Not An Alternative Programming

Please join us this Friday for a screening of the new film "Brad, One More Night at the Barricades" (50 min). Brazilian filmmaker and media activist Miguel will be hand to discuss his documentary tribute to a fallen friend.

When Mexican paramilitary forces shot Brad Will in the chest, killing him, his camera fell from his hands. But it didn't stop recording. It continued moving from hand to hand, telling Brad's story, as well as the story of the movement of movements that he was a part of. From the squats of New York to the forests of Oregon, from the anti-globalization protests in Seattle, Prague, Quebec to the popular uprising in Oaxaca, Brad's camera paints us a picture of what his life was about, and what so many of his friends continue to struggle for.

After the film, Friends of Brad Will will kick off a strategy and action brainstorm with a screening of their public service announcement called "Plan Mexico" (3 min). Stick around to roll up your sleeves compadres.

Friday, February 8th, 7:30pm, free

About Brad Will:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Will
http://www.crimethinc.com/blog/2008/01/18/brad-will-in-rolling-stone/

About the Oaxaca Uprising:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Oaxaca_protests

About Plan Mexico:

Monday, January 28th, 7:30pm, free

Jem Cohen is a New York-based film and videomaker. Often shooting in hundreds of locations with little or no additional crew, Cohen collects street footage, portraits, and sounds. The projects built from these archives defy easy categorization, thriving on the collision between documentary, narrative, and experimental approaches. Some of the projects are personal/political city portraits made on travels around the globe. Many center around daily life and ephemeral moments: things seen out of the corner of the eye and pulled into the center.

Cohen has made two feature-length documentaries: INSTRUMENT (with and about Fugazi) and BENJAMIN SMOKE (co-directed by Peter Sillen) and a feature-length narrative/documentary hybrid, CHAIN. He has worked with musicians including Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Vic Chesnutt, Terry Riley, Sparklehorse, Blonde Redhead, R.E.M., Elliott Smith, Jonathan Richman, Stephen Vitiello, and Gil Shaham with the Orpheus Orchestra.

Cohen's work has been broadcast by PBS, the BBC, Planete, and the Sundance Channel. Awards include first prizes at Locarno International Film Festival, Bonn Videonale, Festival Dei Popoli, Doubletake Documentary Festival, San Francisco Film Festival, Film + Arc, Graz, and an Independent Spirit Award. Cohen is a Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and Creative Capital Foundation Fellow.

Join us on Tuesday, November 6, at 7:30pm for the Lost Film Fest!

Traveling the globe since 1999, the Lost Film Fest is a laugh-a-riot (with equal emphasis on both "laugh" and "riot"). Some people say it's like the film equivalent of an underground dance party with all the chaos and energy. It's probably the only film fest with an FBI file.

The program is an action packed two hours and never drags. “What’s playing this year?” isn’t exactly the right question, as the answer is almost impossible to predict. Festival director Scott Beibin spins the films in the same way a house DJ spins records, shifting the playlist spontaneously depending on the mood of the room. Imagine Mystery Science Theater 3000 mixed with a heavy helping of Che Guevera and Pee Wee Herman.

What makes Lost Film Fest unique is that it’s an interactive experience incorporating storytelling with short films. It features narrative shorts, documented pranks, and hot amateur protest footage from around the world appropriately called Riot Porn by the festival organizers. Beibin specifically aims for films that defy expectations. “It’s a revelation for a lot of people,” he says. “Usually when people think about independent film they think of something very austere and artyish.”

Lost Film Fest sports a strong guerrilla aesthetic. Its indigenous environs are squats, clubs, warehouses, and rooftops, but it regularly appears at theatres and universities as it has gained enormous popularity over the years. Most recently, the festival was showcased as the opening act of a Gogol Bordello show.

http://www.lostfilmfest.org
http://www.myspace.com/lostfilmfest