Saturday, April 30, 2011

Normal


“Normal” Outreach Plan

Sydney Haven, Kelsey Eick, and Lydia Lane

“Normal” is a short film about two high school girls dealing with the aftermath of being sexually abused as children. Kay is a goody-two-shoes who is just starting to remember what happened to her, while Jay has already begun to cope with her memories. Together, the two make an unlikely pair, but all you need is one thing in common.

In order for this film to truly have an impact, there are two audiences that need to see it in very different settings. Girls who have been the victims of sexual abuse need to see the film in environments that support recovery. In our research, we found several different organizations that would be able to use the film as a tool for helping young girls. “Girl THRIVE (Teens Heal Rape Incest Victoriously Emerge)” is an organization founded by Dr. Patti. The goal is to “offer more stories from more girls who have been reaching out” (girlthrive.com), allowing girls to heal not only through coping with their memories, but also by connecting with other survivors. The organization is also “the only one to honor teen girls and young women who have survived incest and all sex abuse through scholarships, opportunity and education. Girlthrive Inc. empowers girls by providing tuition scholarships, laptop computers, funds kickboxing, art classes and more.” (girlthrive.com). We would like to contact Dr. Patti and have her put the film up on the website so that the organization can use more types of media to reach their target audience with their message. Girlthrive is about connecting with other survivors, which is also the idea behind “Normal”. If girls can learn to find strength in each other, then maybe they can learn to be normal again.

The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, also known as RAINN, is another organization that could benefit from the film “Normal”. RAINN is a prime candidate to benefit from “Normal” because it “is a frequent resource for television­, radio, and print new outlets” (rainn.org). Since the film is short, the organization can play it through many different outlets, allowing it to become a conversation starter online and in public sessions. Once the topic has been brought up, it will allow a smooth transition into the organization’s resources for abuse victims, including “the National Sexual Assault Hotline, and the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline” (rain.org).

The other audience that needs to be educated about sexual abuse towards children are those who have no idea what it is, or how often it occurs. Both GirlTHRIVE and RAINN, along with the Child Sexual Abuse Response Team, also known as CSTART, aim to educate people about sexual abuse so that they can help prevent it from occurring. GirlTHRIVE is “reaching out to… [those] who just want to know the truth about sexual abuse” (girlthrive.com). In the mission statement of CSTART, the organization dreams of “utilizing our community and resources to foster community involvement in prevention and intervention of child sexual abuse” (cstart.net). “Normal” can be used by both groups to educate the community through a narrative interpretation of what it is like to begin the journey of healing after being sexually abused. Instead of asking young victims to tell their stories to strangers or loved ones, the film allows two fictional characters to become real enough that their stories can touch the audience.

In order to get the film out to more people, we would also like to post it online on several different websites, including youtube.com and vimeo.com. To further the grassroots advertising, we would also create a Facebook fan page that would host discussions on the issues raised in the film by both survivors and non-survivors, allowing an open network of information to be displayed in a public space.

Normal from Lydia Lane on Vimeo.

rainn.org/​get-help/​national-sexual-assault-hotline
girlthrive.com/​
The facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Normal/169326236455164

In the United States, 44% of sexual assault victims are under age 18.
1 out of every 6 American women have been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime.
Onlyt 6% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail.
Approximately 2/3 of assaults are committed by someone known to the victim.
THE GOOD NEWS
In the last ten years, 2,546,420 sexual assaults have been prevented in the United States. Knowledge is one of our biggest weapons in fighting this crime.

Born Into Flames

Films that truly express the power and diversity of women are hard to find, not only in contemporary cinema, but in films all throughout history. The film industry has been dominated by men since it became clear that the medium would be popular enough to generate staggering profits. This comes in spite of the fact that the first director was, in fact, a woman by the name of Alice Guy Blanche. After Alice made several films, she moved to the United States, only to return to her home country of France to find her work had been credited to a man. Lizzie Borden's "Born into Flames", however, is a film that gives women a proper sense of power and entitlement, and one that has become very influential in history.

With a very raw, documentary style, this narrative piece takes on a sense of truth and importance that is often times denied to fiction films. It was hard at times to tell whether the film was real or not, especially since I am from another generation and unfamiliar with what the times were like when the film was made. Granted there are parts where everything is just too off to be mistaken as truth, there is still an undertone that says this film could have been a documentary. The circumstances are not unimaginable, in both the society of today and yesterday, and that is a bit disturbing.

One of the most powerful scenes in the entire film was the one where the woman is being raped and several other women ride in on their bicycles with whistles to save her. This was a visually stunning scene because the rape itself was intense, and the women riding in to save her were very determined and in controll. This scene, however, is also one that gave the film away as a fiction piece. There is no way that a woman making a film like this would stand by and watch another women be raped as she rolled the camera. There is also no way that two men would do this in front of a camera. On top of that, the odds of just happening to stumble upon an event like this are astronomical. With that aside, however, the scene is still powerful. We are able to forgive the obvious staged action in order to accept the larger issue, which is that women need to help one another because no one else is going to.

