May 30
The Joe Brewster Rodeo
The Fort Scott Tribune - May 28, 1958
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The Joe Brewster Rodeo
The Fort Scott Tribune - May 28, 1958
Remembering the Brilliance of Nikki Giovanni
Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni Jr. — poet, writer, activist, educator — passed away on December 9, 2024 at the age of 81. It is impossible to have a discussion about poetry and not include Nikki Giovanni at the forefront. The impact of her prolific words is far-reaching and never flinching. Ms. Giovanni was a prominent figure in the Black Arts Movement, a cultural renaissance of Black…
American Promise Stirs Diversity Discussion
Through visual representation, all things can be brought to light.
Couple Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson explore this idea firsthand in their enthralling new documentary, American Promise.
This story depicts Idris Brewster, the couple’s son, and his…
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By Ayara Pommells, AFROPUNK Contributor
In just two days, the greatly anticipated documentary American Promise will be winging its way to a theater near you. The documentary was shot by filmmakers Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson. It follows the educational journey of their son Idris Brewster and his best friend Seun, filmed over 13 years, from Kindergarten right through High School Graduation. Idris and Seun are accepted into Manhattan’s prestigious Dalton School, but being two of only black students in the entire school does not come without its downfalls.
(via www.afropunk.com)
filmmakers Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson with Idris and Seun at #NYFF premiere of American Promise @filmlinc (at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center)
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TRIBECA FILM INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES THIRD ANNUAL ‘TFI NEW MEDIA FUND’ GRANT RECIPIENTS
TRIBECA FILM INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES THIRD ANNUAL ‘TFI NEW MEDIA FUND’ GRANT RECIPIENTS
***
Six Interactive, Non-fiction, Multi-platform Projects Awarded a Total of $400,000
for Advancing Transmedia Storytelling and Promoting Social Change
[New York, NY – June 27, 2013] – The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) in partnership with the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms Initiative today announced grant recipients for the 2013 TFI New Media Fund. The diverse assortment of interactive, non-fiction, transmedia projects were selected from a pool of 285 submissions and explore a range of complex social issues, from border patrol tactics through the story of a migrant worker in California, to the illegal timber trade in West Africa and the emergence of a sustainable logging industry. The six projects from around the world have been awarded between $50,000 and $100,000 apiece, with funding effective immediately. In addition to receiving financial support, grantees will also take part in regular peer-to-peer meetings and a lab focused on interactive storytelling to help them develop their projects and build engagement with audiences.
The recipients of grants totaling $400,000 are:
Chasing the Sun
Key participants: Paul Shoebridge, Michael Simons (The Goggles)
Description: Suppose we found a lost continent — impossible, but just imagine an opportunity to do things differently, to do anything besides business as usual. Chasing the Sun is an immersive online story about the Arctic.
Location: Canada: Vancouver, BC
The Yes Men are Revolting
Key participants: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, Laura Nix, Mary Notari, The Public Society, Glocal
Description: The Yes Men Are Revolting ends with an urgent call to action—and with a tool, the Action Switchboard, that will help viewers answer that call. This human-moderated digital platform helps a global audience initiate and join direct actions that serve specific activist goals; it also provides training and other resources for carrying out media actions. Effectively, the Action Switchboard invites the film’s audience to join in the story the film and extend it in new and powerful ways.
Location: New York, Los Angeles
Who is Dayani Cristal?
Key participants: Gael Garcia Bernal, Marc Silver, Lina Srivastava
Description: Deep in the scorching Sonoran desert beneath a cicada tree border patrol discovers a decomposing body. Lifting a t-shirt, they expose a tattoo that reads ‘Dayani Cristal.’ An anonymous body in the Arizona desert sparks the beginning of a search across a continent to seek out the people left behind and the meaning of a mysterious tattoo. “Who Is Dayani Cristal?” is a film and cross-platform exploration of stories underlying poverty, immigration, and the human rights of migrants who make journey across the US-Mexico border.
Location: Mexico: Mexico City, UK: London, United States: New York
This is My Backyard (Logs of War)
Key participants: Anjali Nayar, Jude Mwenda, Andrew Hill, Daniel Burwen, Leonardo Bonanni
Description: Silas Siakor, winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize, risked everything to cut off warlord Charles Taylor from the illegal timber trade that was helping fund Liberia’s 14-year civil war. Now, Siakor tries to kick-start his country’s struggling economy through a sustainable logging industry. “This is My Backyard” is a multi-platform project that crowd sources and disseminates information about land and resources in West Africa.
