PI09 Machinima Episode #2: Chelo Alvarez-Stehle
Every year, SF based Bay Area Video Coalition brings filmmakers together with technologists to develop new media strategies for their projects at the annual Producer's Institute. Draxtor Despres had the chance to talk to Spanish-American documentarian Chelo Alvarez-Stehle about her project on sex-trafficking, called "Sands Of Silence", which will be accompanied by a flash-based game.
Watch us on Comcast channels 29 & 76, Astound channels 29 & 30, and AT&T channel 99.
Dear SF - PS I Love You
Directed by Rosie Byers. Commissioned by The San Francisco Foundation and Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund through support from The Wallace Foundation
I Heart San Francisco
Directed by Angelisa Candler. Commissioned by The San Francisco Foundation and Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund through support from The Wallace Foundation.
PI09: The Way We Get By
A 2009 BAVC Producers Institute ProjectProject Director: Gita Pullapilly http://www.thewaywegetbymovie.com The Way We Get By is an intimate story of three senior citizens in America as they struggle with growing old and rediscovering their reasons for living. Dedicating their lives to greeting almost 800,000 troops at a tiny airport in Maine, Bill Knight, Joan Gaudet, and Jerry Mundy find the strength to overcome their personal battles and demonstrate the meaning of community during a time of need. At the Institute, Gita and her team developed a dynamic and engaging multi-generational website, e-commerce and social networking tool to enable troops and the military families, veterans, and a broad community of visitors to participate in giving back to soldiers on their return stateside. Returning Home incorporates three key features –a breathtaking community-created digital quilt of stories of American soldiers, a collective virtual memorial to the fallen, and an e-commerce Care Package for soldiers returning home. The film will receive a national broadcast on Veterans Day 2009, and it is our hope that the Returning Home site will be live in time for the broadcast. Producer Gita Pullapilly is an award-winning television journalist and Fulbright Scholar whose stories have aired on CBS, CNN, and ABC.
PI09: Deep Down
A 2009 BAVC Producers Institute ProjectProject Director: Jennifer Gilomen & Sally Rubin http://deepdownfilm.org To keep up with our increasing demand for energy, humankind is mining the earth for natural resources and putting communities worldwide at risk. Through an intimate, human story, the documentary Deep Down tells the story of a town deep in the Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky, where coal is king. Through an integrated media campaign that includes a podcast series disseminated through Appalachian Voices' "Most Endangered Mountains" Google Earth collection, educational curriculum and community action kits, Deep Down will have a deep impact with a diverse audience. At the Producers Institute, co-directors Jennifer Gilomen and Sally Rubin designed and built a3D Virtual Mine game in Second Life in order to bring the experience of mountaintop removal mining to a new level. Playing this game in the metaverse is intended to empower disenfranchised communities that now live in the shadows of extractive industries.
Sands of Silence (PI09)
A 2009 BAVC Producers Institute ProjectProject Director: Chelo Alvarez-Stehlehttp://www.sosdocumentary.org SANDS_OF_SILENCE.html In the documentary Sands of Silence, we learn some gruesome facts: there are 27 million slaves in the world today; and human trafficking is a global business that yields $9 billion annually. Every year in the United States, 18,000 women and children are trafficked and turned into sex slaves. Rooted on the filmmaker's own experience of seeing her sister being taken away as a child, Sands of Silence juxtaposes the tragedy of human trafficking in California's Latino community with stories of resilience and fortitude, exploring the hearts of women who have been subjected to the most hideous degradations, yet have recovered their dignity and are today an inspiration in the fight for a world without slavery. This documentary film is an intimate, poetic portrait that explores the universality of gender violence and suggests that breaking the silence is the first step to put an end to it. At the Institute, Award-winning producer Chelo Alvarez-Stehle and her team developed SOS SLAVES, a unique, avatar-based flash video game to raise awareness about global human trafficking from a broad geographical perspective. In a dynamic, illustrated and participatory environment, players learn how to avoid being sold and exploited, and how to identify a captive person, call a hotline, alert authorities, and get involved in the issues on the ground in their own communities.
PI09: The Waiting Room
A 2009 BAVC Producers Institute ProjectProject Director: Peter Nicks http://www.documentfilms.net/Hope_and_High_Water.html More than one third of all Americans have no health insurance. And as more Americans lose their jobs, public hospitals are experiencing an increase in people seeking care. The Waiting Room is a documentary about a young band of public health executives at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California, persevering despite daunting systemic and financial obstacles. At the Institute, Emmy Award winner Peter Nicks and his team developed a hybrid, multiplatform public media experience that will bring the film directly into the conversations at center of the public health crisis. At the center of the experience are interactive micro-storytelling kiosks in hospital waiting rooms that will include the live-blogged reports from people living without health insurance, and a unique online portal that will distribute these stories and become an archive for the testimonials that will highlight the urgency of the national dialogue around health care.
PI09: American Meat
A 2009 BAVC Producers Institute ProjectProject Director: Alejandro de Onis In the documentary American Meat, producer (Alejandro de Onis) and director (Graham Meriwether) explore the impact of the recent economic downturn on industrial agriculture, and how one farmer in Virginia, Joel Salatin, is leading a small but growing group of farmers who are looking to expand the influence of local small-scale farms. The film explores how the agricultural industry has brutalized the food production process, and become America’s #1 polluter. At the Producers Institute, De Onis and his team architected a plan to bring farmers and communities to a “digital dinner table” by integrating the film within an e-commerce and social networking context. Through an innovative, web-based regional food network and market place (an EBAYfor the local food movement) called Harvest Cloud, consumers will be able to easily source and purchase local organic food, connect with food producers, and help local food movements proliferate and thrive. Connected to Harvest Cloud is Leave It Better, a youtube-style portal for the green movement where participants are encouraged to post and share videos documenting what they have done to leave their communities better. This site is “seeded” by a collection of flip cameras that will be given to participants around the country, and then “flipped” to others to document their own inspirational green activities.
Blue Dream
Zeke tries to navigate changing relationships with friends and family as he transitions out of high school and into college. Directed by Malcolm Bailey. Produced in BAVC's Factory Program. 14 minutes 36 seconds.
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A skeptical sneakerhead learns about a socially-conscious sneaker boutique in Oakland. Directed by Patrick Manning. Produced in BAVC's Factory program. 5 minutes 1 second.
