Tiger Beat

Welcome to Nollywood & the Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio

There are a couple of special film events in San Francisco on Tuesday, October 9th (tonight).  The Mill Valley Film Festival comes to the San Francisco Art Institute with a screening at 7:30 pm of Welcome to Nollywood.  The documentary looks at the film industry in Nigeria which only started in the early 90s, but is already the third largest behind Hollywood and Bollywood.  Director Jaimie Meltzer (Off the Charts) and producer Henry Rosenthal (The Devil and Daniel Johnson) both live in San Francisco.  Michael Fox interviewed Meltzer for SF360.

The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio screens at the Clay Theater at 7:30 followed by a performance by the group and Q&A with filmmaker Agostino Ferrente.   The documentary tells story of an effort to save a historic theater by creating an orchestra made up of musicians from all over the world.  The tour is being presented by Netflix's Red Envelope Entertainment.

Photographer Edward Burtynsky at SF premiere of Manufactured Landscapes Friday

                       

   

       

                

                                            

            

               

Manufactured Landscapes

            

           

   

Manufactured Landscapes opens today (July 20th) in San Francisco and Berkeley.  Photographer Edward Burtynsky will be at the 7:15 pm and 9:35 pm screenings at the Lumiere tonight.

I'll write more about the film (it really should be seen in a theater) which will be opening in other cities.

Originally posted on tigerbeat.vox.com

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars

                       

   

       

                

                                            

            

               

Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars & crew

            

           

   

The Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars airs on PBS tonight as part of POV.  In San Francisco, it will be on KQED at 10 pm (check local listings - it may air another night or repeat).  It also will be available on DVD and through Netflix.

                                       

   

       

                

                                            

            

               

P.O.V. | Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars | Preview | PBS

            

           

   

I saw the documentary last fall at a San Francisco Film Society screening and bought the  band's wonderful CD (they are touring).

                                       

   

       

                

                                            

            

               

High Hat

            

           

   

Also tonight on most PBS stations and online later this week is the last episode of this season of Frontline/World (though they will be posting a new story or photo essay each week this summer - subscribe to the newsletter to get updates).

Originally posted on tigerbeat.vox.com

Loyal to the Sky - Marisa Handler

When I was briefly introduced to Marisa Handler by Chris Cook at the January  27th anti-war march, she had just received a copy of her first book, Loyal to the Sky: Notes from an Activist.

She's been on a tour for the book and will be in the bay area over the next couple of days before heading to Seattle (, Portland, and LA.  She'll have a conversation with Rebecca Solnit (who wrote the foreward) on Thursday, March 1st at 7 pm at New College (details).  On Friday, March 2nd at 7:30 pm, she'll be reading at Black Oak Books in Berkeley.

A brief interview and a longer interview.

Series she wrote for Salon from the 2003 Miami protests.

The New Amazon, Orion Magazine

Interview with Larry Bensky on Sunday Salon (download MP3)

The War Tapes

The War Tapes
Originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes.

I went to a preview screening of The War Tapes on Monday.  The film was introduced by Orville Schell, dean of the UC Berkeley Grad. School of Journalism.

A half hour preview of the film has been shown as part of a discussion (video is online) of coverage of Iraq at the Journalism school in March.



After the film, executive producer Chuck Lacy and Mark Danner who has reported from Iraq many times discussed the film and took questions (I shot some video and will try and edit it together soon).

The film opens Friday, June 30th (tonight) at the Castro in San Francisco and will be expanding around the country over the next few months.  Sign up for their email list to find out when it will be near you (and to get scenes which didn't make it into the film). 

Lacy and soldier/cameraman Zack Bazzi will be at the 7 and 9:30 pm screenings tonight and on Saturday, July 1.  There was a front page story in the Chronicle.

More photos.

Rose who forwarded the email about the screening wrote about it and so did Tara: www.horsepigcow.com/2006/06/see-this-movie.html

Other movies on soldiers in Iraq include Gunner's Palace and Operation Dreamland.  Off to War
which also followed a National Guard unit was shown on Discovery Times.

