POV - Acclaimed Point-of-View Documentary Films | PBS

via pbs.org

This was an amazing film I watched on PBS tonight and I highly recommend it to you all out there. For one, it isn't all a rosy tale of adoption and shows some of the real hardships that all the participants go through during the process.

The filmmaking is exceptional in this piece as it poignantly shows both sides of the situation of what it might be like to adopt a little girl from China. The filmmaker profiles a family from Long Island who starts out in the process of adopting their second daughter from China and the filmmaker, Stephanie follows the family for about two years. The most touching part of the documentary is hearing from the mother and daughter themselves.

The difficulty of this process was highlighted by the request of the youngest daughter, also Chinese, that she wanted a sister, but she wanted a "big sister" and that is where the challenges start. Since Faith, the older, newer girl adopted from China has already learned the Cantonese language growing up, this proves to be extremely hard work to learn English and thus, assimilate to being "American", when she already had a Chinese sensibility. There are some lovely shots of "Faith" looking out the windows in the film and we can feel her anguish and pain at being taken away from all the she knows so well. A heartbreaking scene also involves Faith crying in the driveway of her house when she's having difficulties carrying her books inside (she's disabled with weaker hands and feet) and we feel her pain and isolation in that moment.

There are intense scenes in the film that show the Long Island family and their trying to understand what is happening in this process and then the "truth" is spoken by this little girl, Faith as she eventually becomes American. I loved watching the scenes with her foster family before she leaves China and then when she is video-chatting with them later after living in America. The pain at the end is in the Chinese sister's face as she cries after understanding that Faith has forgotten the language in which they used to share their secrets. So powerful and sweet, is this film about all of us out there, trying to understand each-other across our various cultural divides.

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Ten Tales - Gerald DeCock, Hair Stylist and Artist | AnOther

via anothermag.com

This is my friend Gerald. Love hearing him talk, and I really liked these questions posed to him. But, I didn't like the quality of his voice. Wished they put a lavalier mic on him or something because he has a wonderful deep voice and it sounds like they are just using the camera mic or something.

Watching this made me interested in the site and I clicked on the Terry Gilliam thumbnail and was brought to this quote. Yes, I agree and keep a notebook religiously (maybe that is my religion--keeping a notebook).

Here is a pic of a few of mine lately.

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192 BOOKS, NEW YORK: Fall/Winter Readings

via 192books.com

I love our local bookstore down the street and was happy to see some good readings coming up. Want to hear Mona Simpson talk about "My Hollywood" and Paul Harding could be interesting as well. I've been wanting to read "Tinkers" since hearing about it earlier this year.

Here is the link to the dates:
http://192books.com/eventsupcoming.htm

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Wakilare Debo being shown at School of International Service: American University and CHF International

via american.edu

Our documentary, "Wakilare Debo: Hardworking Woman" will be used in the curriculum this Fall at American University's School of International Service (SIS) and at Johns Hopkins, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in two different micro finance courses. We are thrilled of course that this film that we made in Senegal in 2003 is becoming so useful in seeing women's activities within the village banking methodology.

Elissa McCarter and Thierry van Bastelaer are both colleagues of my brother Tim Nourse, so it will be interesting to hear how it goes and how the students react to the film. Now we are following up with our contacts in this small town of Kolda to hear the news about how the four women's families are doing over 7 years later.

You can watch it on the small screen here.....http://content.io/work/film/film.html
by clicking on the second thumbnail down, "Wakilare Debo".

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SOUR official site

via sour-web.com

This is nice. Like it and how the animation is integrated into the production with how the blank t-shirts come to life. The pacing is cool too as I am drawn into the video because of the rhythm of the music. Like watching these negative spaces that are spiced up with the "action" of the animated cords. Think the hearts beating at 2:14 was lovely and so well integrated in the beat of the song.

Learned about these guys from a video I watched a while ago that seamlessly used stop motion photography and animation (with web-cameras and shadows on a wall) to tell a story. Here are the two other videos I liked as well:

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Radiolab and NPR Present Words

via youtube.com

My friend Sherry DiBari sent me this. Like it and I have seen some of their work before. Don't know anything about this production company, but like what I see. Looks like it's shot with a DSLR camera, maybe a Canon EOS Mark II D5, but who knows really.

Since I am a public radio junkie as well, I love anything associated with Radiolab as well. Of course, the editing, the music composition and their site noted at the end, is exemplary. Love their series, Routines as well as, moments which I have seen before.

Will Hoffman and Daniel Mercadante are doing some nice things with images........Keep tuned and thanks Sherry!

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Empire State Building

Thinking about the lovely Empire State building tonight and of all the photos that I have taken over the years through my window and elsewhere in the city. Such a lovely thing to look at within this grand city of ours. Here is a smattering from over the past 5 years.

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11 and Willing to Help

This is a film that I shot and produced recently about a young woman, Olivia Bouler, who has raised over $160,000 for the Audubon Society. She's all about helping the cause to aid the birds and wildlife in the Gulf that have been badly affected by the BP Oil spill. Olivia is an articulate artist whose passion about birds motivated her to write to the Audubon Society to donate her skills, "I am a decent drawer, and I was wondering if I could sell some bird paintings and give the profits to your organization".

I am really happy with the way it came out and know that it will hopefully add to her "media storm". She's recently back from a trip to Washington, DC where she met with the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar and Representative Henry Waxman (heading the BP Oil Spill Investigation) to talk about her cause.

Let me know what you think and send to friends that would be interested. I shot this with the Sony V1U HDV camera and also used footage from our new Canon EOS Rebel T2i that I am really happy with. The material of her drawing and painting, the sparrows and the shot of her in her room at the start were all from the Rebel T2i. She also gave me a pencil drawing of a brown pelican which motivated me to donate to the Audubon Society. What an inspiring person. I hope that you enjoy the 5 minutes.

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12th & Delaware: Documentary Film on HBO

via hbo.com

Really wanted to see this documentary tonight on HBO, but I missed it. Heard the filmmakers speaking about it on WNYC Radio today and it's something I don't want to miss. I'll look for it on HBO On Demand soon.

I'm concerned about this issue, less than I was during the Bush years, but still concerned. Saw a documentary on Frontline, The Last Abortion Clinic, a few years ago that went through different states' regulations in regards to abortion and how in certain states, the mandatory waiting periods can create undue stress on the woman having to make this awful decision. Parental consent is another issue and my ex-sister in-law recently told me that this can backfire badly. She knew of one girl, who was afraid of disappointing her parents so went across state lines, obtained an illegal abortion and died. Here is a link to that map from the Frontline doc that I found terrifying.

On the radio, they played some excerpts from the film and at the end discussed a young 15 year-old mother who was struggling in raising her child. Was not choosing an abortion the "right decision"? I think she is profiled in the film, so we can judge for ourselves. They also used military jargon, speaking of "front lines" and "this is a war", in talking about some of the passionate players in the film so I am interested to see how the piece was framed and what these "warriors" are really like. Frightening to think that one day, it might be extremely difficult for a young woman to obtain an abortion so feel that the more we can talk about it, the better it can remain on people's radars as an issue that women still face in America today.

Looking forward to seeing it as I heard it did great on the festival circuit. I'll report back here once I see it. If you have HBO, I hope you catch it.

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Video: Road testing London's new cycle hire scheme | UK news | guardian.co.uk

via guardian.co.uk

Don't know if anything like this could work in NYC, but you never know.....

It's the "rental bikes" for the masses and you pay a little to get access to these bikes locked up on the street. Kind of like a Zip Car.

Liked this reporter and how hard she looks for a "docking station" while obviously enjoying riding the bike.

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