Coded Stories

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 18:02:35 -0400

Directed by Adam Hyman
An indigenous people, struggling to preserve their traditions. An artist, looking to merge the oldest creative traditions and the newest technologies, while calling attention to the indigenous of his native country. The Coded Stories Project will use an artist’s unique work to look at a marginalized group in Chile, while raising issues of loss of identity, globalization, and modernization that affect all of us.
Numbering around 600,000, the Mapuche are the largest Indian population in Chile. Many demand the return of territory lost in the 19th-century, and about fifty Mapuche who have destroyed property are in prison under draconian anti-terrorism laws drafted under the Pinochet regime. Meanwhile, many Mapuche still live in their traditional lifestyle, through agriculture and jewelry making, specializing in silver. Mapuche women still craft their remarkable textiles in the generations-old manner, weaving patterns of intricate geometric shapes that almost bear a relationship to… bar codes?

Artist Guillermo Bert, an immigrant to Los Angeles from Chile, strives to create contemporary work that is both aesthetically challenging and addresses issues relevant to our time. Fascinated with the idea of encrypting messages in his work, he has investigated the levels of meaning of bar codes and their relationship to values, capitalism, and society for five years. The use of bar codes raises the issue of the enormous influence that these contemporary encoding devices have in the storage of information and the encoding of identity in our highly technological world. With these technologies our identities are digitized and in the process often stolen or lost – parallel, perhaps, to the identities often lost by indigenous people or immigrants – a process which the artist is trying to reverse through his own artistic use of the same technologies.

Bert learned from an indigenous Mapuche poet, Graciela Huinao, about the ongoing disappearance of the traditional stories of the Mapuche, after many years of their language not being taught in schools, and as Western society moves in. He has chosen to work on the imperative need to preserve Mapuche tales and poems, merging his ongoing interests with the new issues raised by the Mapuche in his Encoded Textiles project.

The film, largely verité but with some interviews and stylized images of weaving, will follow Bert through the process of creating his Encoded Textiles art, and will follow the lives of several of the Mapuche storytellers or weavers to learn about the conflicts they face in Chile today. Most will be filmed in Chile as Bert finds storytellers and records them, and later works with the weavers to create the pieces. Two storytellers already set are the eloquent woman poet Graciela Huinao and the “bird man” Lorenzo Aillapán Cayuleo, who has a remarkable ability to imitate bird calls. Bert will video tape multiple stories and select six for encoding into the bar code PDF417, which can hold an unlimited amount of information, is used at airports to tag luggage, and bears a striking resemblance to Mapuche textiles. He will give the encoded patterns to Mapuche weavers, who will be paid to create the actual tapestries. The creative process and primary filming will happen from September 2011 to April 2012.
Pasadena Museum of California Art has already committed to exhibit Bert’s Encoded Textiles project, opening in October 2012. The project will result in magnificent large woven textiles that are conceptual works of art, and will be exhibited alongside the video documentation of the storytellers. The museum opening will be the climax of the film, with Mapuche storytellers coming from Chile to share in the display of their work, and to share their culture and stories with the global community.

Bite Size

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 18:28:34 -0400

Directed by Andrew Galdi
Bite Size tells the story of three diverse children from three states – Mississippi, Texas, and Oregon – as they team up with local obesity prevention programs to reform their relationship with their food and their communities. By following these children’s involvement in these various community initiatives, both public and private, Bite Size hopes to demonstrate that change is possible for anyone, anywhere. After six months, a follow-up with each child will show the impact of sustained health consciousness and examine the ripple effect each child’s personal change has had on their classmates, families, and surrounding communities. Inspired by each child's example, and informed by expert and celebrity interviews, audiences will be able to identify the universal truths to improving their well-being regardless of age or income.

Many documentaries succeed in enlightening audiences about a problem, but they fail to deliver moviegoers a direct course of action after they exit the theater. Popular TV shows and personalities simply criticize or superficially address the issue. We not only want to document a need for change but also hope to help audiences, of any age or income, identify the universal truths that can improve their well-being. This film is not focused on pointing fingers, demonizing corporations, or promoting fad diets. Rather, we hope to enlighten viewers about the different environmental factors that are threatening their health and provide real solutions for combatting these risks. We hope audiences will feel empowered to follow each child’s example, incorporating healthy choices into their own, everyday lives. Our companion website, www.bitesizemovie.com, will serve as a more comprehensive resource to assist individuals in discovering the tools that they need to pursue a healthy lifestyle for themselves, their communities, and their planet.

Block 57

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 18:21:25 -0400

Directed by Duncan McLean, produced by Sean Weber-Small and John Dellaporta
Block 57 is a feature-length documentary about the jagged history of energy development in the Amazon and its impacts on indigenous cultures. From gleaming corporate offices in Lima to thatched huts in the jungle, Block 57 looks at both the benefits and the costs of oil and natural gas extraction – from rising incomes and better education to environmental pollution and loss of traditional culture. Perhaps most significantly, Block 57 explores how formerly powerless indigenous populations now use technology, the legal system and political activism to ensure that they have a say in the Amazon’s future.

