American Masters/Paul Robeson: Here I Stand presents the life and achievements of an extraordinary man. Athlete, singer, and scholar, Robeson was also a charismatic champion of the rights of the poor working man, the disenfranchised, and people of color. He led a life in the vanguard of many movements, achieved international acclaim for his music, and suffered tremendous personal sacrifice. His story is one of the great dramas of the 20th century–spanning an international canvas of social upheaval and ideological controversy. American Masters/Paul Robeson: Here I Stand blends voices, music, visual montages, and interviews into a seamless portrait of a remarkable man. Directed by St.Clair Bourne, narrated by Ossie Davis. 117 minutes.

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In tribute to the late founder of the Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West, St. Clair Bourne, BADWest would like to present “St. Clair Bourne’s 3rd Thursday Documentary Film Screening Series”. This event will carry on St. Clair’s original series previously known as First Mondays. St. Clair Bourne’s 3rd Thursday Documentary Film Series will continue as a traditional monthly gathering for artists actively working in film, television and theater to stimulate discussion on culture, political principles, creative techniques and the exchange of ideas that can help us all make the most powerful work possible to help create a culture of resistance in these important times.

Every ”Third Thursdays” of the month are held at 7pm , Vegan Village Cafe located at 4061 W. Pico Blvd. (Just east of Crenshaw.) FREE off-street parking is available in the rear. For more info contact the BADWest info line: (213) 534-6635

We  encourage attendees to support Vegan Village by trying their menu of healthy food and beverages. Vegan Village, a pillar in the community, shares our vision through promoting health and culture. Parking is free in the rear of the building.

Donaldson Correctional Facility is situated in the Alabama countryside southwest of Birmingham. 1,500 men, considered the state’s most dangerous prisoners, live behind high security towers and a double row of barbed and electrical wire fences.

Within this dark environment, a spark was ignited. A growing network of men had been gathering to meditate on a regular basis. Intrigued by this, Jenny Phillips, cultural anthropologist and psychotherapist, first visited Donaldson Correctional Facility in the fall of 1999. She planned to observe the meditation classes facilitated by inmates and to interview the inmate meditators about their lives as prisoners.

As she met with the men, one by one in the privacy of an office, she was drawn in by their openness and willingness to talk freely about themselves. High levels of apprehension, distraction and danger characterize their lives as prisoners. Even though many of these men will never be released from prison, they were thirsty for meaningful social and emotional change. What she heard there was difficult to forget. It left her wondering if it were possible to live with a sense of inner peace and freedom within this harsh prison environment.

As a meditator herself, Jenny knew that meditation directly addresses the issue of personal suffering, and offers a simple yet powerful means for obtaining relief. But were these ancient ideas, as described in the teachings of the Buddha 2600 years ago, now relevant? Could the framework of this approach to suffering be translated into some basic principles of treatment that would be applicable to 21st century North American prisoners?

The Vipassana teachers, Bruce and Jonathan, prepare to live and meditate with the inmates. Teachers and inmates, men from culturally different worlds, are locked together in a dramatically revealing process. This is, most likely, the first time non-inmates have ever lived among inmates inside a prison.

Seated on meditation mats on a red rug donated by the Warden, wrapped in navy blue blankets, the men sit still in silence as they journey inside. Their days are punctuated by a strict daily routine of eating, sleeping and meditating.

After the Vipassana retreat, the men tell their tales of pain and self-discovery. The spiritual warriors of Donaldson Correctional Facility discuss their collective experiences and vow to try to maintain their nascent sense of solidarity. In the nameless, faceless anonymity of prison life, where daily life is organized around social control and punishment, Vipassana has offered an alternative social identity based on brotherhood and spiritual development.

The stories of the men at Donaldson Correctional Facility are those of the unseen, unheard, and underserved. This film shines a spotlight upon society’s outcasts and untouchables as we witness them on their Odyssean journey into their misery to emerge with a sense of peace and purpose.Were these prisoners, many of them survivors of personal trauma, even capable of withstanding the emotionally and physically demanding experience of a Vipassana program requiring over 100 hours of silent meditation?

The Dhamma Brothers tells a dramatic story of human potential and transformation as it closely follows and documents the stories of a group of prisoners as they enter into this arduous program. It will challenge assumptions about the very nature of prisons as places of punishment rather than rehabilitation. Despite the difficulty in obtaining permission to film inside a prison, the Alabama Department of Corrections allowed a film crew to document, not only the Vipassana program, but many other scenes and settings revealing the daily lives of prisoners and staff.

Before the Vipassana retreat, the men openly express fear and trepidation, wondering what they will find when they look deeply within and face the consequences of past actions and trauma. They are shown packing their scant belongings and preparing for the journey inside, a very short walk down the prison corridor but a sea change in their lives as prisoners. We observe the transformation of the prison gym, a frequent site for violent battles among inmates, into a monastery, a separate, restricted place in which the inmate students can eat, sleep, and meditate in total seclusion from the rest of prison society.