Bringing everything full circle, it should be noted that the young Katherine Bigelow who appears in "Born into Flames" became the first female director to ever win an academy award in 2010 for her film "The Hurt Locker". This is a sign that we are taking back the film industry, and gaining respect from men everywhere.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

THE THROBBING MASS MEDIA- Video and proposal



PROPOSAL

Description of the project:


- What do you hope to make?

A trailer and an outreach plan for a potential documentary film concerning the issue of media’s effect on societies view of sex vs. sex education.

-How long will it be?

The trailer will be 2-3 minutes with a type-written outreach plan for helping nonprofit organizations such as Planned Parenthood

-What ideas, stories. issues, or questions will you address?

Sexual repression, glorification of sex in the media, lack of good sex education.


Logistical details:


- Scenes/shots you want to shoot

- Interview with Emily’s sister

- Interview with Emily’s mom

- Interview with Brendan Craughwell

- Interview with Brenda McSherry

- Voice over track by Emily’s dad

- People you need

- Emily and me

- Emily’s sister

- Emily’s mom

- Emily’s dad

- Brendan Craughwell

- Brenda McSherry

- Possibly a contact from Planned Parenthood or RAIN

- Equipment

- Camera

- Tripod

- Audio Studio

- Computer with final cut


- Any props or other materials

- Television shows, movies, and music videos with sexual depictions

- Music relating to sex

- Times and locations

- Interview with Brenda this Friday at 2 p.m.

- Interview with Brendan next Tuesday at 7:15p.m.

- -Budget (For the film or for the project?)

- - Editing schedule (Now until it's due?)


FINAL PROJECT- THE THROBBING MASS MEDIA


*I'll have you know that I had to do math in order to upload this. Well, technically Chad did most of the math, but I still had to strain my brain. I compressed it from 1 GB to 170 mb and in order to get it small enough, Chad and I had to create our own compression preset. And I thought this would be a simple blog post.


Self Evaluation for THE THROBBING MEDIA



I originally came up with this idea in class when my mind wandered into thinking about sex education. Most of the videos shown in school are cheesy, outdated, or narrow minded. I expressed my idea to Emily and she was really excited about it. When I read the requirements of the final this was the first thing I thought of.

Creating a sex education video was our original idea, but due to time constraints attempting to keep up with all the assignments we altered it according to the material we felt we could get ahold of in order to make a quality project.

As we were working the project continued to form into it's own beast. We wanted to tie in comments about Planned Parenthood and other sources to get raw information about sex, but it didn't fit for the short that we ended up creating.

Here is how we went about to make this film. We spent hours on google and youtube looking up videos, ads, and songs that were all related to sex. Emily had her dad record VO and filmed interviews with her mom and her sister (the tape quality was warped so the footage didn't make it into the project). I interviewed Sophia and Tiffany. We both met up together and interviewed Brenda and Brendan.

Editing was pretty intricate. Not only did we have to upload various videos from the internet, but I found that I had to edit the clips in order to get the parts that best proved our points. We went through all the interviews and picked the strongest points. I then made a rough cut and Emily and I got together to clean it up and add music.

Emily and I were really excited with our ending product. We had sounds of a man and women breathing heavily in the beginning to catch people's attention. We had videos being used to provide a visual representation as well as covering the cuts in the video. We thought we had an interesting trailer that summarized various different topics within the idea of sex and media.

Emily and I were both really nervous before our final showed. We spent 20+ hours on it and grown pretty fond of it. I both wanted the feedback and didn't want it because I had come to be so proud of our project.

The critique was really eye opening. Everyone in the class noticed things that I had never considered. I purposely made the three interviews look different because I thought it would stimulate visual interest, but it ended up confusing the audience. I would have never thought of that!

Our only male had a flower background. This background was used in one of his and my episodes of "Scientific Station" on Columbia Access Television. We used it because it was funny (we thought it'd match our light hearted trailer) and because it represented his fascination with botany. This was a sort of inside joke that confused the audience. The clip didn't fit with the other interviews and they wondered whether to take Brendan seriously because of the background. Again, I would have never thought of that.

I thought the critique was very useful for future projects. I liked the project before and still do. There wasn't really any positive comments on our project so it didn't turn out very well. We worked really hard so it was a little agonizing to realize that it wasn't as high quality as we thought. I would have liked to know what parts of the video were good so I could remember to use those skills again. I got the feeling that the overall reaction to the project was negative, so maybe I just need to start fresh, which is a lesson in itself.

If I were to do this project in the future as a big project with more money, subjects, and time I would have focused on one specific topic and attempted to visit the whole realm of options. This was more of a summery of the topics to be explored rather than an in depth look.
One subject that is possible and that fascinating to me is the depiction of women in the media, but that issue has been thoroughly explored so I'd rather focus on territory less trodden. In our "Trans Cinema" event we heard that all of our panelists were frustrated by the poor depiction of Trans people. I would enjoy going into LGBT representation in the media.

The topic that came up in this project that I would love to go further with was the idea that the media says "Yes! Have sex ALL THE TIME!" and society says "NO! Don't talk about it, do it, or even think about it." I would love to do a project on these two topics.

