Culver City, U.S.A. — Sony Movie Channel is honoring iconic director Stanley Kubrick during the month of July, airing seven of the legendary filmmaker’s movies paired with the documentary film, ‘Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures.’ The seven pictures include ‘Killer’s Kiss,’ ‘The Killing,’ ‘A Clockwork Orange,’ ‘Barry Lyndon,’ ‘Dr.Strangelove,’ ‘Full Metal Jacket,’ ‘and Eyes Wide Shut.’

The month-long event will air Fridays at 8:00 PM Eastern Time, 5:00 PM Pacific Time beginning July 6th with ‘Killer’s Kiss’ and ‘The Killing.’ Also airing will be ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘Barry Lyndon’ (Friday, July 13), ‘Dr. Strangelove’ and ‘Full Metal Jacket’ (Friday, July 20), and ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ (Friday, July 27). ‘Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures’ will bookend the movies airing on July 6th and July 27th. The network’s celebration also includes special primetime re-airings of the films beginning Tuesday, July 24 – Thursday, July 26, as well as an all-day marathon on Sunday, July 29th. The week also marks Kubrick’s birthday onJuly 26th.

Viewers can log onto the Sony Movie Channel Facebook page, “Like” the page and gain access to an interactive companion guide starting at 3:00 PM P on July 2. The interactive book will allow fans to look through chapters related to each of the seven featured Kubrick films and find hidden extras and bonus material creatively interspersed. The site will remain available throughout the month of July.

Sony Movie Channel is the first U.S. multi-platform television network from Sony Pictures Television created specifically for the Hollywood movie fan.  Offering uncut and uninterrupted theatrical releases in stunning high definition, Sony Movie Channel showcases titles from Sony Pictures’ vast library including award-winning features, cult favorites, family comedies and gripping dramas. Programming is selected from more than 3,500 Sony Pictures films, which collectively have received 184 Academy Awards including 12 for Best Picture. Sony Movie Channel is available on DISH Network, DIRECTV and AT&T U-Verse TV on linear as well as on authenticated VOD and online platforms.

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New York, U.S.A. – Every Mother Counts, an advocacy and mobilization campaign founded by Christy Turlington Burns to increase education and support for the global reduction of maternal mortality, and CHI&Partners, an international advertising agency based in New York, have launched No Mothers Day, a groundbreaking social issue campaign designed to raise awareness about the hundreds of thousands of girls and women around the world who die each year from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth.

The cornerstone of the campaign is a social issue film that features moms encouraging other moms to join in solidarity by disappearing on May 13, 2012 Mother’s Day. No phone calls. No emails. No social media. No gifts. This unified action is meant to demonstrate the hole that a woman leaves in the world when she dies in pregnancy and childbirth.

In leading a movement to forego Mother’s Day this year, the two organizations hope to bring more attention to the global issue of maternal mortality so that more mothers are here to celebrate in years to come. The film was directed by filmmaker, Ed Burns.

“Being able to do good work for a good cause so you can truly make a difference is a fantastic opportunity,” said Victoria Davies, Managing Partner at CHI&Partners. “No Mothers Day is an idea that could only be championed by Christy and Every Mother Counts – and forces us to think about a world without mothers on the one day when people should be thinking about mothers the most”.

The film features mothers between the ages of 24-80 expressing the belief that together, “our silence will speak the loudest, for all mothers.” Some of the high profile mothers featured in the film includes, Christy Turlington Burns, Jennifer Connelly, Kelly Rutherford, Ann Curry, Blythe Danner, Debra Messing, Dayle Haddon, Tonya Lewis-Lee and Heather Armstrong (Dooce).

“We hope this film becomes a pivotal moment in getting people to stop and think about maternal health on a much larger scale,” said Christy Turlington Burns, founder, Every Mother Counts. “Nearly 360,000 women die every year from largely preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, and 90 percent of those deaths are preventable. Once people know the facts, they will want to do what they can and come to us to find ways to engage.”

Turlington Burns founded Every Mother Counts as a campaign to support her first documentary, No Woman, No Cry, about the global state of maternal health, and to increase awareness about the hundreds of thousands of girls and women who die each year from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth.

The campaign was so well received and the demand for continued engagement so strong that EMC has evolved into an organization to help individuals, companies and organizations find their own voice on maternal health and join a growing community of advocates.

