Outside Looking In features three American families brought together—and at times pushed apart—by transracial adoption. Filmmaker and transracial adoptee Phil Bertelsen examines the bonds and strains that family members experience when white couples decide to adopt and parent black children. Through the stories of three generations of adoptees, the film explores the many complex issues that arise when child and parent do not share the same racial background. These voices—sometimes confident, sometimes questioning, and at times frustrated—narrate America’s struggle to understand and address its own racial history.

To purchase the Educational Version, click here.

Arts Engine’s Ten Year Anniversary Collection presents a ten-year retrospective of Arts Engine, a pioneering force behind the new generation of mediamakers exploring social issues.  Celebrating the power of film to create positive change, the new DVD box set showcases highly acclaimed, yet previously hard-to-find, feature-length documentaries and short films of the past decade. The box set includes eight feature-length documentaries from Big Mouth Films (Election Day, Arctic Son, Outside Looking In, Journey to the West, Nuyorican Dream, Brother Born Again and Innocent Until Proven Guilty) and two collections of award-winning short films from Arts Engine’s annual Media That Matters Film Festival.

To purchase the Library / Community Organization Version, click here.

To purchase the Educational Version, click here.

Forget the pie charts, color-coded maps and hyperventilating pundits. What’s the street-level experience of voters in today’s America? In a triumph of documentary storytelling, Election Day combines eleven stories—all shot simultaneously on November 2, 2004, from dawn until long past midnight-into one. 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: an entertaining, inspiring and sometimes unsettling tapestry of citizens determined on one fateful day to make their votes count.

DVD includes interview with Director Katy Chevigny and additional scenes.

To purchase the Educational Version, click here.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty takes a critical look at the US criminal justice system through the eyes of a young black public defender in Washington, DC. James Forman, Jr., the son of civil rights leader James Forman (executive secretary of SNCC, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), carries on his parents’ tradition of activism on one of the front lines of the contemporary civil rights movement: defending young black men and women who cannot afford legal representation and trying to help them break an ongoing cycle of crime and incarceration. The film follows Forman during the challenging first year of the Maya Angelou Public Charter School, an alternative public high school for juvenile ex-offenders he co-founded. Innocent Until Proven Guilty movingly documents his students’ struggles and successes as they trade the streets for the classroom. The film sheds light on the criminalization of African American juveniles and just how much determination it takes to change.

DVD includes interview with Director Kirsten Johnson and film updates.

To purchase the Educational Version, click here.

Journey to the West is an exploration of the ways in which Traditional Chinese Medicine—including acupuncture, herbs, and martial arts—is being practiced in the 21st century. From a self-taught herbalist in the Himalayan foothills to an experimental acupuncture clinic treating Parkinson’s patients in California, the film examines what the popularity of traditional Chinese medicine says about the meeting of Eastern and Western cultures. Journey to the West also features Zhongxian Wu, a renowned master of Qigong, martial arts, Chinese medicine, Yijing science, Chinese calligraphy, and ancient Chinese music. Shot in China and the U.S., this documentary introduces viewers to an engaging array of different practitioners, and illustrates how this traditional medicine is deeply rooted within a Chinese philosophic system that unites art, mind and body.

To purchase the Educational Version, click here.

In the tiny village of Old Crow, eighty miles north of the Arctic Circle, a father and son are reunited after a lifetime 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. Stanley Sr., a distant, philosophical figure to his son, keeps the ways of his Gwitchin ancestors alive by hunting, fishing and living by his wits in the harsh Arctic environment. Raised in Washington State, Stanley Jr. immerses himself in hip hop music and video games and is drifting deeper into drugs and alcohol. Embedded within this moving father-son story is a larger exploration of the complex relationship between tradition and modernity; old and young; nature and pop culture; addiction and independence; and the bigger question we all embark on at one point or another—the need to know who we are and where we belong.

DVD includes interview with Director Andrew Walton and additional scenes.

This film contains graphic images and strong language. A family-friendly version will be available in Spring 2008.

To purchase the Educational Version, click here.

Nuyorican Dream chronicles the struggles and aspirations of the Torres-Gutierrez clan, a Puerto Rican family trying to rise above and stick together in New York. But the effects of urban poverty run deep: eldest son Robert suffers alienation after becoming the first family member to graduate from college; siblings Beti and Tati deal with drug addiction; and mother Marta resorts to selling her homemade pasteles to support the extended family. Nuyorican Dream is not just about “making it” in America, but about making it with the family intact.

