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Mni Wiconi: The Stand at Standing Rock

EPFC | November 21st, 2016

MARVELOUS MOVIE MONDAYS!!
guest curator: David Zlutnick

This month’s theme is “Documenting the Movements,” featuring short video covering contemporary struggles for social justice. Initially I had a different short film picked out for this week, but late last night news broke from the Standing Rock encampment, which is protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. Police have reportedly moved in on protesters last night in freezing conditions using water cannon, rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades. Dozens have been injured and there have been some arrests. 

Given the recent developments it seems fitting to highlight a spectacular short documentary about the #NoDAPL water protectors and the ongoing efforts by Native American nations to oppose the pipeline. Divided Films’ “Mni Wiconi: The Stand at Standing Rock” takes you to the camp and interviews indigenous leaders on why they’ve taken a stand against the oil and gas pipelines pushing their way through sovereign tribal territory.

Watch “Mni Wiconi: The Stand at Standing Rock”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FDuqYld8C8

And for more info on the clashes at Standing Rock last night:

“Standing Rock protest: hundreds clash with police over Dakota Access Pipeline”
https://www.theguardian.com/…/standing-rock-protest-hundred…

“Police deploy water hoses, tear gas against Standing Rock protesters”
http://www.pbs.org/…/police-deploy-water-hoses-tear-gas-ag…/

Be Free: Black Lives Matter

EPFC | November 15th, 2016

MARVELOUS MOVIE MONDAYS!!
guest curator: David Zlutnick

This month’s theme is “Documenting the Movements,” featuring short video covering contemporary struggles for social justice. With the election of Donald Trump this is proving to be a more fitting theme than I initially imagined – or hoped it ever would be. While failing to secure the popular vote, the President-elect managed to win the electoral college, ushering in a frightening new age in American politics. And let’s be quite clear: it is a politics that champions authoritarianism, white supremacy, and patriarchy. It is one that threatens to cause immense damage to communities of color, women, LGBTQ+, immigrants, Muslims, and countless others. And so it is a time when strong movements for justice are needed more than ever – ones that are intersectional, based in a politics of solidarity, are participatory and include more of us than ever. Clarifying the moment, some of this has already been seen in the unprecedented protests that have been taking place since election night.

It was already my intention for this week’s video to be focused on the Black Lives Matter movement, a choice that is now even more appropriate. In the coming days/weeks/months/years there will be protests and organized resistance across the country. Much of that seems possible largely because of the imaginative and powerful forces of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has taken this country by storm and forced a conversation on race and power that is needed now more than ever. In recognition of that, this week’s selection is Be Free: Black Lives Matter by Ralston Smith (ralstonsmith.com).

Two years ago this month it was announced that police officer Darren Wilson would not face charges for killing Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. In Washington DC, like dozens of cities across the US, people poured into the streets expressing their rage and despair. Filmmaker Ralston Smith was there and documented the protest, capturing the sites and sounds in a raw and emotional video that calls on all of us to scream “Black Lives Matter.”

Watch Be Free: Black Lives Matter here:
https://vimeo.com/112955066

See you in the streets.

Into The Streets

EPFC | November 7th, 2016

MARVELOUS MOVIE MONDAYS!!
Guest curator: David Zlutnick

This month’s theme is “Documenting the Movements,” featuring short video covering contemporary struggles for social justice. With tomorrow being Election Day, it seems to many (and it may very well be true) that the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Yet oddly enough there were three 90-minute presidential debates during which not one question was asked about climate change, an issue that really could doom humanity unless urgent action is taken. As such I figured it was appropriate to lead off this month with a short documentary looking at the environmental justice movement, and specifically the global movement for climate action.

In September 2014 hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of New York City to participate in the People’s Climate March, demanding global action against climate change. Though several international mass actions have taken place since, it was and remains the largest ever protest for climate justice. The Meerkat Media Collective (meerkatmedia.org), based in NYC, produced an excellent short documentary about the march, capturing beautiful images from the day along with a diverse mix of voices from those participating.

Watch Into the Streets here:

Marvelous Movie Mondays!!

EPFC | October 31st, 2016

Marvelous Movie Mondays!!
Guest curator: Salise Hughes

Our theme this month is Seattle Plays Hollywood, where we will look at a collection of clips from five Seattle inspired movies and TV series that impose a little Hollywood glamour and surrealism on my home town.

For the last week I saved what many consider the crown jewel of Hollywoodized Seattle, Elvis roaming Seattle Center in It Happened at the Worlds Fair. The film was apparently the brain child of then Seattle mayor Albert Roselline to promote the 1962 Seattle’s Worlds Fair, and pitched it to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executives. It features a young Kurt Russell in his first film appearance, kicking Elvis in the shins.

Marvelous Movie Mondays!!

EPFC | October 24th, 2016

Marvelous Movie Mondays!!
guest curator: Salise Hughes

Our theme this month is Seattle Plays Hollywood, where we will look at a collection of clips from five Seattle inspired movies and TV series that impose a little Hollywood glamour and surrealism on my home town.

Tugboat Annie Sails Again was a 1940 sequel to the very popular Tugboat Annie made in 1933 staring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. The title character of Annie, the salty skipper of the tugboat Narcissus was rumored to be based on Thea Foss, the founder of Tacoma’s Foss Maritime Co., but Norman Reilly Raine the author of the Tugboat Annie series described the character as “a symbol of all the American women who follow the sea. A cantankerous old lovable seahorse who could out cuss, out fight, and out smart any man on the waterfront”. The story was certainly influenced by the Foss Maritime Co, and the story takes place in the fictional town of Secoma, along with footage of Seattle’s Lake Union. Dressler was too ill for the sequel, but this version featured a young Ronald Reagan as Annie’s ward. Reagan used to tell about the world premiere in Tacoma. The audience was very excited about the sequel based on the popularity of the original, but when they saw how bad it was the cast had to run for their lives.