[act-ma] Mark Rudd to appear at Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville, ME on July 16

[Roger Leisner]

Please note below that Mark Rudd, political activist, math professor, leader of the Columbia student revolt of 1968, Weatherman and author of the new autobiography Underground will be appearing at the Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville, Maine on July 16.

The following is  a list of movies that will be coming to the Maine International Film Festival in Waterville, Maine

Location codes are:
WOH - Waterville Opera House, largest capacity
RR1 - Railroad Square Cinema Biggest Theater
RR2 - Railroad Square Cinema 2nd Biggest Theater
RR1 - Railroad Square Cinema Smallest Theater
Good idea to get to the venue early, many shows sell out.
More info at www.miff.org

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Tapped

Sunday 07/12/2009 03:30 PM WOH  
Monday 07/13/2009 06:00 PM RR2  
Wednesday 07/15/2009 09:30 PM WOH  

79 Minutes In English

By the year 2030, 2/3 of the world will lack access to clean drinking
water, according to United Nations estimates. Tapped is a dynamic,
provocative and startling illustration of the impact of the global water
crisis on our country, and what we can do as individuals to enact change
sooner rather than later. Starting out in Fryeburg, Maine, where local
citizens organize to stop water bottling, Tapped examines the role of the
bottled water industry and its effects on health, climate change,
pollution, and our reliance on oil. This is a galvanizing but fast-paced
film with the power to truly change lives.

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Neighbor by Neighbor: Mobilizing an Invisible Community in Lewiston, Maine

Thursday 07/16/2009 06:00 PM RR3  
Friday 07/17/2009 09:30 PM RR1  

98 Minutes In English
Director: Craig Saddlemire
Print Courtesy: Round Point Movies

In the summer of 2004, the Mayor of Lewiston, Maine announced a plan to
develop a four-lane boulevard across downtown’s low-income neighborhood.
The project was going to displace 850 people from their homes as well as
destroy playgrounds, vegetable gardens, and historic buildings. As tragic
as the circumstances were, the threat of a road destroying the
neighborhood required residents to rise to the challenge of becoming
community organizers and resist the city's plan. Neighbor by Neighbor
documents 5 years of development and community organizing in Lewiston,
Maine. It reveals the strategies, the mistakes, the prejudices, the
lessons… all of the difficult stuff that makes up the political process.

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The Weather Underground showing with Clear Glasses (with Mark Rudd in person)

Thursday 07/16/2009 06:30 PM Waterville Opera House, followed by book
signing and discussion with Mark Rudd at 8:30.  

USA 2003 35mm 93 Minutes In English
Directors: Sam Green, Bill Siegel
Producers: Carrie Lozano, Sam Green, Bill Siegel, Marc Smolowitz
Narrated by Lili Taylor
With Bernardine Dohrn, Bill Ayers, Mark Rudd, David Gilbert

Mark Rudd, political activist, math professor and author of the new
autobiography Underground, will introduce Oscar nominee The Weather
Underground, in which he is a principal figure, and a new short, Clear
Glasses, by The Weather Underground co-director Sam Green, in which he is
the central figure. In the ‘60s, Rudd embodied student protest as one of
the leaders of the famous student rebellion at Columbia University, and in
the ‘70s, was a fugitive from the law as a member of the Weathermen and
Weather Underground, who sought to overthrow the government of the U.S.
The Weather Underground is a riveting and thought-provoking chronicle of
the group, and perhaps the greatest film ever made about the ‘60s in
general, while Clear Glasses is a ruefully funny meditation on an artifact
of the era. This should be a memorable afternoon, as Rudd, whose
perspective is honest and contemplative, yet true to the era’s ideals,
will share his unique perspective on more-timely-than-ever questions of
how best to accomplish social change.

Mark Rudd Discusses The Weather Underground and Clear Glasses
Mark Rudd, political activist, math professor, leader of the Columbia
student revolt of 1968, Weatherman, and author of the honest, stirring,
contemplative new autobiography Underground, will come to MIFF with Oscar
nominated The Weather Underground, in which he is a principal figure, and
a new short, Clear Glasses, by The Weather Underground co-director Sam
Green, in which he is the central figure.

