·      Week 1: 
The Yes Men a film by Mike Bonano & Andy Bichelbaum;    (Mike Bonanno skyped  in for Q&A) Apr.4.2012

Synopsis: “The Yes Men” depicts a story of two performance artists in collaboration with programmers, coders and media artists impersonating several high-level business executives to expose their bottom line mentality can sometimes numb their personal capacity to stand up for human rights, ethics and just plain common sense.

An interactive Q&A session is planned where the “real life” Mike Bonano will provide answers to audience questions via skype for 10 minutes after the movie.

·      Week 2:
The Yes Men Fix the World  a film by Mike Bonano & Andy Bichelbaum; Wed. Apr.11.2012

Synopsis: The film consists of a several pranks on major corporations and governmental agencies that are performed by Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno (in real life Jacques Servin & Igor Vamos) who fancy themselves serious anti-globalization activists.

·      Week 3: 

Juche Idea a film by Jim Finn; Propaganda, Thought and Restaging of Communist Films;
Wed. Apr.18.2012 (Jim Finn skyped into the greenhouse to provide his own Q&A)

Synopsis: In the late 1960′s Kim Jong Il guaranteed his succession as the Dear Leader of North Korea by adapting his father’s Juche (pronounced choo-CHAY) philosophy to propaganda, film and art. Translated as self-reliance, Juche is a hybrid of Confucian and  authoritarian Stalinist pseudo-socialism. The film is about a South Korean video artist who comes to a North Korean art residency to help bring Juche cinema into the 21st century. Inspired by the real-life story of the South Korean director kidnapped in the 70′s to invigorate the North Korean film industry, the film follows Yoon Jung Lee, a young video artist invited to work at a Juche art residency on a North Korean collective farm. The story is told through the films she made at the residency as well as interviews with a Bulgarian filmmaker and even a brief sci-fi movie.

·      Week 4:  Cancelled due to Startup Weekend 

Period: The End of Menstruation a film by Giovanna Chesler ;  Apr.25.2012

Synopsis: Gender, the body, and identity are themes central to Period, a film which opens up a discussion of gender construction that challenge essentialist viewpoints on ‘woman’ and ‘bleeding.’ The film seeks to make visible and audible a taboo subject so that the health risks associated with the modes of menstrual suppression will be made public. Further, the film calls for reflection around the act of menstruation and presents multiple interpretations of this hidden bodily function. After two and a half years of research, intensive 16mm filming and sound recording, and numerous trips around the country to visit with over 50 participants, Period has proven to be a timely and necessary work.

·      Week 5: 

The Greatest Movie ever Sold a film by Morgan Spurlock Wed. May.2.2012

Synopsis: Boundary-pushing Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Morgan Spurlock explores the world of  product placement, marketing and advertising in POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie 

Ever Sold, a film that was fully financed through product placement from various brands, all of which are integrated transparently into the film.

While using brands in film promotion is not new for Hollywood, it certainly is new territory for the documentary format.  Spurlock exploits the phenomenon to new heights, with everything 

from branded pizza boxes and in-flight film promotions to branded-everything in-film.

·      Week 6: 

Megacompilation: films by  Nao Bustamante;  Documentation of Performance Artist May.9.2012

Synopsis: Documentation of Bustamante’s best performance art work including.

Forest, 2006

Neapolitan, 2004

Sans Gravity, 2003

Lifestyle, 2000

Angel/Bebe, 2000

Sparkler, 1999

The Chain South, 1998

Sans Gravity, 1998

America, the beautiful, 1995

Rosa Does Joan, 1992

Indigurrito, 1992

The Frigid Bride, 1991

and a slide show

·      Week 7: 

Reading & Discussion of Short Films by Guerrilla Girls : Wed. May 16, 2012

Synopsis: The Guerrilla Girls at the Feminist Future Symposium

Frida Kahlo and Kathe Kollwitz, two founding members of the feminist activist group the Guerrilla Girls, present as part of a panel on Activism/Race/Politics. Recorded at MoMA on January 27, 2007. Edited for time. Full video archives are available on MoMA’s ThinkModern podcast through iTunes or moma.org/audio. Audio archives are available on Art Radio WPS1.org.

·      Week 8: 

Sleep Dealer by a film Alex Rivera, May.23.2012 (skyping in for Q&A)

WINNER

Alfred P Sloan Feature Prize

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award

(Sundance 2008)

Amnesty International Film Prize

(Berlin 2008)

Director’s Statement: I made Sleep Dealer first and foremost because I love science fiction.  I grew up reading The Martian Chronicles and, of course, watching Star Wars.  As a teenager I was fascinated by films like Brazil and Blade Runner.  However, as I got older, I realized that  despite the genre’s wild stories and countless special effects, there were some things that were unimaginable – and that maybe there was an opportunity to do something radically  new with sci-fi.

In any science fiction film, you always have at least two ‘stars’ — the main character of  the film, and the futuristic world itself.  With Sleep Dealer I’m trying to do something we’ve never seen before with both.

·      Week 9: 

Al Otro Lado a film by Natalia Almada, May.30.2012

Synopsis: This drama features three stories about the bonds between children and absent parents. A Cuban boy who lives in poverty with his mother longs to visit his father in the United States, a Moroccan girl attempts to reunite with her father, and in Mexico, and a boy disobeys his father to visit a strange lagoon. These related vignettes showcase the powerful hold that parents have upon their children, which often remains strong despite their absence. If you like Narcocorridos, you should definitely come see this movie.

·      Week 10: 

Gasland a film by Josh Fox, Wed. Jun.6.2012

Synopsis: It is happening all across America-rural landowners wake up one day to find a lucrative offer from an energy company wanting to lease their property. Reason? The company hopes to tap into a reservoir dubbed the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas.” Halliburton developed a way to get the gas out of the ground-a hydraulic drilling process called “fracking”-and suddenly America finds itself on the precipice of becoming an energy superpower. Synopsis Written by Sundance Film Festival