Overall the project was a huge learning experience. I learned to create an idea and watch it morph into something completely different. I also took constructive criticism and learned to deal with being the only ones to enjoy our project. I'm glad to have this under my belt and look forward to continue making people shudder with my obsession with sex.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Born in Flames cont'd

Born in Flames

DIRECTOR: Lizzie Borden

USA, 1983, 80 Minute Running Time

Interview with Lizzie Borden in The Independent, November 1983: http://www.jennywoolworth.ch/deardiary/files/Lizzie_Borden_interview_TheIndependent.pdf

Review from frameline.org:

In her classic indie polemic on racism, sexism and socialism, director Lizzie Borden definitely has her own ax to wield — and grind. On the tenth anniversary of the United States’ Social Democratic War of Liberation, the government celebrates “the most peaceful revolution the world has known,” while the citizenry becomes increasingly angry and agitated. In this alternate America, government oppression and violence against women is rampant, and the feminist response is potent.
Embedded within the radical feminist underground, Born in Flames follows the activities of the Women’s Army, a powerful but loosely organized faction of female vigilantes and counterrevolutionaries, and two pirate radio programs trying to awaken the sisterhood and shake up the system. Three female reporters (including a young Kathryn Bigelow) for the government’s Socialist Youth Review newspaper play intelligent counterpoint to the antiestablishment activities, but when the outspoken Black leader of the Women’s Army dies in police custody, a united front emerges to take direct action and potentially dangerous measures.
A futuristic feminist drama shot 25 years ago in vérité documentary style, Born in Flames defies the borders of time and politics — here, the past is still very much the present, the revolution still the reality. An inspiration to director Jamie Babbit’s Itty Bitty Titty Committee (this year’s Closing Night film), Borden is the godmother of cinematic insurrection. And with eerily prescient pre-9/11 images of the World Trade Center bookending her film, she may just be the much needed prophet of our time. — JOANNE PARSONT

Review from Metro Times (by Greg Baise):

Born in Flames
An imagined post-punk, post-patriarchal world filled of kick-ass female revolutionaries

An early '80s landmark of indie and queer cinema directed by Detroit-born Lizzie Borden, Born in Flames presents a fragmented narrative of the struggle of a disparate group of revolutionary women in a not-too-distant future dystopia. Set in New York City 10 years after a radical, nonviolent political shift toward egalitarianism and social democracy, the film finds a formerly progressive society heading back to patriarchy. Borden begins by showing isolated voices of resistance through two rival underground radio stations, the punky Isabel of Radio Ragazza and the soulful Honey of Phoenix Radio. Meanwhile, out on the street, the Women's Army works to organize the community for direct action via labor protests, vigilante squads and guerrilla tactics. The assassination of the Women's Army's charismatic black lesbian leader (at the hands of a government agency) catalyzes previously alienated feminist factions into taking collective action. Notably, the enemy oppressor isn't framed as "flesh and blood," but rather "the system." Arms are used to sabotage the disinforming media and to ensure that these revolutionaries' message of struggle is heard.

Shot without a script and with a cast of, for the most part, non-actors (plus bit parts by pre-fame Kathryn Bigelow and Eric Bogosian), Borden's film weaves documentary, neorealist and satirical elements into its episodic story, creating a whole that's more energetic than the sum of its occasionally slow-moving, disjointed parts. A propulsive soundtrack featuring the Staple Singers, the Slits and the recurring title track by the Red Krayola contributes to the film's vibrancy. With its origins in the arty post-punk scene of early '80s downtown New York, Born in Flames displays an audacious creativity within its limited financial means, akin to other micro-budgeted films of the era such as Downtown 81, Smithereens and Liquid Sky. However, in contrast to those films' jaded detachment, Born in Flames ignites an explosive feminist critique of social issues that continues to resonate in the present day.

Born in Flames, introduction


From http://www.ifccenter.com/films/born-in-flames/


Experimental maverick Barbara Hammer chooses Lizzie Borden’s incendiary early-indie, a futuristic feminist drama, that is as much a document of early ’80s New York as a cry for Patty Hearst-style revolution. It is ten years after the “Second American Revolution,” and the leader of the Women’s Army mysteriously dies… setting off women across the nation to take down The System. The film that heralded the arrival of Queer Cinema is also a who’s who of the New York radical/performance scene, with a cast that includes the late Ron Vawter, and a very young Kathryn Bigelow!


Barbara Hammer on BORN IN FLAMES (NR, 80 Minutes, USA, 1983):

“In 1983 when I saw Lizzie Borden’s BORN IN FLAMES, I was seeing a revolutionary movie with mostly female characters living in a self-constructed world surrounded by a hostile environment. Posing as a sci-fi narrative Born In Flames released the pent up frustrations from the seventies that saw not enough change. Women were still second class citizens and glass ceilings were not rising but lowering. Two radical women’s groups do not see eye to eye. One group is led by a white lesbian leader who is loud and contentious. The other group’s leader is soft spoken and African-American. They both operate separate and competing radio stations.

“There are some incredible scenes like a group of women on bicycles coming to the rescue of another; wheat pasting propaganda sheets throughout the streets of lower Manhattan; putting a condom on a penis.

“I am afraid to see the culminating shots of this outrageous film that hit the streets running. It involves our former World Trade Center.

