TRUTH BE TOLD is set to debut in Brooklyn, NY. The promotional screening will take place on Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at Cobble Hill Cinemas.

TRUTH BE TOLD is the new feature-length documentary about growing up in the Jehovah's Witnesses religion. The title refers to the Jehovah's Witnesses’ perception that their beliefs are 'the truth.'

The documentary lifts the veil on the seemingly benign Jehovah’s Witnesses religion to expose a profit-driven, isolationist culture characterized by fear, totalitarian corporate leadership, intellectual & spiritual intimidation, suspension of critical thinking, failed prophecies, doctrinal inconsistency and improper handling of physical and sexual abuse allegations within the church.

See former Jehovah's Witnesses candidly discuss growing up inside the religion. They reveal experiences including the effects of proselytizing door-to-door, shunning non-observant family and friends, suffering the discouragement of pursuing dreams like gaining a higher education, missing other societal holidays and customs. And more…

Ultimately the film reveals why Jehovah's Witnesses have the lowest retention rate of any religion with only 37% of those raised as Jehovah's Witnesses continuing their affiliation with the religion.

See trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4nqYtzDaGE
...
Cobble Hill Cinemas is located at 265 Court Street in the historic Brooklyn neighborhood, Cobble Hill.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses organization owns over $1,000,000,000 of real estate in the adjacent neighborhood Brooklyn Heights and in nearby DUMBO.

Purchase tickets at www.cobblehilltheatre.com. Click on SHOWTIMES then scroll down to March 27th, 2013.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Hope to see you there.

Gregorio Smith
Director - Truth Be Told
www.hereliesthetruth.com
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2190116/

We're screening in Paris! And... we want you to come. The Feature Documentary is an Official Selection of ECU The European Independent Film Festival and will be screening in Paris from Mar 29-31, 2013. For those of you who haven't heard of this festival, I believe that it one of the fastest growing festivals around. Dubbed as the Sundance of Europe, ECU screens 90 films, but only 4 of them are non-European Documentaries... and we are honored to be one of them.

For more information please see the ECU website: http://www.ecufilmfestival.com/

Think about it... Great Cinema, and Spring in Paris...:)

Hope to see you there,

Kristen DiAngelo
http://www.americancourtesans.com
www.imdb.com/title/tt2315806

We did it... Our first film festival! I know, everyone told us to wait for one of the big ones, but... Chris at Bloody Hero was so nice and he was the first to believe in us, and I'm a loyal kind of girl... So, American Courtesans was an Official Selection of the Bloody Hero Film Festival in Phoenix, AZ, playing 3 times from Feb 8-10 at the Phoenix Center for the Arts. Plus - (big pause, and rumbling drums or something like that) American Courtesans took home a trophy for "Best Edit of a Feature Film", very much pleasing our editor Bobby R. Poirier (I could hug him right now), and the director James Johnson, who worked side by side for months. The festival was amazing, and the films... Wow, it was an honor to be amongst them. My only regret is that I did't get to see more.

On Sunday Morning, the last day of the festival Jacob O'Neal from Robot Vampire Productions and the Gorram Nerd Hour and I did a podcast that will be up soon http://gorramnerdhour.blogspot.com/. All in all an amazing experience!

Kristen DiAngelo
http://www.americancourtesans.com
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2315806

Hello Doc film makers!
We are making a film about the building of a community radio station and Cameroon, West Africa. We are also building the radio station! - The radio station will be in an area that has no running water, electricity, schools or hospitals (it will run on Solar power). I am working with this amazing man, Issa Nyaphaga, who was persecuted for his political cartoons there years ago, now he does development projects in his village like bringing wheelchairs, drilling wells, etc. He is a political cartoonist and a wild artist. His org is www.hitip.org. We got a seed grant from National Geographic to make our first trip over there, but we need funds to make the project happen!

If you could help donate and/or spread the word I would really appreciate it - that's why they call it crowd funding, it takes a crowd to make it happen! here is the link - we have less than 2 weeks to go!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/radiotaboo/radio-taboo-where-nothing-is-too-taboo-to-talk-abo

I’m available to write (or give feedback on) grants and written materials - and help you strategize about related outreach and partners. As a Los Angeles-based documentarian, researcher/writer, and consultant I’ve written proposals for diverse productions, including films and large cultural and social justice projects, that have been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Cal Humanities, Pacific Pioneer Fund, National Foundation for Jewish Culture, and many other large and small foundations. My successes include inspiring house parties, community events, and great media coverage.

For more information and a discussion about your specific needs, feel free to contact Judy Branfman at or 310-392-2076 - I look forward to talking with you!

We have been invited to show our movie trailer for the feature length documentary, "Children of Internment" on January 26, 2013 @ 1:00 pm (eastern) at the The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in Indianapolis, Indiana.

They are hosting their 2nd Anniversary Celebration and have invited us and four German-Americans, who were held in internment camps during World War II.

