Saturday, June 12: "Life and Debt" film screening @ MAYSLES INSTITUTE

MASTERCLASS: John Mullen
A Series Dedicated to a Major Contributor to the Documentary Film Tradition

Life and Debt*7:00 pm
Dir. Stephanie Black, 2001, 80 min.

"Utilizing excerpts from the award-winning non-fiction text “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid, Life & Debt is a woven tapestry of sequences focusing on the stories of individual Jamaicans whose strategies for survival and parameters of day-to-day existence are determined by the U.S. and other foreign economic agendas. Life and Debt addresses the impact of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and current globalization policies on a developing country such as Jamaica."

*The Mayor of Central Park 8:30pm
Dir. John Mullen, 2006, 63 min.

"Alberto Arroyo, “pioneer of the jogging trend” and “Mayor of Central Park”, narrates the story of a park, a city and a 90+ year lifetime from the jogging track around the Central Park Reservoir (named in his honor shortly after his passing in 2010). While battling cancer, native New Yorker John Mullen spent his time in Central Park creating this portrait of person and place, the only film he ever conceived, shot, edited and produced on his own. Two men make an imprint of their delight for everyday life and communion as they each face their own mortality with grace and humor. "

Info: MAYSLES INSTITUTE

Monday, June 7: "Streetball" film at MAYSLES INSTITUTE

DOC WATCHERS AND AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL PRESENT:

Streetball
Dir. Demetrius Wren, 2010, 78 min.

"Streetball is fast-paced documentary that tells the story of South Africa's 2008 Men's Homeless World Cup team. The Homeless World Cup is an annual soccer tournament that draws teams from over 56 countries and is composed of young people who are homeless and excluded from society. The South Africa squad consists of orphans, recovering drug addicts, ex-convicts, and former gangsters, all of whom band together to represent their country, proving that no one is beyond redemption."

Monday, June 7th
7:00 pm

Streetball - Trailer from Demetrius Wren on Vimeo.

Info and Tickets: MAYSLES INSTITUTE

May 24th-26 and 27th-29th: Theater of the Oppressed, Forum Theater 1 and 2 The Brecht Forum

Monday May 24th, 2010 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
3-DAY WORKSHOP BEGINS
Co-sponsor: Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory
Forum Theater 1
A Theater of the Oppressed Technique
Facilitated by Julian Boal

"This first of two 3-day intensive workshops will teach exercises, games, and improvised scene work from the Theater of the Oppressed (TO) repertory, developed by the late Brazilian director, popular educator and Workers Party activist Augusto Boal. (Note: Workshop #2 will teach techniques that are not covered in this first workshop. Each workshop is designed to stand alone, and participation in the first workshop is not a pre-requisite for enrollment in workshop #2. Participants can enroll in either workshop, or both.) Boal's interactive approach to theatrical expression emphasizes physical dialogues, non-verbal imagery, consensus-building and problem-solving processes, and techniques for developing awareness of both external and internalized forms of oppression."

Forum Theater 2 takes place Thursday May 27th - May 29th

Note: Workshop require an application. Please make online payment AFTER your application is approved.

Info and Application: The Brecht Forum

Sat-Sun May 22-23: Education for Liberation | The Brecht Forum

Saturday May 22nd, 2010 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
2-DAY WORKSHOP BEGINS

Education for Liberation
An Introduction to Paulo Freire’s Concepts & Techniques
Carmelina Cartei, Shoshana Brown, Kate Cavanagh, Esperanza Martell, Ruben Mina, Onaji Muid, Julie Novas & Javier Salamanca

This is an introductory hands-on workshop in the use of popular education concepts and techniques based on the complementary approaches to Education for Liberation developed by two Brazilian Marxist educators and political cultural activists: philosopher and educator Paulo Freire, author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and theater director Augusto Boal, Workers Party (PT) activist and founder of the Theater of the Oppressed.

In this introduction to the theory of the pedagogy of the oppressed and its practical application, participants will learn through practice the three basic steps of the Freire methodology:
1. to express and see reality as it is experienced by the participants; 2. to understand this reality by analyzing it and exploring the root causes of problems; and 3. to act in order to change this reality.

Framed as a class, race, gender power analysis for decolonizing the mind and self-empowering oppressed communities in struggle. The 2-day workshop is designed for community organizers as well as educators and labor, political and solidarity activists."

Sliding scale: $65-$85 per Day

Info: The Brecht Forum

Tonight!: Film Screening "The End of Poverty?" @ Bluestockings

Monday, January 25th @ 7PM - $5 Suggested
Screening: Matthew Stillman “The End of Poverty?” (2009)
Come out for a 20-minute preview of the feature-length documentary “The End of Poverty?,” and join in the discussion with co-producer Matthew Stillman. The film draws a straight line between global inequities, military conquest, slavery and colonization. Yes, poverty is not an accident.

Info: Bluestockings