I saw two FLEFF films this week right here on the IC Campus. The first one was on Wednesday evening and called "Bound by Promises." It was a really short film, but it packed a powerful punch. The film was about contemporary slavery that is a big problem in rural Brazil. WITNESS (their website is witness.org and is definitely worth checking out to learn about what other kinds of human rights violations exist) says that 25,000 workers are being enslaved in rural Brazil. The film talked to men who had experienced this enslavement (more than likely they had escaped, since buying your way to freedom is meant to be an impossible goal) by being lured from their families in hopes of making more money to get out of poverty, only to find themselves in "debt bondage." The work is physically tough and the entire situation, especially separation from family, is emotionally hard. While Brazil is making more of an effort to find these landowners and end slave labor, there's still a lot of work. If you missed this movie and you want to see it (because you should), go to the WITNESS website and there are links to both excerpts and the entire video, as well as what you can do to help end the slave trade in Brazil through them.

The second film was longer and featured a lot of cute animals, but still focused on a problem that's facing us today. With all the Al Gore hype about global warming, this set of scientists went to Antarctica to study the penguins there and really start to understand the effects of climate change on their wildlife. While the penguins, seals and whales were adorable to watch, what struck me was how "The Return to Penguin City" was able to really show the daily work and jobs of the scientists (almost like the film crew wasn't there), but in a way that wasn't so technical people couldn't understand it or so flashed up for Hollywood that it lost it's message. Directed by an IC alum, the film was informative in addition to being visually beautiful (unlike most people here on campus, I never get sick of snow). A (shortened) version of it was played on Animal Planet, so try to be on the look-out for this film if you're interested in animals, environment or the unique work of some pretty cool scientists.

And be sure to head downtown for some films of the final FLEFF days!

Hello,

Francesca Sherman here. I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who came to FLEFF and helped to make it happen. I had an amazing time, seeing, listening, and interacting. Thanks especially to Patty and Tom for including me in this event. The parties at The Lost Dog were great as a chance to meet people and exchange stories and film reviews.  All in all, it was a great week, and I hope to come back for it next year!

Thanks to all,
Francesca

I went to see Sharon Lin Tay talk about Ubuntu Kuqala, something she co-curates.  She spoke in Kati Lustyik’s course on Global Youth Media.  The talk was fascinating.  We discussed different definitions of the environment and watched “Chicken Delight,” some of the “Being There” videos, “The Meat Cutter,” “Return to Animalia,” and more.  If you haven’t had the chance to see these, I recommend them highly as they are all very thought provoking.  Though I can’t say exactly what I thought of them, I can say that they made me think a lot about the environment and how I see it.

CHECK IT OUT: http://www.ithaca.edu/fleff/exhibitons/ubuntu/

“Grass” showed as the last film of FLEFF and the theater sold out.  The film itself showed the migration of a tribe in Iran, crossing a mountain-pass with all of their livestock to reach a place with grass, so their livestock will survive.  The tribe has to walk over a snow-covered mountain without shoes.  The visuals in the film are amazing.  The camera showed the mountain from a distance as the 50,000 people climbed it and it was incredible to look at. 

Although the actual film was great, the live music was better.  With Chris White, Peter Dodge, and Robby Aceto, the score for the film was incredibly moving.  The entire atmosphere they created was stimulating and really captured, for me, the magnitude of the event.

“The Price of Sugar” is a documentary about human trafficking, and Haitian slave labor in the Dominican Republic.  This was a very interesting piece.  It revealed a lot of issues about the Haitians cutting sugar cane in the DR.  The film focused on a priest, Father Christopher, who works with the Haitians in the DR to improve their lives.  Although the film focused around this one man, I believe that it was done very well as it showed his leadership role and the way that Haitians followed and supported him and how some Dominican’s opposed him as well as the Haitians.  Following the film was a discussion led by two Ithaca College professors, Alicia Swords and Shianne Osterreich.  In the discussion, we discussed, among other things, a cease and desist letter that FLEFF received from sugar corporations, forbidding us to show the film.  Clearly, this letter was not very effective.  It’s nice to know the corporation is ashamed of itself and doesn’t want people to realize the inhumanity they have toward their workers.

I went to see “Taxi to the Darkside” on Saturday and it was gruesome.  The Internet Movie Database calls it, “An in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, focusing on an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed in 2002.”  It was very intense, showing brutal still photographs and interviews with the soldiers who were they.  I can’t say I enjoyed it, but it really opened my eyes and made me question.  I’m very glad I saw it.

