Forerunner Film Festival Recommended Films

This engaging documentary gives new meaning to the term ‘role model.’ Normally we think of children learning from their elders, but here is the story of an 11-year-old girl who is already inspiring adults to make a difference.

When she was just 5, Hannah Taylor spotted her first homeless person in the back alleys of Winnipeg. This experience not only troubled her but it drove her to do nothing less than change the world, leading to the establishment of the impressive Ladybug Foundation. Under Hannah’s leadership, that charity has raised over a million dollars, literally making change for those lacking life’s basic needs.

As this absorbing documentary shows, Hannah insists on being seen as normal, but clearly she possesses an extraordinary can-do attitude. Her message is disarmingly straightforward, coming as it does from “little kid type theories”: “share a little of what you have and always care about others.” Whether it’s organizing Big Boss lunches, speaking to students or to a prime minister, Hannah’s capacity to help others is huge, unflagging, and, ultimately, humbling. We all have a lot to learn from Hannah’s Story.

2007, 29 min

http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=54288

Get an automatic update to this blog by subscribing to the RSS feed here….

Tags: Biography, Documentary, Social Justice by Mediaguy
No Comments »

THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK exposes the tragedy taking place in Darfur as seen through the eyes of an American witness who has since returned to the US to take action to stop it.

Using the exclusive photographs and first hand testimony of former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle, THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK takes the viewer on an emotionally charged journey into the heart of Darfur, Sudan, where an Arab run government is systematically executing a plan to rid the province of it’s black African citizens. As an official military observer, Steidle had access to parts of the country that no journalist could penetrate. He was unprepared for what he would witness and experience, including being fired upon, taken hostage, and being unable to intervene to save the lives of young children. Ultimately frustrated by the inaction of the international community, Steidle resigned and returned to the US to expose the images and stories of lives systematically destroyed.

An INTERNATIONAL FILM CIRCUIT release of a BREAK THRU FILMS production in association with GLOBAL GRASSROOTS & THREE GENERATIONS.

COMING TO SELECT THEATERS STARTING JULY 25TH, 2007

http://www.thedevilcameonhorseback.com/

Tags: Documentary, Social Justice by Mediaguy
No Comments »

The Corporation is an incredibly strong documentary film that breaks down the concept of ‘corporation’ comparing it to the profile of a psychopath. Using humor, factoids and interviews from an impressive panel that includes commentators, such as Michael Moore, Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky and CEOs from some of the world’s biggest companies, the film traces the history of corporations. It reveals to us how corporations managed to have arrived at a place where they may be compared to a psychopath.

From the film we learn that the corporation is, after all, a legal entity that has the same rights as a human being under the present law. However, unlike an actual human who has to answer to the people around him, the corporation is only accountable to its bottom line, suggest the filmmakers.

Read the full review here: http://www.movieweb.com/movies/film/83/2383/review397.php

Corporate ownership and control of economics superseds the power of the government and is the greatest threat to personal freedom on the earth. This is an important film for people to see……

Paul Weigel

Tags: Documentary, Social Justice by Mediaguy
No Comments »

U.S.A., 2008, 85 mins, Color and Black and White – Documentary

The “classification universe” is invisible to most of us, yet the production of governmental classified secret documents involves millions of people. And government secrecy is growing, vastly outpacing the circulation of open information. The statistics, as much as can be gathered, are staggering. In a single recent year, the United States government classified about five times the number of pages added to the Library of Congress; the cost is about eight billion dollars a year–just to keep secrets secret.

Now, 70 years after the builders of the bomb created a national information security system and just a few years after 9/11, a government secrecy crisis is looming. The combination of a declared war on terrorism and the curtailment of civil liberties sets the stage to ask some critical questions. When does security erode, rather than enhance, democracy? Can burying too much information actually undermine national security?