To purchase the Educational Version, click here.

Brother Born Again is an intimate documentary about Julia Pimsleur’s attempt to reconnect with her only brother, Marc, a born again Christian who spent ten years living with his spiritual family on a remote island in Alaska. Julia, a bisexual Jewish New Yorker, travels to Alaska to try to understand why Marc dropped out of college and converted to Christianity. With warmth and humor, this film explores what makes us who we are and what makes us family.

To purchase the Educational Version, click here.

What would you do if you discovered that 13 people slated for execution had been found innocent?

That was exactly the question that Illinois Governer George Ryan faced in his final days in office. He alone was left to decide whether 167 death row inmates should live or die. In the riveting countdown to Ryan’s decision, Deadline details the gripping drama of the state’s clemency hearings. Documented as the events unfolded, Deadline is a compelling look inside America’s prisons, highlighting one man’s unlikely and historic actions agains the system.

DVD includes interview with Directors Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson along with additional scenes, a glossary of legal terms and a timeline documenting capital punishment in the United States.

To purchase the Educational Version, click here.

Arts Engine presents the ninth annual collection of entertaining films that inform and inspire. Now you can own and share twelve innovative shorts from independent and youth filmmakers across the globe. Find inspiration, motivate your students, galvanize your community – there are hundreds of ways to SCREEN, ACT & IMPACT all year long!

The ninth annual Media that Matters discussion guide will be available late summer / early fall of 2009. Stay tuned! Until then, check out all our other free screening tools!

Arts Engine presents the eighth annual collection of entertaining films that inform and inspire.  Now you can own twelve innovative shorts from independent and youth filmmakers across the globe. Find inspiration, motivate your students, galvanize your community – there are hundreds of ways to participate all year long! View the list of this year’s films here.

Download the FREE Teacher’s Guide and other materials for your screening!

Arts Engine brings you sixteen innovative shorts by independent and youth filmmakers from across the country and around the world. These films will make you think, make you laugh and move you to take action. Find inspiration, motivate your students, galvanize your community – there are hundreds of ways to participate all year long!

Download the FREE Teacher’s Guide and other materials for your screening!

An image captures a feeling, a story shares a message, a movie becomes a movement. Media That Matters brings you 16 inspiring films by youth and independent filmmakers committed to changing the world, in 8 minutes or less.

Download the FREE Teacher’s Guide and other materials for your screening!

To purchase the Educational Version, click here.

Based on EVC’s two decades of experience, Youth-Powered Video offers a collection of over 200 pages of lesson plans, handouts, assessment rubrics, and model student journals.

Two DVDs accompany this guide. One DVD shows EVC teachers and students engaged in the curriculum lessons. The other DVD offers clips from EVC youth-produced documentaries.

• Easy To Use No prior video experience necessary
• Adaptable Use for an individual activity, a week-long unit, or an entire semester
• Standards-Based Curriculum fulfills both national and New York State education standards
• An Excellent Resource for middle school and high school teachers, teachers in training, and out-of-school program instructors

Ready to be inspired? In the fifth annual Media That Matters Film Festival hip-hop activists, dancing peanuts and clay-mation teenagers tackle today’s most pressing social issues. These films will make you think, make you laugh, and move you to take action. Find inspiration, motivate your students and galvanize your community by screening the festival DVD in your classroom, family room or community center!

Download the FREE Teacher’s Guide and other materials for your screening!

Culture-jamming, food politics, environmental justice—the Media That Matters Film Festival tackles all these issues and more. This jam-packed DVD features sixteen jury-selected films by independent and youth producers. The collection of animation, documentary, and experimental shorts is the perfect tool for a screening in your community center, library, classroom or living room!

Download the FREE Teacher’s Guide and other materials for your screening!

The third annual Media That Matters Film Festival DVD has been distributed to thousands of activists and teachers around the country. Featuring 11 shorts and 4 new media works, our first DVD compilation is a great way to start discussions on environmental protection, school bullying, safe sex, discrimination and more. Special features include “Tips for Hosting a Screening” and behind-the-scenes shorts. Diane Wilson, A Warrior’s Tale is not available on this DVD.