Locations: Kenya: Nairobi; Liberia: Monrovia; United States: New York, Boston, San Francisco
American Promise
Key participants: Michèle Stephenson & Joe Brewster
Description: American Promise follows two African American boys and their families for 12 years as they navigate the terrain of race, privilege and opportunity at a rigorous New York City private school. To further the work of the film, the team are creating a web series and a goal-setting mobile app called “Promise Tracker”.
Location: New York
Use of Force Protocol
Key participants: Nonny de la Peña
Description: Use of Force Protocol, an immersive journalism documentary, puts the audience on scene when migrant Anastasio Hernandez Rojas is killed by border patrol. Using virtual reality technologies, participants stand alongside the witnesses trying to stop the brutality, offering a profound and visceral experience.
Location: Los Angeles
The jury awarding the grants was comprised of notable figures whose accomplishments span the worlds of technology, film, media and the arts. Jurors included Jeremy Boxer (Creative Director, Vimeo), Michelle Byrd (Co-President, Games for Change), Marisa Jahn (Executive Director, REV), Tom Jennings (Producer, 2over10 Media for PBS Frontline), Julia Kaganskiy (Global Editor, Creators Project) and Sarah Wolozin (Director, MIT Open Documentary Lab).
“We are now in the third year of the Fund and it has been hugely rewarding to see the field of interactive storytelling evolve over that time,” said Ingrid Kopp, Director of Digital Initiatives. “These six projects cover topics from all over the world, from the fate of the Arctic to natural resource extraction in Africa to immigration stories within our own borders but what is really exciting about all this work is how differently the creative teams bring together stories and technology to engage audiences and create impact in the world. We are very proud to be supporting all these projects and to be able to continue to support the growth of interactive storytelling.”
The TFI New Media Fund was established in 2011 through a long-term partnership with the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms Initiative to support non-fiction film projects that go beyond traditional screens, exploring storytelling that is interactive, cross-platform and participatory. All projects will activate audiences around issues of contemporary social justice and equality. Recently launched projects supported by the fund include the award-winning Alma, A Tale of Violence http://alma.arte.tv/en/; Dadaab Stories, www.dadaabstories.org; and Hollow, www.hollowdocumentary.com.
The Fund is part of a range of programs and initiatives from the Tribeca Film Institute to bridge filmmaking and technology and contribute to the emerging field of interactive storytelling, including:
TFI Sandbox: An online tool launched by TFI and the Ford Foundation that shares key learnings from their experience managing the TFI New Media Fund, highlight past grant recipients, and bundle resources for creators working in digital, interactive storytelling.
TFI Interactive (#TFIi): A daylong forum that takes place during the Tribeca Film Festival and brings together the brightest thinkers and innovators from the works of film, media, gaming, design and education to explore this rapidly changing landscape and discover how different industries and disciplines can learn from each other. Creators from the six projects noted above will present their work during the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival’s TFI Interactive forum.
Tribeca Hacks: Supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and made possible through leadership support from the Ford Foundation, this nationwide series of intensive workshops brings together content creators and technology specialists to increase understanding and broaden participation in the field of interactive storytelling.
EDITOR NOTE: Images for the projects can be accessed at: https://tribecafilminstitute.org/press_releases/images/newmedia_2013_winners
About the Tribeca Film Institute:
The Tribeca Film Institute is a 501(c)3 year round nonprofit arts organization founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in the wake of September 11, 2001. TFI empowers filmmakers through grants and professional development, and is a resource and advocate for individual artists in the field. The Institute’s educational programming leverages an extensive film community network to help underserved New York City students learn filmmaking and gain the media skills necessary to be productive citizens and creative individuals in the 21st century. Administering a dozen major programs annually, TFI is a critical contributor to the fabric of filmmaking and aids in protecting the livelihood of filmmakers and media artists.
For more information and a list of all TFI programs visit http://www.tribecafilminstitute.org/
About Ford Foundation’s JustFilms
JustFilms’ goal is to lift voices from outside the mainstream, build audiences for social justice stories, enlarge conversation on critical issues, and encourage new modes of social justice storytelling. As a part of the initiative, JustFilms has supported over 70 films since the launch in 2011, including the critically acclaimed films How to Survive a Plague, The House I Live In, and the Half The Sky series, with the intent of inspiring the imagination and new understanding while encouraging civic dialogue and engagement. Partners in collaboration have included: Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute and Independent Television Service.
