Deaf Jam

Community Cinema Vashon presents: Deaf Jam

Sunday, October 16th 3PM at Ober Park

There will be a moderated discussion following the film.

via ITVS:

Filmmaker Judy Lieff chronicles a journey of self-realization for deaf teen Aneta Brodski, as she reveals her passions, frustrations, and sense of humor through her exploration of American Sign Language poetry. Unique among her deaf high school friends, Aneta longs to fully participate in the hearing world. Her artistry evolves within her ASL poetry group, and eventually she decides to compete in a spoken word poetry slam.

With ties to rap and hip hop culture, the U.S. National Poetry Slams for youth are widespread, but Aneta is among the first deaf teens to brave that highly verbal arena. The film captures her experiences as she conveys her inner self to hearing audiences.

In a remarkable twist of fate, Aneta, a deaf Israeli, meets and then collaborates with Tahani — a hearing Palestinian slam poet. They create a hearing/deaf duet touching on their shared personal and cultural experiences — generating a new form of slam poetry that speaks to both the hearing and the deaf.

Deaf Jam utilizes innovative techniques to convey the beauty of sign language poetry to hearing audiences. It is a three dimensional language that exists, like dance, in space. In the hands of a talented poet, shapes in relation to one another create the visually stunning equivalents of rhythm and rhyme.

Deaf Jam is a celebration of the beauty and power of American Sign Language poetry, a unique and endangered art form.

Peace Unveiled

Community Cinema Vashon presents: Peace Unveiled

Sunday, September 18, 3PM at Ober Park

There will be a discussion following the film moderated by Rev. Dr. Kathryn A Morse, pastor of the Vashon United Methodist Church





When the U.S. troop surge was announced in late 2009, women in Afghanistan knew that the ground was being laid for peace talks with the Taliban. Peace Unveiled follows three women who immediately began to organize to make sure that women’s rights don’t get traded away in the deal. One is a savvy parliamentarian who participated in writing the Afghan constitution that guarantees equality for women; another, a former midwife who is one of the last women’s rights advocates alive in Kandahar; and the third, a young activist who lives in a traditional family in Kabul. Convinced that the Taliban will have demands that jeopardize women’s hard-earned gains, they maneuver against formidable odds to have their voices heard in a peace jirga and high peace council. We go behind Kabul’s closed doors as the women’s case is made to U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer, General David Petraeus and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who promises the women that “peace and justice can’t come at the cost of women and women’s lives.” But will this promise be kept? Narrated by Tilda Swinton.

Community Cinema Vashon presents: Pray The Devil Back to Hell

FREE PRESEASON OPENING SPECIAL EVENT

Tuesday - Sept. 13th - Vashon Library

5:30 PM preview screening of

Pray the Devil Back to Hell

Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the remarkable story of the courageous Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country.

Thousands of women — ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim — came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they demanded a resolution to the country’s civil war. Their actions were a critical element in bringing about a agreement during the stalled peace talks.

A story of sacrifice, unity and transcendence, Pray the Devil Back to Hell honors the strength and perseverance of the women of Liberia. Inspiring, uplifting, and most of all motivating, it is a compelling testimony of how grassroots activism can alter the history of nations.

www.praythedevilbacktohell.com

After film Presentation at 7PM with Patrick Baroch, ITVS National Community Cinema Coordinator NW

2011-2012 Season Preview

Introducing the Women and Girls Lead Initiative

Information about ITVS Film Kits for Educators

Opportunities for local co-sponsorship for future films

Please join us for our Fall season premiere film, Peace Unveiled

Sunday, September 18, 3PM at Ober Park

Information and schedules for other upcoming films can be found at ccnw.tv - Community Cinema NW, as well as Communitycinema.org

Community Cinema Ends Its First Season

By Mel Michaels

On August 13th & 14th, Community Cinema Vashon will be showing two films at Ober Park that speak out on social activism and choosing one’s life calling. For those who have not heard of this exceptional and FREE program, I encourage you to come and participate in this nationwide event. Community Cinema Vashon began in April of 2011 and will be ending the first season with two sensational films that will surely bring your consciousness to a new level.

