NAMAC Conference sessions now available online

DSC01910, originally uploaded by National Alliance For Media Arts & Culture.

In case you missed the NAMAC conference in Boston this August, you can now watch or hear many of the sessions online. There are also a number of blogs recapping the conference and continuing the conversations that started there. You’ll find it all at :
http://www.namac.org/conference-buzz

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES AT NAMAC CONFERENCE

Documentary on African American Photographers

Seeks Boston Interns & Volunteers

Award winning New York filmmaker, Thomas Allen Harris, (“12 Disciples of Nelson Mandela,” “That’s My Face”) will be in Boston in August to shoot segments for his upcoming documentary and multimedia outreach project on African American Photographers who use the camera lens as a tool for social change.

Harris and his team seek Interns & Volunteers to assist with videotaping, sound, photography, logging, online social media, and community/talent relations for the special event they are producing as part of the National Association of Media Arts Centers (NAMAC) biennial conference. (http://www.namac.org)

BOSTON SHOOT DATES:

* Tuesday, August 25^th

* Wednesday, August 26^th

* Thursday, August 27^th

INTERN POSTIONS:

* Assistant Camera: Work with cinematographer using Sony ZIU

* Assistant Sound: Monitor two (2) Wireless Mics & one (1) Boom

* Photographer: Capture production stills & behind-the-scenes activities

* Multimedia/Scanning: Scan photos and archival documents

* Community Relations: liaison to interview subjects and talent

* Production Assistant: Work with producer/director to manage set/location

* Assistant Editor: Work with producer to log and digitize footage

* Blogger: Assist producer with posting updates to Twitter, Facebook, Blog

Each Intern should be available to work at least one (1) full day.  Intern Production Credit is available to those who qualify.   If you are interested in joining our hard-working and fun-loving production team, please call – Tel:  (212) 281-6002, Email: throughalensdarkly@gmail.com. Please indicate in your response which internship category you are most interested in.

Thank you for your time and interest.  We look forward to seeing you in Boston!

www.throughalensdarkly.tv

Kopkind/CID filmmakers camp 2009

DSC01282, originally uploaded by susiwalsh.

We had a great week at the Kopkind/CID filmmakers camp from August 2-9 up in Guilford Vermont. We’d like to especially thank our guests Sandra Forman, Nora Jacobson and the Vermont filmmakers group, Henry Ferrini, Deborah Chasnoff and Liz Canner for joining us and for sharing their expertise and their work.

Huge thanks to Dave and Cubby for GREAT food and making everything go so smoothly- and to Gilbert for his amazing stories and hospitality (and the BEST margaritas!).

For a slideshow of our week at camp visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/further/sets/72157622066321816/

WE HOPE YOU’LL CONSIDER JOINING US NEXT SUMMER AT CAMP! WATCH THIS WEBSITE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT APPLYING (SPRING 2010).

Scenes from Kopkind/CID film camp August 2009(photos from Henry Ferrini)

“Big Toe Up for Kopkind ” from Henry Ferrini

Radical Relaxation & good food

and more food and talking

Kopkind/CID Filmmakers Seminars & Grassroots Film Festival 2009 to begin on August 2nd!

The Kopkind Institute and the Center for Independent Documentary will convene 10 filmmakers at Tree Frog Farm in Guilford Vermont this coming Sunday August 2nd. The public portion of the program, the Grasroots Film Festival will begin on Thursday August 6th.

Kopkind/CID film camp is a week of “radical relaxation”- a chance to breathe deep, think deeper and dive into new ideas and the blue clear waters of Vermonts lakes and rivers. For more info on the camp, check out this recent article: Radical Relaxation: The Kopkind/CID Film Camp.

