Doc Nights

Mine Your Own Business [NOVEMBER 2009]

2009-10-30T06:40:00.000-07:00

The Dark Side of Environmentalism??? HUH???

Mine Your Own Business exposes the dark side of environmental initiatives by shining a light on the cozy image of environmentalists as well-meaning, harmless activists. Mine Your Own Business takes the question of what local people want for their future directly to those most affected by campaigns that actually keep people in poverty. This 2006 documentary is the first to ask hard questions of foreigners leading campaigns to "save" remote areas from development, and showcases answers that are often ignorant, and worse, disturbing. Please come check out this controversial film, and stay for what will no doubt be a lively discussion afterwards!

ABOUT THE FILM

Dark Days [OCTOBER 2009]

2009-10-08T11:38:00.001-07:00

This film, which is quite literally groundbreaking, reveals a way of life unimaginable to most people... that of hundreds of homeless living deep underground in an abandoned New York City railroad tunnel. With homes built out of scrap metal, plastic, and plywood, they have created a commmunity that boasts electricity, furniture, and working kitchens, not to mention the comaraderie and support from each other. Some have lived in the tunnel for 25 years. British director Marc Singer's film, accompanied by a moving soundtrack from DJ Shadow, consists of candid conversations with tunnel residents, who are intelligent, funny, optimistic, and above all, human.

96% Tomatometer Rating

Children of Leningradsky & Invisible Children [SEPTEMBER 2009]

2009-08-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, an estimated four million children live on the streets in the former Soviet Union. In the streets of Moscow alone there are over 30,000. This film focuses on a community of homeless children living in the Moscow train station Leningradsky. AIDS, drug abuse, police brutality, and other social ills in post-Soviet Russia are recorded in this film, which was nominated for the 2004 Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subject. 33min. *Read Review*

In the spring of 2003, three young film-students traveled to Africa in search of a story. What started out as a filmmaking adventure transformed into much more when these Southern Californian boys discovered a tragedy that disgusted and inspired them, where children are both the weapons and the victims. This documentary exposes the tragic realities of northern Uganda’s night commuters and child soldiers, and has sparked a grassroots movement mobilizing thousands of American teens into action to raise money to rebuild war-torn schools in northern Uganda and provide scholarships to African youth. 55min.

The Boys of Baraka [AUGUST 2009]

2009-08-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

This is the story of twenty children society has given up on, yet who refuse to give up on themselves. Twenty ‘at-risk’ 12-year-old boys from the tough streets of inner-city Baltimore travel to Kenya to attend an experimental boarding school located in Baraka. In the face of discipline and academic rigor, as well as safety they have never known before, for the first time they begin to plan optimistically for their own futures… despite the tremendous obstacles they face at home. The film, which captures their amazing journey to Africa as well as their return to Baltimore, shows how the boys fare when they are forced to return the difficult realities of their city.

Watch Preview, Read Reviews

RATED R

Black Gold [MAY 2009]

2009-05-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

Fair Trade Film & Fondue Party
In an increasingly global economy, where the profit margins of huge multinational coffee companies continue to rise, prices paid for coffee harvests have reached an all-time low, forcing farmers in some of the world's poorest countries to abandon their once bountiful fields. Among the hardest hit by the devastating effects of this crisis are the coffee farmers of Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee.

Read Reviews

Dreams Die Hard [APRIL 2009]

2009-04-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

One of them wanted to earn money so she could treat her parents like a king and queen, two of them were enticed by the promise of a good education, another one wanted to buy medicine for his sick son; none of them ever dreamed they would become slaves in the United States.

Film Background

In addition to this short-length film, we will get to hear about two local organizations: the Women's Rape Crisis Center in Burlington, and a new local chapter of an organization committed to ending child slavery. Time permitting, we may also listen to readings of several testimonies from modern-day freed slaves. Should be a thought-provoking night.

Promises - The Children of Israel and Palestine [MARCH 2009]

2009-03-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

In this alternative look at the Jewish-Palestinian conflict, seven Jewish and Palestinian children are followed for a period of three years, creating a statement more human than political about the effects of national hatred. Though they live only 20 minutes apart, the seven children exist in completely separate worlds; the physical, historical and emotional obstacles between them run deep. As these children tell their own story about growing up in Jerusalem, we see how insoluble the problems of the Middle East have become. The film also features an epilogue from 2004, several years after the film was nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary. This epilogue speaks at times to their loss of innocence and to the beginning of their adulthood.

