Monday, July 29, 2013. 9:00 AM.
"We are story animals. And we need to tell our stories in as direct, as unmediated, and as emotionally resonant a way as possible."
-Stephen Apkon, from The Age of the Image
Here are some multi-media references that introduce major themes of Steve's book:
I AM HERE: A short film for Stephen Apkon's new book, The Age of the Image.This short film, created especially for the book, shows exactly how image, sound and story can be more effective than words alone.
Steve Apkon on the new literacy: Seattle's “Specific Gravity” radio show with Jeff Schectman
What do we really know and understand about the “grammar” and the structure of visual communication? How are stories and our appreciation of them, different when we watch them, as opposed to reading them? How will this new realm of visual literacy shape our children and how they see and set out to change the world?
WNYC's Brian Leher interviews Stephen Apkon about the need for teaching visual literacy
Stephen Apkon offers his manifesto for incorporating "visual literacy" into education.
Visit theageoftheimage.com for interviews, excerpts, and more.
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Special Session: Stories We Tell, introduction by John Pierson
Monday, July 29, 2013. 10:00 AM.
The JBFC has enjoyed a fantastic neighbor all spring and summer, acclaimed independent film producer, John Pierson. John has been living in the JBFC's Residence for International Filmmakers since April, and immersing himself during his time in Pleasantville in all aspects of the JBFC. We're thrilled to welcome him to the Summer Teachers Institute to present Sarah Polley's recent film, Stories We Tell.
John graduated from NYU Film School in the late 70's, and twenty- five years later, he left America behind to show free movies at the world¹s most remote theater, Fiji¹s 180 Meridian Cinema. This adventure with his family became the subject of the Steve James documentary REEL PARADISE. In between, he played many pivotal roles in bringing the work of first-time filmmakers like Spike Lee, Michael Moore, Kevin Smith and Richard Linklater to the screen, a portfolio that Premiere called "a virtual hit parade of the independent movement." These tales are chronicled in John's book Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes: A Guided Tour Across a Decade of American Independent Cinema, revised and reissued in 2004 as Spike Mike Reloaded. Peter Biskind calls it "the bible for independents." He was also creator and host of Split Screen, a half-hour magazine-format television show on IFC. Over its four year run, Split Screen put well over 100 indie filmmakers to work and also spawned features ranging from THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT to HOW¹S YOUR NEWS? Often in partnership with his wife and Grainy Pictures co-president Janet Pierson, John has directed film festivals, staged annual film workshops, and formed a completion funding company. He also executive produced CHASING AMY and once acted opposite Chris Noth. The Piersons now live in Austin, TX where John teaches in the UT film department.
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Special Session: Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz, Collective Eye Films
Wednesday, July 31, 2013. 9:00 AM.
"We believe that film is a medium that can present critical issues, challenge audiences, and raise important questions. Keeping true to the notion that documentary films are powerful tools for change, we strive to unearth stories that make a difference." - Collective Eye Films
Filmmakers Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz join STI to speak about their films and their production company, Collective Eye Films. Siegel and Betz have directed and produced award-winning documentaries including the The Real Dirt on Farmer John, Queen of the Sun, and the upcoming, Kickstarter-funded "SEEDS." Each of these films tackle the most pressing agricultural and environmental issues of our times. For more on on Collective Eye Films, visit collectiveeye.org.
Queen of the Sun: What are the Bees Telling Us?
In 2006, beekeepers around the world began reporting a strange and troubling phenomenon -- the population of their hives was shrinking dramatically, with the insects disappearing for reasons unknown to their minders, and in time close to a third of the world's honeybee population had seemingly vanished. With bees involved in the growth of 40 percent of the world's food, restoring the global bee population is of crucial importance, and filmmaker Taggart Siegel examines the role of bees in agriculture and the ecosystem, Queen of the Sun was an official selection at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival.
The Real Dirt on Farmer John
THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN follows Farmer John's astonishing journey from farm boy to counter-culture rebel to the son who almost lost the family farm to a beacon of today's booming organic farming movement and founder of one of the nation's largest Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms. The result is a tale that ebbs and flows with the fortunes of the soil and revealingly mirrors the changing American times.
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Keynote Presentation: Ellen Horne
Wednesday, July 31, 2013. 1:00 PM.
"Radiolab is a show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience."
Ellen Horne is the Executive Producer of Radiolab, WNYC's Peabody Award-winning program that examines big questions in science, philosophy and the human experience through compelling storytelling.
In 2003, Horne joined forces withRadiolab creator and host Jad Abumrad to build Radiolab into a thriving radio program. Today, Radiolab is one of public radio's most popular shows. Its podcasts are downloaded over 4 million times each month and the program is carried on 437 stations across the nation.
As Executive Producer, Horne is responsible for settingRadiolab's overall business strategy, overseeing the brand and the show's production. Building on the show's podcasting success, Horne implemented a broadcast distribution strategy to bring Radiolab into homes nationwide on terrestrial radio. She also launched and produces the live Radiolab shows that tour cities throughout the U.S. For Radiolab, she has produced and reported a diverse range stories, from a folk singers battle with her own voice to a 1962 medical mystery from the shores of Lake Victoria in Tanzania.
Born in Paris in 1969, Nabil Ayouch began his career with three shorts, the first of which, ‘ Les Pierres bleues du désert’ (1992), marked the acting debut of French star Jamel Debbouze. Features include ‘Mektoub’ (1998), the multi-award-winning ‘Ali Zaoua’ (2000), ‘A Minute of Sun Less’ (2003), ‘Whatever Lola Wants’ (2007) and ‘My Land’ (2010).
Click here to watch an interview with Nabil Ayouch from the Doha Film Institute.
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Special Session: Horses of God, with filmmaker Nabil Ayouch
Friday, August 2, 2013. 12:30 PM.
The seeds of fundamentalist martyrdom are sown in the dirt-poor lives of young men raised in the slums of Morocco in Horses Of God, a thoughtful, compelling adaptation of the Mahi Binebine novel The Stars Of Sidi Moumen. Inspired by the 2003 terrorist attacks in Casablanca, the film follows two brothers over the course of a decade as they make the life-changing decisions that will lead them to become Islamist martyrs.Born in Paris in 1969, Nabil Ayouch began his career with three shorts, the first of which, ‘ Les Pierres bleues du désert’ (1992), marked the acting debut of French star Jamel Debbouze. Features include ‘Mektoub’ (1998), the multi-award-winning ‘Ali Zaoua’ (2000), ‘A Minute of Sun Less’ (2003), ‘Whatever Lola Wants’ (2007) and ‘My Land’ (2010).
Click here to watch an interview with Nabil Ayouch from the Doha Film Institute.
Here's the link to the Terry Gross interview with Sarah Polley that John referenced:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/2013/05/15/180847785/a-polley-family-secret-pieced-deftly-together