November 24-27: PUSHING THE ELEPHANT World Premiere in Amsterdam, Holland!

Join us for the World Premier of Pushing The Elephant at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam!

Rose Mapendo lost her family and home to the violence that engulfed the Democratic Republic of Congo, yet she emerged from the suffering advocating peace and reconciliation. After helping numerous survivors rebuild their lives, there is one person Rose must still teach to forgive - her daughter Nangabire.

View the Trailer!

Screening Times & Locations:
Nov 24 @ 7:30pm Tuschinski 1 - Oxfam Novib Selection
Nov 25 @ 11am Tuschinski 5
Nov 27 @ 7:30pm Munt 10

**SPECIAL SCREENING On Nov 24 @ 7:30pm** Oxfam Novib will feature Pushing the Elephant at a special screening in the beautiful, historic Tuschinski 1 theater. Only three IDFA films were selected for this honor. Special introduction with filmmakers Elizabeth Mandel and Beth Davenport.

Published on November 23

Tribeca Film Institute: Documentaries as a Social and Political Tool of Engagement

Filmmakers who create social issue documentaries share with activist organizations a commitment to worldwide social justice and utilize media to expose global concerns to audiences in increasingly broad ways.

With social networking, mobile phones, and digital media in a variety of formats, there are more opportunities to educate others and affect change than ever before. On November 2, a panel comprised of filmmakers and representatives from social issue non-profits will discuss the use of new and old technologies to engage the important issues of our time with the global community.

Panelists include Julia Bacha, an award-winning filmmaker who most recently directed and produced Budrus, a film about a Palestinian village’s nonviolent struggle, and also co-wrote and edited Jehane Noujaim’s critically acclaimed documentary Control Room; and director/producer Kim A. Snyder, an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose most recent film, Welcome To Shelbyville, is recipient of a Gucci-Tribeca Documentary Fund grant, which will air on PBS’s Independent Lens in early 2011. The panel is moderated by producer/director Katy Chevigny from Arts Engine.

This event is co-sponsored by Tribeca Film Institute and the Department of Media Studies and Film.

Date:
Tuesday, November 02, 2010 7:00 p.m.

Location:
Wollman Hall, Eugene Lang Building, 65 West 11th Street, 5th floor (enter at 66 West 12th Street)

Admission:
Free; no tickets or reservations required; seating is first-come first-served

Published on October 27

Gotham Awards Nomination for Media That Matters Documentary

MTM8’s A Nomad’s Life, which has since become a longer film (Summer Pasture), has received a Gotham Award nomination for the “Best Film Not Playing At A Theater Near You.” The film, directed and produced by Lynn True and Nelson Walker and co-produced by Tsering Perlo and Keefe Murren, will play at the Museum Of Modern Art in New York City on Monday, November 29.

Published on October 21

THIS MONDAY : Media That Matters at the Docyard in Cambridge, MA

Come along to The Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA, on Monday, October 11 @ 8 p.m. when Media That Matters will screen the following fascinating films:

Lessons from a Tailor dir. Galen Summer
The Next Wave dir. Jennifer Redfearn & Tim Metzger
I’m Just Anneke dir.Jonathan Skurnik
A Girl Like Me dir. Kiri Davis
Denied dir. Julie Winokur
Recycle dir. Vasco Lucas Nunes & Ondi Timoner
Perversion of Justice dir. Melissa Mummert
A Girl Named Kai dir.Kai Ling Xue
Justice Denied: Voices from Guantanamo dir. Joel Engardio
Massacre at Murambi dir. Sam Kaufman

Justice Denied:Voices from Guantanamo director Joel Engardio and Massacre at Murambi director Sam Kauffman will be present and available for a Q&A session on the night, as well as Media That Matters’ own Jolene Pinder.

Tickets: General admission is $10. $8 for students, Brattle, and Chlotrudis members.

The Brattle Theatre is located in Harvard Sq., 40 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA

Published on October 07

PUSHING THE ELEPHANT Will Screen in NY and LA During DocuWeeks!!

Arts Engine’s own Pushing the Elephant will have a one-week theatrical run in New York and Los Angeles in August. These screenings will qualify Pushing the Elephant for consideration for next year’s Oscars. A list of screening dates and times are below.