Also playing in Portsmouth NH
Saturday, July 18
10:30-11:30am
Seminar: A New Century - A New Activism
Mark Rudd will indroduce films, lead post-film discussion, and sign his
new book, followed by movie at noon.

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The Language of America

Saturday 07/18/2009 06:30 PM WOH  
Sunday 07/19/2009 12:30 PM WOH  

USA 2009 Digital Projection 90 Minutes In English and in various Native
languages with English subtitles
Director, Producer, Print Courtesy: Ben Levine
Once lost, how can a language, an invaluable treasure, be revived? Ben
Levine, whose Reveil: Waking Up French looked at the French language here
in Maine, goes deeper in the world premiere of his new film, made with the
Wampanoag, and Narragansett Tribes of New England, and in particular with
Maine’s own Passamaquoddy, who have carefully tended their language to
keep it alive. All are native cultures and languages that have been
severely threatened by the culture of the relative newcomers to this
hemisphere. The Language of America, a project many years in the making,
takes us to places we’ve never been, in words we’ve never before heard.

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Beauty of the Fight (showing with South Solon Meeting House)

Saturday 07/11/2009 06:00 PM RR3  
Sunday 07/19/2009 03:00 PM RR3  

USA/Panama 2009 Digital Projection 69 Minutes In English and Spanish with
English subtitles
Director: John Urbano
Screenplay: Rick Clark
Print Courtesy: John Urbano
Five years ago, a friend took award winning photographer and director John
Urbano to two Panama barrios, Barraza and El Chorrillo, poor communities
full of color and life, which have survived despite heavy losses when US
forces invaded in 1989 in order to capture General Manuel Noriega.
Unfortunately, life in these barrios is being dismantled by the
government, house by house, street by street, to make room for fifty-story
skyscrapers for the new Panamanian wealthy. Urbano records the beauty,
culture, history, people, and danger, everything that makes this small
community in the heart of Panama City a place like no other, a place where
the beauty of the fight comes to life every moment of every day. With
gorgeous camera-work the filmmaker records for future generations not only
the daily struggle but also the dignity, joy, and heightened awareness of
its residents. The film leads us on a journey to a place few of us have
seen and gives voice to a community destined for extinction.

Showing With:
South Solon Meeting House
USA 2009 Digital Projection 15 Minutes
Directed by Richard Searles
Print Courtesy South Solon Meeting House Association
An inspiring look at one of central Maine’s most amazing art spots, where
frescos made by artists from the Skowhegan School of Painting and
Sculpture line the walls.

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Dirt! the Movie (with Closing Night Ceremony)

Sunday 07/19/2009 07:00 PM WOH  

USA 2009 Digital Projection 90 Minutes In English
Directors: Bill Benenson, Gene Rosow
Print Courtesy: Common Ground Media
“Possessing both a cosmic perspective that reaches into the vastness of
time and space, and the kind of warm, earnest energy that inspires small
revolutions inside human hearts, Dirt! the Movie offers an important and
timely look at the vital relationship between those of us on Earth and
something that is easy to take for granted—the soil upon which we tread.
Inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book Dirt, the Ecstatic Skin
of the Earth, directors Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow employ a colorful
combination of animation, vignettes, and personal accounts from farmers,
physicists, church leaders, children, wine critics, anthropologists, and
activists to learn about dirt—where it comes from, how we regard (or
disregard) it, how it sustains us, the way it has become endangered, and
what we can do about it. Benenson and Rosow find answers everywhere: in
tiny villages that dare to rise up to battle giant corporations to trendy
organic farms; from prison horticultural programs to scientists who
discover connections with soil that can offset the damage from global
warming. The fresh and generous spirit of Dirt! the Movie is simple and
energizing. You may walk into the theatre on asphalt, carpet, and cement,
but you will likely walk out with a rekindled connection to the living,
dark, rich soil that lies beneath you and a mind set on cultivating a new
future.”—Sundance Film Festival.