Community Cinema premiers films that air on PBS – KCTS – Channel 9 – through the Award-winning Independent Lens Series. Community Cinema is located in more than 95 cities across the nation that bring together “leading organizations, community members, and public television stations to learn, discuss, and get involved in key social issues of our time.” After the film we support participation and discussion. I think one of the most powerful aspects of this program is that Community Cinema is a way for us to share meaning and learn to live together in a changing world. Community Cinema, I feel, is a way for us to recognize that we cannot separate ourselves from the whole. To awaken to a broader truth means we need to see our part in it and Community Cinema is one avenue in which this participatory consciousness is taking place.

On Saturday August 13th, from 2:30-4:30, Community Cinema will be showing, Deep Down. Deep Down is set in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky and is about the battle over mountain top removal for coal. This film brings to the table an exceedingly important argument over energy in the 21st century. Bill Moyer will be the film’s discussion facilitator and The Backbone Campaign is a co-sponsor. This film echoes the very recent struggle over the Glacier Maury Island gravel project.

On Sunday, August 14th, from 3:00-5:30pm, the sixth and final film of the first season will be shown. The film is titled, The Calling. This film follows four young adults in their respected faiths on their dramatic journey to become professional clergy. This calling to serve a higher good is demanding and their sacrifice is incredible. This film provides a lens in which to view faith in America but more importantly it “calls” into question, “how can we best serve our communities?” Anyone can have a calling and it doesn’t necessarily mean it has to have a religious component, quite the contrary. How can we serve humanity and ourselves in a creative, humane, and passionate way?

What is your calling? Please come and share your experiences. We invite you to join us at a Celebratory Potluck out in the park after this event.

Mark you calendars for Community Cinema Vashon 2011-2012 season every 3rd Sunday at the Performance Room in Ober Park from 3-5pm. Watch for colorful filers about town and announcements in the papers and on island event calendars. All films are FREE and followed by moderated discussion.

Please visit communitycinema.org for more information or contact: Jane Berg @ 206-567-4532.

Community Cinema Vashon and Backbone Campaign present: Deep Down

FREE SCREENING Saturday, August 13th, 2:30-4:30 PM at the Ober Park Performance Room

After film discussion moderated by Bill Moyer of Backbone Campaign



via PBS.org:

Beverly May and Terry Ratliff grew up like kin on opposite sides of a mountain ridge in eastern Kentucky. Now in their 50s, the two find themselves in the midst of a debate dividing their community and the world: who controls, consumes, and benefits from our planet’s shrinking supply of natural resources?



While Beverly organizes her neighbors to stop a coal mining company from advancing into her hollow, Terry considers signing away the mining rights to his backyard — a decision that could destroy both of their homes. Their once-peaceful mountain community of Maytown finds itself in the center of a contentious battle over energy and the wealth and environmental destruction it represents.



As the world’s population soars, humankind must keep digging deeper and deeper down for the earth’s natural resources to feed our voracious appetite for energy — fighting wars over diminishing supplies of water, oil, and coal. But it is not only the earth itself that is rapidly changing and disappearing: as we excavate resources in ever-expanding areas, small communities are being flattened, taking with them our world’s diverse cultures, traditions, and lives.



Through a complex human story that cuts across environment, economics, public policy, and culture, the story of Beverly May and Terry Ratliff reveals the devastating impact of our energy consumption against an explosive backdrop: Appalachia’s centuries-old struggle over the black rock that fuels our planet.

Community Cinema Vashon presents: The Calling

FREE SCREENING Sunday, August 14th, 3-5PM at the Ober Park Performance Room

Father Mark of St. John Vianney will host a moderated discussion after the film, which will be followed by a potluck picnic in the park celebrating the end of the first season of Community Cinema.



(Note: this preview is for the 4 hour miniseries version. Some scenes/characters won't appear in the
1.5 hour version Community Cinema will be showing)

via ITVS.org:

A look at young Americans — Christian, Jewish, Catholic, and Muslim — preparing to become the nation’s next generation of religious leaders, The Calling explores the forces that are drawing young people to serve their communities and their faith.