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Documentary Channel (DOC) is proud to announce the acquisition of 2012 Academy Award nominee ”Incident in New Baghdad.”  A film by James Spione, ”Incident in New Baghdad” is an eye-opening look into the WikiLeaks video that rattled the world as recounted by a United States soldier who was there. The film will premiere on Documentary Channel Sunday, May 27th at 8p ET/PT.

This compelling documentary shines a spotlight on one of the most notorious incidents of the Iraq War – the July 2007 slaying of two Reuters journalists and a number of other civilians (some armed, many not) by U.S. attack helicopters – through the powerful testimony of an American infantryman whose life was forever changed by his experiences on the scene.

U.S. Army Specialist Ethan McCord bore witness to the devastating carnage, found and rescued two children caught in the crossfire, and soon turned against the war that he had enthusiastically joined only months before.  In April 2010, WikiLeaks released the stunning cockpit video of the incident, spurring McCord into speaking out about his role that day.  In”Incident in New Baghdad” the former soldier tells his story.

“We are thrilled to announce the acquisition of this impactful Academy Award-nominated film,” said James Ackerman, President and CEO of Documentary Channel.  “Documentary film is a powerful medium that offers a window into some of the most important stories of our time.  Jim Spione and Ethan McCordhave courageously shed light on an astonishing event.  We congratulate Jim on this phenomenal nomination and are honored to bring ”Incident in New Baghdad” to our channel.”

“I am so pleased to be partnering with the Documentary Channel in bringing this story to the wide American audience it deserves,” said Mr. Spione.  “The on-the-ground reality of our wars is too often kept hidden from us—so I applaud the Documentary Channel’s courage in bringing Ethan McCord’s story to center stage.”

The 2012 Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject will be presented on Sunday, February 26. ”Incident in New Baghdad” comes to Documentary Channel May 27th, 2012 at 8p ET/PT.

Documentary Channel is primarily available through satellite television services DISH Network (Channel 197) and DIRECTV (Channel 267).

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The producers of The Third Jihad: Radical Islam’s Vision for America have a direct response to media outlets that have referred to the critically-acclaimed documentary as an “anti-Islam” or “hateful” film.

“Claims that The Third Jihad is an anti-Islam film are ignorant and misinformed,” says Raphael Shore, Producer of The Third Jihad. “These claims are meant simply to defame the filmmakers and prevent the public from judging the film for themselves.”

The film opens with the following frame in bold letters for all viewers to read: “This is not a film about Islam. It is about the threat of radical Islam. Only a small percentage of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims are radical.” The film’s message urges the Muslim community to look within itself to root out the indoctrination that affects a minority of Muslims.

Narrator Dr. Zuhdi Jasser

“The New York Times and other media outlets are conveniently choosing to overlook the fact that the film isolates a small sector of the Muslim community, and more importantly that the film is narrated by Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, the founder and president of the American-Islamic Forum for Democracy [http://www.aifdemocracy.org ],” Shore added.

Dr. Jasser is a devout Muslim and a full-time physician and has served the United States of America admirably as medical officer in the US Navy and as an attending physician to the US Congress.

The documentary is founded on credible evidence presented by the FBI of a ‘Manifesto’ published by radicals calling for the implementation of extremist ideology-both violent and politicized-within the United States.

Yet the media are blasting the film’s usage by the New York Police Department in their counterterrorism training.

“There is a very good reason the NYPD selected to show The Third Jihad to nearly 1,500 police officers, and other law enforcement agencies have done the same,” Shore said. “The film deals with the very real process of radicalization and indoctrination of anti-American ideology taking place in some sectors of the Muslim community today.”

While many media outlets are presently taking a noticeably negative stance – before even watching the film – the film has been spotlighted in over 100 interviews since its release in 2009.

The film’s narrator, Zuhdi Jasser, has consistently appeared in mainstream media outlets including MSNBC, CNN and Fox News, and has published Op-Eds in numerous mainstream publications including the Wall Street Journal to point out concerning trends within the Muslim community.

Experts

Jasser is not the only credible expert to appear in The Third Jihad, nor is NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

The film’s producers conducted exclusive interviews with:

-Former Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge,

- Former Director of Central Intelligence R. James Woolsey

- Former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani

- Former Associate Director of the FBI

- Former FBI Asst. Dir. of Public Affairs John Miller

- Senator Joseph Lieberman

- Professor Bernard Lewis

- New York Times Best-selling Author Ayaan Hirsi Ali

- Former CIA Officer Clare Lopez

- Former CIA Officer Wayne Simmons

- New York Times Best-selling Author Mark Steyn

- And more (http://tinyurl.com/about3J)

Screenings

Since its release in 2009, The Third Jihad has screened and continues to be screened at several hundred locations across the United States including at the Library of Congress, Museum of Tolerance, Directors’ Screen Guild, and the National Press Club.