Learn more about JustFilms at http://www.fordfoundation.org/justfilms
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Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Announces 2013 Award Winners
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Announces 2013 Award Winners
Award winners will be rescreened Sunday afternoon and evening; Screening times and venues are available at FullFrameFest.org
Durham, NC – Sunday, April 7, 2013 – The 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Award Winners were announced this afternoon at the festival’s annual Awards Barbecue.
One of the nation’s premier documentary film festivals, Full Frame is celebrating its 16th annual festival. For the first time, Full Frame is a qualifying event for consideration for nominations for both the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Short Subject and The Producers Guild of America Awards.
2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Award Winners
The Reva and David Logan Grand Jury Award
The Reva and David Logan Grand Jury Award was presented to American Promise directed by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson. This personal film follows the directors’ son and his best friend from their first day of kindergarten through high school graduation, and how their lives diverge. This award is sponsored by The Reva and David Logan Foundation.
The Jury, Greg Barker, Nina Davenport, and Tia Lessin, stated: “We chose this film – which spans twelve years in the lives of two African American families – for the elegance and honesty with which filmmakers Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson tell the story of their son Idris and his best friend Seun growing up in Brooklyn. This epic cinema-verite film is at once a revealing and affecting depiction of the contemporary black male experience and a deeply personal and beautifully observed portrait of a family.”
The Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short
The Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short was given to By Her Side directed by Niels van Koevorden, In this film, three fathers-to-be share their hopes, dreams, and anxieties as they anticipate the birth of their children. The Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short is provided by Drs. Andrew and Barbra Rothschild.
The Jury, Ross McElwee, Elise Pearlstein, and Angela Tucker stated: “By Her Side takes the simple approach of intercutting interviews with three expectant fathers followed by the births of their children to deliver a surprisingly profound take on the act of becoming a father.”
Honorable Mention
The shorts Jury awarded an honorable mention to A Story for the Modlins directed by Sergio Oksman, stating “we also felt inspired to recognize the experimentation and inventiveness of A Story for the Modlins, which felt like it deserved a category of it’s own.” After discovering a stranger’s box of family photos on the sidewalk, Oksman pieces together a sketch of the Modlins’ bizarre lives.
Full Frame Audience Awards – Feature
A Will for the Woods, directed by Amy Browne, Jeremy Kaplan, Tony Hale and Brian Wilson, received the Full Frame Audience Award Feature. This film explores the green burial movement by focusing on one man’s quest for a final resting place that will do no harm to the earth.The Audience Award Feature is sponsored by Merge Records.
Full Frame Audience Awards – Short
The Record Breaker, directed by Brian McGinn, received the Full Frame Audience Award Short. Even though he holds more Guinness Book of World Records than anyone else on the planet, McGinn’s film shows that Ashrita Furman is not slowing down. The prize for the Audience Award Short is provided by Vimeo.
The Center For Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award
The Center For Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award was given to A River Changes Course, directed by Kalyanee Mam. Is convenience progress? The film is a beautiful and heartbreaking vérité look at three families subsisting in (what may be the end of) rural Cambodia. Provided by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, this award honors a documentary artist whose work is a potential catalyst for education and change. Representatives from the Center for Documentary Studies juried the prize: Randy Benson, Katie Hyde, Lynn McKnight, Dan Partridge, Tom Rankin, Elena Rue, Teka Selman, and April Walton.
The Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award
Cutie and the Boxer, directed by Zachary Heinzerling, was awarded The Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award. Provided by the Charles E. Guggenheim family, this prize honors a first-time documentary feature director. In this film, the tension between an artist and his supportive wife of forty years is further strained when a curator expresses interest in her work. Robin Hessman, Alison Klayman, and Mark Landsman participated on the Jury.
Full Frame Inspiration Award
God Loves Uganda, directed by Roger Ross Williams, received the Full Frame Inspiration Award. The film captures how American Christian evangelists export virulent anti-gay teachings to Sub-Saharan Africa with deadly consequences. Sponsored by the Hartley Film Foundation, this award is presented to the film that best exemplifies the value and relevance of world religions and spirituality. Andrew Garrison, Sarah Masters, and Petna Ndaliko Katondolo participated on the Jury.
