Ann Arbor Docu Fest

free documentary films every Monday ~ 7pm

Cafe Ambrosia, 326 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor

behind Nickels Arcade

Monday, June 6 - The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers

2010 Academy Award Nominee - Best Documentary Feature; George Foster Peabody Award;
Erik Barnouw Award; History Maker Best Award; John E. O’Connor Film Award; many others. “Riveting! A straight-ahead, enthralling story of moral courage. This story changed the world." - NY Magazine. “The most exciting thriller I’ve seen in a while – as powerful as anything Hollywood can throw at us.” - NY Post.

Story of a moral giant. In 1971 Daniel Ellsberg shook America to its foundations when he smuggled a Pentagon study to the NY Times showing how five Presidents lied about the Vietnam War that was killing millions and tearing America apart. Pres. Nixon's Nat'l. Security Advisor Henry Kissinger called Ellsberg "the most dangerous man in America," who "had to be stopped at all costs." But Ellsberg wasn't stopped. For the first time on film, we see the inside story of this pivotal event that changed history and transformed our nation's political discourse. Recently, Ellsberg has been speaking on behalf of current truth-teller Julian Assange.


Monday, June 13 - Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood

Consuming Kids throws desperately needed light on the practices of a relentless multi-billion dollar marketing machine that now sells kids and their parents everything from junk food and violent video games to bogus educational products and the family car. Drawing on the insights of health care professionals, children's advocates, and industry insiders, the film focuses on the explosive growth of child marketing in the wake of deregulation, showing how youth marketers have used the latest advances in psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience to transform American children into one of the most powerful and profitable consumer demographics in the world.

Consuming Kids pushes back against the wholesale commercialization of childhood, raising urgent questions about the ethics of children's marketing and its impact on the health and well-being of kids.


Monday, June 20 - Food, Inc.

2010 Academy Award Nominee - Best Documentary Feature; won awards too numerous to mention. Accolades from many reviewers and media outlets.

An unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry. Armed with witty, clear graphics and ironically bright color, 'Food, Inc.' will gain more converts to "slow," organic, local food and opponents to crooked food regulation and monopolistic industry. This seems one of the most balanced and humane treatments of the subject yet. Director Robert Kenner smartly offers ways to change the barbaric methods and marketing of food.

Food, Inc. is a populist and practical film that speaks with the voices of farmers, advocates, and journalists, and focuses on food, what's wrong with it, and what we can do about it. It offers lots of practical information and appeals to everyday people.

The director is to be commended for having the courage to tackle this very important topic.


Monday, June 27 - GasHole

GasHole is about the history of oil prices and the future of alternative fuels. The film takes a wide, yet detailed examination of our dependence on foreign supplies of Oil. What are the causes that led America from a leading exporter of oil to the world's largest importer? What are the economic and sociological forces that contributed to that change and impede its solution? The film examines many different potential solutions to our oil dependence. Starting with claims of buried technology that dramatically improve gas mileage, to navigating bureaucratic governmental roadblocks, to evaluating different alternative fuels that are technologically available now, to questioning the American Consumer's reluctance to embrace alternatives. If you buy gasoline, you should see this movie!

Cafe Ambrosia ~ (734) 929-9979

Ann Arbor Docu Fest

free documentary films every Monday ~ 7pm

Cafe Ambrosia, 326 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor

behind Nickels Arcade

EVERYONE WELCOME

Monday, May 2 - Waste Land

What happens in the world's largest trash city will transform you.

An uplifting film highlighting the transformative power of art. Internationally acclaimed artist Vik Muniz takes us on an emotional journey from Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, to the heights of international art stardom. Vik collaborates with the brilliant catadores, pickers of recyclable materials, true Shakespearean characters.

Even as Vik understands how to manipulate and respect the art world, he also understands how ludicrous it is. A show in London, which pickers attended, became a catalyst for change in their lives and in the lives of spectators.

Muniz makes sure no one feels sorry for the catadores, some of whom have never known anything but the landfill. Waste Land is a dignified story about the potential of the poor to rise out of garbage through art to a better life. For this reason, Muniz stands with great humanitarians like Albert Schwitzer and Mother Theresa.

Monday, May 9 - Psywar

The film explores the evolution of propaganda and public relations in the US, with an emphasis on the “elitist theory of democracy” and the relationship between war, propaganda and class. This is not a high budget affair, but was financed via a blue collar job. The interviews contained within are original and were conducted by proxy. If you are interested in how we are manipulated into believing the things we do — watch this film.

Includes original interviews with a number of dissident scholars including Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Noam Chomsky, Peter Phillips ("Project Censored"), John Stauber ("PR Watch"), Christopher Simpson ("The Science of Coercion") and others.

Monday, May 16 - Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story

Imdb.com rating: 9.2! Brick by Brick recounts the monumental struggle between the federal government and Yonkers over segregation in the city’s neighborhoods and schools -- and is more than just a news story from the '80’s. It should be a sober warning about the present day. America — never mind Yonkers — still grapples with unsettled issues of poverty and race, and until that conundrum is resolved, it will keep reasserting itself in new and troubling way.

