The University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography presents the documentary Worst Possible Illusion: The Curiosity Cabinet of Vik Muniz on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 5:30 p.m. Director Anne-Marie Russell, director and curator at MOCA, will be on hand to discuss her film–a documentary on the Brazilian artist Vik Muniz that was filmed in Tucson, Brazil, Paris, Brooklyn, Tahiti and Chicago. Center for Creative Photography, 1030 N. Olive Road. Free. [via]
The Colorado Environmental Coalition invites the public to a free screening of a documentary, “Last Hat in Town.” The screening is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Center of Craig, Sixth and Yampa Avenue. For more information, call Sasha Nelson at 824-5241. [via]
Cultural anthropologist and ethnographic filmmaker Zachary Fink paints this poignant and lyrical portrait of a changing American West as he chronicles the hardships of rural Coloradans forced to adapt to the conditions brought by the encroaching presence of the natural gas industry. Over the course of a year, amid the transformation of the Rocky Mountain landscape from wide-open ranchland to a patchwork of natural-gas drilling sites, Fink follows three locals to determine how the energy boom has affected their lives and livelihoods. There’s rig worker Nathan Bassetti, a professed roughneck trying to break the addiction to methamphetamine plaguing so many in rural communities like his; he dreams of being reunited with his young daughter and getting back to work in the fields. There’s third-generation rancher Steve Wells, caught in an increasingly common catch-22: the more land he leases to drilling companies in order to keep his business afloat, the less he has for raising cattle. And then there’s vagabond cowboy poet T. Ray Becker. At nearly 60, T. Ray now lives not on a ranch but in a 21-foot RV, and spends his days composing lyrics about finding a home where men still don Stetsons with pride.
Cultivating an intimate rapport with his three subjects, Fink is able to present a closely observed, deeply revealing study of the social, environmental and economic impact industrial development has had on the American West – and on its dying breed of mavericks. [via:Starz Denver Film Festival]
Thanks to Community Cinema, the documentary “TULIA, TEXAS” will be shown for free on Saturday, January 24th at 3:15 at Seattle International Film Festival Cinema.
The documentary TULIA, TEXAS follows a story that was both of one of the biggest drug busts in the history of Texas and a huge miscarriage of justice.
In July of 1999, 46 people were arrested in the small town of Tulia, Texas on drug charges based on the undercover work of “gypsy cop” Tom Coleman. 39 of those arrested were African Americans and most were convicted. By five years later, as new information came to light about Coleman and his methods, and cases were challenged, most of them had been freed.
SIFF Cinema is located at 321 Mercer St in the Nelsholm Family Lecture Hall in the lower level of McCaw Hall on the Seattle Center campus. [via]
Before Bush leaves office, watch a special screening of the award-winning documentary about his profound effect on the residents of his invented hometown: Crawford, Texas.
Friday, Jan 16th – 8pm
Admission: $10
The Tank – 354 West 45th Street www.thetanknyc.org
Bye Bye Bush! As we anticipate W’s exit from the White House and conversation over his legacy begins, come see the film about the impact he had on the town he decided to call home: Crawford, TX. Focusing through the eyes of Crawford’s 705 residents, the film offers a unique perspective on the Bush presidency.
This award-winning documentary premiered to standing ovations at SXSW in Austin this year and has since captured international attention, with sold-out festival screenings and director David Modigliani hailed by some as the “anti-Moore.”
Come to this special New York City presentation on Friday, January 16 and see how Crawford became a tourist attraction, protest site, and symbol for the exiting president’s personality. This screening is part of Crawford’s 50-State “Farewell to W.” Screening Party. Then, a series of election day themed short films range in location from Brooklyn to Ohio to Peru to Harlem and all capture the energy that was so amazing on election day. There will be an open mic after the screening for audience members to share their ideas on the film and the upcoming administration.
Cine en el Centro film series presents a FREE screening of Maria Full of Grace at the East Las Vegas Community/Senior Center. 250 North Eastern Ave., Las Vegas; today, Thursday, January 15 from 6PM to 10PM. Series curator Luis Bonilla will introduce the film at 6 p.m. After the screening, Bonilla will lead a discussion on the film in Spanish.[via]
The film tells the story of one young woman’s journey from a small Colombian town to the streets of New York. A bright, spirited 17-year old, Maria Alvarez (Catalina Sandino Moreno) lives with three generations of her family in a cramped house in rural Colombia and works stripping thorns from flowers in a rose plantation. The offer of a lucrative job involving travel – in fact, becoming a drug “mule” – changes the course of her life. Far from the uneventful trip she is promised, Maria is transported into the risky and ruthless world of international drug trafficking. Her mission becomes one of determination and survival and she finally emerges with the grace that will carry her forward into a new life. [via]
The Brazillian film, “City of God” directed by Fernando Meirelles will be the first film to be shown at the new Kuona Film Club on Thursday 22 January from 6.30pm. . The Kuona Trust is in Likoni Close, Likoni Lane, off Dennis Pritt Road, Hurlingham. P O Box 4802-00506 Nairobi | info: 020 2405960/1, cell: 0721 262326/0733 742752. info[at]kuonatrust.org
Directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, the film portrays the violence of the life in favelas, one of the slums in Rio de Janeiro. [via]
The award-winning feature film, “Follow Me Home,” will be shown on Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 7:00 pm at the Grand Lake Theatre, 3200 Grand Ave., in Oakland. This screening is presented by Speak Out, and will be followed by a discussion with Native American activist Lakota Harden.
