blog
Trondheim's back with hard core documentary screenings
Submitted by trondheim on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 5:25pm.
Posters of a flamboyant mohawk, a stack of flyers and free give-outs of small plastic cups of popcorn in the hallway outside the lectures halls of the university brought in attention for Cinema Politica Trondheim's opening screening this semester yesterday. A small crowd gathered in the chosen auditorium to watch the videodocumented story of the phenomenon Taqwacore, the birth of punk Islam. The mood was energetic, the music loud and the audience went berserk and everyone threw themselves at each other in a state of total benevolant chaos... or wait, maybe that was in the film.
Though in a calm and behaved way, our audience really seemed to be pleased and entertained by the first documentary screening of the semester. It was, in other words, a promising start of another semester of quality documentary film screenings in Trondheim, and we are looking forward to follow up with the rest of our program!
doCuMeNTaRY woRKSHoPS iN yeLLoWKNiFe
Submitted by yellowknife on Mon, 08/09/2010 - 1:04am.Cinema Politica Yellowknife and aRTLeSS meDia presents:
2 nights of Documentary Workshop with activist filmmaker Magnus Isacsson
THOUGHT PROVOKING DOCS: TELLING COMMUNITY / SOCIAL / POLITICAL STORIES ON VIDEO
6-10pm, Thursday, Aug 12th
FROM THE FIRST IDEA TO THE FINISHED FILM.
How do you go from an idea to an actual film project ? Focus, storyline, point of view. The synopsis, the scenario, the treatment, the demo, the pitch. Produce yourself or work with a producer ? Broadcasters and funding agencies. Documentaries on the web.
6-10pm, Friday, Aug 13th
2) STORYTELLING AND POINT OF VIEW.
Objectivity and point of view. Who are you speaking to and what do you want to achieve? Your point of view and the point of view of the subjects, Your agenda and theirs. Getting a message across by editorializing or storytelling ?
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Lies, Lies, Lies: Cinema Politica defamed in Woods Hole
Submitted by Ezra on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 2:23pm.
Dennis, Massachusetts (40 minutes from Woods Hole) resident David MacGuire organizes screenings of Al-Qaeda training videos that help to rally the community against non-Muslims in a vicious orgy of pro-terrorism, hatred and violence.
communication 101
Submitted by Woods Hole on Fri, 06/25/2010 - 1:44pm. 
Dear CP Supporters,
We here at Cinema Politica would like to thank everyone who sent emails and nearly 100 people who signed our petition (** please DO NOT donate any money if you sign!!) over the course of the week.
While the situation is far from simple, we feel we owe you the right to hear the nature of the discussions we've been engaged with over the past year with the WHCA.
Yesterday, we invited Steve Junker, a co-president of the Association, to explain the WHCA's side of the story at tonight's screening of "Sharkwater," but he declined the offer. Instead, he offered to discuss the matter in private with the aid of a hired facilitator.
"The Board feels this is a difficulty we're having with a user, and in order to facilitate discussion we have to sit down in a small, direct conversation. To the Board, this is not a public issue," he said.
We wonder how you, as the "public," feel about that. While we are very interested in resolving the question of our use of the building, we feel that this problem all began because discussions were not open.
Cinema Politica kicked out of screening venue
Submitted by Woods Hole on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 1:13pm.We're sorry to inform you that the Woods Hole Community Association sent a letter last week informing us that we are not invited to rent the Firehouse during July and August-- and only after a hearing in September will they consider renting to us again.
At issue is our decision to screen five films over the past year and a half regarding the human rights situation in Palestine-- most recently, our June 4 screening of "Occupation 101."
Since last year, we have been hearing that some members of the the WHCA Board of Directors take issue with these documentaries. But in our discussions with the Community Association co-presidents, we have not been able to find out what their concerns are or how our groups could work together to resolve our differences.
We have invited WHCA members to come to the films and take part in discussion-- which we feel would be a first step in relieving tensions, by getting the debate out into the open. As far as we know, nobody who has a problem with these films has attended any screenings; instead, the Board has seen fit to ban us from the Firehouse.
If this update concerns you, there are two things you can do: sign our petition and send emails to the WHCA co-presidents:
Catherine Bumpus at catherinebumpus [at] aol [dot] com
Steve Junker at junker [at] thoughtballoon [dot] org.
