I just saw a documentary that makes me wonder...for the states and counties that still use electronic voting...

Is the fix already in?

This ought to really raise the ire of condemnation within the Fundamentalist Christian Community,
especially as practiced in the U.S..

Dialog already started
at site of this report, Story of Jesus Through Iranian Eyes

New Movie By Iranian Filmmaker Tells Story of Christianity From Muslim Perspective

You can watch a short video report
of this movie.

Note: I'm the author of a new book, Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest, but I'm not part of the Obama Campaign.

The first efforts in the 2008 campaign to suppress political speech on college campuses have begun. The School of the Art Institute in Chicago (SAIC) has banned the documentary "Senator Obama Goes to Africa" (which I reviewed here, also available on DVD) from being shown in its Gene Siskel Film Center, which is one of the leading independent movie theaters in Chicago.

If you missed the original broadcast on PBS last April 24, 2007 or on the re-broadcast on some local PBS stations during their fundraisers, you can purchase a copy on DVD from the PBS.org Website.  It is worth every penny of the $29.95 plus shipping and handling.  It shows quite clearly that the MSM didn't dare question or investigate Bush and the steamroller to war with Iraq.  Only Knight-Ridder had it right, but were ignored or riddiculed as been off the wall or not loyal or "treasonist" for not supporting the troops and the Commander in Chief.  Wouldn't want to get "Swiftboated" or labeled as a "terrorist sympathizer".  Buy it and use it in a houseparty to build support for the only true anti-war candidate in the race for president, Dennis Kucinich.  That is what I am doing as part of my strategy to get elected as a Kucinich Delegate to the DNC-08.

China Blue airs on many PBS stations tonight (check local listings).

Even if you aren't wearing something now that was made in China, something in your closet probably was.  This documentary  introduces you to some of the women who make clothes and the conditions they work under.  

Actually, many aren't even women.  Some are as young as 14 and work up to 20 hours a day with no overtime.  For about 6 cents an hour.

Almost everyone who comes to this site has probably seen the ad for the Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (it is to the right as I write this), but I everyone who has HBO will watch it Feb 22nd  or when it repeats many times through the end of March (it will be out on DVD in June for those who don't).

We've all read about Abu Ghraib and seen the photos, but this documentary puts it together with a stong narrative in a way that hasn't happened before.  

Adrian Belic's excellent documentary Beyond the Call airs on many PBS stations starting on Tuesday, January 23rd.  More below.

I'm writing this to call attention to a new documentary film, Meeting Resistance, that is in the final phase of editing, by first-time directors Molly Bingham and Steve Connors. You may recall hearing about Molly Bingham, the photojournalist, when she was captured by Saddam's forces and held captive in Abu Graib prison for 8 days, around March of 2003.
I've just finished reading this story in our local alternative weekly, The Louisville Eccentric Observer, about Molly's upcoming exhibit of photographs from Iraq which will be shown at Actors Theatre Gallery Jan 15 - Feb 4.
The filmmakers have their own website, www.meetingresistance.com and I urge you all to check this out. The article goes on to say that the couple are hoping to have a world premiere at a film festival sometime this year. Check out the website and you can maybe read the LEO article, it's titled Documenting Iraq by Elizabeth Kramer at http://www.leoweekly.com
cheers.

Peacework Magazine asked activists across the country to fill in the blank, "If I could show one under-appreciated film or video to a room full of potential organizers, I'd show..." and explain why or how they'd use that film.

The resulting article provides mini-reviews of films ranging from the classic, such as Fail Safe, to the essentially unknown, such as Breaking Our Silence.

Please comment on these movies, and suggest your favorite activist films, on our first-ever, experimental, Peacework readers' forum.

Please add your voice to the mix: what movie would you show? How come?

Just got this from Howard Park (Grassroots Activist in DC):

Last week I saw a partial screening (55 minutes) of  one of the  best
political documentary films I've ever seen, "Taking the Hill".  The  
final product (90 minutes) airs on the Discovery Times Channel this Tuesday,  Dec. 12, at  9:00  EST.

The film, produced by brothers Criag & Brent Renaud,  intimately tracks
four "Fighting Dem" candidates:  Eric Massa, Tammy  Duckworth, John Balanas and (Rep-Elect) Patrick Murphy and their strong  supporter, Sen. Max Cleland. It also documents the gathering of about  50 "Fighting Dem" candidates in Washington in February, 2006.

I've never seen a political documentary before that addresses the ins &
outs of fundraising pressure, the interaction between candidates,
consultants  & staff and the relationship between local House candidates, PACs and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.  

In one memorable scene, Cleland says "Fuck him" of DCCC Chair Rahm Emanuel, another frequent subject of  the film...

On Tuesday, Oct, 10th (tonight), PBS is airing Frontline's The Enemy Within, an investigation of how possible domestic terrorism has been investigated by the FBI and other government agencies since 9/11.

Just as he did in 2003 in Chasing the Sleeper Cell, correspondent Lowell Bergman (who was the subject of The Insider and teaches at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism) takes a critical look at some of the terrorism cases that have been trumpeted by the Bush administration.

• Voter Registration
• Get Out the Vote (GOTV) work
• Swing State/District field trips
• Initiative campaigns
• NEW: Participating in the national blograiser for dKos' own NYbri!

Potential movies include:

• Granny D Goes to Washington
• Bill Moyers segment on Clean Money successes in CA,AZ
• The Big Buy: Tom DeLay's Stolen Congress

Space is limited, and RSVPs are required. Details below the line, along with lots of comfy seats in Comments, where you can talk about your local, regional and national organizing efforts (and find the Friday Film-critics' circle).

The movie opens in limited release on Friday and will be opening in about 40 theatres nationally in the next few months.  Although it really isn't an anti-war film, it opens largely in deep blue areas, which is doubtless appropriate - we are, after all, the reality based community, and this is nothing if not real.

Before Al Gore had his own documentary, he was a judge at a film festival in Nashville.  He liked the winning film, The Real Dirt on Farmer John so much, he gave Farmer John a tour of his own farm at introduced the film in San Francisco.

You can see it tonight, Tuesday, June 13th on many PBS stations (check local listings on this site which also has more on the show) as part of Independent Lens.

More on the flip....

On June 3, in Flagstaff, Arizona, the Reel Deal Film Festival, organized by the Flagstaff DFA, will be held from 11:00am to 11:00pm. Not only will we have movies, we will have DFA-approved candidates to talk about the themes in those movies. Shoot, there's lots to talk about when you show a film like "The Big Buy."

If you're going to be in the area on June 3rd read more...

I just re-watched Moore's Farenheit 911; and watched Enron story: Smartest Guys in the Room; and Network;  All the Presidents' Men; Lawrence of Arabia; Walmart Story; Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now; Pork Chop HIll;  Saving Private Ryan; and just for drill a bunch of old 50 and 60s TV westerns.

We didn't need this Iraq war.  It was by choice.   Diplomacy wasn't given full reign.  Our boomer President mentally plays Cowboys and Indians. That's Black and White thinking.  He's still stuck in the Happy Days 50s, of BW TV.