August 6-28: Screenings of select MTM8 films during the Scribe Video Center’s annual Street Movies event
July 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment
August 6-28: Screenings of select MTM8 films during the Scribe Video Center’s annual Street Movies event
The Scribe Video Center will be hosting screenings of numerous Eighth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival shorts from August 6th to August 28th as part of their annual Street Movies event. The Scribe Video Center’s objective is to provide the knowledge, tools, and support necessary for both emerging and experienced media artists to pursue all aspects of successful film, video and audio production. For twelve summers, Scribe has held free outdoor screenings of independent films in vibrant public space throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This year, Scribe’s Street Movies series is featuring an exciting line-up of documentary, animated and experimental films that explore issues of environmental justice, immigration, the effects of violence on communities, militarism, policing, prisons and green modes of transportation. This year’s line-up of independent films and videos is especially notable because it features a number of short films from the Eighth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival. The schedule of Media That Matters screenings is as follows:
Wednesday, August 6
Hosted by the Walt Whitman Arts Center
Walt Whitman Arts Center, Camden
African Underground: Hip Hop in Senegal by Magee McIlvaine, Ben Herson & Chris Moore
Thursday, August 7
Hosted by Montesorri Genesis II School
3529 Haverford Avenue, Mantua
E-Waste Animated by Ian Lynam, Produced by Morgan Currie & Lindsay Utz, GOOD Magazine
Saturday, August 9
Hosted by Bra Buddha Ransi Temple
Mifflin Square Park
6th and Ritner Streets, South Philadelphia
A Loud Color by Brent Joseph
Thursday, August 14
Hosted by Why Not Prosper and Social Re-entry
717 E. Chelten Avenue, Germantown
Perversion of Justice by Rev. Melissa Mummert
Friday, August 15
Hosted by Newbold Neighbors Association
DiSilvestro Park
15th and Morris Streets, South Philadelphia
Hammoudi by Anwar Saab
Wednesday, August 20
Hosted by Friends Neighborhood Guild and Friends Housing Cooperative
8th Street & Fairmount Avenue, East Poplar/ Northern Liberties
A Loud Color by Brent Joseph
Thursday, August 21
Hosted by Leon H. Sullivan Charitable Trust
Leon H. Sullivan Human Services Bldg.
1415 N. Broad Street, North Philadelphia
Hammoudi by Anwar Saab
A Loud Color by Brent Joseph
Friday, August 22
Hosted by Jubilee School and Neighborhood Bike Works
Clark Park
43rd & Baltimore Avenue, West Philadelphia
E-Waste Animated by Ian Lynam, Produced by Morgan Currie & Lindsay Utz, GOOD Magazine
Water Warriors by Liz Miller (a short film from the Sixth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival)
Saturday, August 23
Hosted by First African Baptist Church
16th & Christian Streets, South Philadephia
African Underground: Hip Hop in Senegal
by Magee McIlvaine, Ben Herson & Chris Moore
Thursday, August 28
Hosted by WPEB 88.1 FM Community Radio Station
Malcolm X Park, West Philadelphia
African Underground: Hip Hop in Senegal by Magee McIlvaine, Ben Herson & Chris Moore
Screenings start at 8:30 PM and include discussions about the films. Filmmakers are often in attendance.
July 24: Color of Change organizes campaign against racial smears on Fox News
July 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment
July 24: Color of Change organizes campaign against racial smears on Fox News
Color of Change is an organization devoted to ensuring that all Americans are represented, protected and served equally despite differences in race or class. Currently, more than 100,000 of their members have united in a campaign to end the racist smears on Fox News. On July 24th, after a graphic on Fox News referred to Michelle Obama as Barack’s “baby mamma,” rapper Nas joined the campaign against Fox News as well. Nas told MTV that he was also angered by the way in which Bill O’Reilley uses the term “lynching party” with regards to women. Nas and the rest of Color of Change believe that Fox’s racist slurs are not only offensive to African Americans, but to all Americans alike. With offenses like this so prevalent in today’s world, the dissemination of Media That Matters Film Festival shorts that promote a greater awareness of racism and its consequences is more important than ever. The Media That Matters Film Festival website features numerous films which expose issues of racial justice and injustice. Some examples of these include: We Were Humans, Silence Speaks, Is My Neighbor Latino?, Holla Back Dubai!., Face to Face: Stories from the Aftermath of Infamy and CopWatch from the Third Annual Media That Matters Film Festival; Books Not Bars, Day of Remembrance, and The Children of Birmingham from the Fourth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival; System Failure and Something Other Than Other from the Fifth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival; A Girl Like Me, Eyes on the Fair Use of the Prize and The Rules of the Game from the Sixth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival; The Apollos and Rapping at Fear from the Seventh Annual Media That Matters Film Festival; and A Loud Color, African Underground: Hip Hop in Senegal, Perversion of Justice and Something’s Moving from the Eighth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival.
This Color of Change campaign against Fox News also raises questions about the inherent flaws of the news industry and the power of harmful propaganda. These sorts of media issues are also explored in several Media That Matters Film Festival Shorts, such as the Fifth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival short The News Is What We Make It and the Fourth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival shorts Spring in Awe and Popaganda: The Art and Subversion of Ron English.
July 24 – July 27: African Underground: Hip Hop in Senegal screening at the 7th Annual National Hip Hop Congress Conference in Biloxi, Mississippi
July 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment
July 24 – July 27: African Underground: Hip Hop in Senegal screening at the 7th Annual National Hip Hop Congress Conference in Biloxi, Mississippi
The Eighth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival’s award-winning documentary short, African Underground: Hip Hop in Senegal will be screened at the 7th Annual National Hip Hop Congress Conference in Biloxi, Mississippi. This conference, which aims to clarify and further the ways that Hip Hop music can influence and spark action in local and national communities, will take place in Biloxi’s Treasure Bay Hotel from July 24th through July 27th. It includes a variety of activities and workshops on assorted facets of Hip Hop culture, the music industry, the work of the Hip Hop Congress, media coalitions, digital distribution, and ways to positively influence communities using Hip Hop. In addition, there will be nightly performances by artists on the cutting edge of independent music and special addresses by Cheri Honkala, the National Coordinator of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, and Bakari Kitwana of Rapsessions. This year’s musical performers include: DLabrie, Kamikaze, Shamako Noble, B-Girl Media/Knox Family, Silent Lambs, Darkside, Quanstar, F.E.W., and Truth Universal. A headlining performer is yet to be announced, but previous years’ performers include Blueprint, Zion I, and Jurassic 5.
This year’s Hip Hop Congress Conference is hosted by the Mississippi Artists and Producers Coalition. Hip Hop Congress President, Shamako Noble, hopes that the southern location of this year’s conference will help to build a lasting Hip Hop influence in Mississippi and connect the South to the rest of the national Hip Hop movement. He has said that he is especially excited to hold this year’s conference in the South because most Hip Hop organizations are afraid to go there. The Hip Hop Congress, a prominent and key voice in the nation’s Hip Hop activism scene, offers after school programs, cultural services for schools, and resources for artists and communities.
People interested in attending the conference can register here. Artists interested in performing at the conference can find information on submission here.