Every ”Third Thursdays” of the month are held at Vegan Village Cafe located at 4061 W. Pico Blvd. (Just east of Crenshaw.) FREE off-street parking is available in the rear. For more info contact the BADWest info line: (213) 534-6635

We  encourage attendees to support Vegan Village by trying their menu of healthy food and beverages. Vegan Village, a pillar in the community, shares our vision through promoting health and culture. Parking is free in the rear of the building.

REWARDS CINEMA PRESENTS

FILM HU$TLE

Written and Directed

by

Daron Fordham

Produced by Raymond Forchion

FILM HU$TLE explores all facets of setting up a successful campaign to market and sell an indie feature above and beyond the distribution deal.  Say’s Fordham, “Your movie is a product. You’ve got to think outside the box.  The deal is just the beginning.”   According to producer Forchion, ” “Hustle’s” a primer for everyone with a movie to sell.  I wish I had seen this before I made my first film. Even the studios could learn a thing or two here. Without this information, you are in danger of making the world’s most expensive home movie.”   In addition to the filmmaker team, the movie includes words of wisdom from Oscar nominated actress Sally Kirkland and noted actor/director Bill Duke, successful filmmakers in their own right, plus interviews with a host of film fans from all over the country.

Every ”Third Thursdays” of the month are held at Vegan Village Cafe located at 4061 W. Pico Blvd. (Just east of Crenshaw.) FREE off-street parking is available in the rear. For more info contact the BADWest info line: (213) 534-6635

We  encourage attendees to support Vegan Village by trying their menu of healthy food and beverages. Vegan Village, a pillar in the community, shares our vision through promoting health and culture. Parking is free in the rear of the building.

Sweet Crude is the story of Nigeria’s Niger Delta – a story that’s never been captured in a feature-length film. Filmmaker Sandi Cioffi

Beginning with the filmmaker’s initial trip to document the building of a library in a remote village, Sweet Crude is a journey of multilayered revelation and ever-deepening questions. It’s about survival, corruption, greed and armed resistance. It’s about one place in one moment, with themes that echo many places throughout history. Sweet Crude shows the humanity behind the statistics, events and highly sensationalized media portrayal of the region. Set against a stunning backdrop of Niger Delta footage, the film gives voice to the region’s complex mix of stakeholders and invites the audience to learn the deeper story.

The issues are local and human, yet they have far-reaching political, environmental and economic implications. It’s a powder-keg situation that affects the daily lives and futures of the people who live there. Left unchecked, its consequences will be felt around the globe. Yet barely anyone outside the Delta knows what’s really happening.

Why do we care enough to make this movie? Because raising awareness just might be the tipping point it takes to head off civil war. Because the kids of the Delta deserve a future. Because what happens in Nigeria ripples through African political stability and global economic markets. Because Nigeria produces more than 10 percent of the U.S. oil supply. Ultimately, the events unfolding in the Niger Delta affect us all.

It will take a vigilant world community to advocate for nonviolent political solutions. With this independent documentary, we take a stand for a more truthful conversation, with the hope that a more educated public will hold governments and big oil accountable to peaceful and just resolution.  

Every ”Third Thursdays” of the month are held at Vegan Village Cafe located at 4061 W. Pico Blvd. (Just east of Crenshaw.) FREE off-street parking is available in the rear. For more info contact the BADWest info line: (213) 534-6635

We  encourage attendees to support Vegan Village by trying their menu of healthy food and beverages. Vegan Village, a pillar in the community, shares our vision through promoting health and culture. Parking is free in the rear of the building.


In 1968, Orangeburg was a typical Southern town still clinging to its Jim Crow traditions. Although home to two black colleges and a majority black population, economic and political power remained exclusively in the hands of whites. Growing black resentment and white fear provided the kindling; the spark came when a black Vietnam War veteran was denied access to a nearby bowling alley, one of the last segregated facilities in town. Three hundred protestors from South Carolina State College and Claflin University converged on the alley in a non-violent demonstration. A melee with the police ensued during which police beat two female students; the incensed students then smashed the windows of white-owned businesses along the route back to campus. With scenes of the destruction in Detroit and Newark fresh in their minds, Orangeburg’s white residents, businessmen and city officials feared urban terrorists were now in Orangeburg. The Governor sent in the state police and National Guard.

By the late evening of February 8th, army tanks and over 100 heavily armed law enforcement officers had cordoned off the campus; 450 more had been stationed downtown. About 200 students milled around a bonfire on S.C. State’s campus; a fire truck with armed escort was sent in. Without warning the crackle of shotgun fire shattered the cold night air. It lasted less than ten seconds. When it was over, twenty-eight students lay on State’s campus with multiple buckshot wounds; three others had been killed. Almost all were shot in the back or side. Students and police vividly describe what they experienced that night.

In Orangeburg, police fingered Cleveland Sellers as the inevitable ‘outside agitator’ who, they claimed, had incited the students. Twenty-three years old, he had returned home, leaving his position as Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) program director, to organize black consciousness groups on South Carolina campuses. Sellers had already attracted the attention of law enforcement officials as a friend of SNCC head Stokely Carmichael, who had frightened many Americans with his call for ‘Black Power.’ Carmichael’s ideas articulated the Movement’s shift from a focus on integration to one of gaining political and economic power within the black community. South Carolina officials therefore saw Sellers as a direct challenge to their power. Wounded in the Massacre, Sellers was arrested at the hospital and charged with ‘inciting to riot.’ Though students made clear he was only minimally involved with their demonstrations, Sellers was tried and sentenced to one year of hard labor. He was finally pardoned 23 years after the incident. The U.S. Justice Department charged the nine police officers who admitted shooting that night with abuse of power. However, neither of two South Carolina juries would uphold the charges.

