One of my long time members asked me tonight, if I can only watch one film per night during the PATOIS: NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL, which would I recommend?
So I decided that would make a good blog post, so here are my personal festival recommendations for each of the remaining nights:
If you can only see one film per night…
Friday, March 13 @ 9:15 p.m.
The Throwaways | USA | 2014 | 62min | Documentary
The Throwaways is a personal exploration of the devastating impact of police brutality and mass incarceration on the black community told through the eyes of formerly incarcerated activist filmmaker Ira McKinley. With rawness, urgency and power, this award-winning documentary film speaks directly to the national movement rising up to fight back against a wave of police killings of black people in America.
Timely and provocative, The Throwaways is more just than an illumination of marginalized people at their weakest moments; it is a call to action, a story of directly engaging in the fight for justice. Directed by Bhawin Suchak and Ira McKinley.
Saturday, March 14 @ 7:00 p.m.
The Hand That Feeds | USA | 2014 | 88min | Documentary
At a popular bakery café, residents of New York’s Upper East Side get bagels and coffee served with a smile 24 hours a day. But behind the scenes, undocumented immigrant workers face sub-legal wages, dangerous machinery, and abusive managers who will fire them for calling in sick. Mild-mannered sandwich maker Mahoma López has never been interested in politics, but in January 2012, he convinces a small group of his co-workers to fight back.
Risking deportation and the loss of their livelihood, the workers team up with a diverse crew of innovative young organizers and take the unusual step of forming their own independent union, launching themselves on a journey that will test the limits of their resolve. In one roller-coaster year, they must overcome a shocking betrayal and a two-month lockout. Lawyers will battle in back rooms, Occupy Wall Street protesters will take over the restaurant, and a picket line will divide the neighborhood. If they can win a contract, it will set a historic precedent for low-wage workers across the country. But whatever happens, Mahoma and his coworkers will never be exploited again. Written, directed and produced by Rachel Lears & Robin Blotnick.
Presented with support the New Orleans Film Society, Congress of Day Laborers, $15 and a Union, and Solidarity Ignite.
Sunday, March 15 @ 7:00 p.m.
Kate Bornstein is a Queer and Pleasant Danger | USA/Canada | 2014 | 72min | Documentary
Performance artist and writer Kate Bornstein explodes binaries while deconstructing gender—and her own identity. Trans-dyke. Reluctant polyamorist. Sadomasochist. Recovering Scientologist. Pioneering gender outlaw. Sam Feder’s playful and meditative portrait on Bornstein, captures rollicking public performances and painful personal revelations as it bears witness to Kate as a trailblazing artist-theorist-activist who inhabits a space between male and female with wit, style and astonishing candor. Directed by Sam Feder.
Thursday, March 19 @ 5:30 p.m.
FOUCAULT AGAINST HIMSELF
“Don’t ask me who I am, and don’t tell me to remain the same.” —Michel Foucault
From the history of madness, to sexuality and pleasure in classical antiquity, to the law and penal institutions, the breadth of Michel Foucault’s thought was astonishing.
One of the leading intellectuals of the 20th century, Foucault bridged the roles of intellectual and activist, attaining the highest honours of the French academy while using his position to attack the very institutional power that gave him a platform.
FOUCAULT AGAINST HIMSELF captures the energy and fierce intellect of the man, introducing us to the key elements of his work, while also acknowledging—even celebrating—its many contradictions.
Friday, March 6:00 p.m.
The Wanted 18 | Canada/France/Palestine | 2014 | 75min | Documentary
Through stop-motion animation, drawings and interviews, directors Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan recreate an astonishing true story from the First Palestinian Intifada: the Israeli army’s pursuit of eighteen cows, whose independent milk production on a Palestinian collective farm was declared “a threat to the national security of the state of Israel.”
Plus: BDS Program with Ramah Kudaimi from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Saturday, March 22 @ 9:00 p.m.
SONGS FOR ALEXIS
Songs for Alexis is a classic coming of age love story about two passionate teenagers stuck in American suburbia.
18-year-old Ryan is a talented musician and began his transition from girl to boy 4 years earlier. He is wildly in love with the beautiful and enigmatic 16-year-old Alexis, but her parents’ disapproval of Ryan forces her to choose between her family and an unsafe future with the man she loves.
Sunday, March 22 @ 4:00 p.m.
NEW ORLEANS YOUTH FIGHT FOR CHANGE
4-5:30 PM, Zeitgeist, FREE
EMPATHY RANGERS
USA | 2013 | 4min | Narrative
A group of teenagers decides to get involved and become the Empathy Rangers and fight against the evil ways of Dr. Apathy. A 2-Cent TV production.
RISK SERIES
USA | 2014 | 35min | Narrative Youth-created web series that follows a New Orleans youth, Kevin, through his last summer before college. Produced by the Institute for Women and Ethnic Studies.
Discussion to follow with 2-Cent and IWES.
And if you only see one film in the entire festival it must be:
Friday, March 6:00 p.m.
The Wanted 18 | Canada/France/Palestine | 2014 | 75min | Documentary
Through stop-motion animation, drawings and interviews, directors Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan recreate an astonishing true story from the First Palestinian Intifada: the Israeli army’s pursuit of eighteen cows, whose independent milk production on a Palestinian collective farm was declared “a threat to the national security of the state of Israel.”
