LATEST NEWS

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is honoring Liz Garbus and Rory Kennedy with the 2010 Career Award.  Working Films extends our congratulations to these extraordinary filmmakers, we partnered with Rory and Liz on their highly successful Ghosts of Abu Ghraib and Coma audience engagement campaigns. This filmmaking team co-founded their production company Moxie Firecracker Films in 1998.  Together, they have produced and directed a wide range of work exploring social issues through the lives of everyday people, including examinations of the U.S. legal system, AIDS, violence, abuse, and human rights. Rory commented:

I was absolutely thrilled to learn that Liz and I had been chosen for the 2010 Career Award. It is such an honor to join past recipients such as Ken Burns, Barbara Kopple, and DA Pennebaker - filmmakers that I have admired for years. Full Frame is one of the premier documentary film festivals and I am so deeply honored to be receiving their lifetime achievement award.

You can read more about this award and the 2010 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival that will be held April 8-11, in Durham, N.C. at fullframefest.org.

[caption id="attachment_900" align="aligncenter" width="344" caption="Hollis Briggs, Valeria Hale, Denise Hale and Mildred Bethea. Photo by Ken Blevins (courtesy of the Wilmington StarNews)"][/caption]

Every year, Wilmington's Martin Luther King Jr. Parade marches down Castle Street, starting at the Working Films offices in the old firehouse on 5th Avenue. Each year,  our firehouse serves as the "green room" for the parade, with coffee and donuts for the organizers and volunteers. This year, parade organizer Hollis Briggs wants to use the parade to raise awareness of Bone Marrow Cancer and the pressing need for donors especially within minority communities. The Wilmington StarNews published a story today sharing the story of Denise Hale and her bone marrow transplant. (That’s the Working Films’ firehouse in the background of the photo.)

[caption id="attachment_900" align="aligncenter" width="344" caption="Hollis Briggs, Valeria Hale, Denise Hale and Mildred Bethea. Photo by Ken Blevins (courtesy of the Wilmington StarNews)"][/caption]

Every year, Wilmington's Martin Luther King Jr. Parade marches down Castle Street, starting at the Working Films offices in the old firehouse on 5th Avenue. Each year,  our firehouse serves as the "green room" for the parade, with coffee and donuts for the organizers and volunteers. This year, parade organizer Hollis Briggs wants to use the parade to raise awareness of Bone Marrow Cancer and the pressing need for donors especially within minority communities. The Wilmington StarNews published a story today sharing the story of Denise Hale and her bone marrow transplant. (That’s the Working Films’ firehouse in the background of the photo.)

"Barbershops have always been a place where people come not only to get a haircut – but to meet and converse about current events, politics, pop culture, music, sports, WOMEN, relationships and more." -    Quentin Walcott of Connect NYC We’ve been receiving a lot of inspiring updates from the filmmakers who participated in our Real Girls, Reel Change workshop last October. Jesse Epstein will be screening 2 films from her Body Typed project, Wet Dreams and False Images and 34x25x36, at the barbershop where it all began. Wet Dreams and False Images is about Dee Dee, owner of Fade2Famous, and the many girls plastered on the walls of his barbershop. After he learns that many of those girls are products of photo-retouching, his view of beauty changes. Saturday, January 30th 8:30pm at Fade2Famous (213 Greenpoint Avenue in Brooklyn) After the screening, there will be a discussion lead by Dee Dee (Fade2Famous) Daralee Vazquez (Dee Dee’s sister), Quentin Walcot (Connect NYC) and Raid. The goal is to invite both men and women to this discussion about body image and beauty standards. The event will be filmed and will serve as an example of ways films can be used outside of theaters and in the community. For more information, visit the Facebook event.