Locked Out

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:20:41 -0400

directed by Joan Sekler
A modern day David and Goliath struggle to save the middle class.
This is a compelling story of 560 unionized borax miners in the desert town of Boron, California who faced off against Rio Tinto, a British-Australian multi-billion dollar global corporation, which is the 3rd largest mining company in the world. Boron, population 2000, is home to many miners and their families, and is a close knit community of small businesses, churches, the boy scouts, the little league and many single family homes where workers have lived stable middle class lives for many generations. But their jobs and way of life were threatened when Rio Tinto locked them out of work on January 31st, 2010 and replaced them with scabs. Will the workers' middle class way of life be destroyed? Who will win this David and Goliath struggle?

Xmas Without China

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:44:41 -0400

directed by Alicia Dwyer
Two families living side by side but worlds apart collide when pride and mischief inspire Chinese immigrant Tom Xia to challenge his American neighbors to celebrate Christmas without any Chinese products. Fed up with toy and food recalls, the Joneses accept eagerly. As the challenge draws the neighbors into surprising intercultural exchange, Tom realizes he’s on a deeper journey of discovery through the rocky waters between the US and China. Grasping for identity and common ground in a fast-changing world, Tom and the Joneses become citizen explorers of the relationship between America and China that will define the 21st century. To learn more about our documentary in progress, please visit the film’s website here.

Filmforum is incredible -- and they make fiscal sponsorship a great experience both for us filmmakers and for the folks who support our films. -- Alicia Dwyer

The Linor Documentary Project

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 12:50:31 -0400

Directed by Cecilia Peck, Producers: Cecilia Peck, Motty Reif, Inbal Lessner
Linor Abargil was Miss Israel when she was sent to model in Milan at age 18. She was violently raped at knifepoint by a travel agent who she trusted to drive her to the airport for her trip home. She had to compete in Miss World just 6 weeks later. When she was crowned the winner (and the only Miss Israel ever to become Miss World,) she vowed to herself to one day do something about rape. Now, 10 years later, she has begun to speak out about what happened to her, and to reach out to other survivors. Her encounters with a diverse group of women who are coping with the aftermath of stranger rape, domestic rape, date rape, rape as a weapon of war, are intercut with scenes revealing Linor's own story and how her rape affected her life, her family, and her relationships. The survivor who fought to convict a serial rapist is struggling to find the courage to face the trauma she buried long ago. As difficult as it is, Linor remains committed to her mission to convince others not to blame themselves and not to stay silent, to educate police and prosecutors about the realities of rape and its aftermath, and to change the way we look at rape. For more information on this project, please visit the film’s website here.

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The Judy Finelli Project

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 19:37:53 -0400

Directed by Lisa Denker
The Judy Finelli Project (working title) tells the untold history of 20th-century circus through the remarkable journey of one artist. Judy Finelli was a key player in the American New Circus Movement, which transformed circus from decadent spectacle into an intimate interaction between performers and audience members at a time when the counterculture was challenging old hierarchies in American life and art. Finelli performed and directed circus, braking gender barriers, and was co-founder of the San Francisco School of Circus Arts before she was diagnosed, in 1989, with a circus performer’s greatest nightmare: multiple sclerosis. The film unfolds in three acts that trace Judy from her heyday in the New Circus Movement, through a deep illness-related depression, to her eventual return to the circus as a mentor to young performers.

Adultolescence

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:40:42 -0400

Directed by Vicky Shen
Adultolescence presents the psychological landscape of a first generation Asian-American family, adding elements of selective memory, voyeurism, escapism, and magical realism, all as ingredients that constantly alter the character of a perceived legacy by the youngest daughter, Lea May. The story begins when Lea returns home after a major career disappointment. She is catapulted back into her real but tainted memories of growing up under the scrutiny of her immigrant mother’s watchful eye that turns into a silencing but damaging disownment. As she films her present-day family and learns what it means to become an artist, Lea must confront the variations of truth that has led her to her own stagnancy and blame. By turns, she realizes there is no escape, fantasy or otherwise, from the unconditional and almost insufferable love she shares with her mother.

“Filmforum is a great, "hands-on" fiscal sponsor. It's been one of the easiest parts (and there aren't many) to the process of filmmaking for a first-time filmmaker like myself. They have been there to answer all my questions and assist.” -- Vicky Shen

Big Jay

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:58:57 -0400

Directed by Adam Hyman
Big Jay will tell the story of Cecil “Big Jay” McNeely, legendary saxophone ‘honker’ and one of the last surviving Rhythm & Blues (R&B) music greats of the 1950s. His shows are incredibly exciting, as his playing builds intensity, the dancers swinging, the band roaring…. and they’ve been that way for over fifty years. It will follow Big Jay as he recounts the story of his life, touching on key moments and scenes. And it will capture him in the excitement of a contemporary concert. But it will also use McNeely to trace the social and cultural changes that happened in music and society as a whole in Los Angeles and nationwide over the course of his career – from the late 1940s to today. The film is directed and produced by Adam Hyman, Executive Director of Filmforum and documentary filmmaker.

Sex Ed: The Movie

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:43:45 -0400

Directed by Brenda Goodman, Produced by Caitlin Krapf
How did you learn about sex? Sex Ed: The Movie is about sex, about sex education or rather the lack of a coherent, comprehensive, holistic approach to sex in the United States.

We have been very happy to use the Los Angeles Filmforum as our fiscal sponsor and are grateful for their continued support. -- Caitlin Krapf