Frontline has done many programs on Iraq and all of them are online.  Company of Soldiers was about soldiers in Iraq, and the Soldier's Heart was about what happens once they come home.
Private Warriors was about private contractors in Iraq (the soldiers in the War Tapes
spend a lot of their time guarding their trucks and talk about Halliburton - Dick Cheney was the subject of the Dark Side). 

 

Nightline profiles the Google Doodler Tuesday

Update: They now have the story online (it is a direct link to the video player - I'm not sure how long it will be available).

There isn't anything  on the Nightline website yet (or Jake Tapper's blog  ), but this is from their email newsletter:

"Since it has become the most popular search engine around, chances are pretty good you use Google regularly to look up just about anything on the planet. And as you search, you may have noticed that the Google masthead changes occasionally. From Halloween to St. Patrick's Day to Father's Day, there's someone crafting playful art out of the Google name on that masthead for different occasions. Tonight, Jake Tapper introduces you to the artist, the Google Doodler."

There was also a story on Dennis Hwang on the BBC website, and there is an archive of his work.

No More Tears Sister

POV opens tonight on many PBS stations with No More Tears Sister, a film about Dr. Rajani Thiranagama, a human rights activist in Sri Lanka. I saw it as part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival at USF.

The Real Dirt on Farmer John

Farmer John
Originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes.

Wednesday, June 7th is the last night to see the full version of The Real Dirt on Farmer John at the Red Vic.

Farmer John will be at the evening screenings. <b>Correction</b>: He will actually be in Oregon tonight (his <a href=http://www.angelicorganics.com/Film/realdirtcontent.php?contentfile=filmandbooktour>schedule</a> - he will be in Sonoma on June 16th).

He was also interviewed on Fresh Air.  Audio is online and it will be on KQED FM at 1 pm and 7 pm and KALW at 6 pm on Wednesday.

A shorter version will be on many PBS stations as part of Independent Lens on Tuesday, June 13th (check ). Their website  is now online.

Stupid KQED is in pledge dreck mode.  Instead of showing, Farmer John on the night it is scheduled when it would get the most promotional push from the Fresh Air interview, they are showing
Best Money Tips: Your Guide to Wealth with Jonathan Pond (if he had any real wealth, he'd have hired someone to design a better website) and a Who concert.

This is the fucking bay area. They could pledge around Farmer John.  Give away his book, the DVD, and CSA subscriptions.  That would be a hell of a lot healthier than Dr. Perricone's wrinkle cure books. 

You can watch it on KQED on Thu, Jun 22 at 11 pm.

Vote

Hank Plante and Phil Angelides
Originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes.

No, it hasn't been a riveting election full of lofty ideas.  But it is still important to go out and vote.



Normally, I'd say go to the Guardian for election night coverage, but the site is currently down.

Perhaps SFgate will do coverage.  Also, KQED FM will have coverage starting at 8 pm.

I've put a set of photos together and will probably be posting some tonight from my treo.

The Devil's Miner

The Devil's Miner
Originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes.

The Devil's Miner begins airing on many PBS stations as part of Independent Lens on May 23rd (check local listings).  The IL site and the film's site.

The documentary is about Basilio Vargas who has been working in a silver mine in Bolivia for four years.  He is only 14 and knows what silicosis is.  He is protective of his brother who works with him and is 12.  It will be hard to find a more compelling story or a more articulate narrator in any recent film. 

The fillmmakers are doing extensive outreach to let people know   what they can do.  Micki Krimmel wrote about a community screening of the film (she is the director of internet outreach at Participant Productions which has their own documentary coming out).

The DVD is now available at the usual places and directly from the filmmakers.  It “includes a follow-up documentary - filmed one-year later with Basilio and his family, study guides for students, behind the scenes information, and information on how to help the children. “   

There is also an update on the Independent Lens site (though wait until you've seen the film to read it).