connecting*the*dots

To attend the free preview screening tonight at 7pm Friday night, please reply to this RSVP e-mail. The theater address is:

Carmike Market Fair 15 (Google Maps)
1916 Skibo Road
Fayetteville, NC
910-868-9434

Enjoy!

If you’re in SF, check it out if you can (trailer).

No matter your position on this war or war in general, it’s an amazingly honest narrative… one that’s hard to capture, even through traditional channels of documentary filmmaking.

San Francisco
Free Screening Tonight! 7:30PM.
Castro Theatre (Directions)
429 Castro Street

To get your free ticket, please RSVP to screening@thewartapes.com with subject “War Tapes Screening/SF” and your full name in the body of the email. The free tickets are being given out on a first-come first-served basis, so RSVP now! If you are bringing a friend, copy them in the email and put their name in the email as well.

Hip Hop is a global culture and overseas, especially in poor regions, the majority of its sound and image hasn’t been corralled into becoming a product of a corporate marketing agenda; it truly is an expressive and political vehicle for people on the street pumping culture shifting vibe back into their own communities.

As Kurt Shaw writes, “…Hip Hop can at the same time teach kids and transform the world.”

With the fervor of Web 2.0 and social networking, it’s only a matter of time before Hip Hop culture — the original mashed-up, shared expression of culture and politics — organizes across the globe, and on levels we haven’t even dreamed possible.

Big shout to ChicanoBlogs and cuauhtli, who turned me on to clips from the documentary, Resistencia: Hip Hop in Colombia:

As the curtain went down on Greensboro’s Child last night, it also marked the final performance at The Scene on South Elm. The space is now officially in the process of being converted into an artist’s studio / gallery.

Best of luck to Lowell and to Dale, who is moving on to teach high school math and science Carsboro, North Carolina.

I also want to thank everyone who showed up to support Andy, including local bloggers Ben Hwang, Chewie, David Hoggard, Bruce Burch and Ndesanjo Macha. Andy is now looking for distribution and to supply copies of the film to local schools. We’ll keep you in the loop with all the happenings.

I’m the filmmaker’s brother, so yes, I’m an obvious shill for his work. Andy started researching the documentary in 1997 — seven years before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission even began their process. It’s a project that touched him personally, while driving him professionally.

If a film about social injustice can be called a labor of love, well, this is that film.

This Friday and Saturday night mark the last two nights of in-town screenings of Greensboro’s Child. Dale and Lowell, owners of The Scene on South Elm, have been great hosts; thanks for everything guys.

Whether you plan to read the TRC report at some point in the future or have decided that the events of 27 years ago have nothing to do with you, come on down this weekend, sit back and enjoy 75 minutes of a highly relevant and well-researched documentary. It’s time well spent, I promise you.

And while we’d love to see you in person, we both realize that summer schedules can get crazy. So along those lines, the Greensboro Public Library now has copies of the DVD to borrow. And if you’ve lost your library card over the years, you can always purchase the documentary on the official website for a mere $10.

Hope to see you this weekend.

Follow the story at greensboroschild.com

Apparently, the paper reported a 9pm showing of the documentary tonight, so Dale and Lowell at The Scene on South Elm are obliging.

Showtimes are for both 7pm and 9pm and tickets are only $3. As he did last night, Andy will be there to field Q&A after each screening.

If you’re busy trying to digest the 400 page Truth and Reconciliation Commision report, come on out and see the documentary. The film didn’t win Best Researched Documentary at the 2002 Chicago Film Festival for nothing.

The first paragraph of the Executive Summary:

The Commission finds that on the morning of Nov. 3, 1979, members of the Klan/Nazi caravan headed for Greensboro with malicious intent. At a minimum, they planned to disrupt the parade and assault the demonstrators (by throwing eggs), violating the marchers constitutional rights to free speech and assembly. Further, we believe there is sufficient evidence to conclude that they intended to provoke a violent confrontation and that this was broadly understood among those present in the multiple planning discussions. Those who left their cars to engage in violence did so willingly. More importantly, Klan and Nazi members have admitted since the event that they intentionally came prepared to use deadly force in order to be victorious in any violence that occurred.

[…]

Much more to come, as the final report is to be released next week in the morning.

I’m posting this from the screening of Greensboro’s Child. The Q&A after the 7pm screening was very intense. Not in a bad way either. Each person in the audience had a unique perspective and questions that furthered the conversation.

Come on down tomorrow night, 7pm, The Scene on South Elm, and check it out for yourself.

Q&A video to come soon…

The film is also playing tomorrow night at 7pm. Go to the official site for more information.

Come on out and support a local filmmaker… my brother.

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(inspired by C&L)

My brother’s documentary, Greensboro’s Child, will be screened at The Scene on South Elm, directly following the release of the TRC report on May 25th and again on May 26th. Free copies of the TRC final report will be made available to ticket-holders ($3).

This marks the first time the film will be shown in Greensboro since the film was released in 2002.

For more information and complete show times, please visit the official web site. Link love is appreciated.