7TH ART RELEASING

Doesn’t matter if you’re one of Russia’s...

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 18:39:23 -0400

Doesn’t matter if you’re one of Russia’s richest business men or an all girl punk band, you get the same punishment. Here’s hoping they form some sort of supergroup in prison.

From the New York Times: Proudly Bearing Elders’ Scars,...

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 18:10:00 -0400

From the New York Times: Proudly Bearing Elders’ Scars, Their Skin Says ‘Never Forget’

See: The Memory Thief

A caption contest at the New Yorker site for this fantastic...

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:56:00 -0400

A caption contest at the New Yorker site for this fantastic photo of Netanyahu addressing the U.N. regarding Iran’s nuclear threat. Our film, Iranium, addresses this very issue, but it’s not as funny as the caption suggestions.

Who does the Israeli government use for their graphics?

Andrew Shea on art, Nazis, museums, and morality, and his film,...

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 17:59:00 -0400

Andrew Shea on art, Nazis, museums, and morality, and his film, Portrait of Wally.

400 Miles to Freedom Our newest film, about the long, dangerous,...

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 19:59:34 -0400

400 Miles to Freedom

Our newest film, about the long, dangerous, and secret escape from dictatorial oppression of Avishai Yeganyahu and the Beta Israel, a 2,500-year-old Jewish community from the Ethiopian mountains. Avishai, with the help of co-director Shari Rothfarb Mekonen, breaks his 20-year silence about his brutal kidnapping as a child in Sudan during his community’s exodus from Africa and subsequent quest to understand Jewish identity spanning the globe.

newsweek: motherjones: cheatsheet: poetsorg: Pussy Riot...

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 15:26:45 -0400

newsweek:

motherjones:

cheatsheet:

poetsorg:

Pussy Riot was convicted of hooliganism in Russia today. They have been sentenced to two years in prison. Here’s a selection of Maria Alyokhina’s closing statement, in which she discusses poetry (via n+1):

I would like to point out that very similar methods were used during the trial of the poet [Joseph] Brodsky. His poems were defined as “so-called” poems; the witnesses for the prosecution hadn’t actually read them—just as a number of the witnesses in our case didn’t see the performance itself and only watched the clip online. Our apologies, it seems, are also being defined by the collective prosecuting body as “so-called” apologies. Even though this is offensive. And I am overwhelmed with moral injury and psychological trauma. Because our apologies were sincere. I am sorry that so many words have been uttered and you all still haven’t understood this. Or it is calculated deviousness when you talk about our apologies as insincere. I don’t know what you still need to hear from us. But for me this trial is a “so-called” trial. And I am not afraid of you. I am not afraid of falsehood and fictitiousness, of sloppily disguised deception, in the verdict of the so-called court.

Ridiculous.

More here.

Just another “so-called” trial in a “so-called” modern democracy.

Pussy Riot. What punk rock is.

Pussy Riot’s members were sentenced to prison today by the...

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 15:12:00 -0400

Pussy Riot’s members were sentenced to prison today by the Russian court. They are just the newest in a long line of Russians punished for speaking out against the Kremlin.

7th Art has several films about outspoken Russians who have suffered (or worse) as a result of their vocal opposition.

A Bitter Taste of Freedom

Vlast

Misha Vs. Moscow

UPDATE: The Daily Beast has commentary from Anna Nemtsova on Pussy Riot’s sentencing.

As the 2012 drought rivals the Dustbowl, it’s clear that...

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 12:13:00 -0400

As the 2012 drought rivals the Dustbowl, it’s clear that some sort of action must be taken. But, as every expert has noted, and as every major study has shown, it will not be easy to make the changes necessary, because of how people experience the weather.

The film, Owning the Weather, shows us, we have been trying to modify the weather for centuries. Are there signs that we’re headed towards a breakthrough? Whatever the outcome of the weather, it’s clear: we own it.

Lindsey Graham goes rogue on revenue. Grins.

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:46:52 -0400

Lindsey Graham goes rogue on revenue. Grins.

Concerned New Yorkers

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 20:31:10 -0400

Concerned New Yorkers

On June 2, 2009, an apartment superintendent in New Brunswick,...

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 20:01:29 -0400

On June 2, 2009, an apartment superintendent in New Brunswick, N.J., stumbled upon what he thought was a terrorist hideout and called 911. It was really an NYPD operation to conduct surveillance well outside its jurisdiction.

More about it at the A.P.

Gene Sharp responds to Mexican citizens' petition for his help

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 19:30:22 -0400

Full article from Narco News Bulletin here. And the online petition is here.

Queridos estimados amigos Mexicanos, 

Thank you for your petition requesting my assistance in your conflict concerning the conduct of the recent national election in Mexico.  I am pleased that you are seeking an alternative to the use of violence in the conflict concerning the results of the election. 