The film, produced and directed by Bill Kavanagh (www.brick-by-brick.com) is a fascinating artifact. It lays out the city’s gridwork of racial separation. It revisits the heated meetings and demonstrations that erupted over plans to disperse poor residents from black neighborhoods into white ones. It shows the stubbornness that led the Yonkers City Council to endure crippling fines over its refusal to bend to a federal judge’s will and enact an affordable housing plan.

The story is told through the recollections of three families whose quiet calm and good sense make the madness around them surreal. But the events really happened — the library closings, the political grandstanding, the suicide of a young ex-mayor, the bittersweet ribbon cuttings for some houses here and there.

Monday, May 23 - Winnebago Man

Opening with a deeply sincere "I don't give a fuck!" - Winnebago Man features Jack Rebney, a hermit living atop a California mountain with a dog named Buddha. He's a former broadcast journalist, hence the cultivated voice that makes his Youtube rant, The Angriest Man in the World, so entertaining. (It's his profane tantrum while making a 1989 RV infomercial.)

This hilarious and poignant film could be the most genuine and true cinematic representation of a human being. Rebney is a complex, contradictory, and intensely intelligent man. As filmmaker Ben Steinbauer pushes harder to draw Rebney out, the docu becomes as much about the volatile relationship between the filmmaker and his subject as about the subject himself.

Rebney, both funny and philosophical, isn't just a source of amusement; he's an example of true, real, complete humanity. He's like us, but has no need to fit in anymore.

Cafe Ambrosia ~ (734) 929-9979

Ann Arbor Docu Fest

free documentary films every Monday ~ 7pm

Cafe Ambrosia, 326 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor

behind Nickels Arcade

EVERYONE WELCOME 

 

Monday, April 4 - People and the Land

People and the Land airdrops viewers into the universe of an occupied people, unreeling images of a new form of apartheid based on ethnicity.  Challenging US foreign policy and the conventions of the documentary form itself, the film examines the concrete realities of Israel's conduct in the West Bank and Gaza, the level of US support for that conduct through foreign aid, and the human cost of that aid in Palestine and the US.  According to mideast professors, the best film on this topic so far.

Israel and Palestine:  What the Media Leave Out   Short lecture by Alison Weir, Director of If Americans Knew

Monday, April 11 - Inside Job

2011 Best Documentary Academy Award.  Inside Job is the first film to provide a comprehensive analysis of the '08 $20 trillion financial crisis, causing millions to lose jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulting in global financial collapse. Through interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. Locations include US, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China. 

An added extra looks at the role of academics, many of whom put their name to a system that eventually collapsed. 

This film is as gripping as any thriller. 

-Guardian.  

More entertaining than Wall Street 2 while saying infinitely more about the iniquities of those who claim to work for us. 

-Fan the Fire.  

Hilarious and ultimately rousing experience.  

-Real.com.  

...reconstructing the system that failed and circling its weak spots.   

-Daily Telegraph.  

Here's the biggest story of our time, lucidly told.  

-This is London.  

How deregulation led to disaster.  -anon.

Monday, April 18 - Zeitgeist:  Moving Forward (part 1)

This is a profound, professional, scientific work of genius - a life-changing and hopefully world-changing documentary.  

Filmmaker Peter Joseph gathered up some of the best scientists in their respective fields to present a case for a near-empirical way of dealing with the problems of society.  

Any fan of science over opinion or challenging the status quo in general will find much to love here.  

The film takes no sides in the establishment, basing its solutions on evidence.  

This comes off as a radical approach to problems, only because we don't see it in politics. But what Zeitgeist: Moving Forward presents doesn't seem "out there" at all. The ideas are universal and exist in every culture or religion as "goals" to work towards. Until now, a clear case hasn't been presented on how to actually get there. 

Strong societies require strong foundations - and not a country in the world currently has this.

Monday, April 25 - Zeitgeist:  Moving Forward (part 2)

Cafe Ambrosia ~ (734) 929-9979 

  sponsored by a group of concerned citizens

 

Roger Fraser discusses the Cost of the New Municipal Building

Ann Arbor Docu Fest - Special Screening

Special Screening

Ann Arbor Docu Fest

Academy Award for Best Documentary

Inside Job

Thursday March 10, 7pm
Cafe Ambrosia, 326 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor
behind Nickels Arcade


Inside Job is the first film to provide a comprehensive analysis of the 2008 global financial crisis, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions to lose jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in global financial collapse. Through research and interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. Locations include US, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

An added extra looks at the role of academics, many of whom put their name to a system that eventually collapsed.


This film is as gripping as any thriller.
-Guardian

More entertaining than Wall Street 2 while saying infinitely more about the iniquities of those that claim to work for us.
-Fan the Fire

Frightening, hilarious and ultimately rousing experience.
-Real.com

...reconstructing the system that failed and circling its weak spots.
-Daily Telegraph

Here's the biggest story of our time, lucidly told.
-This is London

If you have ever wanted to understand derivatives, hedge funds and collateralised debt obligation, this movie is for you.
-Daily Mail

How deregulation led to disaster. -anon.