We are pleased to announce this years 10 selected attendees:

Matthew Gossage, from Austin Texas

Ann Bennett, New York City

Dean Hamer, Washington DC

Brett Patricia Story, Montreal , Canada

Sanford Lewis, Amherst, MA

Betsy Kalin, Los Angels, CA

Sharon Arkin, Phoenix AZ

Joan Mandell, Detroit MI

Saroja Coelho, based in Central Europe

Kavita Pillay, Cambridge, MA

We hope that you will consider joining us for our FREE public events as part of the Kopkind Grassroots Film Festival:

POLIS IS THIS with Director Henry Ferrini in attendance
Thursday, Aug 6th, 7 PM at the Hooker-Dunham Theater, Brattleboro, VT. 139 Main Street. Polis is This wrestles with the six foot eight inch 275lb colossus of poetry. Charles Olson, in the squared circle of understanding. Through never before seen footage and interviews actor John Malkovich leads an all-star unit in a search and explore mission. Olson, the “big fire source” for a restless generation of poets known as The Beats stands more revealed than ever before. Through Director Ferrini’s poetry-in-motion lens, viewers can now see Olson’s landscapes through the fresh eyes of America’s Archaeologist of Morning. “Sublime…simply stunning” says Author Jim Harrison. “An invaluable contribution to our literature” notes Russell Banks. Charles Olson the “original aboriginal” fights to save his town from so-called progress as the bulldozer of change rumbles down Main Street USA. Polis Is This includes performances by: John Malkovich, Robert Creeley, Amiri Baraka, Pete Seeger, Jonathan Williams, Vincent Ferrini, Peter Anastas, John Stilgoe, Anne Waldman, Ammiel Alcalay, Susan Thackery, Charles Olson, Charlie Olson, Charles Boer, John Sinclair, Willie Alexander, Stefan Wolpe, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, Charles Stein, Michael Rumaker & Black Mountain College. Seating is limited and reservations for this special screening in Brattleboro VT can be made by calling the Hooker-Dunham Reservation line 802-254-9276

STRAIGTLACED with Academy Award-Director Deborah Chasnoff in attendance
Friday, Aug 7th, 7 PM at the Organ Barn, Treefrog Farm, Guilford, VT.
“Straightlaced” is directed by Academy Award‐winning filmmaker Debra Chasnoff, and is the latest documentary film production from GroundSpark’s highly acclaimed Respect For All Project. Straightlaced, which features unscripted high school youth from around the country speaking candidly about harmful pressures caused by rigid gender roles and homophobia is surprisingly uplifting and entertaining. From girls who dumb down so they don’t intimidate boys, to boys who are sexually active just to prove they aren’t gay, to non‐conforming teens who face relentless bullying, the students in Straightlaced show how gender expectations are having unhealthy and often dangerous impact on the lives of today’s teens.

A Sneak preview screening with Vermont director Liz Canner of her new film – Friday, Aug 8th, 7 PM at the Organ Barn, Treefrog Farm, Guilford, VT.

Contact John Scagliotti at above address or email stonewal@sover.net (for directions to the Organ Barn at Tree Frog Farm in Guilford}

Thank you again for your support and we hope to see you this summer at one or all of our public events.

NAMAC Conference is coming soon!

CID is proud to be the host, along with our amazing host committee, of the 2009 NAMAC confernce in Boston: COMMONWEALTH.

Shifting audiences. Evolving economics. Emergent technologies. Political opportunities.Together we can thrive on change to build and sustain the arts, media, and culture.

NAMAC’s biennial conference convenes this year in an extraordinary time. Come share your individual experiences and pool your knowledge as we develop radically new approaches to move our arts and media organizations forward. Hundreds of artists, media makers, scholars, technologists, policy advocates and activists will gather on common ground to make sense of the change and opportunity swirling around us.

Convened by the National Alliance for Media Arts + Culture, an association of independent media and visual arts organizations. We’re building a world where arts and media operate in a sustainable and creative environment, rooted in communities, interconnected through technology, and global in reach.