I am also pleased that you understand that my studies of nonviolent protest and struggle offer an important alternative to violence in serious conflicts. I hope that Mexicans who do not agree with you will also be pleased that you want to urge your views without the threat or use of violence in the political conflict. Their recognition of this and therefore their restraint in responding to your pressures can only benefit Mexico in a time of great violence.  

I regret that you are unaware that both my personal policy, and that of the Albert Einstein Institution, prohibits our giving instructions for action in other countries and becoming participants in such conflicts. We cannot know the situation in-depth in such conflicts, and our instructions would very likely be in error. We therefore could unintentionally help to defeat the struggle to which we might be sympathetic. 

At least equally seriously, in case of that movement being successful, the credit might wrongly be given us. The credit for successes is deserved by the brave participants in the nonviolent struggle, not outsiders. The participants will have earned the victory by their courage and disciplined struggle, despite casualties and suffering. We believe that it would be an injustice for us to claim credit for their victories.  

Therefore, we do not tell people how to conduct their struggle. 

We help in an other way. We share knowledge about the power and potential of nonviolent struggle. We share information of how people in political need can become competent to plan their own strategies for necessary struggles. See www.aeinstein.org for my publication “Self-Liberation: A Guide to Strategic Planning for Action to End a Dictatorship or Other Oppression,” which is freely downloadable, along with all the required readings.

  We refuse to tell people in conflicts what to do. We try to help those people to plan their own struggles competently. When they plan competently and struggle skillfully, they will deserve the victory and credit. 

Study, planning, and thinking takes time. Defeat can come quickly. Success may come when it has been earned.  

Saludos!

  Gene Sharp

Photo

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 18:27:00 -0400

“A fascinating story… You leave the film haunted by the...

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 18:47:11 -0400

“A fascinating story… You leave the film haunted by the blurry black-and-white footage of a peaceful, stylish prewar Vienna; and by the words, used by one of the film’s narrators, speaking of works looted by Nazis and never returned to their owners: ‘They had an interest,’ he says of the art world, ‘in closing their eyes.’”

- Moira Mcdonald, Seattle Times

Kenneth Turan reviews Portrait of Wally for the LA...

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 18:27:53 -0400

Kenneth Turan reviews Portrait of Wally for the LA Times:

“As detailed in Andrew Shea’s fascinating documentary “Portrait of Wally,”Egon Schiele’s haunting 1912 painting of his mistress and favorite model Wally Neuzil had a complicated, extremely dramatic history as well as a legal and cultural significance that can’t be overestimated… By showing how difficult and problematic righting a wrong can turn out to be, “Portrait of Wally” does itself proud.”

Building Babel filmmaker David Osit discusses his new...

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:15:15 -0400

Building Babel filmmaker David Osit discusses his new (ITVS-funded) documentary Building Babel and how he began to uncover — as it happened — the real story behind the Ground Zero Mosque. The film follows a year in the life of Sharif El-Gamal, developer of the Ground Zero Mosque — a Muslim-led community center two blocks from the World Trade Center.

PORTRAIT OF WALLY opens in Los Angeles tomorrow at the Laemmle...

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:00:36 -0400

PORTRAIT OF WALLY opens in Los Angeles tomorrow at the Laemmle Town Center in Encino!

Director Andrew Shea will be there for Q&As at the Friday and Saturday 7:50 shows and the Sunday 1 PM show!

Come check it out!

It’s the Centennial of the great Woody Guthrie this year...

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 14:06:00 -0400

It’s the Centennial of the great Woody Guthrie this year and tomorrow is his 100th birthday. So we thought we’d get our Guthrie on and post a few links to stuff for him in case you want to check out some events or read and listen up on Woody.

Here’s the Woody at 100 website.

Public radio went all out for the centennial: NPR’s story on Guthrie can be heard/read here. And Fresh Air ran a great story on Guthrie yesterday. Listen to that here.

The Grammy Museum’s sponsored events.

And The Mix, NPR’s music blog, put together an incredible playlist for the centennial here, including the Klezmatics! Listen to the whole playlist!

You may also remember that the Klezmatics made a Grammy-winning album of Guthrie songs — Wonder Wheel — which is a great listen!

Also, if you’re near Amherst, MA, come check out the Klezmatics and a ton of other great bands at Yidstock this weekend.

And, of course, check out Erik Anjou-Greenberg’s lively journey with the Klezmatics as they toured for Wonder Wheel in THE KLEZMATICS: ON HOLY GROUND.

Photo

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 19:23:11 -0400

Building Babel trailer. We’re looking forward to seeing...

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 19:03:56 -0400

Building Babel trailer. We’re looking forward to seeing David Osit’s film about the man behind the “Ground Zero Mosque” playing at festivals this fall.