The Orangeburg Massacre has been excluded from most histories of the Civil Rights Movement. But forty years later, some remember the tragedy as if it happened only yesterday. The film interviews the most important participants on both sides of the tragedy, some of whom speak for the first time about the Massacre. The survivors are still visibly traumatized by that night, while the Governor and one of the accused policemen remain convinced they had no other choice. Two prominent Southern white journalists, Jack Bass and Jack Nelson, authors of The Orangeburg Massacre and historical consultants to the film, discuss their revealing, independent investigation. At an historic conference about South Carolina’s Civil Rights Movement, white officials try to evade discussion of the Massacre, arguing that an investigation isn’t warranted because ‘it is time to move forward.’ However, African Americans insist that true reconciliation cannot begin without an investigation and report that finally sheds light on the many unanswered questions. Cleveland Sellers, now president of Voorhees, a historically black college in South Carolina, and his son, Bakari, at 21 the youngest state legislator in South Carolina history, call on us to remember those slain in Orangeburg with the other Civil Rights martyrs. With a resonance that carries us far beyond the tragedy itself, the film is a powerful antidote to historical amnesia.

Scarred Justice: The Orangerburg Massacre 1968 is a co-production of Northern Light Productions, the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and the National Black Programming Consortium, with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Sally Jo Fifer Executive Producer for ITVS.

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Every ”Third Thursdays” of the month are held at Vegan Village Cafe located at 4061 W. Pico Blvd. (Just east of Crenshaw.) FREE off-street parking is available in the rear. For more info contact the BADWest info line: (213) 534-6635

We  encourage attendees to support Vegan Village by trying their menu of healthy food and beverages. Vegan Village, a pillar in the community, shares our vision through promoting health and culture. Parking is free in the rear of the building.

Mine is the poignant and powerful story of pet owners separated from their animals during Hurricane Katrina, and of their struggles to find and bring their beloved companions home. A meditation on the essential bond between humans and animals, Mine is an equally compelling story of race and class, and the power of compassion in contemporary America. Directed by Geralyn Pezanoski.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana coast in August 2005, no one could fathom the tremendous damage the storm would create. Many who evacuated thought it would blow over quickly, and they would soon return home to resume their lives. But over the following days, millions of Americans watched in disbelief as disturbing images of people trapped on rooftops above the flood waters appeared on television. Thousands more were marooned in the Superdome without food in sweltering heat, while others were relocated to faraway cities, with no idea when they would be allowed to return home — if they had a home to return to.

Filmmaker Geralyn Pezanoski was also watching events unfold, profoundly affected by not only the human catastrophe, but by the suffering of animals separated from their owners. When she heard about rescue efforts being carried out by animal lovers from across the country and the world, she decided to go to New Orleans to document this incredible undertaking.

During the ensuing six weeks she filmed dozens of volunteers and some of the thousands of animals they rescued. She subsequently saw many of these animals loaded onto trucks and planes and sent to shelters across the country, their fates uncertain.

As the weeks went by, an increasing number of residents returned to New Orleans to rebuild their lives. Some returned to homes that were completely destroyed, their pets gone—adopted out to new loving families and given new names. For many who had lost everything, the search for a pet became a desperate attempt to find the one thing left in the world that belonged to them.

Through the stories of the original owners, the foster families and the animal advocates in the film, Mine reveals the resilience of the human spirit. From Malvin Cavalier, who had to leave his dog behind when he sought shelter in the Superdome, to Gloria Richardson, who refused to evacuate without her Black Lab, but was then forcibly separated by authorities, the owners inMine refused to give up searching for their companions, and many are reunited with their pets.

Set in a post-Katrina landscape of poverty, loss and moral uncertainty, Mine presents the complexity of an intensely emotional situation and raises questions for which there are no simple answers: Why weren’t people allowed to evacute with their animals? Once the rescued animals were adopted into new homes, who had the authority to decide whether they should be returned to their previous owners? Why were original owners running into resistance in their efforts to reclaim their pets?

When two families love the same pet, conflicts inevitably arise over who is the rightful “owner” and what is right for the animal. At the center of this tension are pets that are loved like family, but by law are considered property. The heart of the matter is this: What is in the best interest of the animals and who has the right to decide?
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Every ”Third Thursdays” of the month are held at Vegan Village Cafe located at 4061 W. Pico Blvd. (Just east of Crenshaw.) FREE off-street parking is available in the rear. For more info contact the BADWest info line: (213) 534-6635

We  encourage attendees to support Vegan Village by trying their menu of healthy food and beverages. Vegan Village, a pillar in the community, shares our vision through promoting health and culture. Parking is free in the rear of the building.