Full Frame President’s Award
The Full Frame President’s Award was presented to the Pablo’s Winter, directed by Chico Pereira. Former Almadén mercury miner Pablo spends his halcyon days cursing, kvetching, and chain-smoking to the chagrin of his wife and his doctor. Sponsored by Duke University, representatives on behalf of the President’s Office juried the prize.
The Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights
After Tiller, directed by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson, received The Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights. After the murder of their friend and colleague Dr. George Tiller, only four physicians continue to perform late-term abortions, risking their lives for women’s right to choose. Provided by the Julian Price Family Foundation, this award is presented to a film that addresses a significant human rights issue in the United States. Representatives from the Kathleen Bryan Edwards family juried the prize: Anne Arwood, Laura Edwards, Clay Farland, Margaret Griffin, and Pricey Harrison.
Honorable Mention
The Kathleen Bryan Edwards Family awarded an honorable mention to The Undocumented directed by Marco Williams. This film offers an unvarnished account of the repatriation of the remains of immigrants who died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in the Arizona desert.
The Nicholas School Environmental Award
The Nicholas School Environmental Award was presented to A Will for the Woods directed by Amy Browne, Jeremy Kaplan, Tony Hale and Brian Wilson. This film explores the green burial movement by focusing on one man’s quest for a final resting place that will do no harm to the earth. The Nicholas School Environmental Award honors the film that best depicts the conflict between our drive to improve living standards through development and modernization, and the imperative to preserve both the natural environment that sustains us and the heritages that define us. Representatives from the Nicholas School of the Environment juried the Prize: Cindy Horn, Stephen Nemeth, Hart Bochner, Rebecca Patton, and Tom Rankin.
What Happens Next: American Promise
We asked directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson to reflect on their experience screening their Special Jury Award-winning, SFFS-supported film American Promise at Sundance.
Joe: This has certainly been a roller-coaster ride for us. We were accepted into our dream festival and left Park CIty, Utah with an amazing outcome. We were honored with a special Jury Prize for achievement in documentary filmmaking and we received amazing reviews from the critics. Yet, there is a cloud of worry looming over my head and I cannot pinpoint why. It is not the 12 inches of snow outside my Brooklyn doorstep nor the cough I acquired from our nightly Sundance celebrating. My concern is that our Sundance storybook beginning was just that - a beginning. What happens next?
Michèle: I guess the concern (or fear) is that this will not continue. And since returning to Brooklyn we clearly have not been recipients of the same attention and adulation. We are back to life as parents , soccer practice and PTA meetings. That’s not a bad thing, because the Sundance pace was unsustainable. I have Joe's same concerns. I want my work, 13 years worth of it, to be seen and respected by our peers. I want to be assured that we will make a difference in how the subject of academic achievement of Black boys is handled. But we can’t guarantee anything. So, we work, we wait and we worry.
Idris: That sentiment is pretty typical in this family. My parents have invested so much time and effort into the making of this film but they can’t even relish this moment. Well, me, I’m gonna relax and enjoy the moment before I need to get into my mid-term groove. My parents' dedication to this project has been inspiring to me and I’m proud of them but if someone dropped a shitload of money in their pockets right now, they would still be nervous about tomorrow.
Joe: I’m not sure things are that simple. We have high expectations and we need to manage them. The reality is that acceptance to a festival is just the first step toward the realization of our goals for the film, behavior change. We are coming to terms that every festival, every newspaper review, every community screening will be a struggle. I guess this realization is the painful truth of film campaigns, results always require lots of hard work and uncertainty.
Michèle: But we had plans and we were prepared for post-Sundance journey. Over the next two years we will take American Promise on the road, hosting community screenings nationwide and partnering with organizations whose mission includes supporting Black males' academic, social and emotional growth. We are also completing a book, American Promise, scheduled for an October 2013 release (Random House) for parents and other stakeholders aimed at helping to close the academic achievement gap. We are also supporting an effort to raise $100,000 for Big Brothers Big Sister's Mentoring Brothers In Action Initiative and enlist 100 new mentors (of any background) for Black males, who have the hardest time finding mentors. So, if you are reading this blog and you want to reduce Joe’s anxiety level, send $10.00 to Big Brother’s and Big Sisters by text, text BIG1 to 80100.
Joe: Or, you could just send me a note and say keep up the struggle my brother.