Both Directors Kristina Wagner and Joe Crump will be participating. Everyone is invited – there is no charge.

Join us in Indiana at:

The Emelie Building
340 N. Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
info@vonnegutlibrary.org

*Internees speaking are: Anneliese Krauter, Eberhard Fuhr, Frances Ott Allen, and Alfred Wohlpart.

To find out more about the project which is slated for completion in late 2013, go to our website at: http://ChildrenOfInternment.com

The Festival's 47th year has announced the opening of its Call for Entries for 2013. Go to our website:
www.filmfestawards.com for all the entry and competition information and list of past winners.

Fifteen Digital Media students and their professor, Mark Volkers, have produced a 54-minute documentary giving an unforgettable and very personal look at the 1 billion people who currently live in the slums of the Developing World.
"The Fourth World" (www.fourthworldfilm.com) travels way past the statistics to meet the individuals caught up in the largest people migration in the history of the world. The United Nations tells us that the 1 billion slum current slum dwellers could triple by 2050 as our global economy continues to shift and as people continue to migrate from village to city.
"The Fourth World" (as of this writing) has television deals in Portugal, Ireland, Greece and with Al Jazeera Worldwide. FMG educational media has also contracted with Prairie Grass Productions for global educational sales.
Volkers lived and traveled in the Developing World for many years before starting the Digital Media Production major at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa (www.dordt.edu). He's an award-winning film maker with more than 20 national and international awards for his work. He and his students traveled to Guatemala City; Nairobi, Kenya; Manila, Philippines; Dakar, Senegal and Mumbai, India to tell the stories of individuals caught up in massive migration. Those individual stories--with people who have names and aspirations--cut through the dulled senses that statistics so often produce.
The film has screened at festivals around the world and has taken many awards. (See partial list below).
The film is available on DVD and on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play and iTunes (coming soon).
www.fourthworldfilm.com

Golden Reel Award: Nevada Film Festival
Redemptive Storyteller Award: Redemptive Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature: Third World Indie Film Festival
Walt Ratternam Humanitarian Award: Columbia Gorge International Film Festival
Best Documentary: Treasure Coast International Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature: New York/Los Angeles International Film Festival
Aloha Accolade Award in Documentary: Honolulu Film Awards
Telly Awards Bronze: Cinematography
Telly Awards Silver: Documentary
Award of Excellence: The Indie Fest
Honorable Mention: International Film Festivals for Peace, Inspiration and Equality
Honorable Mention: Commfest Global International Film Festival
Merit Award for Presentation of a Critical Issue: Montana Cine Film Festival
Award of Merit: Lucerne International Film Festival

Independent filmmaker Mabel Valdiviezo is turning to the Internet to raise funds for her latest film, Prodigal Daughter, an uplifting documentary on immigration and family reunification. Valdiviezo was undocumented in the U.S. for 16 years, recently became a Stage 4 cancer survivor, and on November 27 she became an American citizen in a ceremony at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California.

“I want to tell other immigrants out there that there is hope and that they can succeed in life, no matter what obstacles you may encounter,” she affirms. After many years of being under the radar, a tenacious Valdiviezo never let her dreams die. Once she obtained her green card, she landed video producing jobs in Silicon Valley, and now is thrilled to become an outstanding American citizen. Valdiviezo’s goal is to bring Prodigal Daughter to community centers, high schools and colleges to open up dialogue about family reunification among immigrant communities in the U.S. and Latin America.

Valdiviezo has started an online campaign and needs to raise $10,000 which will enable her to shoot for two weeks in Peru. With the funds raised in time for her mid December shoot, Valdiviezo and her parents will visit their Andean ancestor's land in the North of Peru during the festivities in honor of the Virgen of La Puerta, a religious patron saint of Otuzco known for her healing miracles. Valdiviezo, a recent cancer survivor herself, is incorporating this dramatic twist in her life into the film, which is expanding this story of immigration into one of inner healing and personal transformation.

Valdiviezo is working around the clock to meet the December 10 deadline. She has chosen crowd-funding platform Indiegogo and has partnered with her fiscal sponsor From The Heart Productions.

To learn more about the film, readers can go to http://www.indiegogo.com/Prodigal- Daughter
Contact: Mabel Valdiviezo haikufilms@gmail.com Haiku Films 415-335-3143 http://www.prodigaldaughterthemovie.com/trailer

For the past two years, IDA member Nancy Oey has been following the strange and wonderful story of the wildly popular web comic "Axe Cop" and its unexpected impact on the comic's two creators, Ethan and Malachai Nicolle. An age difference of more than 20 years separates the brothers, but yet theirs is a bond that's unusual and almost magical. To fund post-production, Nancy and her "Axe Cop Doc" production team have launched a Kickstarter Campaign at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/321229443/axe-cop-doc-the-official-documentary-of-axe-cop. Work past your Kickstarter fatigue, check out the video, and lend your support.