video letters from prison • born into brothels • the color of paradise • genghis blues • to be and to have • the motorcycle diaries • the story of the weeping camel • control room • the future of food • the corporation • touching the void • indigo
video letters from prison
is a short documentary by local filmmaker Milt Lee, and won first place in that category at this year's Native Voices Film Festival.Milt has agreed to supplement the original film with additional footage which provides followup on the family members portrayed.
The movie follows three Lakota girls whose father has been in prison or jail most of their lives. In ten years they have grown numb to empty promises and have given up on him. Reluctantly, they agree to talk to him in a series of video letters, and a powerful story of life, grief, and great hope unfolds between this incarcerated man and his daughters.
The film provides ample food for thought regarding the role of a father within the family and the basis and strength of family ties. It should lead to an interesting post-movie discussion (to be conducted by Milt and Jamie Lee). Contents include strong emotions--the film is not recommended for very young children.
Official selection: Winnipeg International Film Festival, Oscar Micheaux Film Festival, International Diversity Film Festival, Winner, Best Short Documentary, Native Voice Film Festival.
Trailer:
Born Into Brothels
The winner of 2004's Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature,Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman's "Born into Brothels" isn't nearly as prurient an experience as you might expect from a movie focusing on the plight of young children growing up in the notorious red light district of India's Sonagachi, a highly impoverished section of Calcutta.That's partly because of the kids themselves, on whom the filmmakers mostly concentrate, not their fallen mothers trapped by the unavoidable scourge of "The Line," an inevitable life of prostitution with little if anything to prevent their hapless daughters, some not quite teenagers already, following in their ill-fated footsteps.
Strangely enough the eight featured children--Avijit, Gour, Kochi, Manik, Puja, Shanti, Suchitra, and Tapasi--are vibrantly alive, many with hopes of escaping the slums and securing an all-important education no matter how fanciful, how impossible it might sound. (Their fathers, if they're even still alive, are invariably drug addicts, strung out on hashish.) The kids talk openly and unsentimentally about their lives. "The men who enter the building are not so good," comments one. They work hard tending house–cooking, cleaning dishes, and babysitting siblings.
As a result they are mature beyond their years–older and very much the wiser.
"Born into Brothels" is all about second chances and the opportunity here has been provided in the form of a simple Western tool that many of us take for granted: a point-and-shoot camera. Briski and Kauffman, the former of whom appears on film and works side-by-side with the children, ask the kids of Sonagachi to tell their own story in words and (mostly) pictures through the construct of a basic photography class and the results are often mesmerizing, with the children--who range in age from ten to fourteen--possessing incredible and heretofore untapped natural talent.
Briski's original goal was to live and work among the prostitutes, capturing the sordid surroundings and conditions that front their illegal activities on film (no easy task to be sure). But she was instantly drawn to the children and quickly changed her approach. In that regard she breaks the cardinal rule of documentary filmmaking by actually getting involved in the children's lives, attempting to register them for boarding school, for example, and influencing some of their decision making, such as securing a visa and other travel documents for the 11-year-old Avijit so that he can journey to Amsterdam to participate in a World Press Photo Foundation exhibit.
In that regard we are afforded many opportunities to witness Calcutta's incomprehensible bureaucracy, as Zana Auntie (as the kids call Briski) battles stubborn government officials and their endless red tape. What unfolds, however, is a film that, despite its scurrilous subject matter, remains genuinely uplifting and inspiring. Whereas not every child introduced in the film is assured a happy ending, "Born into Brothels" paints a vivid portrait of the vibrancy of human life no matter how squalid its environment and reinforces the oft-held notion that one person *can* make a difference. —David N. Butterworth
Trailer:
October 2005
the color of paradise
An Iranian film about a motherless blind boy, initially rejected by his father. Beautifully sensitive movie.Trailer:
September
2005
genghis blues
A magical documentary concerning the blind American blues guitarist/songwriter Paul Pena, who taught himself Mongolian-style throat-singing by listening to short-wave radio broadcasts. He is contacted by a group (including the late physicist, Richard Feynman) who are interested in preserving the culture of that Asian region, and who arrange for him to travel to the tiny country of Tuva, where Pena participates in a country-wide throat-singing confab.Trailer:
August 2005
To be and to have
Set in a one-room school in modern rural France, the film follows a remarkably perceptive and loving teacher as he coaches his 13 pupils through life phases in addition to school curriculum.Trailer:
July 2005
the motorcycle diaries
True-life account of a trip through much of S. America by the young Ernesto ("Che") Guevara and his friend, at a point where Che hasn't yet finished medical school. Provides an interesting insight into the shaping of his political views, but doesn't really deal with later events in his life.Trailer:
June 2005
the story of the weeping camel
Remarkable insight into the lives of Mongolian camel herders and their beginning exposure to technological culture. The nomads invoke a beautiful traditional ritual to fix a situation where a camel mom has rejected her newborn.Trailer:
May 2005
Control room
Extremely well done documentary about news coverage during the current Iraq invasion. Tries to dig into the issue of whether true objectivity is possible in war reporting from either side. Balances the perspectives of an official Pentagon spokesman with that of Al Jazeera staff.Trailer:
April 2005
the future of food
A hardhitting documentary dealing with the increasing domination of world agriculture by a few seed/chemical conglomerates, especially critical of the not-so-well-thought-out and forcible introduction of genetically modified crops.Trailer:
March 2005
the corporation
Documentary about the pervasive cultural and political influence of large corporations in American society. Does a personality analysis of these entities, which have been given protections as "persons" in our legal code.Trailer:
February 2005
touching the void
. Spectacular film about a pair of mountain-climbers, one of whom has to cut his buddy's rope in order to save himself.Trailer:
January
2005