Sponsored by Skowhegan Farmers’ Market, Open Saturdays from 9am to 1pm

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Numen: The Nature of Plants

Friday 07/10/2009 09:30 PM RR3  
Sunday 07/19/2009 03:30 PM RR1  

USA 2009 Digital Projection 80 Minutes In English
Directors: Terrence Youk, Ann Armbrecht
Print Courtesy: Brook Hollow Productions Inc.
Vermont filmmakers Terry Youk and Ann Armbrecht quote Ken Ausubel, founder
of the Bioneers Conference: “Our relationship with plants and our
knowledge of those plants is perhaps the most important collective
heritage we have…That knowledge is ultimately what is going to sustain
us.” Numen: The Nature of Plants focuses on the healing power of plants
and the natural world. Numen, defined as the animating force in nature,
brings together innovative thinkers, from herbalists (including Maine's
own Deb Soule) and doctors to visionaries and healers, to discuss how our
disconnection from nature affects human and environmental health and the
healing made possible by embracing our place in the wider web of life.
Numen inspires viewers to think deeply about the source of their medicine
and the impact of healthcare systems on their health and the earth. Numen
bridges the disparate worlds of plant conservation and human health,
advocating for a re-awakening of traditional knowledge about plants and
healing in order to conserve those plants, improve our health, and
increase the resilience of our healthcare system.

Sponsored by Fedco Seeds

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Fresh: A New Way of Looking at What We’re Eating

Sunday 07/12/2009 06:00 PM RR3  
Sunday 07/19/2009 12:00 PM RR1  

USA 2009 Digital Projection 90 Minutes In English
Director, Producer: Ana Joanes
Print Courtesy: Ana Joanes
Fresh, the new film from Ana Sofia Joanes, is the latest in the recent
line of great documentaries taking a look at our food system. The movie
opens with farmer Joel Salatin giving us a tour of his farm in Swoope,
Virginia, where he produces beef, chicken, eggs, turkey, rabbits, and
forestry product. Joel’s rotational grazing system allows the animals to
behave the way they were meant to – as in expressing their “chicken-ness”
or “pig-ness”, as Joel would say. Next the film follows 6 ft. 7? former
professional basketball player, Will Allen, who is now one of the most
influential leaders of the food security & urban farming movement. His
farm and not-for-profit, Growing Power, have trained and inspired people
in every corner of the US to start growing food sustainably. With the of
rise big chains, David Ball saw his family-run supermarket dying, along
with a once-thriving local farm community. So he reinvented his business,
partnering with area farmers to sell locally-grown food and specialty food
products at an affordable price. The film concludes more intelligent words
from Michael Pollan, the author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s
Manifesto and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.

Followed by Local Food Panel Discussion on Sunday, July 19 at 2PM at
Barrells Community Market on Main St. Waterville.

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Maine Shorts

Monday 07/13/2009 06:30 PM WOH  
Saturday 07/18/2009 03:30 PM RR1  

A selection of newly-minted Maine-made short films:

Life by Lobster
USA 2009/ Digital Projection/ 60 Min./ In English
Director: Iain McCray Martin
Print Courtesy: Iain McCray Martin, Stonington Opera House Arts
Contrasting the stark beauty of the Downeast Maine seacoast with the stark
reality of earning a living there, Life by Lobster, a new hour-long
documentary by 22-year-old independent filmmaker Iain McCray Martin, a
native of Deer Isle, takes you inside the lives of five young lobster
fishermen determined to pursue this proud traditional vocation against
steadily mounting obstacles.

Road to Katahdin
USA 2009 Digital Projection 9 Minutes In English
Director: Georg Koszulinski
Print Courtesy: Substream Films
A wonderfully personal essay on climbing our most famous peak, from Georg
Koszulinski, whose Dead Buffalo is also in this year’s festival, and whose
Immokalee U.S.A. was a highlight of last year’s.

