Docs For Schools Monthly
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2012-13 Docs For Schools Monthly Films
BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!*
D: Fredrik Gertten | 88 minutes | English with some subtitles
Subject connections: Economics, English, Law, Marketing, Media Literacy, Politics
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In 2009, Fredrik Gertten’s documentary, Bananas! *, chronicling a lawsuit against controversial food giant Dole was set to premiere at the Las Angeles Film Festival. Dole responded with an aggressive media and public relations campaign to quash the film’s release and discredit the reputation of the filmmakers. The filmmaking team behind Bananas! * refused to be bullied, filing a counter-suit and launching their own media strategy. Their point was that no one suing them had even seen the film! A true documentarian, Gertten picks up his camera again to capture his fight for free speech. Big Boys Gone Bananas! * is an in-depth case study of an independent filmmaker’s David and Goliath battle with a corporate machine whose financial and political influence must be exposed.
UNITED IN ANGER: A HISTORY OF ACT UP
D: Jim Hubbard | 93 min | English
Screening in recognition of World AIDS Day, December 1
Subject Connections: Civics, Gender Studies, Health, Politics, World Issues
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Electrifying, never-before-seen archival footage pushes us into the frontlines of early AIDS activism, one of the most empowering grassroots movements in recent history. Two days after Larry Kramer’s 1987 passionate speech that warned the audience that, unless they fought for change, half of them would die of AIDS within six months, a diverse group of 300 men and women galvanized to form the radical, messy and extremely effective umbrella of ACT UP and its affinity groups. Motivated to the extreme, many had never protested before, but they quickly mastered the art of headline-grabbing media actions that forced attention from an apathetic government, made AIDS a national issue and fought for fair access to treatment. United in Anger captures the power, sexiness and irreverent energy of a movement that redrew the map of AIDS politics, shook up the world and saved the lives of millions.
THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967 - 1975
D: Göran Hugo Olsson | 93 min | English with some subtitles
Screening in celebration of African Heritage Month (February)
Subject Connections: Civics, History, Politics
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From 1967 to 1975, Swedish journalists travelled to the United States to document the black power movement in America. For over 30 years, their 16mm tapes sat undiscovered in a basement in Sweden. Now, director Göran Hugo Olsson compiles their work into a powerful documentary that chronicles the movement’s strength and evolution with never-before-seen footage of leaders such as Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, Angela Davis and Eldridge Cleaver. Woven into the film are insightful commentaries from modern day artists and activists—Harry Belafonte, Sonia Sanchez, Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, John Forte and Professor Robin D. G. Kelley—telling stories of how the heroes of the black power movement inspired and touched their lives. Features a stunning soundtrack by The Roots, Michael Jackson and Erykah Badu.
THUNDER SOUL
D: Mark Landsman | 83 min | English
Screening in celebration of African Heritage Month
Subject Connections: Music, Family Studies, Arts
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Conrad “Prof” Johnson composed original funk songs and arranged fantastic stage antics with Houston’s Kashmere High School Stage Band. He became the first black high school band leader with an all-black high school band to win the Texas state championship in the 1970s. His “give it all you got” attitude made the group unstoppable, leading them to win 42 out of 46 contests over the course of the decade and establishing them as international funk legends with tours in Paris and Japan. Thunder Soul combines archival footage of the students in action, showing off their James Brown showmanship, platform shoes and Bootsy Collins-type rhythms, with the band member’s recent reunion. With nothing but love for the father of funk from their youth, they practice for the first time in three decades, hoping they’ve “still got it” enough to perform a tribute show for the ailing 92-year-old Prof.
GIRL MODEL
D: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin | 78 min | English
SPECIAL SCREENING in conjunction with International Women’s Day
Discussion and Q&A with students will follow film. Click for details.
NOTE: $5.00 per student admission fee (teachers free)
Subject Connections: Phys Ed, Politics, Fashion, Women’s Issues
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Despite a lack of obvious similarities between Siberia and Tokyo, a thriving model industry connects these distant regions. Girl Model follows two protagonists involved in this industry: Ashley, a deeply ambivalent model scout who scours Siberia looking for fresh faces to send to the Japanese market, and one of her discoveries, Nadya, a thirteen-year-old plucked from the Siberian countryside and dropped into the center of Tokyo with the promise of a profitable career. After Ashley’s initial discovery of Nadya, the two rarely meet again, but their stories are inextricably bound. As Nadya’s optimism about rescuing her family from their financial difficulties grows, her dreams contrast against Ashley’s more jaded outlook about the industry’s corrosive influence.
CHASING ICE
D: Jeff Orlowski | 75 min | English
Subject Connections: Geography, Environment, Photography, Science
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In the spring of 2005, acclaimed National Geographic photographer James Balog was dispatched to the Arctic on a tricky assignment: to capture images that tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate. At the time, Balog was skeptical. Even if human-caused climate change is real, can we correct it? But what he saw on that first trip was too compelling to dispute. Balog had to act and so created the Extreme Ice Survey, a multi-year project that would, through time-lapse photography, document dramatic changes to numerous glaciers around the world. With stunning cinematography and access to never before seen areas of the Arctic, Chasing Ice documents Balog’s incredible journey to provide incontrovertible proof—at great risk to his own health—that our planet is in crisis and what we do to it matters.
Docs For Schools Monthly is generously supported by lead sponsor Dynamic Funds, exclusive education partner Humber School of Media Studies & Information Technology and the Government of Ontario. Additional support is provided by The J.P. Bickell Foundation, The S.M. Blair Family Foundation, The Beth and Andy Burgess Foundation, The Hal Jackman Foundation and Jackman Foundation.
