Trade is more important than aid
October 29, 2007
One of the greatest things that developed nations can do to help developing nations is engage in fair trade, and given that coffee is the most valuable commodity we trade worldwide after oil, it represents an industry that for many poor farmers represents their only way out of poverty. But while we in the developed nations continue to pay outrageous prices for fancy Starbucks coffee, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields. How can this be? This paradox is most evident in Ethiopia, which, ironically, is the birthplace of coffee. In the documentary Black Gold, we follow the story of Tadesse Meskela, a man on a mission to save his tens of thousands of struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. As his farmers strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans on the international market, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price. The film follows Tadesse’s journey to London and Seattle, the centers of power in the multinational coffee industry that is controlled by multinational corporations, commodity traders, coffee exchanges, and trade ministers. The film reveal the many challenges that Tadesse and his farmers face in their quest for a humane and lasting solution for the coffee farmers. For Meskela, “Trade is more important than aid.” Wake up and smell the coffee industry. It’s time for a change.
A Conversation with Les Blank
October 3, 2007
While I was at the Woods Hole Film Festival this summer I had a chance to sit down and have a conversation with documentary filmmaker Les Blank. We spoke about his new film All In This Tea, his experiences with Werner Herzog, why he self distributes, and which of his films he considers his favorite. The interview, titled A Conversation with Les Blank, appears in the newly re-launched Independent (the publication formerly known as The Independent Film & Video Monthly, which ceased publication with the demise of the AIVF).
An interview with Christen McArdle on preserving the Ann Arbor Film Festival
September 25, 2007
This week’s Art Film Talk interview is with Christen McArdle, the Executive Director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the oldest festival of its kind in North America showcasing avant-garde, documentary and independent films from around the world. We talk about the festival's fundraising campaign and the censorship controversy the festival has been involved with.
Summertime gazpacho
July 2, 2007
Summertime is gazpacho time. This cold soup is popular in Spain’s Andalusia during the summer and when Alice and I were there for our honeymoon, I gained an appreciation for it. The soup has its origins in ancient Andalusian cuisine as a mixture of stale bread, garlic, olive oil, salt, and vinegar. It is not always easy to find a flavorful yet subtle gazpacho here in the states, I was once served a bowl at James Gate that tasted like salsa pored right out of an industrial sized container. The best way, by far, to experience good gazpacho is to make it yourself from fresh vine ripened tomatoes in season. Here’s my recipe.
The Smile Boston Project (Trailer)
June 30, 2007
The Smile Boston Project is a 20 minute documentary that I recently completed. The film will premiere at the 16th Woods Hole Film Festival on Saturday, August 4th at 5:00 P.M. (screens with Justice Louis D. Brandeis: The People’s Attorney). The film follows artist Bren Bataclan through the first three years of his Smile Boston Project in which he leaves paintings in public places for people to find with a note that says, 'this painting is yours to keep if you promise to smile at random people more often.'
Special Screening of Remembering John Marshall
June 29, 2007
The Plymouth Independent Film Festival (July 18-22, 2007) will present a special screening of “Remembering John Marshall” along with four short films by John Marshall (”Bitter Melons,” “A Forty Dollar Misunderstanding,” “After the Game,” and “Youth and the Man of Property“) followed by a Q&A session with filmmakers Alice Apley and yours truly on Friday, July 20th at 5:00 P.M. at Plimoth Plantation. Visit plyfilmfest.org for more information.
2007 Woods Hole Film Festival
June 27, 2007
This week the Woods Hole Film Festival posted their festival schedule. Now in its 16th year, the festival opens with a screening of the remastered 1971 Documentary Classic, Blue Water, White Death, about the search for the elusive Great White Shark. Woods Hole is a wonderful festival with a large percentage of attending filmmakers. In addiiton to screening many films of note, the festival hosts a range of Panels & Workshops you will not want to miss, including: Documentary Filmmaking Master Class with Les Blank (Thursday, August 2 at 2:00 PM) a panel on The future of long form documentary in the age of Internet video on Sunday, July 29th at 2:00 PM, and Delivering Video via the Internet: Challenges and Opportunities on Tuesday, July 31 at 2:00 PM. (yours truly will be moderating the future of long form doc and video via the internet panels). For more information on the festival, visit woodsholefilmfestival.org.
2007 Plymouth Independent Film Festival
June 27, 2007
The Plymouth Independent Film Festival announced today its film selection for the third annual film festival. Over forty films will be screened at the Plimoth Plantation beginning on Thursday July 19 at 4pm. Highlights include seventeen films as part of the Made in Mass screenings series:
Binta, Marshall, and Slim to screen at NIFF
November 9, 2006
The 2006 Northampton Independent Film Festival will present a screening of three very special short films on Saturday, November 11th at 4:45pm in Stoddard Hall, Smith College inNorthampton, Massachusetts. The films are Binta Y La Gran Idea (Javier Fesser), Remembering John Marshall (yours truly and Alice Apley), and Living with Slim (Sam Kauffmann). Sam, Alice and I will be at the screening for Q&A, we hope to see you there if you’re planning to be in Northampton for the festival.
Download the Binta-RJM-Slim NIFF Flyer (PDF, 1 MB).
Havana - The New Art of Making Ruins
October 2, 2006
I saw a documentary at the Rio International Film Festival last week that was not only beautiful and poetic, but also a strong argument for shooting “real” high definition with Zeiss DigiPrimes if I ever saw one.