The film previously aired on cable television’s AmericanLife TV Network, and is currently available on Netflix and Amazon OnDemand.

Praise

The film has also received notable praise from some of the nation’s leading policy makers.

“It is imperative that The Third Jihad reaches a mass audience in the U.S. so that the urgency of this threat becomes clear to the American public,” declared US Rep. Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Chairwoman of the House Foreign Relations Committee.

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (AZ) said, “The Third Jihad alerts Americans to the dangers of Islamic radicalization in our own communities. Zuhdi Jasser is sounding the alarm before it is too late.”

Rudy Giuliani called the film, “a wake up call for America.”

“Those that have blasted the film are attempting to stifle an important debate about the internal state of the Muslim community in America, and whether politicized Islam and indoctrination pose tangible security threats,” Shore added.

“We hope that the general public will consider the sensitive content in the film, and will not simply accept the baseless innuendos being made in the media. We invite the general public to watch and judge the documentary for themselves.”

The Third Jihad is now available for free viewing online at http://www.thethirdjihad.com.

Image Courtesy of  https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Third-Jihad-Movie/55200400800

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Just one year after its launch, JustFilms, the Ford Foundation’s documentary film fund, is providing major support to five independent films selected for competition and premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, the world’s leading showcase for independent filmmaking.

Each of the five embodies JustFilms’ vision of the power of independent film to illuminate the world in which we live and inspire people to engage in pressing social challenges, from the untold story of bravery and activism that opened access to AIDS drugs in the United States to a poignant account of Detroit residents reimagining their city.

“We’re extremely pleased that five projects receiving major support from JustFilms have been selected to premiere at Sundance,” said Darren Walker, vice president of Ford’s Education, Creativity and Free Expression Program. “This is exactly what our initiative is all about– ensuring that talented filmmakers who are tackling tough social issues can break through to large new audiences in a timely way.”

JustFilms was launched one year ago, a day before the start of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In its inaugural year, the initiative has made more than $10 million in grants to support more than 100 filmmakers and mediamakers around the world.

“We believe that Sundance is just the beginning of an opportunity for these filmmakers, and many others like them, to reach a new audience of engaged people who are hungry for stories about issues shaping our future,” added Walker.

JustFilms focuses on film, video and digital works that show courageous people confronting difficult issues and actively pursuing a more just, secure, and sustainable world. Through 2016, it will invest $10 million every year to support and expand the community of filmmakers and mediamakers around the world focused on creating documentaries with passion and purpose, but who often lack funding to realize their visions or reach audiences.

“While focusing on issues as diverse as human rights, poverty, cultural expression, and sustainable development, every project supported by JustFilms has one thing in common– the power of good storytelling,” said Orlando Bagwell, director of the JustFilms initiative at Ford. “These films make complex and often difficult issues accessible and entertaining, opening up whole new opportunities for audiences to engage on topics that may have once felt overwhelming or simply out of reach.”

With the explosion of digital media production over the past decade, there is far more film and video content available from which audiences can choose. However, it remains a challenge for most documentary filmmakers to find support– and audiences– for works that address social issues in meaningful and compelling ways. JustFilms seeks to support courageous filmmakers to complete their important works and to help them reach a growing audience of engaged and socially conscious viewers.

The Ford Foundation’s JustFilms initiative builds on the foundation’s longtime support for scores of documentaries, including such landmark productions as “Eyes on the Prize,” “State of Fear,” and “Why Democracy.” It also leverages the foundation’s global network of 10 regional offices to identify and lift new talent from around the world and to strengthen emerging communities of documentary filmmakers.

Ben Haslam / Haslam Photography / Shutterstock.com

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Martin Luther King III, member of the Founding Group and Board of Directors for Bounce TV, the country’s first and fast-growing over-the-air broadcast television network for African-Americans, announced today that the network will present the broadcast television premiere of the acclaimed documentary ‘Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Historical Perspective’ this Monday, January 16 at 8:00 P.M. ET in honor of the national Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

“This year’s holiday will be even more special to our family as it will be the first Martin Luther King, Jr. Day that my father’s memorial in Washington is open, and Bounce TV is on the air.  I believe both were and are important milestones for our community,” commented Mr. King III.