Cafe Ambrosia ~ (734) 929-9979

sponsored by a group of concerned citizens

Mandatory Home Inspections

Community Services Administrator Sumedh Bahl proposes mandatory home inspections if you want to sell your home. What is the motivation for this warrentless search?   It is quite clear from the video that the reason is additional city revenue.

The problem with our government is not insufficient revenue it is the inability of administrators like Sumedh Bahl to control expenses. AnnArbor.com presented a graph of the city property tax revenue on January 31, 2011( http://www.annarbor.com/news/city-income-taxes-can-be-volatile-unreliable-during-recession-grand-rapids-case-study-shows/ ) The graph shows that the city tax revenue has increased by almost 50% from 2001 to 2010.

We need to ask the position of our Council members;  do they support this invasion of privacy, this increase in taxation and reduction in our home values?  Will they support the citizens or the administrators that  only think of methods to expand their empire at our expense?

Ann Arbor Capital Improvements Plan - Public Hearing

Ann Arbor News Hawks - January 2011

The Ann Arbor News Hawks January 2011 Report.

SMWTMS

Here is an infomercial about a local audio club. The video was produced by David Carlstrum. a friend that often helps us with our videos. I am not a member of SMWTMS, but occasionally attend meetings or related programs as a guest.

Ann Arbor Docu Fest

free documentary films every Monday ~ 7pm

Cafe Ambrosia, 326 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor

behind Nickels Arcade

EVERYONE WELCOME

Monday, February 7 - GasLand

This film may become to the dangers of natural gas drilling what Silent Spring was to DDT. A rare example of cinema art that is also an organizing tool, the pic has a level of research and gutsiness. "...one of the most effective and expressive environmental flims of recent years." - Variety.
Prizes: Sundance, Sarasota, Yale Environmental, Big Sky, Thin Line Film Festivals. "On the want-to-see scale, GasLand tops the list" - Washington Post.
"GasLand just might be the best film of the year." - Huffington Post. "Over the past 8 days I viewed 40 films...The most important film was GasLand...an examination of air quality and drinking water under attack from NYC to Ft. Worth was eye opening." - USA Today. GasLand is "well done. It holds peoples' attention. And it could block our industry." - President of the Natural Gas Supply Ass'n.


Monday, February 14 - (Astro) Turf Wars

"Astroturfing" is the practice of manufacturing citizen groups for the purpose of delivering corporate messages. Australian filmmaker Taki Oldham went undercover to investigate groups like the Tea Party; what he found was astroturfing on a scale greater than he could have imagined, threatening not only the health of American democracy, but that of its citizens and the planet.
This is a powerful investigative documentary exposing "astroturf," a fake grassroots movement backed by billionaires. Oldham's undercover work documents how Tea Party goers are being recruited into this libertarian fight for 'freedom' seemingly without any understanding of who is bankrolling the campaign. "Brilliant," George Monbiot, The Guardian. "Essential viewing," David Suzuki, author, Environmentalist.


Monday, February 21 - Tulia, Texas

“This is a story of how our idea of justice gets corrupted when we declare war on something.” -Jeff Blackburn, criminal defense attorney

On July 23, 1999, undercover narcotics agent Thomas Coleman carried out one of the biggest Texas drug stings in history, putting dozens of residents in the farming town of Tulia behind bars. Thirty-nine of the 46 people accused of selling drugs to Coleman were African-American. But disturbing evidence about the undercover investigation and Coleman’s past soon began to surface.

Tulia, Texas shows how America’s war on drugs and its over-zealous law enforcement, combined with racial divisions, have exposed stark injustices. This story undoubtedly happens to one degree or another in towns across the country. This film deserves a wide audience and should be used in classrooms everywhere. Filmmakers Cassandra Herman and Kelly Whalen chronicle the path towards the pardon of the 46 and revel in a great victory for justice. Ultimately, this documentary asks if the presumption of innocence extends to everyone - or is it based on race or a badge?

(Recent use of DNA testing proves innocent people do sometimes end up in jail for crimes committed by other people. Nationally, the Innocence Project has exonerated 161 people since 2000.)


Monday, February 28 - Pyramids of Waste

Planned Obsolescence, the deliberate shortening of product life spans to guarantee consumer demand, is the basis of modern economy. The film combines investigative research and rare archive footage to trace the untold story of Planned Obsolescence, from its beginnings in the 1920s with a secret cartel, set up expressly to limit the life span of light bulbs, to present-day stories involving cutting edge electronics (such as the iPod) and the growing spirit of resistance amongst ordinary consumers. Film travels to France, Germany, Spain and the US...brings back disquieting pictures from Africa where discarded electronics are piling up in huge cemeteries for electronic waste...thought-provoking analysis by thinkers working on ways of saving both the economy and the environment, and presents hands-on stories showing entrepreneurs putting new business models into practice.

Cafe Ambrosia ~ (734) 929-9979

sponsored by a group of concerned citizens