“I won’t say more here except this film deserves to be seen. It is not only a historic early women directed narrative (with, by the way, Kathryn Bigelow (the Hurt Locker) playing an intern; but a film that rocked the women’s film festivals worldwide.

“We were all about ready to join the Women’s Army after seeing BORN IN FLAMES.”


Barbara Hammer was born on May 15, 1939 in Hollywood, California. She is a visual artist working primarily in film and video and has made over 80 works in a career that spans 40 years. She is considered a pioneer of queer cinema. She has received numerous awards, most recently the Teddy for the best LGBT film at the 2009 International Berlin Film Festival. Her first book on queer cinema, HAMMER! Making Movies Out of Sex and Life , will launch at The Elizabeth Sackler Center at The Brooklyn Museum of Art on March 6, 2010 and is published by The Feminist Press of City University of New York. On September 15th, 2010 Hammer will have her first US retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City followed by The Tate Modern in London in January 2011.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Democratic Republic of Congo and Conflict Minerals Paper


Democratic Republic of Congo and Conflict Minerals

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) an ongoing civil war for the past fifteen years  has been funded directly by the illegal selling of earth minerals. This problem has been ongoing because of the various military groups and rebel groups fighting over minerals in this profitable region.  In the DRC, coltan and other earth minerals are being stripped from the country by unjust militarization. The military groups, involving neighboring countries as well as military factions of the DRC and domestic military groups, are selling off the DRC’s natural resources thus bringing about a ongoing civil war in the region. The conflict is centered around the trade and mining the scarce mineral coltan which is used in electronics around the world. 
In a effort to solve this ever-growing  problem, there needs to be action to stop funding the war over the battle to control these highly sought after minerals.  The people that work in these mines as well as the entire population of DRC should benefit from these minerals.. Third party oversight, that is independently funded should work with the Congolese government to strengthen state capacity, promote legal mineral trade by providing incentives, create transparency by publishing the supply chain and links to local and regional actors and mapping cells in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to ease the militarization of the earth minerals, specifically Coltan. There has not been enough to address this complex war economy.
In the region of the DRC, there are many issues involving who owns the land in certain regions because of the unstable government. Both Rwanda and Uganda, which neighbor to the East, claim to own some of the land in the Eastern DRC because of its highly profitable mining capabilities and the history of warring factions between ethnic groups in this region. There are various claims to the land ownership and is known as an ‘ethnic territory’ which has not been properly decided in the history of the DRC. The dispute over the territories has been an enormous strain on the entire region (Huggins 1). 
 King Leopold II ruled the DRC as his own private property in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. The Congolese were suppressed heavily during this time by separating land and putting different ethnic groups above one another and giving certain land to one group. He was heavily abusive to the people in this region and caused intense pain and suffering in this region. It is estimated that during this period in time ten to fifteen million Congolese were murdered in his quest for wealth in this region (Blood in the Mobile). Following this surpressed time, the Belgium's colonized the region until the 1960’s when the DRC gained independence (Huggins 30).
Today, there are many groups that are still fighting over the control of these resources. The main groups of this conflict are Democratic Forces for Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Mai Mai Cheka Militia, Congolese Amry, and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) (Bafilembaf, Benne, and Pendergast 4).  A huge issue with these military groups is that they fight for takeover of specific mines in the Eastern DRC which creates confusion on who is controlling mines illegally. These mines are extremely dangerous and taxed heavily by the military groups. Entering and exiting the mines, there are militia that are heavily armed and force citizens to pay to enter and exit the mine. These militia groups change quickly for who is in charge of the mines and processing the minerals  (Blood in the Mobile).
The United Nations has the largest peacekeeping mission in the DRC because of the tumultuous civil war in the region. This conflict has been ongoing for the past fifteen years and has taken an estimated five million lives. There is a direct linkage between the mining and selling of minerals that directly profit the armed actors, the Congolese government, and businesses that are in need of these minerals to make their product (Hege and Sterns 8). This linkage needs to be changed in order for consumers to stop financing a war that is causing a loss of lives and promoting illegal practices with terrible working conditions. 
There is a push from many organizations to have a certification process of the mines and have a legal system to extract the minerals that are brought to market. This would require the bags of minerals to be labeled conflict-free through the distributors on the supply chain (Hege and Sterns 3). This will be a major reform in this conflict once the more pressing issues of human rights issues and the militarization of the minerals are addressed. The current system has heavily relied on the fact that there are many military groups inflicting violence against the Congolese in the Eastern DRC. The continuous corruption in this region has sustained this system in place that is pumping money and weapons directly into the problem that is creating more problems for the area and mines. For this system to work, the international community needs to be a united front on this issue. This solution costs an enormous amount of money and reliable agents that individual countries cannot lend or be able to support the needs to implement this system (Reaymaekers, Koen 70). This process would take too much time and resources and would not directly address the issue of the military groups controlling mines. 
Another solution is to strenghten the local insistutions in place such as the Customs Agency, Ministry of Mines and Mining Police to be able to have enough power to overturn the rebel forces. Global Witness, a non governmental organization, has done extensive research in this particular realm of the problem in the DRC.  The problem with this solution is that the central government in the DRC is weak and is extremely susceptible to further political manipulation, corruption, and intimidation of rebel forces and military units (Hege and Sterns 6). The Congolese government needs assistance to be able to secure and enforce their constitutional mandates against the rebel forces in order to bring about stability in the region. A third party oversight  that worked directly with the Congolese government would help strengthen credibility in the region by making the government more forceful. This would create cooperation and credibility with the citizens and their government. The Congolese government is trying to regulate things that it does not have the capacity alone to regulate. Within the Minstry of Mines, workers also work with companies to be able to mine in the Eastern DRC. They are using the corporate side and the government side to have the capability to do illegal actions in order to profit from their mineral trade while leaving their citizen to suffer under consistant violence and awful working conditions (Blood in the Mobile).
