2007 Jury Prize, Best Film |
.. USA vs Al-Arian
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2007 Jury Prize, Best Short |
.. Katrina’s Children(excerpt)
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2007 Audience Award, Best Film |
.. By Invitation Only
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2007 Audience Award, Best Short |
.. Letters From Beirut
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2007 Special Recognition, Best Fiction Film |
.. Heartlines
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2007 Special Recognition, Best Documentary |
.. Occupation 101
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2007 Special Recognition, Best Short |
.. Katrina Story
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The festival Opening Night featured Back and Forth, a powerful program of pre and post-Katrina films by New Orleans filmmakers, curated by New Orleans artist and filmmaker Courtney Egan. Among the filmmakers present for Q & A after the film were Royce Osborn(Before the Flood), Kalamu Ya Salaam (The Changing of the Mascot),Helen SchmehlPaco’s Gert Town Story), Laura Belsey (Katrina’s Children, excerpt), and members of the New Orleans Kid Camera Project (Decorating Grandma Bobbie’s House).
During the opening weekend the festival presented a benefit concert featuring Righteous Babe Records recording artist Toshi Reagon, HBO Def Poetry Jam star Sunni Patterson and local activist-poetAsali DeVan. We filled Ashe Cultural Arts Center and raised more than $1,000 for the New Orleans Women’s Clinic and the Women’s Health and Justice Initiative.
Among the other performers present at this year’s festival were eight young women from New Orleans’ John Dibert High School, who presented the short film A Girl Like Me with poetry, singing, and a dance performance. The festival had many other special events, including extended discussions with filmmakers, opening night and closing night parties sponsored by Handsome Willy’s Bar and Grill, and receptions sponsored by Sip Wine, Whole Foods, and the Charitable Film Network.
Among the inspiring community leaders and organizers speaking at this year’s festival were Malik Rahim (Common Ground), Kali Akuno(People’s Hurricane Relief Fund, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement),Mayaba Liebenthal (INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence),King Downing (National Coordinator, ACLU Campaign Against Racial Profiling), Taslima VanHattum (New Orleans Palestine Solidarity), Tory Pegram (ACLU), Cedric Edwards (New Orleans native and the first U.S. student to graduate from the Latin American School of Medical Sciences in Havana Cuba) and members of theFyre Youth Squad and New Orleans Critical Resistance. The festival also supported community by presenting almost all of its screenings at local community spaces Ashe Cultural Arts Center and Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center.
This year’s line-up of films was breathtaking. We featured several world premieres, including festival award winner and official closing night selection Letters From Beirut. We hosted the first-ever public screenings for several films by New Orleans filmmakers, and US premieres of international films including USA vs Al-Arian and Garlic and Watermelons. We proudly highlighted urgent films from the Middle East, including Palestine Revolution Cinema, a brilliant selection of short films curated by world-renowned artist and curator Emily Jacir.
Among the filmmakers present at this year’s festival were Courtney Egan (Cleveland Street Gap), David Sullivan (Boom), Rebecca Snedeker (By Invitation Only), Jen Lawhorne (Canal Nueve), Sammy Loren (Hazards of Engagement), Ashley Sabin and David Redmon(Kamp Katrina), Tenth Ward Buck (Katrina Story), Trupania Bonner(Recover and Restore), B-Mike (Unity and Struggle), Rasheedah Ali(Salud), and local high school student filmmakers from the Ashe Cultural Arts Center Youth Filmmaking Camp, NOCCA, and Students at the Center.
