Arts Engine Honored by Urban Visionaries Youth Film Festival

Arts Engine is to be honored by the Urban Visionaries Youth Film Festival at The Paley Center for Media for our passionate leadership in elevating issues that impact young people. The Urban Visionaries Youth Film Festival is New York City’s longest running film festival produced, promoted and presented by youth. A collaboration between youth and educators from New York City youth media organizations, Urban Visionaries is made possible by The Paley Center for Media and Listen Up!.

Published on April 17

Arts Engine Celebrates Ten Years of Media for Change with the Paley Center in New York!

The Paley Center is proud to present eight award-winning documentaries from Arts Engine’s Big Mouth Films and highlights from our renowned Media That Matters Film Festival, the premier showcase for short films on the most important topics of the day.  This series is in celebration of our ten years of dedication to social issue media.  Arts Engine emphasizes empathy and inquiry in filmmaking, bringing audiences to films that tell it like it is, in ways that haven’t been seen before.  Find out more about our history at www.artsengine.net/tenyear.

Media That Matters Staff Development Workshop for Educators

Thursday, May 1st, 2008; 4:30 to 6:00 p.m., reception immediately follows

Local and global, online and in communities around the world, Media That Matters engages diverse audiences and inspires them to take action.  Media That Matters staff and Paley Center educators will co-present this workshop for teachers using films that focus on human rights issues.  The workshop will include screenings, discussion, and classroom extensions.  Participating teachers will receive an Educator Pass to the Paley Center and curriculum materials.

To make a reservation email eduny@paleycenter.org or call 212.621.6663.

Arts Engine Film Screenings

All screenings take place at the Paley Center for Media located at 25 West 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019.

Regular admission: $10
Special: third day is free for 3-day attendees
Students: $8
Children (under 14): $5

Friday, May 2nd, 2008, 2:00 p.m.

Journey to the West: Chinese Medicine Today

(2001, 58 min., dir. Katy Chevigny)

Shot in the People’s Republic of China and the U.S., Journey to the West depicts the wide range of traditional Chinese medical practices in China and shows their influence in the U.S. today. Premiered at: Asia Society and Museum, New York.

Featured Media That Matters films: Spring in Awe, The Luckiest Nut in the World and Recycle

Friday, May 2nd, 2008, 4:00 p.m.

Brother Born Again

(2000, 76 min., dir. Julia Pimsleur)

Brother Born Again portrays a Jewish woman’s search for her brother who converted to Christianity and joined a separatist Christian community on a remote island in Alaska. Premiered at: South by Southwest Film Festival.

Featured Media That Matters films: Asparagus! (A Stalk-umentary) and POPaganda: The Art and Subversion of Ron English

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008, 12:00 p.m.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

(1999, 67 min., dir. Kirsten Johnson)

Innocent Until Proven Guilty takes a critical look at the U.S. criminal justice system through the eyes of a young black public defender in Washington DC at a time when an astonishing number of African American men are under criminal justice supervision.

Premiered at: Berlin International Film Festival.

Featured Media That Matters films: Vision Test and A Girl Like Me

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008, 2:00 p.m.

Nuyorican Dream

(2000, 82 min., dir. Laurie Collyer)

Nuyorican Dream chronicles five years of the struggles and aspirations of a New York Puerto Rican family as they contend with the devastating effects of urban poverty.
Premiered at: Sundance Film Festival

Featured Media That Matters films: I Promise Africa and Slip of the Tongue

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008, 4:00 p.m.

Election Day

(2007, 84 min., dir. Katy Chevigny)

In a triumph of documentary storytelling, Election Day combines eleven stories into one cross-country portrait of American democracy in action. Factory workers, ex-felons, harried moms, Native American activists and diligent poll watchers, from South Dakota to Florida, take the process of democracy into their own hands. The result is an entertaining, inspiring and sometimes unsettling story of citizens determined to vote on one fateful day. Premiered at: South by Southwest Film Festival.

Featured Media That Matters film: Battleground Minnesota

Sunday, May 4th, 2008, 12:00 p.m.

Outside Looking In: Transracial Adoption in America

(2001, 56 min., dir. Phil Bertelsen)

Introducing three families with transracially adopted children of three different generations, Outside Looking In explores the effects of white parents adopting African American children, as seen through the eyes of director and transracial adoptee Phil Bertelsen. Premiered at: Hollywood Black Film Festival.

