Film

super movie Friday. let them eat crackBanksy is a graffiti artist from the UK known for his satiric and beautifully executed political cartoons. His work humorously, scathingly addresses social themes such as war, poverty, greed, inequality and hypocrisy through a combination of well-chosen subjects and very tactical placement. In Exit through the Gift Shop, graffiti art as a contemporary practice is put under critique- is it possible to have real political impact if the artist’s work also serves the market through the art gallery scene? This is a hilarious video and an up to date critical survey of the current high-art graffiti scene that features many artists and their work. Introduced and discussion following with Wendy Weinhold, and a special consideration for the audience—what shall we do on the Big Muddy Independent media’s external walls? Come down for the movie before heading (for those who are) to Love at the Glove.

--

Depressed by the war? So are we! Guest host Alex Paul of WDBX presents I Know I’m Not Alone, a feature documentary by musician and activist Michael Franti of Spearhead. Shot on a 3- week journey to Iraq and the Palestinian Occupied territories in 2004. Franti writes, "This film came out of my frustration with watching the nightly news and hearing generals, politicians, and pundits explaining the political and economic cost of the war in the Middle East, without ever mentioning the human cost. I wanted to hear about the war by the people affected by it most: doctors, nurses, poets, artists, soldiers, and my personal favorite, musicians."

Cache Girl Saves the World is a pioneering experiment in film and literature produced by author Adam E. Stone and musician and storyteller Thirza Defoe. This project explores an innovative new approach to storytelling, combining audio of the novel's text with music and still photographs of the story's action to create a "novel in visions." The images, words, and songs of this visual novel tell the tale of Ta'li, a young woman on a physical and spiritual journey in search of healing for herself and a way to awaken empathy in the hearts of her fellow humans.

Filmmaker Lauren Selmon Roberts and her collaborators spent over six months living and filming in Liberia to bring back this inspiring documentary about an orphanage that is home, family and hope to hundreds of children whose parents were killed by the civil war. At the center of this rural community is Ma Feeta, now 86, a woman exiled by war who was forced at gunpoint by soldiers on both sides of the Liberian conflict to become the caretaker of children who had lost their whole families and homes.

By popular demand, starting SOON. Nothing else to say 'bout it.

This Black Soil (2004, 58 min. documentary). This film, over 10 years in the making. chronicles the successful struggle of the people of Bayview, Virginia, a small and impoverished rural African-American community, in following a new vision of prosperity. Catalyzed by the defeat of a state plan to build a prison in their backyard, the powerful women leaders and residents created a non-profit organization, secured $10 million in grants, purchased the proposed prison site land and are now building a new community from the ground up.

On Sunday November 7, the Big Muddy presents "The Sleep Dealer," a thriller by director Alex Rivera that follows the connections between the privatization and agglomeration of water by corporations and the pressures this puts on farmers in the rural south to leave their homes and become part of the low-paying labor market at the international border with the US.

Join us at a soft opening of the Big muddy IMC and social space with a screening of the classic documentary The Atomic Cafe. Scary 'nuff for Halloween!! Zombie capitalism! Zombie military industrial complex! Friday Oct. 29, 7 pm. Always free. Calendars for the season will be available. Even if you can't stay for the movie, drop in and say hi!

Our "Film Friday" series will resume in Fall of 2010. The primary repairs to the roof have been completed, and renovations on the interior have progressed to the point where the space is again available for use.

Our Friday film series will take a brief vacation on January 1 in honor of New Year's Day. Film showings will resume on January 8.