Plus: BDS Program with Ramah Kudaimi from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
“This documentary is hilarious. I nearly choked to death from laughing so hard! This is a definite must see film” - Rene Broussard, Zeitgeist founder / Director
So I decided that would make a good blog post, so here are my personal festival recommendations for each of the remaining nights:
If you can only see one film per night…
Friday, March 13 @ 9:15 p.m.
The Throwaways | USA | 2014 | 62min | Documentary
The Throwaways is a personal exploration of the devastating impact of police brutality and mass incarceration on the black community told through the eyes of formerly incarcerated activist filmmaker Ira McKinley. With rawness, urgency and power, this award-winning documentary film speaks directly to the national movement rising up to fight back against a wave of police killings of black people in America.
Timely and provocative, The Throwaways is more just than an illumination of marginalized people at their weakest moments; it is a call to action, a story of directly engaging in the fight for justice. Directed by Bhawin Suchak and Ira McKinley.
Saturday, March 14 @ 7:00 p.m.
The Hand That Feeds | USA | 2014 | 88min | Documentary
At a popular bakery café, residents of New York’s Upper East Side get bagels and coffee served with a smile 24 hours a day. But behind the scenes, undocumented immigrant workers face sub-legal wages, dangerous machinery, and abusive managers who will fire them for calling in sick. Mild-mannered sandwich maker Mahoma López has never been interested in politics, but in January 2012, he convinces a small group of his co-workers to fight back.
Risking deportation and the loss of their livelihood, the workers team up with a diverse crew of innovative young organizers and take the unusual step of forming their own independent union, launching themselves on a journey that will test the limits of their resolve. In one roller-coaster year, they must overcome a shocking betrayal and a two-month lockout. Lawyers will battle in back rooms, Occupy Wall Street protesters will take over the restaurant, and a picket line will divide the neighborhood. If they can win a contract, it will set a historic precedent for low-wage workers across the country. But whatever happens, Mahoma and his coworkers will never be exploited again. Written, directed and produced by Rachel Lears & Robin Blotnick.
Presented with support the New Orleans Film Society, Congress of Day Laborers, $15 and a Union, and Solidarity Ignite.
Sunday, March 15 @ 7:00 p.m.
Kate Bornstein is a Queer and Pleasant Danger | USA/Canada | 2014 | 72min | Documentary
Performance artist and writer Kate Bornstein explodes binaries while deconstructing gender—and her own identity. Trans-dyke. Reluctant polyamorist. Sadomasochist. Recovering Scientologist. Pioneering gender outlaw. Sam Feder’s playful and meditative portrait on Bornstein, captures rollicking public performances and painful personal revelations as it bears witness to Kate as a trailblazing artist-theorist-activist who inhabits a space between male and female with wit, style and astonishing candor. Directed by Sam Feder.
Thursday, March 19 @ 5:30 p.m.
FOUCAULT AGAINST HIMSELF
“Don’t ask me who I am, and don’t tell me to remain the same.” —Michel Foucault
From the history of madness, to sexuality and pleasure in classical antiquity, to the law and penal institutions, the breadth of Michel Foucault’s thought was astonishing.
One of the leading intellectuals of the 20th century, Foucault bridged the roles of intellectual and activist, attaining the highest honours of the French academy while using his position to attack the very institutional power that gave him a platform.
FOUCAULT AGAINST HIMSELF captures the energy and fierce intellect of the man, introducing us to the key elements of his work, while also acknowledging—even celebrating—its many contradictions.
Friday, March 6:00 p.m.
The Wanted 18 | Canada/France/Palestine | 2014 | 75min | Documentary
Through stop-motion animation, drawings and interviews, directors Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan recreate an astonishing true story from the First Palestinian Intifada: the Israeli army’s pursuit of eighteen cows, whose independent milk production on a Palestinian collective farm was declared “a threat to the national security of the state of Israel.”
Plus: BDS Program with Ramah Kudaimi from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Saturday, March 22 @ 9:00 p.m.
SONGS FOR ALEXIS
Songs for Alexis is a classic coming of age love story about two passionate teenagers stuck in American suburbia.
18-year-old Ryan is a talented musician and began his transition from girl to boy 4 years earlier. He is wildly in love with the beautiful and enigmatic 16-year-old Alexis, but her parents’ disapproval of Ryan forces her to choose between her family and an unsafe future with the man she loves.
Sunday, March 22 @ 4:00 p.m.
NEW ORLEANS YOUTH FIGHT FOR CHANGE
4-5:30 PM, Zeitgeist, FREE
EMPATHY RANGERS
USA | 2013 | 4min | Narrative
A group of teenagers decides to get involved and become the Empathy Rangers and fight against the evil ways of Dr. Apathy. A 2-Cent TV production.
RISK SERIES
USA | 2014 | 35min | Narrative Youth-created web series that follows a New Orleans youth, Kevin, through his last summer before college. Produced by the Institute for Women and Ethnic Studies.
Discussion to follow with 2-Cent and IWES.
And if you only see one film in the entire festival it must be:
Friday, March 6:00 p.m.
The Wanted 18 | Canada/France/Palestine | 2014 | 75min | Documentary
Through stop-motion animation, drawings and interviews, directors Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan recreate an astonishing true story from the First Palestinian Intifada: the Israeli army’s pursuit of eighteen cows, whose independent milk production on a Palestinian collective farm was declared “a threat to the national security of the state of Israel.”
Plus: BDS Program with Ramah Kudaimi from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
“This documentary is hilarious. I nearly choked to death from laughing so hard! This is a definite must see film” - Rene Broussard, Zeitgeist founder / Director