Embarking on life paths that demand tremendous personal sacrifice and commitment, these seminarians must uphold timeless truths in an era that values quick fixes and hot trends, and face a public that challenges the very relevance of their mission. A new look at an old job, The Calling takes viewers into the unknown world of seminaries to tell entertaining and compelling personal stories of how faith is lived today.

The Calling intercuts its characters’ stories from their first days of training, through years of study, and into their early practice as religious professionals. We follow them within and beyond the walls of their schools, confronting the sacrifices they’ve made to pursue this path. We see them debate theology and philosophy, learn to deliver sermons, perform their first weddings and funerals, and counsel people in crisis. We also experience them as young people at the crossroads of their lives, struggling with dating, partners, family, and other challenges of “coming of age.”

These young people are charismatic and real, driven and self-reflective, confident and humble. They are seeking to reconcile the modern world and their faith through music and activism; balancing their egos and their desire to serve and blazing new paths to leadership while conserving age-old traditions.

The United States is one of the most religiously observant and spiritually diverse countries in the world, yet mainstream media has surprisingly underrepresented the significance of faith in our lives, and our pluralism has been explored almost exclusively in terms of race and culture. Documentaries that have been produced on faith often focus on single faiths, church scandals, fundamentalist extremists, or religion’s polarizing effect on society. The Calling underscores our spiritual common ground and offers intimate portraits that provide a fresh, nuanced portrayal of faith in America.

FROM THE FILMMAKER

"One of the many things I have learned in the years I spent on this
project is that equal to the characters’ religious mission is their zeal
to serve their fellow human beings. What unified this group, which
is so varied in background, faith, and approach to their work, is their
call to make the world a better place. Similarly, the word “calling,”
which was once only understood to be a holy pursuit, is commonly
used today to describe a passion or compulsion, but usually from a
place of selflessness or giving.

And herein lies what I hope that viewers will take away from this
film. The Calling’s stories portray lives not so different from all of
ours. The characters are struggling to find their way in this complex
world, but they are making a stand for what they believe in. This
is not beyond or above any of us. All of us — atheist, agnostic and
religious, young and old— can connect to these stories and use them
to ask ourselves: What do I believe in? What questions do I want to
understand? What gives me passion? How can I give back? What is
my calling?"

— director Danny Alpert

Community Cinema Vashon and DoVE Project present "Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story"

Sunday, July 24th at Ober Park, 3-5PM

via ITVS.org

In 2004, Cyntoia Brown was arrested for murder. There was no question that a 43-year-old man is dead and that she killed him. What mystified filmmaker Daniel Birman was just how common violence among youth is, and just how rarely we stop to question our assumptions about it. He wondered in this case what led a girl — who grew-up in a reasonable home environment — to this tragic end?

Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story explores Cyntoia’s life. The camera first glimpses her the week of her arrest at age 16 and follows her for nearly six years. Along the way, nationally renown juvenile forensic psychiatrist, Dr. William Bernet from Vanderbilt University, assesses her situation. We meet Ellenette Brown, Cyntoia’s adoptive mother who talks about the young girl’s early years. Georgina Mitchell, Cyntoia’s biological mother, meets her for the first time since she gave her up for adoption 14 years earlier. When we meet Cyntoia’s maternal grandmother, Joan Warren, some patterns begin to come into sharp focus.

Cyntoia wrestles with her fate. She is stunningly articulate, and spends the time to put the pieces of this puzzle together with us. Cyntoia's pre-prison lifestyle was nearly indistinguishable from her mother's at the same age. History — predestined by biology and circumstance — is repeating down the generations in this family.

Cyntoia is tried as an adult, and the cameras are there when she is convicted and sentenced to life at the Tennessee Prison for Women. After the verdict, Cyntoia calls her mom to tell her the news.

In the end, we catch up with Cyntoia as she is adjusting to prison, and struggling with her identity and hope for her future.