Secrecy, the stylistically elegant and provocative new film by Robb Moss and Peter Galison, explores the hidden world of national security policy by examining the many implications of secrecy, both for government and individuals. Combining animation, installations, a mesmerizing score, and riveting interviews, the film takes us inside the inverted world of government secrecy as we share the experiences of lawyers, CIA analysts, and the ordinary people for whom secrecy becomes a matter of life and death.

Director(s): Peter Galison, Robb Moss

http://www.secrecyfilm.com/

Tags: Documentary, Government, Social Justice by Mediaguy
No Comments »

Twan Huys, Director 2006, 45 min (not to be confused with the erotic book by the same name)

Somali-born author, political activist and critic of Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali became world famous when her collaborator, Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, was murdered by a radical Islamist. Hirsi Ali wrote the screenplay for Van Gogh’s “Submission”, a provocative short film critical of Muslim treatment of women. Filmmaker Twan Huys follows Hirsi Ali as she endures death threats and travels to the United States, where she takes a job at a conservative think-tank and is named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential persons of the world.

Fore more information about Hirsi Ali see another Forerunner Project web site : www.wisdom-radio.com (You Can Fight City Hall)

and here:

http://www.sundancechannel.com/films/500315295

Tags: Documentary, Social Justice by Mediaguy
No Comments »

Djanta, a bright young female student, returns to her parent’s village at the behest of the pastor who raised her since she was a child. There, she is surprised to find that her family wishes to marry her to a man to whom she was betrothed as a baby. Djanta runs away from the village, returns to university and sets about to free women from traditional constraints. But is this even possible?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1039893/

Tags: Drama, Social Justice, World Issues by Mediaguy
No Comments »

Alliance for Justice has produced a provocative short documentary entitled Quiet Revolution. Hosted by Emmy award-winning actor Bradley Whitford. The film features U.S. Senator Barack Obama and describes how an increasingly influential movement on the far right has waged a sustained war on the Constitution as we know it. Ultra-conservative politicians, judges, professors and activists would overturn decades of precedent to shred the fabric of popular laws protecting workers, consumers and public health, expand executive power at the expense of basic civil liberties, and impose a narrow social agenda on the rest of the body politic.

http://www.afj.org/for-nonprofits-foundations/resources-and-publications/free-resources/film-quiet-revolution-1.html

Tags: Documentary, Government, Social Justice, World Issues by Mediaguy
No Comments »

The Women of Tibet film project consists of three one-hour documentary films revealing potent historical moments of past and contemporary Tibet. The films touch on themes of women’s endurance and their struggle for freedom, social justice, peace, and human rights. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Himalayas, the Women of Tibet film trilogy shows the strength and perseverance of a people dedicated to the principles of peace, non-violence, and compassion.

http://www.womenoftibet.org/pages/index.php

Tags: Documentary, Social Justice, World Issues by Mediaguy
No Comments »

Their country asked them to kill. Their hearts asked them to stop.
From West Point grads to drill sergeants, from Abu Ghraib interrogators to low ranking reservist-mechanics; soldiers in the US Army today reveal their deepest moral concerns about what they are asked to do in war.

AWARDS:
Best Documentary | Salem Film Festival (2008)
Finalist – Best Documentary | Denver Film Festival (2007)
Best Film – Conflict and Resolution Category | Hamptons International Film Festival (2007)
Best Documentary | Rhode Island International Film Festival (2007)
Best Documentary | Foyle Film Festival, Northern Ireland (2007)

See the trailer: http://www.socfilm.com/

Tags: Biography, Documentary, Social Justice by Mediaguy
No Comments »

“God afton, herr Wallenberg” is perhaps one of the most emotionally engaging films I have ever seen. Even though it’s a good film, it deals with a difficult topic of the Jewish concentration camps and the systematic destruction of a people. Wallenburg, stands against the powerful Nazis at great risk he rescues many Jews who would have been killed otherwise. He is a good example of a forerunner.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099673/

Tags: Biography, Drama, Social Justice by Mediaguy
No Comments »