Join established and aspiring filmmakers, non-profit communications leaders, funders and students working to learn and share cutting-edge practices to make their media matter, February 11th and 12th 2010 at American University in Washington DC. This year marks the Center for Social Media’s sixth annual Making Your Media Matter conference. Registration $100, Students, $50. Register now! This year's conference will feature a keynote from Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis, makers of The Reckoning, on strategic partnerships and design for your project, and panels on developing synergies in your subject field, an ethics workshop, and fiction films for change. Watch the promo trailer: To learn more about Making Your Media Matter, read the Rapporteur’s Report from the 2009 conference, visit the Center’s website to view partners and sponsors and sign on to the social networking site. Registration link: https://www.eventville.com/Catalog/EventRegistration1.asp?EventId=1006291 MYMM is presented in partnership with the Media That Matters Festival, which is a project of Arts Engine, Inc.

The Full Frame Documentary Festival is accepting applications for the Garrett Scott Documentary Development Grant for first time filmmakers through February 5th. The grant covers travel and accommodations for the fest which takes place April 8-11, 2010 in Durham, North Carolina. The two selected grantees will have access to films, master classes and mentorship from experienced filmmakers. By “first time filmmaker”, they mean someone who is in the early stage of their documentary career and has not yet received significant recognition. Mai Iskander was a recipient of this grant in 2008 and now her film, Garbage Dreams, has gone on to win many awards and is receiving international attention. Garrett Scott was a filmmaker who made a distinctive mark in documentary during his short career. He directed Cul De Sac: A Suburban War Story and co-directed (with Ian Olds) Occupation: Dreamland, a film about U.S. soldiers in Falluja, Iraq, which was included in our Iraq Media Action Project. Filmmaker Magazine noted Garrett as one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film. For more information about the grant and instructions on how to apply, please visit Full Frame’s website. Deadline is February 5th.

2010 is starting off with a bang for the acclaimed documentary Garbage Dreams. Recently short-listed for an Oscar Award, the film will open theatrically in New York City January 6th through the 12th at the IFC Center (323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street). Director Mai Iskander will appear in person at the 6:30pm shows Wednesday, January 6 – Sunday, January 10. Working Films is also collaborating with ITVS’ Community Cinema Program to bring Garbage Dreams free of charge to over 50 cities across the U.S this month. We’re also coordinating a grassroots Garbage Dreams Tour aimed at advancing zero waste and recycling initiatives. Head to the theater if you’re in the city, find a Community Cinema event near you, or host a screening where you live.

Over the holidays I received an email from filmmaker Louise Vance of the film Seneca Falls which was a part of the Real Girls, Reel Change workshop last October. The film is about the journey of 9 teenage girls who travel from San Francisco to Seneca Falls, the birth of the women’s rights movement, to perform a play they created which celebrates the women’s movement. I was excited to hear that Seneca Falls will be broadcasting in March on two Public Television stations: KRCB in Northern California, home of the cast and filmmakers, and WXXI in Rochester, NY, home of the women’s rights historic sites. It will also be available to PBS stations around the country, many of whom will broadcast it for Women's History Month in March. Louise lists some ways you can help out:

1)  If you are an educator or active member or chapter head of an organization whose membership would be interested in seeing this film on public television, CALL your local PBS station and graciously inquire with program directors if they have heard about Seneca Falls. Ask if they plan to air it and when, and tell them you are interested in getting the word out to your organization to tune in, or organize viewing parties. If you can, offer to do some local publicity or PR - or set up a preview screening. What program directors want to know is that you can help deliver viewers to the program.

2)  CONTRIBUTE today. Believe me, we know money is extremely tight for everyone. But we need to raise $5500 to cover the out of pocket costs for this launch. Speaking from the heart now as an independent filmmaker, I simply do not have the resources to do this alone. Your tax-deductible donation of any amount will help.

For a donation of $100 or more, we'll happily send you a DVD of the film. Or, you can buy a DVD for a young person in your life or their school. Dads...moms...aunties...uncles...friends! It's a great bonding experience to watch Seneca Falls together.

3)  Email us to SET UP A SCREENING. Organizations can purchase a DVD with a viewing guide to hold fundraisers or screenings, to generate "buzz" before, during, or after the March launch.

4)  VOLUNTEER YOUR TIME. We truly need your energy, enthusiasm and time on the phone.  Do you have 4 hours you can devote to helping us spread the word?  Email us!