The Music of the Sugarbush
USA 2007 Digital Projection/16 Minutes In English
Director, Print Courtesy: Nelson Cole
Filmed at a Skowhegan sugarhouse, The Music of the Sugarbush takes us into
the world of maple sugaring as co-owner Iver Lofving shares his thoughts
about the continuation of an old tradition.

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Ghost Bird

Saturday 07/11/2009 03:30 PM WOH  
Sunday 07/12/2009 12:30 PM RR1  
Monday 07/13/2009 09:30 PM RR1  

USA 2009 Digital Projection 85 Minutes In English
Director, Producer, Print Courtesy: Scott Crocker
The true story of an extinct giant woodpecker, a small town In Arkansas
hoping to reverse its misfortunes, and the tireless odyssey of
bird-watchers and scientists searching for the Holy Grail of birds, the
elusive Ivory-billed woodpecker. Although considered extinct 60 years ago,
bird watchers refused to accept its passing. Then, scientists from Cornell
announced that it had been found…but had it? Scott Crocker’s new
documentary was hailed in its recent World Premiere at Hot Docs as “comic,
mesmerizing and deeply poignant. This investigative doc is reminiscent of
the work of Errol Morris in the way it casts a spell while telling a story
and building a case” (Maclean’s).

Sponsored by Richard Flanagan and Susan Allei

Panel Discussion: Saturday July 11, 5pm
Sunday July 12, 2:00pm

Following the US Premiere screenings join Ghost Bird’s director, Scott
Crocker along with leading Maine conservationists in kicking off the
film’s environmental outreach campaign with a lively discussion about how
science, belief, and politics impact species loss and habitat
preservation. With community partner Maine Audubon.

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Salute

Saturday 07/11/2009 09:00 PM RR3  
Saturday 07/18/2009 01:00 PM RR3  

Australia, 2008 Digital Projection 92 Minutes In English
Director, Screenplay, Producer: Matt Norman
With: Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Peter Norman
Print courtesy Odin’s Eye Entertainment
The Black Power salute at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics is one of the most
iconic images of the 20th Century, and one of the most powerful moments in
the civil rights movement. But in between African-Americans Tommie Smith
and John Carlos, the two sprinters on the medal stand with upraised power
salutes protesting discrimination and segregation, stands a white man,
Australian silver medalist Peter Norman—who, in solidarity, donned the
same badge that Smith and Carlos wore for the ceremony. Salute revisits
this controversial incident through the eyes of the third man on that
stage, Australian Peter Norman. What part did he play in the events of
that historic day? How was he impacted by the coincidence of sharing the
spotlight with these two heroes? Why did he become involved in a struggle
8400 miles from home? Lovingly told by Peter’s nephew, Matthew, Salute is
a personal reflection about a man whose courageous, simple support for
human rights half a world away defied conventional logic and earned him a
place in history. This is a beautifully drawn portrait of three men whose
bravery and strength inspired a generation of activists and is an
important lesson about standing up for your beliefs in a hostile world.

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Shooting Beauty: Everyone Deserves a Shot

Sunday 07/12/2009 12:30 PM WOH  
Tuesday 07/14/2009 09:15 AM WOH  
Thursday 07/16/2009 03:30 PM WOH  

USA, 2008 Digital Projection 62 minutes In English
Director: George Kachadorian
Producer: Courtney Bent
With: Courtney Bent, Tony Knight, Tom Herrick
Print courtesy Extra Sensory Pictures
Already the winner of Audience Awards from two film festivals, Emmy
nominated filmmaker and Durham resident, George Kachadorian’s documentary
film tells the story of aspiring fashion photographer Courtney Bent, whose
career takes an unexpected turn when she discovers a hidden world of
beauty at a center for people living with significant cerebral palsy and
other disabilities. Courtney overcomes her own reservations and begins
inventing accessible cameras for her new friends to take pictures of their
world. Ernest 'EJ' James learns to snap photos with his tongue while
dodging Boston traffic. Tom Herrick, who spent the first 18 years of his
life confined to his bedroom, completely changes his self-concept-—he
ceases to be a person with a handicap and becomes a person with a camera.
Mary Jo Chaisson may be the most infectious, joyful character ever
captured on film. And Tony Knight, a handsome, well spoken Jamaican native
uses his photography to 'start the conversation' with a public afraid to
approach him. The group's efforts snowball into an award winning
photography program called “Picture This”—and become the backdrop for this
eye-opening story about romance, daring, loss and laughter that will
change what you thought you knew about living with a disability—and
without one.

