ProfileName
|
Recent posts Street Art CentralStreet Art is the biggest global art movement in history. With over 100 shorts and features... Read More » |
Editor's picks  24 videos |
|
Babelgum Film
Darkie Day
expand
Darkie Day
Similar videos
| 10 videos
03:37
The View from Madison Street (Steve James)
African-Americans from this largely forgotten stretch of inner-city Chicago speak out about race, class and how neither of the then-presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, was addressing the issues of poverty that plague their community.
African-Americans from this largely forgotten stretch of inner-city Chicago speak out about race, class and how neither of the then-presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, was addressing the issues of poverty that plague their community.
02:57
Newlyn Harbour
Newlyn Harbour is a short experimental documentary exploring the southern village of Newlyn, the UK's largest fishing harbour. With the fishing industry in a crisis, Newlyn is struggling to survive in its current state. Local organisations have responded with plans for major commercialisation and modernisation. But what if the project to save Newlyn ends up killing the very thing it set out to protect? Newlyn Harbour reflects director Saeed Taji Farouky's outsider impressions of the experiences.
3RD BABELGUM ONLINE FILM FESTIVAL ENTRY 2010 Watch all the BOFF 3 entries here
Newlyn Harbour is a short experimental documentary exploring the southern village of Newlyn, the UK's largest fishing harbour. With the fishing industry in a crisis, Newlyn is struggling to survive in its current state. Local organisations have responded with plans for major commercialisation and modernisation. But what if the project to save Newlyn ends up killing the very thing it set out to protect? Newlyn Harbour reflects director Saeed Taji Farouky's outsider impressions of the experiences.
3RD BABELGUM ONLINE FILM FESTIVAL ENTRY 2010 Watch all the BOFF 3 entries here
03:08
Globalization Gone Wild (David Redmon)
The Mardi Gras bead first appears as a trivial commodity, but with humor and deadpan comedy, director David Redmon carefully shows the connections between nudity, labor, petroleum, and protest.
The Mardi Gras bead first appears as a trivial commodity, but with humor and deadpan comedy, director David Redmon carefully shows the connections between nudity, labor, petroleum, and protest.
03:11
The R.O.M.E.O.S Ep.2 (Katy Chevigny)
ROMEO is an acronym for 'Retired Old Men Eating Out' and features an informal club of retired lawyers, writers and intellectuals who meet every week at a classic New York diner. It is a long lunch to talk about anything and everything; telling old jokes, making fun of each other, complaining about politics. This is what the conversation would be like if the guys from 'Diner' hung out 50 years after the movie.
ROMEO is an acronym for 'Retired Old Men Eating Out' and features an informal club of retired lawyers, writers and intellectuals who meet every week at a classic New York diner. It is a long lunch to talk about anything and everything; telling old jokes, making fun of each other, complaining about politics. This is what the conversation would be like if the guys from 'Diner' hung out 50 years after the movie.
01:24:36
McLibel
It was the biggest corporate disaster ever. Two penniless activists hauled McDonald's through the longest trial in English history, determined to defend their right to criticise the company. But that wasn't enough for the 'McLibel 2'. Next they took the British Government to court, arguing that the original trial was unfair because they were forced to defend themselves against the country's most expensive lawyers. Against all odds, they won! The UK's notorious libel laws will now have to be rewritten.
It was the biggest corporate disaster ever. Two penniless activists hauled McDonald's through the longest trial in English history, determined to defend their right to criticise the company. But that wasn't enough for the 'McLibel 2'. Next they took the British Government to court, arguing that the original trial was unfair because they were forced to defend themselves against the country's most expensive lawyers. Against all odds, they won! The UK's notorious libel laws will now have to be rewritten.
03:29
Cubanos, Life and Death of a Revolution
Cubanos, a completely independent production, liberates itself from television convention to draw an impressionist portrait of the Cuban community. Sincere interviews and sequence shots reveal an identity fragmented by 48 years of dictatorship, a people struggling to leave the 20th century behind. While music may barely camouflage the misery and corruption in Cuba, the sounds of engines and commercial radio can’t mask the cultural gap between the island and the very active community in Miami. The main character, Catuey, a Cuban musician who has been living in Québec for a number of years, brings to his journey and his songs the image of an ideal Cuba hurt by the division in its people and the group-think that prevails in Miami. Confronted with the contradictions among his countrymen and his own demons, Catuey ends his odyssey drained and disappointed not to have found a simple path to reconciliation. The film steers clear of the pitfalls of sensationalist news, taking a more holistic approach to the identity issues the Cuban community will face upon the death of Fidel Castro. Yan Giroux has shot, edited and directed a film that uses strong framing and extended shots to transform the chaos of reality into a set of evocative signs. While Catuey and the interviewees try to define themselves both as individuals and as Cubans, one scene at a time, the camera paints a broader, more complex portrait of a people held prisoner by their history. The travel footage scans the day-to-day lives of Cubans in Cuba and Miami for vestiges of the revolutionary dream. Echoing each other throughout the film, the scenes explore the many facets of a culture that is developing differently on either side of the Straits of Florida. Precise camera and editing work create a setting of objects and sounds that subtly interact with the content of the interviews. Amidst Havana’s ruins, the interviewees’ faces are blurred to protect their identities, but this is no longer a formal constraint, becoming one more aesthetic symptom in the crumbling landscape of Cuban communism. By exploring the richness of cinematographic language, Cubanos goes beyond the documentary genre to become a road movie that takes us to the heart of Catuey's struggle. A faded flag flutters in the wind as a saw whines, far away. Catuey croons Cuba’s national anthem like a lullaby. The ambiguity between dream and nightmare is what defines this revolution, its romanticism tattered by disillusionment.