New York
IFC Center    
Fri 6-Aug 12:00 PM   5:30 PM
Sat 7-Aug 1:35 PM   7:30 PM
Sun 8-Aug 3:35 PM   9:45 PM
Mon 9-Aug 12:00 PM   5:30 PM
Tue 10-Aug 1:35 PM   7:30 PM
Wed 11-Aug 3:35 PM   9:45 PM
Thu 12-Aug 3:35 PM   9:45 PM

Los Angeles
ArcLight Hollywood
Fri 13-Aug 12:00 PM     5:40 PM
Sat 14-Aug 1:45 PM     7:40 PM
Sun 15-Aug 3:45 PM     9:50 PM
Mon 16-Aug 12:00 PM     5:40 PM
Tue 17-Aug 1:45 PM     7:40 PM
Wed 18-Aug 3:45 PM     9:50 PM
Thu 19-Aug 3:45 PM     9:50 PM

Published on July 12

Tenth Annual Media That Matters Collection Now Available!

On June 2, 2010 the tenth annual Media That Matters collection launched with simultaneous premieres in New York City and Minneapolis. The complete list of screenings for the month of June included:

1. New York City (June 2)—WORLD PREMIERE
2. Minneapolis (June 2)—near-simultaneous screening with questions to the winning filmmakers in NYC, in partnership with Minnesota Film Arts
3. London (June 4)—in partnership with Working Films and Shooting People.
4. Denver (June 12)—in partnership with Denver Film Society (Starz Film Center)
5. Miami (June 16)—in partnership with Miami Beach Cinematheque
6. San Francisco (June 18)—in partnership with Ninth Street Independent Film Center and BAVC
7. Washington DC (June 22)—in partnership with Campus Progress and Women In Film and Video
8. Santa Fe, NM (June 25)—in partnership with Warehouse 21
9. Evanston, IL (June 26)—in partnership with Evanston Arts Depot
10. Portland, OR (June 29)—in partnership with Film Action Oregon

This year’s selection celebrates twelve jury-selected shorts, each under twelve minutes, tackling a broad range of social issues with humor, humanity, and honesty.

All twelve new Media That Matters films are available online. The collection is being distributed nationwide on DVD and via “do-it-yourself” screenings in many different locations. To develop your own do-it- yourself screening, please contact us.

Published on July 12

Help Get Media That Matters into Classrooms!!

This year, Arts Engine is trying to bring Media That Matters into more educational settings than ever before. Please join our 2010 Peer2Peer fundraising campaign. Make a donation and let your peers on facebook and twitter know that you’ve done so. Your donation and sharing will help ensure that diverse voices and stories are represented in our youth’s educations in a year when our educational institutions, due to budget cuts, could use the help.

Please donate. A donation of only $24 (or the equivalent of $2/ month for the next twelve months) will help get this year’s collection into schools. There are twelve films. And there’s twelve months until the release of the next collection. Screenings in schools cost approximately $250 each. If even 200 of our 20,000 members donated $24, it would add about 20 school screenings in the upcoming months.

We just launched our newest collection on June 2. Media That Matters, with its teacher-friendly curriculum, is a great way to introduce our country’s youth to new and inspiring points of view. A trusted guide of the media that matters, Arts Engine can play a significant role in the education of our youth.

This June we also had the premiere of Arts Engine’s own media that matters. PUSHING THE ELEPHANT premiered at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. A Peer2Peer donation will help us get PUSHING THE ELEPHANT screened in more venues so that Rose’s story can be seen by all. Work to affect change and join this year’s fundraising campaign!

Thank you in advance for joining us in our annual Peer2Peer Campaign for Media That Matters. After you’ve made a donation, please share that you’ve done so with your friends on Facebook. We appreciate it!

Published on June 07

PUSHING THE ELEPHANT Human Rights Watch Premiere!

Pushing the Elephant, Arts Engine’s next Big Mouth film, will premiere at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival on June 12-14, 2010. Both a portrait of a powerful woman and an intimate portrayal of the refugee experience, Pushing the Elephant takes us on a journey from the cul-de-sacs of suburban Phoenix towards peace in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Rose Mapendo lost her family and home to the ethnic violence that engulfed the DRC, yet she emerged advocating peace and reconciliation. After helping numerous victims to recover and rebuild their lives, there is one person Rose must still teach to forgive—her daughter Nangabire.

We have come a long way since April 2007 when we went to JFK Airport to film Nangabire’s joyful and tearful arrival in the U.S. Please join us at Lincoln Center to meet Rose in person and see the results of our three years of work.

Tickets go on sale May 20 at http://www.hrw.org/en/iff/new-york. Buy yours now, before they sell out!

Published on May 19