Problems in developing countries with rich resources which permits funds in off-shore accounts or in the pockets of government officials. The Congolese government has difficulty in regulating their own military forces from illegally mining areas that are closed. Recently, a General in the North Kivu region, who was sent to suppress the rebels and secure the local people but instead took over the mine from a rebel group and then ran the mine for profit. Instead of the profit benefiting the state it went into the pocket of the general in charge (Fessy 2). Inherent contradictions because the current President Joseph Kabila of the DRC ordered a ban on mineral mining in the Eastern DRC because of rebel groups that control the trade. 
There is no local support of the government because of  this cycle of corruption. The military forces are solely there to protect the local people but have not done so. This harsh sanction banning mineral mining in certain regions by President Joseph Kabila has caused more problems than solutions (Reaymaekers, and Koen 45). The issues raised with the ban is that the military has corruption within itself. The military does not have the capability to enforce such a sanction on the rebel groups. Corruption exists in the government’s branch of the ministry of mines while having their foot into the corporate side of the mineral trade. 
A breeding ground exists for sexual assault, murder and child enslavement as a result of mining areas being controlled by the rebels or the military. These military groups send the minerals along the supply chain illegally and untaxed into other regional economies. They in turn  melt the illegally obtained minerals and are used as raw materials in electronic devices. The government’s failure to properly regulate the mines the rebels and the military result in wholesale atrocities being committed against workers and their families in the extraction of the minerals.  (Funai, Gilpin, and Morris 3).
The government needs to be in complete control of the military in order to implement the government’s goals in trading conflict-free minerals.  Because of the corruption and the ineffectual current structure of government a third party with support from the international community is needed to make needed changes. The third party institution would need to designate a part of the organization to sanction individuals that are not in compliance with the government’s constitution including the DRC’s own military forces. (Reaymaekers and Koen 175). This would strengthen the state capacity and give creditability to Congolese people in support of their government ending the atrocities brought about by military forces in its own army. 
This third party institution should be independent and able to act quickly to sanction the illegal activities within the military with imposing fines or withdrawing licenses for mining. This mandate would be backed by the UN Security Council and would submit reports back to the Congolese government, to the UN Security Council and other donors involved. This would begin on a small scale starting with the most corrupt mining areas and then expanding to other regions of the country (Hege and Sterns 5).
In the Eastern DRC, there is confusion on exactly where the mines are and what forces are in control of these mines. In order for the government to move forward and create transparency with the Congolese people and businesses who profit, a mapping cell which clearly and effectively labels the areas must be developed in this region. This would allow companies to track the exact origin of these minerals and the operations of the mines. Identifying all military and rebel groups who are exploiting this region would allow all of the NGO’s and the government to be on the same level to regaining control of the region and ending the violence.
In attempts to formalizing the mineral trade, there should be legal trading centers set up in select towns with the Congolese government. In addition, these trading centers would provide incentives for trading minerals in a legal way. This would promote legal trading of minerals to facilitate the strengthening of Congolese institutions. The benefits in complying with the international standards would outweigh the costs of continuing the current violent status. “The international architecture needed to bring transparency and accountability to the minerals trade in the Great Lakes region of Africa is taking shape in the form of U.S. legislation, a U.N. Security Council resolution, and an emerging norm for due diligence on purchasing minerals. These are enormous accomplishments, but unless these standards are accompanied by an international certification process with independent monitoring and enforceable penalties on the ground, as well as comprehensive reform of the Congolese Army, they will do little to end the conflict minerals trade in Congo or bring a measure of security and genuine economic opportunity to the lives of Congolese civilians” (Sullivan, Enough Project 1).
The international community needs to come together to finance the solution to this ongoing problem. The mineral trade and military exploitation directly effects the international market and specifically electronic companies.  Many NGO’s such as Global Witness and Enough Project are pushing international electronic companies to publish their supply chain of the minerals that are used to make metals. The UN has released a list of companies that are involved in the conflict and retrieve their minerals from this region. This has insufficient to force the companies to modify their practices. In the film, Blood in the Mobile the director Frank Piasecki Poulsen urges Nokia, the world’s largest cell phone company to publish their supply chain in attempt to start creating transparency and addressing the issue to the source. Nokia has known about this conflict for eleven years and has taken any significant action to change their practices which directly funds a war based upon the trade of these sought after lucrative minerals. 
There has been work done to address this problem and it has not gone unnoticed by the international community. This trade has not been regulated and it has continued to cause atrocities to the people of Congo. It is difficult because of varying military groups and the interests of neighboring countries that ties into ethnic land ownership and past afflictions brought about by colonization. There needs to be more transparency on every aspect of the process to create a lasting solution. The Congolese government itself needs to be able to sustain what is implemented by the international community and the third party oversight. Without the cooperation of the Congolese government these solutions cannot be implemented. 