Domestic Violence (DV) is a pattern of behavior in which a person abuses power in an attempt to gain control over another person. DV is a community issue. It exists on Vashon and is likely under-reported. What does a survivor look like? Look around you. Survivors are lawyers and shop clerks, housewives and teens. Anyone, from any background, at any age, can find themselves in a situation where they feel threateded. You are not alone.

Need immediate help? Click here.

---

There is a newly formed organization committed to acting as a conduit for our community to access domestic violence services primarily located off-island. The DoVE Project, a program of Vashon Youth and Family Services (VYFS) is committed to assisting DV survivors in utilizing existing resources. Through the DoVE Project, a survivor can gain access to a support-group, get help with legal procedures and speak to an advocate.

For more information, a report prepared by Shirk Grant Writing Services here identifies the issues.

If you'd like to view some pictures from the benefit at the Red Bike, click here to view them

"Schooling the World: The White Man's Last Burden"

Free screening
Saturday, June 18th 6PM at Cafe Luna




The film, by Emmy and Writers Guild award winning film and television writer/director Carol Black ("The Wonder Years") poses an almost heretical challenge to the long-unquestioned assumption that the western model of education and schooling improves lives wherever it goes. The movie has generated powerful, often emotional, response from its October debut at the Vancouver International Film Festival to its recent showing in Washington, D.C. at the National Geographic All Roads Film Festival.

“Every teacher and prospective teacher should watch and discuss 'Schooling the World,'” said Bill Bigelow of Rethinking Schools. And Dr. Madhu Suri Prakash, Professor of Education Philosophy at Penn State University called it “a film of profound insights and the quest for hope in the thick of much violence by mainstream cultures against the marginalized and the silenced peoples of the world,” characterizing the film as “challenging, courageous and thought provoking.”




"Schooling the World" joins the past year's spate of education-themed documentaries like "Waiting for Superman" and "Race to Nowhere.” Says producer Neal Marlens ("The Wonder Years"), “‘Waiting For Superman’ and ‘Race to Nowhere’ demonstrated the immense problems in our schools; “Schooling the World” shows what happens when we export those problems overseas.”



Black pointed to the recent allegations surrounding “Three Cups of Tea” author Greg Mortenson and his Central Asia Institute as “an opportunity to look at some of these issues more closely. People are rightly upset about Mortenson’s fabrications, but the larger fiction which goes unquestioned is his romanticized portrayal of education as a panacea for all the world’s ills, a silver bullet that in one clean shot can end poverty, terrorism, and the oppression of girls and women around the world.” Black said. “The reality is that the modern school is no silver bullet, but an extremely problematic institution which has proven highly resistant to fundamental reform. No system that discards millions of normal, healthy kids as failures – many of them extremely smart, by the way – will ever provide a lasting or universal solution to anything.”

The movie has been widely lauded for its breathtaking visual beauty and was shot largely on location in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, India.

http://schoolingtheworld.org/

Community Cinema Vashon presents "Two Spirits"

June 5th, 3-5 PM at Ober Park performance space



Two Spirits interweaves the tragic story of a mother’s loss of her son with a revealing look at the largely unknown history of a time when the world wasn’t simply divided into male and female and many Native American cultures held places of honor for people of integrated genders. Powerful and moving, Lydia Nibley’s Two Spirits explores the life and death of Fred Martinez and the ancient Native American two-spirit tradition.

Fred Martinez told his mother he felt as if he was both a boy and a girl, and she explained that this is a special gift, according to traditional Navajo culture. But the place where two discriminations meet is a dangerous place to live, and Fred became one of the youngest hate-crime victims in modern history when he was brutally murdered at sixteen. Between tradition and controversy, and freedom and fear, lies the truth—the bravest choice you can make is to be yourself.



Two Spirits explores issues of national concern including the bullying and violence commonly faced by LGBT people, and the epidemic of LGBT teen suicide, and reveals the range of gender expression that has long been seen as a healthy part of many of the indigenous cultures of North America, and of Navajo culture in particular.

The Navajo believe that to maintain harmony, there must be a balanced interrelationship between the feminine and the masculine within the individual, in families, in the culture, and in the natural world. For the first time on film, Two Spirits tells stories from the Navajo tradition of four genders. The first gender is the feminine woman. The second is the masculine man. The third is the male-bodied person who has a feminine essence—nadleehi. The fourth is the female-bodied person who has a masculine essence—dilbaa.