Sponsored by Virginia Kristl

Showing With:
I Am a Man: >From Memphis, a Lesson In Life
Memphis, USA 2008 Digital Projection 27 minutes In English
Director, Print Courtesy Jonathan Epstein
In 1968, thousands of African-American men marched through the streets of
Memphis, demanding overdue respect with signs reading 'I Am a Man.' In the
long shadow of the slaying of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the stories of
the average men and women who made one of the civil rights movement's most
pivotal, historic stands have been overlooked. Surrounded by the unique
soul music that helped make Memphis world famous, I Am a Man inspiringly
follows Elmore Nickleberry — one of the original 1968 protesters — who, at
77, is continuing to drive his trash truck through the streets of downtown
Memphis.

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72 Musicians

Sunday 07/12/2009 09:00 PM RR1  
Wednesday 07/15/2009 09:00 PM RR3  

USA 2009 Digital Projection 72 Minutes In English
Director: Robert Moczydlowsky
Producer: Nick Tamburri
Print Courtesy: Topspin Media
Sometimes success and failure are the same thing. Especially with
independent bands. Tour schedules, unemployment, day care, divorce,
drinking... it's the 23 hours you're not on stage that's the hard part.
Shot on one stage, in one club, during four days, this documentary
empowers every almost-made-it musician to speak with a single, honest,
anonymous, resonant voice. And it's funny. And they kill live. Featuring
members of Spoon, The Republic Tigers, The Architects, Season To Risk, The
Pedaljets, Roman Numerals, Shiner, The Life & Times, Frogpond, Flee The
Scene, The Get Up Kids, Blackpool Lights, Koufax, The New Amsterdams, Cher
UK and more. 72musicians.com

The Architects* LIVE in Concert
Sunday, July 12, 11:00 p.m.; No cover, 21+
Mainely Brews Restaurant & Brewhouse, 1 Post Office Sq.
* featured in the movie, 72 Musicians

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War Against the Weak

Thursday 07/16/2009 03:00 PM RR3
Saturday 07/18/2009 08:45 PM RR3

USA 2009 Digital Projection 93 Minutes In English
Director: Justin Strawhand
Screenplay: Richard Belfiore, based on the book by Edwin Black
Producer: Peter Demas
Print Courtesy: Peter Demas
We recoil in horror from Joseph Mengele’s and the Nazis’ barbaric
Holocaust experiments, but how many know his work was based on the
principles of the American eugenics movement? Based on Edwin Black’s book
of the same name, War Against the Weak traces the efforts of American
eugenicists to breed a Nordic master race through the elimination of those
deemed “unfit.” With an eerie blend of both historical and first-hand
accounts, the film makes chilling connections between Ivy League
scientists funded by the Carnegie Institution, the Rockefeller Foundation,
and the Harriman Railroad fortune and German racial scientists at the
William Kaiser Institute; between mass sterilization and sometimes even
euthanasia in the U.S. and Hitler’s horrifying genocide. As one Nazi asks,
“What is the difference?” With questions of genetic engineering closer at
hand than ever, War Against the Weak is not just fascinating history—it’s
timely warning.

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No-Budget Filmmaking as a Subversive Art

Sunday, July 19
10 am-noon

Local filmmaker Georg Koszulinski will lead a workshop for people with
little or no audio/visual media-making experience who want to put their
unique perspective on screen. Improvizational exercises will give
participants experience operating equipment. Email info at miff.org to
register. FREE.