More Than Just A Cell Phone

I didn't quite know what to expect going into Blood in the Mobile. Soon after beginning the film, however, I knew I would like it. I think it was the filmmaker's approach that drew me in. Frank Poulsen used a similar technique used by Judith Helfand by creating a purposeful journey. Poulsen starts out with a question as to whether or not his phone service provider, Nokia, is knowingly using blood minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He goes from there and actually travels to the Congo to get a look at these illegal and dangerous mines where the minerals are being extracted. He finds the road treacherously difficult to travel, as there are many people who would be willing to kill him in order to stop the exposure of the mines. Poulsen gains the trust of the people needed to sign the forms necessary to get to the mines, though. And soon he is walking through the jungle on a back route to the heart of it all. Even just at the entrance to one of the major mines, Poulsen discovers some of the corrupt things going on. The miners have to pay a fee to gain access to the mines and must even pay to get out. This is why some miners spend days in the mines, as they are unable to afford the fee to get out.

But just how will this situation be able to change? The picture Poulsen paints makes it feel like a bleak possibility of changing anytime soon because nobody wants to acknowledge the fact that blood minerals are being bought and used in technology products. Isn't the first step to simply call attention to it and tell the truth? Only then will people be able to collaborate on a plan to start moving forward. It was frustrating to watch Poulsen go to Nokia headquarters and be given the run-around. No one seemed to want to give him a straight answer about what he had witnessed in the Congo.

Because of the corruption that infiltrates at every level, the Congolese government does not have much power to step in to regulate the mines. There are bribes and people willing to kill along the way that keep anyone from trying to help. Of course, the UN has some responsibility because of the influence it would be able to put upon the outside forces. However, the UN is primarily a peace-keeping organization and aims to protect innocent civilians, not necessarily go after dangerous rebels.

The whole situation seems so complicated, but I really enjoyed being able to learn about it. I wouldn't have normally given a second thought about what materials go into making my cell phone or laptop. Not that the minerals themselves are bad, just the way they are being harvested. It is horrifying to hear that some five million estimated people have died in the process. Something needs to change.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Chelsea and Jacqui's final project proposal

For our final project we plan to make a public service announcement that will help spread information about the mining of conflict minerals in the Dominican Republic Congo. We plan on shooting this PSA in the CAT TV studio. The date that we are planning to shoot on is Friday April 29th from 12- 2pm.
We will have a cell phone standing alone in front of a white background. Slowly, we will get closer and closer to the screen. While this is happening, there will be voices talking, the sound of people talking on the phone. Also as the camera is getting closer we will have text appear on the screen with facts about these minerals and how it effects the Congo. It will get louder and louder until the camera reaches the screen, and then it will become silent. On the screen, there will be text that reads: "How would you be able to communicate without the minerals necessary for all electronic devices?" After this, we will cut to a few pictures of how the minerals are mined, and who is being affected by this crisis.
This PSA is mostly going to be used as an informative video on the issue, because it still seems like the majority of the population is uneducated on the topic. We hope to make an informative and effective video that will educate people on the issue, and move towards a society that is more aware of where these minerals are coming from, and try to make a difference on individual levels.
For equipment we will need a light kit as well as a zoom recorder. We also need at least 10 people to record phone conversations, we want to use a variety of ages/sexes to get different voices.

First Conflict-Mineral Free City Pittsburg!

Hey guys!
Pittsburg's city council just passed a resolution for a conflict-free mineral for Congo!

http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/pittsburgh-first-city-committed-conflict-free-congo

I thought it was pertinent to our discussion on what people are doing now!
See you tomorrow!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Blood in the Mobile - Related Issues

Hey guys!
Thanks for watching Blood in the Mobile today, I look forward to an interesting discussion on wednesday in class. Here are some links on articles I have read! These are articles from two NGO's research on the problems in the DRC. They are featured in the documentary.

The one below is about what electronic companies have done to be on the road of being conflict-free.
Read as much as your interested in, it's a pretty long report, but the summary is informative and interesting!
http://www.enoughproject.org/publications/getting-conflict-free

This article is by global witness and it gets into the issues of what the current president of the Congo Joseph  
Kabila is doing in efforts to curb the current militia rebels in controlling the mines.
http://www.globalwitness.org/library/congolese-mining-ban-fails-end-armed-control-trade

End of semester...

SCHEDULE.
Mon 4/18: Blood in the Mobile
Wed 4/20: Discussion & presentation by Jacqui & Chelsea
Mon 4/25: Final Project Presentations
Wed 4/27: Final Project Presentations
Tues 5/3, 2.45 – 4.45PM: Portfolios due

FINAL PROJECT PROPOSALS
Due today, Monday.
I would like formal, thoughtful proposals. A proposal usually includes 1-2 paragraphs describing the project. This should cover:
What do you hope to create? (e.g. film, trailer, social outreach project, academic paper, website, etc)
What shape will it take? Be specific!
What ideas, stories, issues, or questions will you address?
What is the overall "story"? (i.e. walk us through the beginning, middle, and end)
What inspirations/models are you drawing on?
What do you hope to achieve?