Featured Media That Matters films: A Girl Named Kai and Something Other Than Other

Sunday, May 4th, 2008, 2:00 p.m.

Arctic Son

(2006, 75 min., dir. Andrew Walton)

In the tiny village of Old Crow, 80 miles north of the Arctic Circle, a father and his son are reunited after almost 25 years apart. They share a name and a bloodline, but the worlds they know and the lifestyles they lead are as different as their respective hometown climates. Premiered at: Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.

Featured Media That Matters films: Garbage Dreams

Sunday, May 4th, 2008, 4:00 p.m.

Deadline

(2004, 90 min., directors Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson)

What would you do if you discovered that thirteen people slated for execution had been found innocent? That was exactly the question that Governor George Ryan faced in his final days in office as Illinois’ top politician. Deadline is a compelling look inside America’s prisons, highlighting one man’s unlikely, courageous and historic actions. Premiered at: Sundance Film Festival.

Featured Media That Matters film: Pizza Surveillance Feature

About The Paley Center for Media

The Paley Center for Media, with locations in New York and Los Angeles, leads the discussion about the cultural, creative, and social significance of television, radio, and emerging platforms for the professional community and media-interested public.  The Paley Center in New York is located at 25 West 52nd Street; New York, NY 10019.  For more information visit www.paleycenter.org.

Published on April 10

Arts Engine Re-Launches DocuClub!

Join Arts Engine’s re-launching of DocuClub, the works-in-progress documentary screening series!

Our first screening for 2008 is scheduled for Thursday April 3rd, at 7:30 pm, in the screening room of our partner Goldcrest Post (799 Washington Street, between Horatio and Gansevoort).

We will watch Kimberly Reed’s Prodigal Sons, the story of “a brotherly rivalry between a man and a woman…and Orson Welles.” Reed was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film for 2007.

Our moderator will be DocuClub founder Susan Kaplan.

If you’d like to attend, please RSVP to: docuclub@artsengine.net.

Published on April 10

The Chicago Tribune spotlights Election Day

Check out the 3 Star review of Election Day in the Chicago Tribune, in which art critic Sid Smith praises Election Day for offering a “glimpse into everyday life during one of our quadrennial watersheds.” Election Day, the latest release from Arts Engine’s Big Mouth Films, premieres in Chicago on Friday, January 25th at 8pm at the Gene Siskel Film Center (buy tickets here). The film will also screen at the Siskel Center on Monday, January 28th at 6pm (buy tickets here). Tune in to Chicago Public Radio’s Eight Forty-Eight for an interview with Director Katy Chevigny on Monday, January 28th at 9am CST (stream here).

Read the full Chicago Tribune article here.

Published on February 01

Arts Engine Celebrates Ten Years of Media for Change

This year Arts Engine celebrates ten years of producing, promoting and exhibiting media for social change. Visit our Ten Year website to watch a new video that recounts our storied past through eight Big Mouth documentaries, seven Media That Matters Film Festivals and our powerful online machine at MediaRights.org.  Also, stay tuned to the Ten Year website for more information on the festivities!

A lot has happened in ten years and a lot more will happen in the next ten. Your support has been and will continue to be a very important part of Arts Engine’s sustainability. Please consider making a contribution to Arts Engine online before the end of the year.  If you’ve already made a contribution, thank you for your support.

Published on February 01

Arctic Son makes headlines in The New York Times

TV writer Daniel Gold touts Arctic Son as “a chance to see something of the country and the lives that remain at the mercy of others.”  Arctic Son, a Big Mouth film, will have its U.S. broadcast premiere on Public Television as part of P.O.V.‘s 20th anniversary season this month. Tune in on August 21st (check local listings) and watch this intimate story of a father and son reunited in a remote Arctic village after a lifetime apart. Arctic Son is proud to reach a national audience on P.O.V., television’s longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films.

Read the full New York Times article here.

Published on August 21

MediaRights.org launches Upstream: New Column on Public Media and Social Action

Upstream is a new online column launched by MediaRights.org.  This monthly column focuses on the impact of online public media on social issues.  Read the first article by Katy Chevigny here.

Published on June 20

Media That Matters 7 Film Festival Goes Online!

This year’s seventh annual Media That Matters Film Festival showcased 16 brand new short documentaries covering a wide range of social issues.  Watched the newest collection of social issue documentaries here.

Published on June 20