In Navajo, nadleehi means “one who is transformed," and as the film traces the ramifications of Fred’s murder, it also shows the transformation being undertaken by Native activists who are working to restore the rich heritage of two-spirit people and to claim their place within their tribal communities.



“The film team is working with over sixty organizations nationwide to have six million people see the film and to help expand the national conversation about gender,” says the director of Two Spirits, Lydia Nibley.

Lois Vossen the producer and founder of Independent Lens explains, “Two Spirits is an important film that tells a modern story with deep historical roots and does so in a way that is surprising and striking. It’s a film that shows humankind at both our best and worst. It’s gut-wrenching at times, but also hopeful and very engaging.”

To learn more about the film, and the issues involved, visit the companion website for Two Spirits at www.pbs.org/independentlens/two-spirits. Get detailed information on the film, watch preview clips, read an interview with the filmmaker, and explore the subject in depth with links and resources. The site also features a Talkback section where viewers can share their ideas and opinions.

Community Cinema Vashon presents "Welcome to Shelbyville"

Sunday, 5/22 from 3-5p at the Ober Park Performance Room, free of charge



The second in a program of Community Cinema Vashon's free monthly screenings and moderated discussions of documentaries from the Emmy Award winning PBS film series Independent Lens is brought to you courtesy of We All Belong, a project of Welcome Vashon.



Set in the heart of America's Bible Belt,
"Welcome To Shelbyville" focuses on a small Southern town as they grapple with rapid demographic change and issues of immigrant integration.



The film captures the complexity of the African American, Latino, white, and Somali subjects as their lives intertwine against the backdrop of a crumbling economy and the election of a new president. In a year of historic change, one town in the Heartland questions what it means to be American.



For further information, contact Jane Berg - jane.e.berg@gmail.com or 206-567-4532




Mark your calendars for June 5th and join in the Vashon Premiere of "Two Spirits", at the Ober Park Performance Room from 3pm-5pm.



Future dates of the free summer film and discussion series are July 24, August 14, and September 11 at the Ober Park Performance Room, 3pm-5pm.


www.communitycinema.org

Transition Vashon presents: The Power of Community

Saturday, May 14, 2011 - program begins at 6:00 pm

At Vashon Lutheran Church, 18623 Vashon Hwy. - just south of town

Free (with donations welcome to defray expenses)

The Power of Community: How Cuba survived Peak Oil

directed by Faith Morgan, and released 2006

~ fifth in the series FILMS FOR TRANSITION 2011

"The Power of Community" is a dynamic documentary about the experience of the Cuban people in early 1990's, the "Special Period" after the breakup of the Soviet Union and the sudden decline of petroleum imports to Cuba. The nation lost over half of its oil imports, and 85 percent of its international trade economy. Their food production, food distribution, transportation, health care, housing construction, factories, and other sectors all had to be re-invented. Cuba survived by allocating land to the people to grow most of their food locally, engineering alternative construction methods, and shifting to more sustainable energy sources - such as powering household radios with tiny solar panels. The interviews and archival newsreels in this film demonstrate the grassroots ingenuity and local innovations that were critical to helping the people survive. The shift in the country's economic mindset, from international consumption to local sustainability, was implemented in both urban and rural neighborhoods with organic gardens and modes of transport.

The originator of the Transition Town movement, Rob Hopkins, has commented, "Peak Oil could be the opportunity for a huge renaissance for local agriculture, for community, for sustainable manufacturing, and for biodiversity." The Power of Community documentary about the Cuban experience over a period of seven years is a case study in what it can take for a nation to co-create such a rebirth for our families and towns.

We believe that Vashon will be able to bring forth such a rebirth. It will require that we apply ourselves to learn the basic lessons ~ about re-skilling, sharing good ideas, simplifying and re-tooling in many ways, and moving forward together. Let's build a resilient power of community on Vashon!

Please tell one friend about the movie. We hope to see you on May 14.