Follow Me Home is a defiant, humorous, poetic tale exploring race and
identity. Weaving together traditions of Native, African, and Latin cultures, the film tells the story of four artists (played by Benjamin Bratt, Jesse Borrego, Calvin Levels and Steve Reevis, with Alfre Woodard) and their journey across the American landscape to their final destination, the White House. Given our own historic election and the millions of people that will also be making a similar journey to witness Barack Obama’s inauguration, this film is both timely and incredibly relevant to what is happening now.
The film¹s writer-director Peter Bratt, of South American Indian ancestry,
won Best Director honors at the 1996 American Indian Film Festival. The film was also an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival and won Best
Feature Film Audience Award at the 1996 San Francisco International Film
Festival.
Tickets are $10 for the general public and $5 for youth ages 17 and under. Tickets are available at www.brownpapertickets.com or by calling their 24/7 ticket hotline at 1-800-838-3006. The screening benefits Speak Out’s work with youth nationwide. For more information call (510) 601-0182 or email info@speakoutnow.org [via]
This season’s Missouri S&T Free Spring 2009 Film Festival will feature some very acclaimed films.
The films are free and open to the public. The movies will be shown at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays in Leach Theatre of Missouri S&T’s Castleman Hall, 10th and Main streets in Rolla, Mo., with the exception of “Gonzo” on Feb. 24, and “La Vie En Rose” on March 3, which will be screened in the auditorium of the Physics Building on the Missouri S&T campus.
The Spring 2009 Missouri S&T Free Film Festival includes the following motion pictures:
“Mamma Mia” – Jan. 20
“Vicky Cristina Barcelona” – Jan. 27 (pictured)
“The French Lieutenant’s Woman” – Feb. 3
“Before the Devil Knows You are Dead” – Feb. 10
“Gold Rush” – Feb. 17
“Gonzo” – Feb. 24
“La Vie En Rose” – March 3
“The Duchess” – March 17
“Merchant of Venice” – March 31
“The Year of Living Dangerously” – April 7
“Brideshead Revisited” – April 14
“Touch of Evil” – April 28
“All That Jazz” – May 5
For more information about the Missouri S&T Free Spring 2009 Film Festival, call 341-4185. [via]
Tin Roof Films will hold a free screening of “The Last Bullet,” at 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at Chattahoochee High School, Alpharetta, GA .
“The Last Bullet” is a short film emphasizing the courage and valor of soldiers in the Vietnam War.
During an intense nighttime skirmish between U.S. and North Vietnamese forces, buddies Shane and Matt tumble into a bomb crater moments after a barrage of bullets assail them. Shane escapes serious injury but Matt is hit and rapidly losing blood from a gunshot to the leg. Unable to pull Matt to safety, Shane makes a decision – to save his friend, he must leave him alone and run for help. Now by himself, Matt confronts his own mortality and when an explosion leaves him deaf, he cannot hear the radio blaring Shane’s return with reinforcements. As enemies and friends approach Matt’s position, who will Matt kill with his last bullet?
The New Direction Film Series is showing the film “Who Killed the Electric Car?” at 6:30p.m. Tuesday at the Peace Resource Center, 1364 Fremont Blvd. Doors open at 6p.m. and the showing is free.
WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? chronicles the life and mysterious death of the GM EV1, examining its cultural and economic ripple effects and how they reverberated through the halls of government and big business.
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The University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography presents the documentary Worst Possible Illusion: The Curiosity Cabinet of Vik Muniz on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 5:30 p.m. Director Anne-Marie Russell, director and curator at MOCA, will be on hand to discuss her film–a documentary on the Brazilian artist Vik Muniz that was filmed in Tucson, Brazil, Paris, Brooklyn, Tahiti and Chicago. Center for Creative Photography, 1030 N. Olive Road. Free. [via]
The award-winning feature film, “Follow Me Home,” will be shown on Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 7:00 pm at the Grand Lake Theatre, 3200 Grand Ave., in Oakland. This screening is presented by 
