsiders might never have achieved. The controversy over cleaning films raises further questions: Who gets to set cultural standards? Does what we watch affect how we behave?

The film gives a broader context for understanding the Mormon institution (known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) by talking to its adherents and those who have dropped out, most notably the playwright and filmmaker Neil LaBute, known for the dark themes in scripts like In the Company of Men and Bash.

As events unfold, one thing becomes clear: in movies, you can skip over the parts you don't like. But in real life, you can't.

Director: Andrew James and Joshua Ligairi
Running time: 85 minutes
Release date: 2009
April 27, 2010 8:00 pm

Location Name:  IFC Center

Address: 323 Sixth Ave. @ 3rd St., New York, NY

This Week on Independent Lens

GARBAGE DREAMS
Tuesday, April 27 at 10 PM
(check local listings)

Welcome to the world's largest garbage village located on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. The Zaballeen (Arabic for "garbage people") recycle 80 percent of the trash they collect -- far more than other recycling initiatives. But now multinational corporations threaten their livelihood. Follow three teenage boys, born into the business, who are forced to make choices that will impact the survival of their community.