Read Reviews

The Most Hated Family In America [JANUARY 2009]

2009-01-23T09:04:00.000-08:00

Celebrated British documentarian Louis Theroux, son of author Paul Theroux (The Mosquito Coast), has spent years examining American subcultures from swingers to gamblers to hypnotists. For this hour-long doc, Theroux spent two weeks with the members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. All from the same family, the 75 members, led by Pastor Fred Phelps, earnestly spread their message of God's wrath by lofting signs that say "God Hates Fags," and picketing the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq…

Film Background

DOC NIGHTS DISCUSSION: Westboro Baptist Church Comes To Vermont

2009-01-01T11:19:00.000-08:00

On September 1st, members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a group know nationally for outrageous and offensive protests, plans six protests in Montpelier and Burlington (on the first day that same-sex marriages become legal in the state).

• 7:20-7:50 a.m.: Montpelier High School.
• 7:55-8:25 a.m. Statehouse, Montpelier.
• 8:30-9 a.m. Montpelier City Clerk’s Office.
• 9:45-10:15 a.m.: University of Vermont Hillel, Burlington.
• 10:15-10:45 a.m.: Chabad of Vermont, Burlington
• 10:45-11:15 a.m. Ohavi Zedek Synagogue, Burlington.

Local organizations plan a “Community Meeting of Solidarity in the Face of Hate Speech,” 7:30 p.m. Aug. 31, First Congregational Church, 38 S. Winooski Ave., Burlington.

At that meeting, speaking to a packed house at the United Congregationalist Church in downtown Burlington, a Rabbi said, "We gather together here tonight because we will not gather to respond to the hate on display tomorrow. We will ignore them." He understood that this is what the churchmembers want, and it gave me chills to hear him say that, and to listen to the spontaneous burst of applause that immediately followed.

It is my sincere opinion that the churchmembers' purpose is to offend people to the point of retaliation, during which it is likely that violations of the churchmembers’ civil rights will occur, thus giving them grounds for lawsuits. I believe this is how a community of ~70 with no known source of income sustains a comfortable lifestyle. Financially comfortable, that is. The anger shown through counterprotesting the Phelps' is the anger the Phelps' are going for.

Here are some interesting sites with more information. I definitely recommend the link to the transcript, as well as the story of Fred Phelps' son...

This transcript of an interview is just one example of how Phelps fights dirty from word one to elicit an emotional and aggressive reaction out of his interviewer:
http://crooksandliars.com/2007/11/02/rev-fred-phelps-loses-11-million-in-lawsuit-cries-hogwash/

Another example of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCdT9dfrb-Q

Fred Phelps is a damaged man who may find hating the world around him easier than facing his own demons: http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:nOE4p0EXGrMJ:www.skeeterbitesreport.com/2006/06/exposed-dirty-secret-that-anti-gay.html+Pastor+Fred+Phelps+%22source+of+income%22+suing&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us&client=safari

The Story of Fred Phelp’s Estranged Son (absolutely fascinating!):
http://www.stoppingthehate.com/News-Article1302_Nate_Phelps_Estranged_Son_Of_Fred_Phelps_Speaks_Out_Publicly.htm

Timeline of the Church:
http://www.stoppingthehate.com/News-Article999_They%27re_Creepy_And_They%27re_Kooky_Mysterious_And_Spooky_They%27re_All_Together_Ooky_The_Phelps_Family.htm

God Grew Tired Of Us [DECEMBER 2008]

2008-12-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

The arduous journey of three young Southern Sudanese men to the United States where they strive for a brighter future, after they walked as young boys a thousand miles to escape their war-ridden homeland, and then again to escape Ethiopia.

Critical Consensus

Shakespeare Behind Bars [NOVEMBER 2008]

2008-11-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

This raw film follows a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest by convicted felons inside Kentucky's Luther Luckett Correctional Complex. Watching these remarkably unique actors prepare for their performance smashes many of our long held notions about prisoners and criminals. These inmates are men who are stuck in time, constantly replaying the text and gestures of their own crimes, left to wonder what would have changed their fates. They cast themselves according to their lives, in relation to the crimes for which they were convicted, and many of the men experience powerful epiphanies while exploring their characters. Twice a week, the inmates work with volunteer director Curt Tofteland, who pushes them to find their own truth within their roles within a play that is fittingly about forgiveness.

Critical Consensus