Conference Highlights:

Plenary Sessions
• Our New World Order: A State of the Field Address in Four Parts
• CommonWealth: Collaboration and Connectedness
• Art in Times Like These: Why We Do What We Do

Discussions on New Developments & Big Ideas
• Policy Update: Media and Arts in the Obama Era
• Creative Communities and Cultural Recovery: Arts as Economic Development
• The People Formerly Known As The Audience
• Reclaiming the Cultural Commons
• New Voices Rising: Technology, Art, and Media Crossing Critical Divides

Best Practice Presentations
• Getting Creative With New Distribution Models
• Arts for Social and Community Change
• Working Across Generations: Leadership Transitions in Our Organizations
• The Joys and Horrors of Partnership and Collaboration
• Getting Grants in Tough Times: Grantmakers’ Resource Review

Skill-building Workshops
• Fundraising with Pride and Power
• Twitters & Flickrs & Facebooks Oh My!: Social Media Bootcamp for the
Overworked and Underwhelmed
• Advocacy for Impact: Getting What We Need from Our Government
• Monetizing Your Media and Art in the Digital Age

A Media Arts Town Hall Meeting, where we gather for a deliberative dialogue to clarify our community’s priorities for policy and advocacy.

Meet & Greets with Funders, where you can converse directly with grant makers

“Open Space” discussions, both structured and unstructured, on the hot topics that you are eager to discuss with your peers

Tours of Boston’s most exciting media and arts organizations and landmarks by bus, foot, bike and even by boat!

• Youth media & arts tour
• Walking tours of public art in downtown Boston and on MIT’s campus
• Bike tour of artist live/work spaces and studio visits
• Tour WGBH, the preeminent public TV station, and its new “green” facility
• African American Heritage Trail tour
• Boat tour of Boston Harbor

• Opening Night Reception at the MIT Museum featuring Connections exhibit
• Boston Film & Television Industry welcomes NAMAC event on the waterfront at the Intercontinental Boston
• Closing Night Party at Artists for Humanity – cool youth arts organization in Boston’s greenest building

* Discount Rates, Student Rates and Day Rates available.

We’ve secured funding from the NEA to offer stipends to offset costs for NAMAC members to travel to Boston for Commonwealth. Support can be used only for travel costs or hotel support for the Park Plaza Hotel.

To apply for funding, please visit http://namac.org/conference-hotel-and-travel to download a brief application. Eighty travel stipends up to $250 each will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority given to organizations with budgets under $500,000. Limit of one stipend per organization; available to NAMAC members only.

Filmmakers Workshop June 3, 2009

Adventures in Independent Filmmaking

Join us as we screen Doug Block’s terrific documentary “The Heck With Hollywood”, about the trials and tribulations of getting an independent film marketed and distributed. The film follows three filmmakers for four years as they struggle to finish and find distribution for their films. Afterwards we’ll hold discussion, share stories and trade resources.

Doug Block is the founder and co-host of The D-Word, the online forum for documentary professionals. His most recent film “51 Birch Street”, was named one of the top ten films of 2006 by the New York Times and one of the outstanding documentaries of the year by the National Board of Review. “The Heck With Hollywood” was called “The Definitive work on the plight of the Independent” by Screen International.

Filmmakers Workshop
Wednesday
June 3, 2009
6:30-9:00pm

6:30-7:00- networking
7:00-8:10 – screening “The Heck With Hollywood”
8:10-9pm discussion/networking


Filmmakers Workshops are held at the new CID space at 93 Border Street in West Newton.
The workshop is FREE. Please feel free to bring some food or beverage to add to the snack table.

While RSVPs are not required, we do appreciate knowing if you plan to attend so that we can plan refreshments.

Doug Block will be speaking at the MAKING MEDIA NOW conference just two days later on June 5th! This is a great opportunity to see his work before the conference (it will not be shown there). You won’t want to miss this years conference which features such guests as Keynote Speaker Robert Greenwald, Doug Block, and Sandi DuBowski.

SEEKING FILM “CAMPERS” FOR THE 2009 KOPKIND/CID FILMMAKER RETREAT SEMINARS

Invitation to filmmakers:
We are pleased to announce a call to independent documentary filmmakers who would like to participate in a weeklong seminar and retreat in southern Vermont.

Event Info
Sunday August 2nd-August 9th, 2009

Tree Frog Farm, Guilford Vermont

The Center for Independent Documentary (CID) and the Kopkind Center are sponsoring this week-long retreat limited to nine filmmakers along with special invited guests at Treefrog Farm in Guilford Vermont from August 2nd (Sunday is the travel day) to Sunday, August 9th. The theme for the morning seminars is:

Brainstorming to a new future in independent filmmaking
It’s the best of times- it’s the worst of times. It’s certainly a time of profound change. Join us to brainstorm about new ways to think and operate in this new landscape and recharge your creative battery with some of Kopkind/CID’s special brand of “radical relaxation”! It is the summer of the BIG THINK and we aim to explore together not just how to survive as an independent filmmaker, but how to thrive.