I saw “4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days” on Friday night.  I was completely mesmerized.  The film portrayed a college student, Gabriela, who was in need of an abortion, and her roommate, Otilia, who is helping her.  Abortion and contraceptives were illegal in Romania when this film takes place, in the 1980s.  The girls’ experience throughout the film is horrible, and is depicted magnificently.  I really felt like I was there with them, and could barely sit still during the many unsettling parts.  I continued to ponder the issues the film raised after the show, and will continue to do so.  Though I don’t know much about Romania, I feel like this film gave me a glimpse into their cultural ideologies.

I just saw “It” and had a great time!  The film alone was great.  Clara Bow definitely has “it.”  I love silent films because of the facial expressions.  Monty was hilarious with his wild eyes.  The acting was great.  The live music was also incredible.  The jazz band sounded like it could be the original soundtrack.  They did a great job responding to the film.  And then, there was Cynthia Henderson’s performance.  Henderson described “it” girls in Hollywood and how they used “it” and changed “it.”  The whole multimedia performance was so much fun to experience.

Gretjen Clausing, an Ithaca College alum, is an honored speaker and guest of FLEFF. She is showing and discussing a documentary series called “Precious Places” that was created through Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia, Pa.

Are you excited to be back in Ithaca and see how things have changed?

The greatest change I’ve seen is walking around down in the commons. However, it was great to see that all the architecture downtown is still there. I was also really happy to see as I was coming into town that where I thought there might be a lot more development such as home building, things were basically the same. Anyways, I am definitely happy to be back.

How does it feel to come back as an honored guest and speaker at FLEFF?

It’s exciting and makes me feel quite tickled. When I was a student at Ithaca, it seemed there was much more acknowledgment being paid to people who were successful on the commercial side of film making and doing well in Hollywood. So in my mind knowing how much the film program at Ithaca College is growing and taking the career track that I’ve taken, being asked to come back and talk to students is thrilling.

What other film festivals have you been involved with or attended?

Actually, the first film screening I ever organized was here at Ithaca doing my undergrad as part of my non-fiction filmmaking class. We had to organize our final end of the year screening and at that point I was beginning to understand the structure of a program to make it all work. Then later on I worked on the Philadelphia Film Festival in its first year and now that is one of the largest festivals on the East coast.  So, now I’m not involved in any film festivals anymore, but I love attending them.

What have been some of your best moments in the film industry since leaving IC?

I’ve enjoyed being a part of a film that I can feel has had an impact on the audience. One I particularly remember was with filmmaker Frederick Wiseman. He made a documentary that was filmed in Philadelphia called “High School” and for years it was unofficially banned. However, a couple years ago I saw that it was going to be shown on public television. I thought that if this was the case there should also be a public screening in Philadelphia.  So I worked with Wiseman and the alumni association from northeast high school to make it happen. Therefore, a number of the students and faculty that were actually in the film came, as well as Wiseman. This created this historic and just great moment for me.

The project you are showing here, “Precious Place”, is one of the largest projects of its kind. What has been the hardest part of putting it together?

It is a massive effort of many, many people. There is all the community groups that made videos, the 50 plus filmmakers, the humanity scholars. It’s a lot of working together and coordinating. However, now the largest challenge has really been getting the film seen. It’s a really great project and it has just become a matter of getting it out there.

Do you have a favorite “Precious Place”?

All of them have different moments that I really love. However, at Scribe we’re in an old industrial building and we’re on the third floor. So we’re just underneath the eves and there is no ceiling in the editing rooms. Therefore, we can here the groups editing and going through their film. Based on that I can’t say it’s my favorite, but one definitely stands out in my mind and that is “Yorktown! You are here!”

Where is “Precious Places” available?

We are hoping to make it a part of the library here at IC. We are also beginning the process of uploading them onto the internet. Lastly, you can just contact Scribe and receive them through us there or on the website.

Be sure to check out this link to Scribe’s “Precious Places” website: http://scribe.org/about/preciousplaces

Jenna here...and I have to agree that the Nuevo Tango concert last night was fabulous! There were so many people there; interns, students and people from the Ithaca community. It was awesome! The music made me feel like I was sitting in a little cafe in Paris in the 1930's. Where do I buy the record?

Anyways, I hope you guys are all aware of all the exciting things that are happening around campus this week! The days are completely filled with screenings and guest speakers and all kinds of interesthing things to learn and people to meet. I hope you are taking advantage of it!

I just attended the Nuevo Tango Concert and was amazed.  It was the first time I had ever seen a bandoneon, let alone heard one.  Daniel Binelli is a master, he became so animated and passionate as he played; the other members of the quartet were superb as well!  Daniel Binelli, Pablo Cohen, Steven Mauk, and Nicholas Walker complemented one another magnificently.

I went to the West Side Story Counterpoint on March 31^st and it was amazing!  First of all, let me say, that I had misread the information and didn’t know there would be pianists accompanying the singers.  I was totally blown away by the spectacular music and performances.  I loved the visuals as well.  All in all, I was thrilled with the show and can’t wait for what else FLEFF has in store for me.

