Fourth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival collection

Trailer	Poster
Audience Rating: (1) login to rate this Embed		Directed by Multiple directors Produced by Arts Engine Genre Short Films Runtime: 87 min Release Date: March 2008 Filmmaker's Website Send to Friends URL:
Log in or register with Caachi to download this film and watch it on your computer, DivX/Xvid compatible DVD player or video iPod/iPhone Download to own “Fourth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival” for $9.99

Plot Outline
From animation to experimental, documentary to comedy, the sixteen jury-selected shorts of the fourth annual Media That Matters Film Festival by primarily youth filmmakers will open your eyes and inspire action. The collection includes:

I Promise Africa, 2:40 min, Public Service Announcement
Jerry Henry, Director/Producer
When Jerry Henry set off to Kenya to make a documentary about orphans he didn’t realize that he would be preserving on tape the voices of a generation that would soon be silenced.
Winner of the Jury Award
» Learn more about this film

iThemba, 5:19 min, Documentary Short
Keefe Murren, Director/Producer, Nelson Walker III, Director/Producer, Lynn True, Director
Through the mesmerizing melding of their voices, the Sinikithemba Choir turns stage into soapbox, singing and speaking for the 5 million HIV+ South Africans in desperate need of medication and support.
Winner of the Health Advocacy Award
» Learn more about this film

Seeds of Hope: South Africa, 6:12 min, International Documentary
Sarah Hesterman, Director/Producer, Produced by Gotham Pictures,
Funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Solutions to poverty and malnutrition require resourcefulness and dedication. A group of women in a South African township learn how to sustain themselves and their children.
Winner of the Environment Award
» Learn more about this film

The Meatrix, 3:47 min, Flash Animation
Louis Fox, Director, Produced by Free Range Graphics in conjunction with the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment
Will Leo the pig take the blue pill and remain in a fantasyland where quaint family farms produce food for our tables or will he take the red pill and get a cruel welcome to the real world?
Winner of the Film for Thought Award
» Learn more about this film

Laugh at the Fat Kid, 7:57 min, Narrative Short
Kristina Schoentag, Director/Producer
Whimsical and visually creative, "Laugh at the Fat Kid" intimately portrays a young boy caught in a cycle of ridicule and overeating, forcing the viewer to ask "What's wrong with this picture?"
Winner of the Peter Yarrow Peace in Our Classrooms Award
» Learn more about this film

Lean on Me, 1:46 min, Youth Digital Story
Harold Clinton, Director, The Center for Reflective Community Practice at
MIT and Creative Narrations, Producers
When the mayor’s office says “no,” a group of kids find their own way to make their dream for a safe place to play basketball a reality.
Winner of the SEE CHANGE, MAKE CHANGE Youth Digital Story Award
» Learn more about this film

Books Not Bars, 3:44 min, Campaign Portrait
Mark Landsman, Director/Producer for WITNESS
A growing number of youth are questioning the way their state governments spend money. The teens of the Books Not Bars movement demand that education, not incarceration, be the priority, now and in the future.
Winner of the Criminal Justice Award
» Learn more about this film

The Children of Birmingham, 6:17 min, Animation
Rebecca Yenawine, Director, Kids on the Hill, Producer
Through stirring narration and beautiful illustrations, Baltimore middleschool students tell the story of their 1960s counterparts who fought for their civil rights.
Winner of the SEE CHANGE, MAKE CHANGE Youth Video Award
» Learn more about this film

Day of Remembrance, 8:00 min, Political Documentary
Cynthia Fujikawa, Director/Producer
The legislators behind the Patriot Act claim to have made America safer, but in the process they have destroyed the lives of thousands of innocent Arab and Muslim Americans. Day of Remembrance calls attention to this tragic phenomenon and reminds us that American history has a tendency to repeat itself.
Winner of the Racial Justice Award
» Learn more about this film

Dedicated to My Family, 3:51 min, Personal Documentary
Nicole Sobottke, Director, Reel Grrls at 911 Media Arts Center, Producer
Nicole dreams about a perfect family. Living in a teen shelter, she has learned that family is where the heart is.
Winner of the Family and Society Award
» Learn more about this film

Struggling to Survive, 7:37 min, Youth Documentary
Dana Hall, Ashley Potter and Mary Profitt, Directors, Appalshop’s
Appalachian Media Institute, Producer
Having a job doesn’t mean you make enough to get by. Teenagers in eastern Kentucky turn their cameras on the living wage crisis in their community.
Winner of the Youth Documentary Award
» Learn more about this film

The Sixth Section, 8:10 min, Social Documentary
Alex Rivera, Director/Producer, Produced in association with
P.O.V./American Documentary
Sometimes the “American Dream” is realized on foreign soil. During the cold winters of upstate New York, a group of immigrants work together to give a baseball field, an ambulance and whatever else they can manage to their hometown of Boqueron, Mexico.
Winner of the American Dream Award
» Learn more about this film

Novela, Novela, 7:20 min, International Documentary
Elizabeth Miller, Director/Producer
Every afternoon, millions of Nicaraguans gather around their TV sets to watch their favorite imported novela (soap opera). What would happen if a group of activists produced a homegrown novela about real issues
like safe sex and domestic abuse?
Winner of the Women’s Rights Award
» Learn more about this film

Bush for Peace, 1:56 min., Satirical Short
Sarah Christman, Director/Producer, Jen Simmons, Director/Producer
It’s Dubbya as you’ve never heard him before in a re-mix of U.S. foreign policy created from the Commander-in-Chief’s “Moment of Truth” speech. Bush for Peace is at once a fantasy, a satire, and an earnest plea to stop the violence.
Winner of the Politics and Government Award
» Learn more about this film

Spring in Awe, 4 min, Experimental Short
Martina Radwan, Director/Producer, Moira Demos, Producer
The overpowering displays of Times Square put a spell on the world in a disturbing lullaby of global capitalism.
Winner of the Media Awareness Award
» Learn more about this film

POPaganda: The Art & Subversion of Ron English, 8:24 min, Portrait
Pedro Carvajal, Director/Producer
A modern-day Robin Hood of Madison Avenue, artist and satirist Ron English reclaims corporate billboards with uncanny canvases that force the man on the street to look twice…or maybe three times.
Winner of the Media Literacy Award
» Learn more about this film

If you want to purchase a DVD of these short films, instead of downloading them, please go to the Media That Matters website.

Reviews
"Media That Matters continues to illuminate wrongdoing through the power of images and bring the potential for justice where there seemingly is none." – indieWIRE

"Being raised in Brooklyn means you know something about social issues. For me, Media That Matters is one of the festivals that keeps our focus on how to make our communities better and stronger and smarter." – Chris Rock

"Media That Matters is about people making the switch from apathy to action." – Sarah McLachlan

"This socially conscious film festival tackles big issues in short takes." – The New Yorker Magazine

Filmmaker Notes

The Media That Matters Film Festival is the premiere showcase for short films on the most important topics of the day. Local and global, online and in communities around the world, Media That Matters engages diverse audiences and inspires them to take action. From gay rights to global warming, the jury-selected collection represents the work of a diverse group of independent filmmakers, many of whom are under 21. The films are equally diverse in style and content, with documentaries, music videos, animations, experimental work and everything else in between. What all the films have in common is that they spark debate and action in 12 minutes or less. The Media That Matters Film Festival is a project of Arts Engine, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Arts Engine supports, produces and distributes independent media of consequence and promotes the use of independent media by advocates, educators and the general public. By fostering the production and use of independent film, video and new media, Arts Engine connects media makers and active audiences in order to spur critical consideration of pressing social issues. Learn more at www.artsengine.net.