"Waiting for Superman" Thursday, April 28

7:00pm - 9:00pm
Ober Park

Every morning, in big cities, suburbs and small towns across America, parents send their children off to school with the highest of hopes. But a shocking number of students in the United States attend schools where they have virtually no chance of learning---failure factories likelier to produce drop-outs than college graduates. Despite decades of well-intended reforms and huge sums of money, over-all, our schools haven’t improved markedly since the 1970s. Why? There is an answer. And it’s not what you think.





“Waiting for Superman” is a film made for and about kids who are struggling to get a great education and their parents who are doing everything they can to ensure that they get it.





Even on our piece of Paradise, Vashon’s public and private schools, need help. Money, equipment and class room volunteers are in short supply.





The League of Women Voters, Vashon Unit, is sponsoring a free viewing of this highly acclaimed film on Thursday, April 28 in the Ober Park Performance Room. Doors open at 7 PM; the film starts at 7:15 PM. There will be an optional discussion following the 111 minute film. If you missed this fascinating documentary last time, don’t miss it again---this time it’s free!


For questions or more information, contact Ellen Kritzman at 567-4837."

An interesting article I came across recently that made a lasting impression,
It Takes a Whole Village to Raise a Child.

Are we as a community ready to step up to that challenge? - bth

Vashon Community Cinema presents: For Once in My Life

Saturday, April 30th, 1:30 PM at Vashon Theatre

An informal Celebratory Reception will follow across the street at the Presbyterian Church. This is going to be a day to honor Vashon residents, active in our community, who are living with disability issues.

For questions or more information, contact Jane Berg at 206-567-4532



"Jim Bigham's Inspiring For Once In My Life"

via PBS

Film Showcases a Unique Band of Singers and Musicians, and their Journey to Show the World the Greatness—and Killer Soundtrack—Within Each of Them

For Once In My Life is an infectious, expectation-defying look at the inspiring Spirit of Goodwill band, a unique assembly of singers and musicians, all with a wide range of mental and physical challenges, who share an uncanny gift for music, joy, and friendship. The film follows the band, made up of participants at the Goodwill Industries center of South Florida, as their determination, talent, and dedication takes them from the rehearsal room to the concert stage.



The 29 talented members of the Miami-based Spirit of Goodwill Band are all living with varying degrees of physical and mental challenges, but you’d never know it by listening to them. The pianist, Christian, is blind and autistic; lead singer Terry never fully recovered from being dropped by his father when he was 14 months old; and drummer Sam’s development was stunted by his mother's efforts to hide her pregnancy. With the enthusiastic encouragement of Dennis Pastrana, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries South Florida, the rehabilitation team, and their dedicated music director, the members of the Goodwill Band have grown from one piano into an orchestra with voice, percussion, keyboards, and a brass section. They work tirelessly and their musical success has transformed and enriched all aspects of their lives.



Goodwill in Miami graciously opened their doors and allowed the filmmakers to follow the band as they progress from concerts at veterans hospitals to larger public performances, and we get to know the members, meet their families, and visit their homes. They are “discovered” by Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and music impresario Emilio Estefan, and the band is invited to play the concert of a lifetime — the U.S. Mayor’s Convention being held that year in Miami.

It’s a dream gig for the Spirit of Goodwill, with an audience of over 1000 people, made up of mayors from 440 American cities, their families, and special guests. The film follows the band as they prepare for this great honor, an arduous process that becomes a test of patience, compassion, and faith. The film concludes with a performance that leaves the audience cheering. For Once in My Life won the Audience Awards at the South by Southwest, Nashville, Sarasota and Heartland Film Festivals, the Jury Award at the Sonoma and Port Townsend Film Festivals and the Music Impact Award at the Nashville Film Festivals. Filled with joy, humor and tough love, it is an eye-opening look at the tremendous potential of people with disabilities and the power of music to transform lives.



To learn more about the film, visit the For Once In My Life interactive companion website (pbs.org/for-once-in-my-life), which features detailed information on the film, including an interview with the filmmaker and links and resources pertaining to the film’s subject matter.