The award-winning ‘Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Historical Perspective’ offers a unique examination of Dr. King’s impact on the country and the civil rights movement. Writer/director Thomas Friedman takes a look at Reverend King’s ideas, actions, and influence on the fight to end racial segregation. The 60 minute documentary includes rare archival footage, photographs, and interviews with associates of Dr. King. Bounce TV will present a special encore of ‘Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Historical Perspective’ immediately after its premiere.

Bounce TV airs twenty four hours a day, seven days a week on the digital signals of local television stations.  The network targets African Americans primarily between the ages of 25-54 with a programming mix of theatrical motion pictures, live sports, documentaries, specials, inspirational faith-based programs, off-net series, original programming, and more.

Live sports and events are part of the Bounce TV schedule, including both football and basketball games from the nation’s largest African American athletic conference, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.  Bounce TV’s first CIAA basketball game will air this Sat. Jan. 14 as Shaw University visits Chowan.

Dr. King’s close friend and associate, Ambassador Andrew Young, is also among the Founding Group and Board of Directors of Bounce TV.  Bounce TV is mostly owned by African Americans.

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Project Nim tells the story of Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee who was a part of an experiment about the capabilities animals have to communicate with humans. Through the well-meaning misunderstandings of the humans that cared for him, Nim experienced many trials and tribulations in his lifetime.

Nim’s story begins in 1973 when he was just two weeks old. He is ripped from his mother and transported to New York to live with a bohemian, hippie family. Stephanie LaFarge becomes his surrogate mother, and she quickly grows attached to him. She even chooses to breast feed him for several months.

Dr. Herbert Terrace started the experiment to disprove Noam Chomsky’s theory that animals are incapable of learning language, and he decided to do this by teaching Nim American Sign Language. The debate about whether or not animals have self-awareness, and can communicate that awareness to others, began around this time. But even today 40 years later, the debate continues. Terrace felt so strongly about this project that he even mocked Chomsky’s name by giving Nim a very similar name.

Part of the reason it is easy to forget that chimps are animals and still have wild instincts, is because they can do things that look so human. The conflict between a human’s love for an animal that results in the desire to transform that animal into a furry human and the animal stubbornly staying true to its natural instincts is the basis for much of the heartbreak and misery that occurs.

Director, James Marsh commented in an interview with Lauren Wisscot on globalcomment.com that part of his inspiration for Project Nim came from the documentary Grizzly Man, a story of a man whose love affair with grizzly bears ended fatally. Both films discuss the topic of turning the love for an animal into a belief that the animal is imbued with human characteristics that it simply does not possess.

The first hiccup occurs with Dr. Terrace’s choice of surrogate family. No one in the family knew very much sign language and LaFarge was more intent on developing a mother-child bond than recording scientific data. Dr. Terrace grew frustrated with the lax recording and moved Nim to an island owned by Columbia University. A young and talented undergraduate student named Laura-Ann Petittio took over the experiment at that point.

Over the next several years Nim’s signing improved dramatically and he even managed to make up some of his own signs. As he entered adolescence his animal nature began to show, and he grew more and more violent. One time he bit one of his handlers so badly that she had to be hospitalized for several months. A number of different caretakers came in and out of his life as a result of the difficult nature of handling a large, sometimes violent anima.

Once the experiment ended, no one was sure what to do with him, and he ended up in a number of places, including being subjected to various animal experiments at New York University’s medical research facility.

Nim’s story is not the only one of an animal that is subjected to the fickle will and whim of humans, but it could certainly be one of the most moving. James Marsh has been praised for his ability to make this documentary more than just a history lesson. Told through a series of narrators who were involved with Nim and enhanced by archival footage and images, it creates an amazing story that draws the viewer into Nim’s almost surreal life.

For anyone interested in what defines people and animals, or even those just wanting to watch a good—and true—story should consider either making it to one of the limited screenings this summer, or renting it when it comes out  later this year.

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Director Don McGlynn’s most recent documentary “Rejoice and Shout” tells an amazing story of the power of Gospel music in America throughout the last 200 years of African American history. Starting with songs by slaves and ending with modern hip hop and rap music, this film offers an extensive, but delightful, telling of the history of Gospel music. Its influence is far-reaching, touching all other genres of music. Andre Crouch points out that its influence can be seen in “rock ‘n roll, the blues, country. [Gospel] is the root to all American music.” Without Gospel, music as we know it today would be completely different.

