Thom Powers and Micha Peled conversed after the screening of Peled's BITTER SEEDS. Photo by Ruth Somalo.
Lately, stories about the Monsanto Protection Act have been all over the news. The provision allows for Monsanto, a major biotechnology company, to plant untested genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that could endanger the environment, even if the legal system objects. This news has created controversy among environmental and agricultural activists, and it is amidst this controversy that Micha Peled’s documentary Bitter Seeds screened as part of Stranger Than Fiction.
Bitter Seeds follows villagers in India who are encountering a significant crisis: farmers, who have seen their crops and finances destroyed by the integration of genetically modified seeds, are committing suicide in vast numbers. In an effort to uncover the reasons why the farmers are ending their lives and what can be done to stop it, a young aspiring journalist named Manjusha travels around her village, interviewing farmers and their families about their experiences. The film profiles Manjusha and her uncle, Ram Krishna, one of the farmers struggling with depression and financial issues. The personal stories of Manjusha and Ram Krishna are interspersed with interviews with Monsanto executives and environmentalists, offering a diverse array of perspectives on the controversy. At a time when stories about the actions and effects of Monsanto could not be more relevant, Bitter Seeds puts a human face on the situation.
After the screening, Peled spoke with STF’s Thom Powers about the filmmaking process and the adventures that have occurred during Bitter Seeds‘ international screening tour.
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Shola Lynch discusses the eight-year journey of producing FREE ANGELA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS. Photo by Simon Luethi.
Filmmaker Shola Lynch describes the story of Angela Davis’ arrest and trial in the early 1970s as “a political crime drama with a love story in the middle of it.” That inherent intrigue and drama is what led her to make Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, a documentary that she has been working on for the past eight years. Through a mix of present-day interviews and archival film and audio recordings, Lynch tells the story of Davis’ early days as a professor and activist and highlights the series of events that led to Davis becoming an internationally-recognized symbol of social justice. Regardless of one’s existing familiarity with Davis’ history, the film presents a fascinating and complex look at the culture of radical organizing that has cultivated advances in racial justice, feminism, economic issues, and prison reform over the past 50 years. Additionally, all aspects of Free Angela and All Political Prisoners — from the on-screen events depicted to the off-screen collaborative process of Lynch and Executive Producer Jada Pinkett Smith — demonstrate the power of women working together to create and support social change. If you missed Tuesday’s screening, you can see the film at AMC Theatres in New York, LA, Atlanta, Boston, DC, Detroit, Oakland, and Philadelphia starting this weekend.
After the screening, Lynch joined filmmaker and friend of STF, Hugo Perez, for a discussion.
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Short docs, such as Oscar-winning film INOCENTE, face changes in awards rules from AMPAS.
Writing for The Wrap, Steve Pond this week reported that the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) had turned their attention to an overhaul of rules governing the short documentary award. Similarly to the changes visited by the Academy last year on the feature documentary award, the new changes were intended to open voting up to more Academy members. Guy Lodge of HitFix also had coverage of the new changes.
Scott Macaulay of Filmmaker Magazine profiled Tugg, the online platform that allowed viewers to organize theatrical screenings of films. Writing for Indiewire, Erin Whitney reported that Tugg and Codeblack Films were working to make the film FREE ANGELA & ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS available at theaters across the country. In a post for the Reel Politik column at Indiewire, Anthony Kaufman highlighted a viral video being used to promote the film.
If you can’t wait for Tugg to do its work, you’re in luck. This week Stranger Than Fiction is hosting a screening of FREE ANGELA on Tuesday, April 2 at 8 p.m. at the IFC Center. Director Shola Lynch will be in attendance and will hold and audience Q&A following the screening. For more information or to buy tickets, go here.
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Janet Tobias shares an incredible story of adventure and survival in NO PLACE ON EARTH. Photo by Simon Luethi.
Stranger Than Fiction’s Spring 2013 season opened on the second night of Passover, an appropriate night to share a story of Jewish survival and liberation. No Place on Earth, directed by Janet Tobias, is the story of the Stermers, a Ukranian Jewish family who survived the Holocaust by hiding in underground caves for a year and a half. Their amazing story may have been forgotten forever were it not for the work of Chris Nicola, a cave explorer who discovered remnants of the Stermers’ lives in the 1990s. Today, brothers Saul and Sam Stermer and their nieces, Sonia and Sima Dodyk, are alive to recount their stories on-camera, while the memories of the late matriarch Esther Stermer survive through her writings. No Place on Earth combines these interviews and writings, as well as dramatic recreations and a climactic reunion in Ukraine, in order to tell a moving story of perseverance and survival.
After the screening, Tobias spoke with STF’s Thom Powers about the filmmaking process and how the film has affected the lives of the Stermers.
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On the eve of the Broadway premiere of Hands on a Hardbody: The Musical, director S.R. Bindler stopped by Stranger Than Fiction to present a New York premiere screening of his newly remastered classic Hands on a Hardbody: The Documentary to a theater full of diehard Hardbody fans. Hands on a Hardbody: The Documentary was not only a high water mark for DIY, bootstrap filmmaking in the late1990s but was and continues to be one of the most entertaining and engaging documentaries of all time. The fans of this documentary are legion, and for many years DVDs and prints of this out of print classic fetched hundreds of dollars on eBay – a situation that will no doubt be alleviated by the re-release of the newly mastered version of the film.
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