The proposal should also include logistical details:
- Scenes/shots you want to shoot
- People you need and plan to work with
- Equipment & any props or other materials
- Times and locations
- Budget
- Editing schedule

ABOUT THE FINAL PROJECT ASSIGNMENT (as described in the syllabus):
At the end of the semester, you will use your experience, skills, and research to pursue a more ambitious final project. Your final project is your chance to put into action everything you learn in this class. This final project can be done individually or in small groups (2 – 3 people).
Some possible directions for a final project are:
a. Short film: Create a trailer or short film along with an outreach plan for the project.
b. Film campaign: Create and enact a comprehensive campaign for a film (including creating an extensive outreach plan, support materials, and tools). Ideally, you will work with a student or emerging filmmaker who is looking for this sort of help.
c. Research paper/project: write a 20–page research paper on a topic related to the class. Before choosing a topic, we will discuss the direction of your research. Your paper can rely heavily on media and be hyper–text &/ web–based, if you prefer.

FINAL PORTFOLIO
I would like you to put together a portfolio of the work you have done in this class. I prefer that this portfolio be submitted digitally (on a CD/DVD or a file that I transfer off your drive).
The portfolio should include:
- Your final project and proposal
- Your "extended blog post"
- Your interview
- Your event proposal and post-event evaluation/review
- Your favorite blog posts (at least 3 posts that you wrote and are proud of, apart from the "extended" one)
- Anything else you'd like to include!!!

THANKS!!!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Blood in the Mobile Informative Articles

Hey Guys! So we are going to show you Blood in the Mobile on Monday, and I thought I would share a couple of informative articles about the director, Frank Poulsen, and his filming style.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13046237/Film-47

On this site, scroll down to film #47. This article talks about one of his other films, Guerilla Girl. It is also a film that documents though issues that Poulsen had to risk his life to gain access too. This idea translates directly to what he faces trying to make Blood in the Mobile.

Also check out,
http://theconcordian.com/2011/03/15/your-electronics-are-likely-supporting-violence-in-the-congo-student-group/

This is a pretty cool student forum used to create even more awareness about everyone's direct involvement in this problem. It's hard to see a way out of this problem, but hopefully through forums and organizations like this, awareness will spread.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Letting you all know about my event:

Hi guys!



Have YOU ever wondered?

Why marijuana ACTUALLY became illegal?

If it REALLY has those health risks that the government says it has?

If prohibition is TRULY working?

THEN COME SEE:

A Film and Panel Discussion on the Marijuana Industry:

THE UNION: THE BUSINESS BEHIND GETTING HIGH

Tuesday April 19th @ 7:30pm in

The Charters Auditorium, Stephens College

Leadership Points Available!!!

Sponsored by Florian for Cinema and Social Change.



And here's the trailer:






See you there!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Nilalapo nakuota wewe Response - I talk to much, as usual


We are assigned to respond to at least three blogs by the end of the school year. I found Wyndstorm's blog Nilalapo nakuota wewe fascinating so I wrote a lot about it. When I tried to submit the comment it wouldn't let me because I went over the world limit, so I decided to turn it into a blog. Here is my response to her reactions to the film Darwin's Nightmare


Hey!

I thought your blog post was incredibly fascinating and I wanted to give you a respectable response. What I chose to do was star the parts of your blog I wanted to respond to and then write my deal afterwards. I hope that’s cool!

*I understand Suaper’s full intent with this film, to educate the importers of African materials their effect on the people of Tanzania. As a documentarian I was slightly saddened by the lack of a call to action at the end of the film. I want to know why Sauper decided to make a politically examinating doc and not giving the viewer something to do to change the situation.

I didn’t even think about the missing “call to action” aspect of the film. I watched the film as a source of information. This is my first year as a “film student” and therefore the first year where I have truly been exposed to various documentaries so I usually take what I see because I don’t have many formats to refer back too. It’s interesting to think about how drastically creating a call to help would change this film.

*“I could quit eating fish- but I already am a vegetarian and don’t like fish anyways.”

So you kind of are already supporting the causeJ I guess it all depends on learning about the companies that are distributing the fish that you eat. There should be an Iphone app that you can use to scan products and learn the nit and gritty details on where it came from.

*Then again I start to think about how helpless things are, how it isn’t my fault and how I am super lucky because I live in America and it shouldn’t be my responsibility because I didn’t tell that scientist in 1960 to fuck up the Victorian Lake with a carnivorous species of fish.

I’m always guiltily relieved that I grew up in America. Women still have a bit to go before we are treated as equally as men, but I’m a white middle class American. Life is pretty good.

*I looked at Mwanza Women Development Association and what their mission statement is on helping the women of Mwanza. It apparently has been in place since 1997, but Sauper didn’t want us to see that, he wanted us to see the negative things about globalization, why?