What makes this documentary more than merely a history lesson is the incredible music that McGlynn frequently indulges in. Instead of only playing snippets of songs here and there, the full performances are shown from artists, such as Mahalia Jackson, Smokey Jackson, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Andre Crouch, and Mavis Staples. This focus on the actual music is one of the most-liked aspects of this film, and it adds an essential element that is often lacking in other documentaries of this type.

In addition to musical and historical aspects, it is impossible to deny the religious roots that run through Gospel music. The first ten minutes are solely dedicated to interviews of Gospel greats, such as Andre Crouch and Smokey Robinson discussing the greatness of God and His importance within Gospel music. It points out the importance of the spiritual side of Gospel. It is more than simply good music. It has an undercurrent of passion that is fueled by the religious experience, and this film seeks to catch that passion and demonstrate it.

While the spiritual elements to Gospel music are essential to the genre, reviews of the film are often critical of the level of emphasis that God gets in the beginning. Jason Leroy’s review on spinningplatters.com complains that “[w]hen compared to the treasure trove of powerful music in this film, the interview testimonies seem a bit pithy in comparison.” The music itself offers strong religious convictions, and the addition of the interviews makes it more religious than some people are comfortable with viewing.

Despite the religious emphasis, “Rejoice and Shout” offers an enthralling look into the history of not only Gospel music, but how that music influenced American society from The Depression to the Civil Rights Movement. Director, Don McGlynn, points out that Gospel is more than just “a type of music. It tells the story of a people and it’s [sic] struggles.” Gospel music has offered hope and inspiration for African Americans for over 200 years through many struggles and tribulations, and what this film manages to do is take an expansive and important part of history and distill it into two hours of delightful viewing. This film is a must-see for anyone interested in music, American history, or even religious movements.

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At first glance, General Orders No. 9 seems like a combination between a science fiction flick and a film on conservation. In reality, this documentary focuses on the state of Georgia, and its development from a land of beauty to an urban desert. Filmed unlike any other documentary before it, critics have raved about its unique take on a familiar concept. Although it is called a documentary, it seems to almost defy any known category. Instead of the traditional interviews, and historical voiceovers, Persons ops instead for dramatic still shots of Georgia landscape, a haunting poetic narrative, and an organic flow. This is director Robert Persons’ first film, but it seems he has started off quite strong.

One of the most striking aspects of this film is the breathtaking cinematography. It even won an award for its quality cinematography at Slamdance Festival this January. Done in stationary camera shots instead of moving film, Persons focuses first on the beauty that is present in nature, and then juxtaposes that with the cold, concrete Atlanta that has begun to take over. Atlanta suddenly changes from an average city into a nefarious force that is slowly destroying the natural beauty that once dominated the area. Persons is not demanding an end to urban life; he is simply mourning the inevitable loss of nature in the face of industrial progress.

It is this inevitable loss that inspired the title. General Orders No. 9 references the letter that General Lee penned to his troops upon his surrender to General Grant at the end of the Civil War. In a Q&A session after his film showed in Toronto, Canada, he reportedly said that “it came across as a letter of surrender with love and admiration after a great failure and screw-up, and to me that was a metaphor for the film. The film can be seen possibly as a letter of a sort of spiritual surrender.” It is this wistful surrender that gives the film its mournful undertones, but it still manages to retain some hope in the end. This is not complete destruction. It is simply remembrance for something lost, and the acceptance that the new is inevitably coming.

As a part of explaining this loss in the context of Georgian history, the poetic narrative focuses on the gradual transformation of landscapes. The phrase, “deer trail becomes Indian trail, becomes county road” is narrated as the audience sees the dissection of Georgia from a whole land into a series of jagged lines and creates a very moving scene. It is this marriage between the unconventional poetic narrative and the visuals that leaves the audience haunted by this film.

Because this film has been done unlike any other, and the approach to the subject matter is so dark, reception to this film has been mixed. Mike Ryan on hammertonail.com hailed this film as being one of the best documentaries of either Slamdance or Sundance, but at the same time, even he admits that “it might just be too mysterious and challenging” for just any audience. It comes out this June 24 to a limited release, and if you can stomach the unique qualities of the film, it can be a richly rewarding experience.

Image Courtesey of  http://www.generalordersno9.com/

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