New film acquisition: Bas! Beyond the Red Light
Submitted by Ezra on Mon, 06/07/2010 - 4:42pm.Cinema Politica is thrilled to announce our newest acquisition, Bas! Beyond the Red Light. Distributed by F3M, the non-profit folks who also distribute CP films A Tent on Mars and Art in Action, this beautiful documentary looks at former sex trafficked girls in Mumbai who participate in a dance program at a non-profit. From the film's site: "In BAS! Beyond the Red Light 13 young girls sold into Mumbai’s infamous network of gated brothels confront the inner and outer perils of life after rescue and reveal the very human story inside the big business of child trafficking." You can also check out an interview with the film's director, Wendy Champagne at Art Threat.
Woods Hole defends freedom of speech!
Submitted by Woods Hole on Mon, 06/07/2010 - 11:04am.
For over a year, Cinema Politica-Woods Hole has been in discussions with the Woods Hole Community Association-- the group that rents us the Firehouse-- regarding the "concerns" the WHCA has with films regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Given the events surrounding the Free Gaza flotilla (and the local connection, due to the presence of a local woman on board one of the ships), we held a screening of "Occupation 101" on June 4. The following is a letter in response to the WHCA co-presidents' email, questioning why they were not warned of the screening in advance.
June 5, 2010
To the Woods Hole Community Association Board of Directors:
As you are aware, we held a screening of "Occupation 101" at the Firehouse on Friday, June 4. It was one of our most well-attended screenings, with people of all ages filling over 50 seats.
We made the decision to screen this film on Tuesday, given the spotlight on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict following the IDF raid on the Free Gaza flotilla on Monday. As is the case with any documentary screening, Cinema Politica tries to tie in its programming with events in the news. We felt that showing this film would provide critical context for why the boats were attempting to break the Gaza blockade in the first place.
Suing to keep posters on poles
Submitted by fredericton on Mon, 05/31/2010 - 12:57pm.
Posters on public utility poles lead a short life in downtown Fredericton.
Members of community groups and promoters for music and art shows put up posters on these poles daily. Whenever they’re put up, an employee of Downtown Fredericton Inc. (DFI) removes them - with the exception of a handful of poles.
Dave Steele and three other Fredericton residents are fighting for the rights of the unseen poster. They have served a lawsuit against DFI and its General Manager, Bruce McCormack.
....
Cinema Politica puts up different posters regularly for their weekly film screenings. Glynn says the group is frustrated by the poster removal that they say is wasting their money, time and resources. Read more at NB Media Co-op.
CP at the Anarchist Bookfair in Montreal
Submitted by Ezra on Wed, 05/26/2010 - 3:47pm.
For those in the Montreal area, Cinema Politica will be tabling at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair this weekend (May 29-30). Every year we support this excellent event as we believe in connecting the art of documentary with social justice and social movements. This year we'll actually have some wares to sell (on a sliding scal price of course). We'll have our new CP tshirts, plus many of DVDs of the films we show throughout our network. Come by and say hi and support anarchism! Info on the event below...
Montreal Anarchist Bookfair
MAY 29-30, 10am-5pm
at the CEDA, 2515 rue Delisle
(a short walk from Lionel-Groulx metro)
The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair — and month-long Festival of Anarchy — bring together anarchist ideas and practice, through words, images, music, theatre and day-to-day struggles for justice, dignity and collective liberation.
The Bookfair is for people who don’t necessarily consider themselves anarchists, but are curious about anarchism, as well as a space for anarchists to meet, network and share in a spirit of respect and solidarity. All are welcome.
The Bookfair is organized in a spirit of openness towards the different traditions, visions, and practices of anarchism. Together we share a commitment to promoting anarchism through the values of mutual aid, grassroots democracy, direct action, autonomy and solidarity, while opposing oppression in all its forms.
Call for submissions: Fall 2010
Submitted by Ezra on Tue, 05/25/2010 - 1:12pm.
Calling all political filmmakers!
Cinema Politica is seeking submissions! Cinema Politica is a Montreal-based non-profit network of community and campus locals that screen independent political films by donation throughout Canada and abroad. We believe in the power of art to not only entertain, but to engage, inform, inspire, and provoke social change.
We are currently seeking submissions from independent political filmmakers for our FALL 2010 Program. We accept all lengths and styles and we will leave it up to the artist to interpret and determine the qualifier "political." We look for films and videos that are tackling important political issues and telling underrepresented stories. We are particularly interested in Canadian works. We pay public screening fees for films and videos to screen throughout our network of 50+ locals in Canada and can negotiate further for our 20+ outposts abroad.
Ideally, we would like to work directly with artists, but we also work with distributors representing artist's works when necessary.
Deadline for submission for our Fall 2010 program is early this year: August 1st, 2010.
Please contact Director of Programming ezra [at] cinemapolitica [dot] org if you have questions, or simply mail a DVD screener to the following address:
