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Tagged as “fleff11”
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Posted by Shea Lynch at 10:40PM
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Blog posting written by Shea Lynch, Documentary Studies '14, FLEFF Intern, Glens Falls, New York
The FLEFF party on Tuesday April 19 finalized the end of FLEFF Week for interns. There is still a lot of work to do to prepare for next season of FLEFF, but here is a list of the Cinemapolis and Ithaca on-campus events from FLEFF 2011. Thank you to all the guests who participated, FLEFF sponsors, Ithaca College, the FLEFF interns and staff, and the employees of Cinemapolis for making this a great year!
[CLICK HERE] means there is a FLEFF blog posting highlighting this event! Read on!
Highlight Events on Ithaca College campus 2011
[CLICK HERE] New media artists Renate Ferro, Megan Roberts, and Raymond Ghirardo presented works in celebration of the Experimental Television Center.
[CLICK HERE] Concert in Hockett Recital Hall: The Rite of Spring performed by pianist Jairo Geronymo and Deborah Martin and baritone vocals by Brad Hougham.
[CLICK HERE] New Media artist Laura Deutch with Messages in Motion.
Workshop with Tom Swarthout on environmental documentaries and persuasive story telling.
[CLICK HERE] New media artist presentation by Philip Mallory Jones.
Highlight Events at Cinemapolis 2011
Live reading of Buffalo Street books with poet Irakabadze, novelist Ernest Quinones, and essayist Catherine Taylor.
World premiere of UNCORKED!, webisodes about the Finger Lakes wine country.
[CLICK HERE] New York State Premiere of Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home.
[CLICK HERE] Silent film Last Laugh with live music by jazz pianist John Stetch.
[CLICK HERE] Premiere of Lunch Love Community, webisodes on healthy food for public schools by Helen De Michiel.
Film editing workshop with Tom Swarthout.
[CLICK HERE] Premiere of documentary Fixing the Future.
[CLICK HERE] Premiere of What Do Polar Bears Dream When They're Dying? with Artic wildlife film director Arthur Smith.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Posted by Shea Lynch at 7:12PM
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Blog posting written by Shea Lynch, Documentary Studies and Production '14, FLEFF Intern, Glens Falls, New York
A great FLEFF Week event for anyone! Special presentation with video, installation and new media artist Philip Mallory Jones will be joining the on-campus events Thursday, April 14 in Studio A in Park Hall (4-6PM)
"Philip Mallory Jones has worked with video, film, photography, and writing for artistic, commercial, and scholarly endeavors since 1969, and has incorporated digital media since 1990. His work has been broadcast and exhibited in North America, the Caribbean, South America, Europe, Africa, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. He was co-founder and Director of Ithaca Video Projects (1971-85), one of the pioneering media arts centers, and Director/Curator of the Annual Ithaca Video Festival (1974-83), the first juried touring collection of video art."
"Mr. Jones’ current work includes several projects in Second Life synthetic world: In The Sweet Bye & Bye, Bronzeville Etudes & Riffs, and Points of View: Rediscovering Vanished African American and Multiethnic Communities of Southeastern Ohio. Mr. Jones’ art portfolio includes LISSEN HERE! (2004) a book of poetry and photo-collage, plus film animations, video, interactive digital disc-based works, multi-media installations and performances. Mr. Jones has also published fiction, and created sculptures in acrylic plastics."
-from FLEFF 2011 Checkpoint Guests page
DO NOT MISS THIS! This On-campus event is on Thursday, April 14 in Studio A in Park Hall (4-6PM)
Question for the FLEFF community: What events are you looking forward to attending?
Monday, April 4, 2011
Posted by Shea Lynch at 2:22PM
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Blog posting written by Shea Lynch, Documentary Studies '14, FLEFF Intern, Glens Falls, New York
FLEFF Week documentary Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home, directed by Jenny Stein, is a great incite into the awakening from a culture of farming families and the amazing connections with animals.
I interviewed producer James LaVeck.
Why does Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home matter? What makes this movie special?
This film shares a important story that has never been told before, one that has the ramifications for all our lives as well as those of billions of animals. In farm communities all over the world, there are young people who experience conflict over using and taking the lives of animals that they have cared for and nurtured.
For some, this conflict is scarring and becomes a life long trauma, especially for those who have a gift for connecting with animals. There are also animal farmers who, after years of running a farm, come to question the idea that animals are here just to be a means to an end, and who begin to search for a new way to relate to the animals under their care.
By bringing our audience along on the journey of these farmers, we invite them to ponder the same questions and dilemmas the farmers and animal rescuers in the film are grappling with. The ethics of the human-animal relationship are being heavily discussed and debated in our culture right now, and too often, treatments of this subject are so politicized that no little real dialogue happens.
We sought to make a film that went deeper than politics, into personal ethics, conscience, and most of all, the universal human experience of realizing that our actions are having a profound impact on others, an impact we often don't fully realize. Equally profound is our potential to accept the challenge of doing what it takes to make things right, which turns out to be one of the more fulfilling aspects of the human experience. Both individually and collectively, we have an amazing ability to respond to injustice with creativity and nonviolence.
What separates this film from other FLEFF Week film events? We'll be having a Q&A after the film, as well as a reception at Delilah's, so there will be an opportunity for us all to interact with the audience. Screenings of this film tend to inspire a paradigm shift, which naturally creates a feeling of community amongst those who have shared the experience. We're excited to share this life-affirming experience with the people of our home town. Despite the fact that more and more of us are realizing that other animals have emotional lives and deep familial bonds far deeper than was once imagined, their use and abuse has never been more widespread. By the end of this century, human activities are projected to wipe out more than half the species now on our planet. Will we continue to view the other beings who share our world as a "resource" to be exploited, or will we recognize that animals, however they may differ from us, are each individuals who have inherent dignity and worth above and beyond their utility to humans? That question, in my opinion, is one of the most pressing of this century. We invite our audience to grapple with this question and consider the journey of conscience undertaken by seven people whose relationship to other animals goes through a remarkable evolution over the course of the film.
I know how much effort went into programming this film festival, so I think all the films and special events are going to be great. One thing that makes Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home unique at FLEFF is that it is a documentary made by Ithaca filmmakers. One of the subjects, Harold Brown, who will also be attending the screening, is also local. Harold's story is all about healing deep pain and finding the courage to follow your heart.
The theme of FLEFF this year is Checkpoints, ideas coming together. How do the themes in Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home represent the FLEFF theme?
On the FLEFF website, it says, "Checkpoints mark environmental turning points." We believe that our society’s relationship to animals is at a turning point.
This is a film that tells the individual stories of both people and animals, and in both cases, we wanted it to be authentic and powerfully engaging. In the case of the human subjects, former farmers and animal rescuers, this meant creating an environment in which these courageous people would be able to open up and share some of the most difficult and inspiring moments of their lives. We took the time to build that special level of trust, and each person in the film more than met us halfway. We are so honored to have had this chance to work with people who represent what’s best about the human spirit.
When it came to the animals we were working with, our challenge was to help the audience get to know them as individuals, to look beyond the stereotypes most of us learn from childhood, which are often derogatory and do not at all reflect their natures -- pigs are filthy, chickens are "bird brains”, cows are walking milk machines, sheep mindlessly follow. These ideas, which are deep-seated in our culture, are easily seen as false by anyone who has the chance to spend time with these animals in an environment where they are allowed to express their true natures. In Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home, we allow our audience to see this see remarkable truth for themselves. The film features some truly amazing animal rescue footage in which the individuality of the animals comes through so vividly, which is also evident in the footage we shot documenting the day to day lives of animals at sanctuaries. Many people remark that viewing this film has given them a whole new relationship to other animals, one they find that is full of new possibilities.
What do you want the audience to get out of this documentary?
A viewing experience that is memorable, inspiring, and hopefully even life-changing. Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home has won several film festival audience awards, and this is particularly meaningful for us because this film challenges many audience members to re-examine some of their ideas about farmers, farm animals and farm life. Audiences like the film I think because the film subjects -- both people and animals -- are fascinating individuals who are easy to relate to, and the story they have to share is both emotionally compelling and thought-provoking.
A viewing experience that is memorable, inspiring, and hopefully even life-changing. Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home has won several film festival audience awards, and this is particularly meaningful for us because this film challenges many audience members to re-examine some of their ideas about farmers, farm animals and farm life. Audiences like the film I think because the film subjects -- both people and animals -- are fascinating individuals who are easy to relate to, and the story they have to share is both emotionally compelling and thought-provoking.
We're looking forward to a great screening at FLEFF!
Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home will be screened on April 14 (7:00PM) at Cinemapolis! ONLY ONE SHOW! BE THERE!!
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