Ready for some film for thought? Arts Engine brings you a collection of short films on food and sustainability. From singing peanuts to teenage tomato-growers, these films will make you laugh, make you think and inspire you to take action for a healthy, sustainable and delicious future.

Includes six DVDs and two foldout promotional posters.

Because it includes six DVDs, you have five extra DVDs that you can sell for $30 at the event so that the kit pays for itself!

This kit is licensed for small, low-budget organizations, congregations and student groups (with no affiliation to a university academic department) doing free or at-cost screenings* of up to 50.

If you think you will be able to sell 10 DVDs or can afford the higher price—go with the large screening kit below. Your support will help spark debate and action on the important issues Media That Matters films tackle. Not for library use.

Buy the Fourth Annual MTM Small Screening Kit!
Buy the Fifth Annual MTM Small Screening Kit!
Buy the Sixth Annual MTM Small Screening Kit!
Buy the Seventh Annual MTM Small Screening Kit!
Buy the MTM Focus: Good Food Small Screening Kit!
Buy the Eighth Annual MTM Small Screening Kit!

*If charging more than $5 for admission to your Media That Matters event, please contact festival@artsengine.net.

Includes 11 DVDs and five foldout promotional posters.

Because it includes 11 DVDs, you have 10 extra DVDs that you can sell for $30 at the event so that the kit pays for itself!

This kit is licensed for larger, better-endowed organizations, congregations and student groups (with no affiliation to a university academic department) doing free or at-cost screenings* of any size up to 150 people. Not for library use.

Buy the Fourth Annual MTM Small Screening Kit!
Buy the Fifth Annual MTM Small Screening Kit!
Buy the Sixth Annual MTM Small Screening Kit!
Buy the Seventh Annual MTM Small Screening Kit!
Buy the MTM Focus: Good Food Small Screening Kit!
Buy the Eighth Annual MTM Small Screening Kit!

*If charging more than $5 for admission to your Media That Matters event, please contact festival@artsengine.net.

DocuClub is Arts Engine’s film screening series of works-in-progress documentaries. Each month, a filmmaker presents a rough cut of her film to DocuClub members and the public. Afterwards, a moderator facilitates a discussion between filmmaker and audience. Constructive feedback from these sessions informs the finished film. Past films that have been shown at DocuClub include Born Into Brothels (Academy Award for Best Documentary, 2004), Prodigal Sons (Telluride Film Festival 2008), and Disturbing the Universe: Radical Lawyer William Kunstler (Sundance Film Festival 2009).

For a recurring yearly fee of $50 for individuals and $100 for institutions (which covers up to two staff members), DocuClub members can attend all monthly screenings. Become a DocuClub member now!

DocuClub membership is non-refundable.

DocuClub is Arts Engine’s film screening series of works-in-progress documentaries. Each month, a filmmaker presents a rough cut of her film to DocuClub members and the public. Afterwards, a moderator facilitates a discussion between filmmaker and audience. Constructive feedback from these sessions informs the finished film. Past films that have been shown at DocuClub include Born Into Brothels (Academy Award for Best Documentary, 2004), Prodigal Sons (Telluride Film Festival 2008), and Disturbing the Universe: Radical Lawyer William Kunstler (Sundance Film Festival 2009).

For a recurring yearly fee of $50 for individuals and $100 for institutions (which covers up to two staff members), DocuClub members can attend all monthly screenings. Become a DocuClub member now!

DocuClub membership is non-refundable.

Brother Born Again and Election Day composer John Kimbrough’s latest musical venture, Valley Lodge, released their first record in 2005, songs from which were used in the FOX T.V. pilot “Pool Guys.” The record has also seen airplay on nationally syndicated radio, including Adam Curry’s top-rated weekly podcast. In the 90s, Kimbrough was the frontman and creative force behind the celebrated trio Walt Mink. Valley Lodge’s eponymous debut features twelve tracks including “Hanging On,” “21st Century Man” and “All of My Loving.”

The Brother Born Again (2000) soundtrack contains original music from the film by composer John Kimbrough. Kimbrough’s songs have been featured in both movies and T.V. commercials, and his compositions can frequently be heard on the nationally syndicated NPR program, “This American Life.” This audio CD includes six compositions from the film: “Marc’s Theme,” “Julia’s Theme,” “Mountains,” “New York,” “Alaska” and “Last Song.”