What would New Orleans look like if it were home to the nation’s top urban public school system?

Executive Producer Matt Wisdom and Digital Filmmaker Tim Ryan hope to help convey that vision in a new short Internet documentary about recent successes within New Orleans public charter schools. In addition to an insiders look into what makes public Charter schools successful, the short film addresses the impact current public school reform will have on the future of New Orleans.

Video Blog Part 2 from our New Orleans Video Voice Project.

Video Blog part 1 of our first trip to New Orleans.

On Tuesday, February 19th, Sam Gregory, Program Director for WITNESS, will be participating in a panel discussion on the integral role arts and media play in addressing the most pressing human rights abuses.

Moderated by NBC’s “Today Show” anchor and “Dateline” host, Ann Curry, the panel will discuss the impact activist journalists, filmmakers, writers and artists have had in ending human rights abuses and how we can refocus our energy to address the present crisis in Sudan.

Please come with your questions, observations and ideas to contribute to this important discussion.

EVENT DETAILS
Read the rest of this entry »

Witness’ HUB allows users to share videos on human rights issues around the world. Recently, they highlighted this video about state violence in Bahrain.

Read the rest of this entry »

One of my favorite participatory documentary films is Maquilapolis, a film by Vicky Funari and Sergio De La Torre with the participation of factory workers along the US-Mexico border. I saw it just this year and I was so impressed with the films’ integration of participant footage with very technically sophisticated helicopter shots and artsy scenes.

To create Maquilapolis, the filmmakers brought together factory workers in Tijuana and community organizations in Mexico and the U.S. to collaborate on a film that depicts globalization through the eyes of the women who live on its leading edge. The factory workers who appear in the film have been involved in every stage of production, from planning to shooting, from scripting to outreach. This collaborative process breaks with the traditional documentary practice of dropping into a location, shooting and leaving with the “goods,” which would only repeat the pattern of the maquiladora itself. The process embraces subjectivity as a value and a goal. It merges artmaking with community development to ensure that the film’s voice will be truly that of its subjects.

The filmmaker’s ongoing commitment to the community participants and organizations that they work with led them to hold an intensive video editing workshop just this year. Each participant created a short 3-5 min documentary about their life histories. They will have them posted on the site soon!