DocuClub in October!
Our October DocuClub will take place on Wednesday, October 20, 7 p.m., at DCTV [http://www.dctvny.org/], located at 87 Lafayette Street (at Walker; take N/R/Q/6 trains to Canal).
We will screen a rough cut of AN INTERVIEW WITH SIMONE WEIL by Julia Haslett. What response does seeing human suffering demand of us? Haslett seeks an answer in the controversial French philosopher and activist Simone Weil (1909-1943), whose life and work took on this question in a dramatic way. Adopting Weil as her guide through an engaging and profound moral landscape, Haslett goes on a journey to understand Weil’s loss of faith in revolutionary politics and the spiritual awakening that followed. Driving her obsession with Weil is the interwoven story of suffering within Haslett’s own family – her father's suicide when she was 17 and now her older brother's severe depression. When Weil dies from self-starvation at the height of World War II, Haslett is left wondering if death was the logical conclusion to Weil’s philosophy and her attempt to share the pain of others? The result is a deeply moving and unique documentary about what it means to bear witness to suffering, both near and far.
Director/Editor/Producer Julia Haslett makes expressionistic documentaries about contemporary and historical subjects. She is producer/director of the highly acclaimed WORLDS APART (2003) series about cross-cultural medicine, and producer of the companion hour-long documentary HOLD YOUR BREATH (2005), which broadcast on PBS in 2007. Her documentary shorts HURT & SAVE (2001), FLOODED (2003), ECLIPSED (2007), and PURE & SIMPLE (2008) have screened at numerous venues, including the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Rooftop Films, and the Black Maria Film Festival. She has worked at WGBH-Boston, the Discovery Channel, and as a Filmmaker-in-Residence at the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics. Haslett was awarded a MacDowell Colony Fellowship to advance her work on AN INTERVIEW WITH SIMONE WEIL, which is her first feature-length film.
Producer Fabrizia Galvagno has worked as a Project Development Manager and Producer with Arte, National Geographic, PBS, and TV Ontario. She developed LEONARDO DA VINCI: THE MAN BEHIND THE TURIN SHROUD? (2002) for National Geographic; RICE GIRLS (2003, Venice Film Festival) recently broadcast on Al Jazeera International; THE PRIME MINISTER AND THE PRESs (2003) for PBS; and GELATO: AN ENDLESS PASSION (2005), which aired on the Sundance Channel.
Producer Enrico Rossini Cullen is the Director of Development and External Affairs at Arts Engine. He has been a consulting producer on several of Arts Engine’s Big Mouth films, including ELECTION DAY (2008), ARCTIC SON (2007), and PUSHING THE ELEPHANT (2010), which premiered in June at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York City.
Cinematographer Thomas Torres Cordova is a filmmaker and installation artist. He shot the award-winning PBS-broadcast documentary STRANGE FRUIT (2002) directed by Joel Katz. His films/videos have aired on the Sundance Channel and screened at numerous festivals. His latest film, EVERYBODY LOVES THE SUNSHINE (2007), was featured last January in a solo show at the Amie and Tony James Gallery in New York City.
Consulting Editor Jonathan Oppenheim’s editing credits include SISTER HELEN, which won the documentary directing award at Sundance and CHILDREN UNDERGROUND, which was nominated for an Oscar and won the Sundance Special Jury Prize, Gotham, and IDA awards. He edited the classic documentary feature PARIS IS BURNING, and edited and co-produced Laura Poitras’ THE OATH.
Our moderator will be Shaady Salehi, Deputy Director at Active Voice, a nonprofit media strategy organization. Working as the intermediary between film producers and NGOs, Shaady specializes in the use of film and media to support long-term social change. She has spoken at film festivals and conferences nationwide, including SILVERDOCS, Making Your Media Matter, NAMAC and the National Black Programming Consortium's New Media Summit. Prior to joining the Active Voice team, she did her graduate studies in Cultural Anthropology, focusing on the role of the Internet in provoking cultural resistance and social change among urban youth in Iran. She holds an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of California, Davis, and is currently enrolled in Columbia University's Strategic Communications program, with an emphasis in communications for social justice.
Admission is free for current DocuClub members and $6 for non-members.
If you’re planning to attend, please RSVP to docuclub@artsengine.net [docuclub@artsengine.net].
Membership is an annual $50 and it includes free admission to all DocuClub events. It takes five minutes to join online:
http://www.artsengine.net/store/items/docuclub_membership_individual_rate