Cubanos, a completely independent production, liberates itself from television convention to draw an impressionist portrait of the Cuban community. Sincere interviews and sequence shots reveal an identity fragmented by 48 years of dictatorship, a people struggling to leave the 20th century behind. While music may barely camouflage the misery and corruption in Cuba, the sounds of engines and commercial radio can’t mask the cultural gap between the island and the very active community in Miami. The main character, Catuey, a Cuban musician who has been living in Québec for a number of years, brings to his journey and his songs the image of an ideal Cuba hurt by the division in its people and the group-think that prevails in Miami. Confronted with the contradictions among his countrymen and his own demons, Catuey ends his odyssey drained and disappointed not to have found a simple path to reconciliation. The film steers clear of the pitfalls of sensationalist news, taking a more holistic approach to the identity issues the Cuban community will face upon the death of Fidel Castro. Yan Giroux has shot, edited and directed a film that uses strong framing and extended shots to transform the chaos of reality into a set of evocative signs. While Catuey and the interviewees try to define themselves both as individuals and as Cubans, one scene at a time, the camera paints a broader, more complex portrait of a people held prisoner by their history. The travel footage scans the day-to-day lives of Cubans in Cuba and Miami for vestiges of the revolutionary dream. Echoing each other throughout the film, the scenes explore the many facets of a culture that is developing differently on either side of the Straits of Florida. Precise camera and editing work create a setting of objects and sounds that subtly interact with the content of the interviews. Amidst Havana’s ruins, the interviewees’ faces are blurred to protect their identities, but this is no longer a formal constraint, becoming one more aesthetic symptom in the crumbling landscape of Cuban communism. By exploring the richness of cinematographic language, Cubanos goes beyond the documentary genre to become a road movie that takes us to the heart of Catuey's struggle. A faded flag flutters in the wind as a saw whines, far away. Catuey croons Cuba’s national anthem like a lullaby. The ambiguity between dream and nightmare is what defines this revolution, its romanticism tattered by disillusionment.
01:34:49
OzDox: Feature Filmmakers and their Documentaries
Should docos be made for the cinema or for television or other media? Does it depend on the content? What would you suggest works better on the big or small screen? Advances in technology: do they make doco- making more attractive to you now, or less so? Are Australian doco makers telling enough grassroots Aussie stories; are they thinking outside the square? How does the discipline of making docos inform directing other genres? Two industry stalwarts explore the use of fiction filmmaking techniques in telling a non- fiction story as a preferred way of working. What is wrong/right with today's doco scene in Australia? Is it about funding and budgets, commissioning editors and broadcasters less/more willing to push the envelope, a paucity or plethora of meaningful ideas, or the effects of several years of a government that prefers us to be "relaxed and comfortable"?
Should docos be made for the cinema or for television or other media? Does it depend on the content? What would you suggest works better on the big or small screen? Advances in technology: do they make doco- making more attractive to you now, or less so? Are Australian doco makers telling enough grassroots Aussie stories; are they thinking outside the square? How does the discipline of making docos inform directing other genres? Two industry stalwarts explore the use of fiction filmmaking techniques in telling a non- fiction story as a preferred way of working. What is wrong/right with today's doco scene in Australia? Is it about funding and budgets, commissioning editors and broadcasters less/more willing to push the envelope, a paucity or plethora of meaningful ideas, or the effects of several years of a government that prefers us to be "relaxed and comfortable"?
01:46:00
OzDox: The Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit
In Sydney a small band of film-makers stood out for the productivity and sustained excellence of their work. This was the Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit. A group of three which made 17 films between 1953-59, most of them for trade unions and financed by the trade union movement, principally the Waterside Workers Federation. They spoke of important issues - working conditions, health and safety, housing.
In Sydney a small band of film-makers stood out for the productivity and sustained excellence of their work. This was the Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit. A group of three which made 17 films between 1953-59, most of them for trade unions and financed by the trade union movement, principally the Waterside Workers Federation. They spoke of important issues - working conditions, health and safety, housing.
28:03
Dolly and the ink spots
Formed in the early fifties, the Inkspots were the most dynamic singing combination of their time. They became hugely popular for their unique African sound but strict racial laws meant that performances were restricted to a black-only audience, robbing the band of the artistic recognition they deserved. Their experiences reveal the repressive dynamics of the age in which they lived.
Formed in the early fifties, the Inkspots were the most dynamic singing combination of their time. They became hugely popular for their unique African sound but strict racial laws meant that performances were restricted to a black-only audience, robbing the band of the artistic recognition they deserved. Their experiences reveal the repressive dynamics of the age in which they lived.