            It’s a couple of days into FLEFF and I’m starting to get a real feel for what the festival is all about. So far I have seen four films and went to the West Side Story Counterpoints performance and lecture. I have seen ‘How to Fix the World’, ‘Being Innu’(highly recommend seeing that if given the chance again), ‘Human Rights in Burma’, and ‘Becoming American’. All the films have been fantastic.

            Each film focused on a clashing of cultures, destruction of a culture, and the ways in which to preserve the traditions and people of a culture. I found that all the films (including West Side Story) exemplified how important a sense of community is in preserving human happiness. How in any time of distress having a support system such as a family, a youth group, a town hall, or even just a classroom setting can help maintain good health and happiness.

            Each film took place in a different environment, but they all focused on being human. There is some sense of unity in the fact that although we are all live different lifestyles we all need a sense of community. We can define ourselves by what country we live in or what culture we came from but we are all human, we all live on one planet, and we are all still the same.

            I am very much looking forward to seeing more films the rest of this week, and I highly recommend you to do the same! I have been learning so much about the people that I share this planet with through these films and I can’t wait to learn more.

            Some recommendations for films that I have are to go out and see: ‘Precious Places’, ‘Honeydrippers’, and ‘War/Dance’(it was nominated for an Academy Award!). Take a look around the website for information about the films and where they will be screening! Hope to see you there!

We welcome new participants who can register at:
http://www.subtle.net/empyre 

We very much welcome student participation.

-empyre- is an international listserve on art and technology that is co-moderated by myself and Renate Ferro of the Art Dept at Cornell and a group of other international moderators (Renate was a featured artist at FLEFF last year). We have special topics every month with special guests. This month we will feature FLEFF in a discussion on "Wired Sustainability" which begins tomorrow.

Hey all I’m Taylor, and I am so excited to be a part of this festival!

Here is an interview I did with Sorayya Khan, a fantastic novelist who wrote the catalogue essay for the festival about her trip to Banda Aceh. You can read the essay here: http://www.ithaca.edu/fleff/festessay/website. She will also be giving a presentation on her trip on Friday April 4^th at 11am.

1. What was your reason/inspiration behind doing the research and writing

for the festival essay?

The research for the festival essay is a result of a Constance Saltonstall Foundation Artist Grant in Creative Non-Fiction(The foundation's mission is to support visual and literary artists in New York State, especially in the Finger Lakes Region.) I applied for the grant because of my interest in interviewing tsunami survivors and my hope that I would eventually write a collection of essays that reflects on their experience.  I spent three weeks in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, in May of 2007.

Specifically, in my writing as a novelist, I'm interested in the relationship between the personal and the political--which is another way of saying that I'm interested in the relationship between a character or a family and the larger structures in which the character or family exists.  After seeing televised scenes of devastation following the tsunami and realizing they looked very much like war scenes, I started to think about the tsunami, much like war, as a structure -- an environmental reality -- and wondered how families were surviving it.

Being asked to write the catalogue essay for FLEFF forced me to begin to process my trip in my writing.  Since returning from Banda Aceh, I

had been immersed in meeting a deadline for a fiction manuscript. Patti Zimmerman did me a favor by inviting me to write the essay because it required me to make time to put down some initial thoughts regarding my experience.

2. Would you provide the blog readers with a little bit of information about your current novel Noor and your upcoming novel Five Queen's Road?

NOOR is set in Islamabad, Pakistan and examines the legacy of the 1971 war which gave birth to Bangladesh.  In particular, it deals with the

complicated relationship between the war, one soldier, and his family.

The story depicts an extraordinary child, Noor, who through her artwork enables her mother and her grandfather to confront their pasts. NOOR is a novel about the effects of war and the possibilities inherent in love and forgiveness.

FIVE QUEEN'S ROAD weaves together family saga and national history over a fifteen year period following Partition in South Asia. It is structured along alternating narrative lines, the earlier one a story that begins during Partition in 1947 and the later one which follows the same characters ten years later.  While the novel is primarily set in Lahore, there are scenes which occur in other places, including Winston Salem, Chicago, Amsterdam, Maastrict, and Vienna.  The novel is about memory and family and how people survive horrors like Partition and World War II.  The story bridges characters with different histories across time--all in part of the world that is now every day news.

3. Do you have any comments/feelings/excitement for any part of this festival?

I love the festival's exciting and all-encompassing definition of environment and am looking forward to the wide variety of subjects it will be showcasing.

4. Have you worked with any other festivals?

I have not worked with any other film festivals.

5. Do you have any words of advice for people who plan to attend FLEFF?

Attend as many events as you're able to (without missing too many classes).