I was wondering if the situation was all bad. Documentarians are still telling a story. The main story in Darwin’s Nightmare was the destruction caused by the perch being introduced into Lake Victoria. That positive organization didn’t fit the theme of the story. Is that a just way to tell the story? Maybe not in some people’s eyes, but it’s an artists’ right to present their spin on certain situations. I kind of wish that there was some way of informing the audience that there are other sides to the story.

*I understand this is a very smart move for a touching close documentary, wise in my opinion, yet I feel by him fictionalizing them it turns the documentary into something else. The film is educational, yet it is fictional, it is truly Saupers view, yet it makes me feel something, it is frustrating to me.

This kind of goes with my last response. The reason why I am frustrated with this is because I am one of those people that watches a movie and allows to be fully sucked in. This makes me naïve to other sides of the story. I’m a filmmaker! I should be more in tune to the idea that what you see isn’t the whole story. This makes me think of all the people that believe what they see and make automatic judgments accordingly without researching on the side.

*I just wonder if other viewers who aren’t sensitive to the plight of exploitation and the effects of globalization are affected in a similar why?* I want to know if my fellow peers are going look into what they eat now that they have seen a glimpse into the lives of people who are directly affected by globalization and the negative sides of trade.

This was two statements that I decided to respond in one section. In a discussion earlier in class we talked about shutting down when too much negative information is thrown out. I am like that. I am slightly obsessive and when I am going 100% into something (school at the moment) there is very little energy left for anything else. When I see programs like this I get overwhelmed because I don’t even know where to start!

I was ignorant to most of the issues that exist until I went to college. Now I hear about disappearing bees, AIDS, food monopolies, child labor, human trafficking, global warming, the sinking economy, racism, PVC, unending garbage pits, pollution, prejudice, sexism, hate, corruption in government, bad water, running out of fresh water, child soldiers, war, and a number of other things. I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!

Try as I might, I can’t fix the world. In order to avoid throwing myself off a building for being a horrible citizen I decided to choose a few issues that I feel comfortable working towards changing. These issues (probably obvious) are women empowerment, sexual repression, and LGBT rights.

I feel uneasy sometimes because I don’t check everything I buy or what I eat. I feel little comfort in the fact that I recycle and feel physical pain when I see something recyclable in the trash. I just have to remind myself that I’m doing what I can and to be aware of what’s out there

*Maybe by being in arms at Sauper I am asking too much from him. Some times there isn't much you can do about a situation except from learn from it.

This was an edited part of your blog. I don’t think you are asking too much. I think it is perfectly acceptable of you to ask for his idea of a solution if he was choosing to go into such great depth into a problem. Like you said though, sometimes all you can do is learn from a situation.

*American's have it great because we made our selves great, taking this into considerations maybe we should leave other nations alone and don't think of them as "uncivilized" needing us to fix the problems that arise, also we should not allow corporations to exploit these people, which is a different discussion in and of itself.

I agree. I don’t know much about government or politics, but I do know we have a tendency to meddle. It’s great we want to help, but sometimes it seems as if we are pushing our ways on other countries because we think we are the best. Our ways aren’t necessarily the best for others. Huge discussion and lots of factors, but I wonder how often our help ends up being hazardous.

A Little Bit of Everything

Being able to Skype with Peter Glantz was an interesting experience. It was great to get to see some of his work from The Imaginary Company before hearing him speak about it. The animation style he uses is quirky and has kind of a retro feel to it. He uses his talent to get messages across to people. He obviously cares about the environment and social issues, as many of his videos demonstrate this. For example, the "Change Your Relationship to Nature" video has a clear message. It is almost too obvious, as the only words in the video are the in the title. The soft singing voice and hypnotizing animation have a mesmerizing effect. Glantz himself had some great things to say. I enjoyed hearing about his methods for bringing an idea to fruition. And I especially appreciated some of his advice for getting into the film or television industry. His story about working for Roger Corman was a great example because it showed how it never hurts to go after what you want most. If you admire someone or the work they are doing, it never hurts to tell them and maybe something will come of it. Glantz was down-to-earth and personable, which are qualities that probably helped to get him where he is today.
We also got to watch The Barber of Birmingham, a documentary short that was partially funded by Judith Helfand's Chicken and Egg organization. Since the class had already been discussing Chicken and Egg, it was great to see something real that was made possible because of it. The story itself had great character, and a sweet story. The main character, James Armstrong, was a veteran flag bearer for the Army who owned and operated a barber shop in downtown Birmingham for over 50 years. The shop clearly has a lot of history to it, as the cameras reveal articles and pictures lining the walls that show what has happened around the shop and the town. Even Martin Luther King Jr. had been to the shop to have Mr. Armstrong cut his hair. The focus of the film centered around the most recent presidential election. Armstrong was excited to see the day that an African-American could be elected and enthusiastically participated in voting and election activities. Shortly after the election, Armstrong passed away. This, as sad as it may be, provides a sweet ending to the story and film. Right before he passed away, he was able to see his dream come true. His was a truly happy ending.
On a side note, I also attended the film showcase at Ragtag on Friday night. I just wanted to say how enjoyable it was. Every film was great, and I was impressed by all the hard work and creativity that obviously went into them. Great job!