You can read more about the camp experience in a recent article that appeared in the last NAMAC newsletter ( HERE).

Kopkind/CID retreat seminars are organized by Susi Walsh, Executive Director of CID and John Scagliotti, Emmy Award-winning documentary producer and the creator of the public television series, In the Life, now about to begin its 15th season of monthly hour-long programs on news and culture about the gay community. Also joining us will be Fred Simon. As an independent producer of documentaries for PBS, Simon’s films have won awards from the American Film Festival, the Athens Film Festival, and are currently in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. In addition, he is an Assistant Professor of film/video production at Clark University. Guest speakers will also join us during the week.

Closer to the end of the Seminar Week, Kopkind will present its 4thAnnual Grassroots Film Festival in the Organ Barn (Aug 6-8 open to the public); the filmmaker(s) will also lead the next morning seminar.

THE COSTS AND HOW TO APPLY:

The costs for filmmakers participating for the week is $295 per person.

The cost includes: a single Cabin room for 7 nights (shared bathroom facilities), clean linens and towels, continental breakfasts, buffet lunches, and sit-down family style dinners, afternoon excursions to swimming holes and country outings, pick-up from Bus or Train station in Brattleboro Vermont, and programmed Morning Seminars. There is wireless internet availability. Besides personal items (cool nights in Vermont) participants are asked to bring 20-minutes of their media on DVD or VHS for evening “film slams” in the Organ Barn with late night discussions (optional hot tub discussions) afterwards on the deck. Participants will be responsible for their travel to Treefrog Farm in Guilford or to a public transportation pick up spot in Brattleboro, Vermont. (once you are registered, more information will be emailed to you including directions) Note: while afternoon excursions are planned, you can use this time if you wish as ‘free time’ or as Kopkind calls it – radical relaxation. All registered participants are expected to participate in the organized seminars and evening “film slams” and film festival presentations.

Applying for the retreat week is very easy. Just write a letter to Susi Walsh and John Scagliotti explaining where you are from, what media work you have done and how you could contribute to the theme of our seminars. Also describe briefly the 20-minute visual media you would be bringing to the “film slams.” Send the letter to John Scagliotti (stonewal@sover.net) . We expect to have more applicants than spaces so please respond as soon as possible. We’ll be putting the group together from your letters around May 30th, which is around the time the deposits are due. We do this so that you can make your summer plans.

Registration and Non-refundable deposits ($50) are due by June 10th and full payment is due by July 11th. Deposit and payment checks should be made out to The Center for Independent Documentary and mailed to John Scagliotti, Administrator, Kopkind, 158 Kopkind Rd, Guilford, VT. 05301. Slots are limited, so we recommend an early registration and deposit.

Kopkind and CID are able to offer this camp for filmmakers at such a reduced rate due to the generosity of their supporters. If you wdould like to help support filmmakers seminar, please contact us!

To view some photos from previous camps click HERE.

Prior participants of the seminars:
2008: Erin Sisk, Heather Kapplow, Betsy Kalin, Lynn Cadwallader, Terry Holzgreen, Daniella Broitman, Grace Shulner, Sarah Hesterman, Benedicte Naudin

2007: Nancy Kelly, Savanna Washington, Jonathan Skurnick, Karen Everett, Jim Wolpaw, Nancy Kates, Bennett Singer, Natalie Lardner, Carlyn Saltman and Tim McCarthy.

2006 : Joel Katz , Nancy Kates, Robbie Leppzer, Alexandra de Gonzalez, Emily Kunstler, Deb Ellis, Eli Moore, Jenifer Kaplan, Rebecca Snedeker and Savanna Washington.

Please feel free to ask for more information. Questions about the seminars and retreat as well as the Grassroots Film Festival can be attained by emailing John Scagliotti at john@afterstonewall.com Also feel free to send this information to others who might want to participate. Thank you.