Category Archives: Film Screenings

Film Documentary: American Autumn – an occudoc…OWS ain’t dead!

Date: September 29, 2012 through October 4, 2012
Time: 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45 and 9:30pm
Venue: Quad Cinema (34 West 13th Street, New York, New York 10011, ph: 212-255-2243)
Ticket: click for Tickets
Written, produced & directed: Dennis Trainor, Jr.
Running time: 1:16
Language: English

In September of 2011, a few hundred protesters began a conversation in Zuccotti Park that now includes several hundred million people. A year later writer & director Dennis Trainor, Jr. delivers American Autumn: an occudoc. The first feature length documentary on the Occupy movement not only offers answers for those who continue to ask: “what does the occupy movement stand for? What are our demands?” – it offers a challenge and an invitation to engage with the movement.

The influence of Occupy is still felt a year later. The Movement changed the conversation by raising issues like wealth inequity, health care reform, predatory bank practices, and the war on unions, among other issues. Occupy has also revolutionized the way dissidents organize their protests. As Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink observes, there will be no more Saturday afternoon gatherings in a deserted Washington, D.C. where everyone marches in a circle and then leaves. Instead, Occupy brought the protest to the town square and “occupied” the space in a very public way.

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New York Japan CineFest: Short Film Program

Co-presented by Asia Society and Mar Creation, Inc.

Date: Friday, June 8, 2012
Time: 6:30pm – 9pm
Venue: Asia Society (725 Park Avenue, New York)

Highlighting some of the most exciting new voices in cinema, these seven award-winning shorts, including live action and animation, offer rich insight into the imagination and creative impulse of seven U.S.-based filmmakers. Program attended by filmmakers. Reception to follow, sponsored by Asahi Beer. Among all the films DooBeeDoo recommends The 8th Samurai.

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Recommended events: DANCE CLASS with Natasha Blank & CRAZY WISDOM film screening

Date: Saturday, February 11, 2012
Time: 7-9pm
Venue: Laughing Lotus Yoga NY (59 West 19th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10011)
Ticket: $15
Genre: dance and music

DANCE CLASS is a movement meditation that feels like the best dance party EVER. 2 hours of nonstop grooves in the Dance Hall at Laughing Lotus: bangin system, floors built for bare feet, and an arsenal of beats from dance maven/bass freak Natasha Blank.

This is your invitation to LET GO, surrender your head to the intelligence of your breath, shake out everything that holds you back, and sweat out your week with a family of crazy dancers.

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Film screening: India by Song

Date: Friday, November 18, 2011
Venue:  Asia Society and Museum (725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, NYC)
Time: 6:45 – 8pm
Tickets: $7 members; $9 students/seniors; $11 nonmembers

Dir. Vijay Singh. India. 2010. 64 min. Digibeta.

Post-screening Q&A with filmmaker moderated by Aseem Chhabra, entertainment writer, Festival Director of New York Indian Film Festival, and board member of South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA)

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Recommended film: OKA! – offers a unique glimpse into the music, humor, and spirit of the Bayaka people.

A film by Lavinia Currier which is based on the memoir by Louis Sarno “Last Thoughts Before Vanishing from the Face of the Earth”.
Starring Kris Marshall, Isaach de Bankolé, Will Yun Lee & the Bayaka of Yandombe
Running Time: 106 min
Languages: Sango, Akka, French, and English.
Exclusive engagement starts Friday, October 14th at the Angelika Film Center (NY).

SHORT SYNOPSIS

25 years ago, ethnomusicologist Louis Sarno traveled from New Jersey to the forests of Central Africa to record the music of the Bayaka Pygmies. Falling in love with a Bayaka girl and her forest lifestyle, he decided to stay. “OKA!” tells the adventure of his life in Africa with his adopted family. The Bayaka pygmies maintain a tenuous balance between their traditional forest existence and their increasing dependence on the Bantu villagers. Through the eyes of Larry, the tall, ungainly white man from New Jersey, who in spite of his failing liver accompanies the Bayaka on a journey into the heart of the forest, “OKA!” offers a unique glimpse into the music, humor, and spirit of the Bayaka people. “OKA!” is directed by Lavinia Currier and filmed in Sango, Akka, French, and English. It is based on Louis Sarno’s memoir, Last Thoughts Before Vanishing from the Face of the Earth, and stars Kris Marshall, with Isaach de Bankolé and Will Yun Lee, and a magnificent local Bayaka ensemble cast.

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