Seventh Annual Media That Matters Film Festival

Garbage Dreams

Director & Producer: Mai Iskander
There is a battle over trash in the city of Cairo. The Egyptian government has recently awarded contracts to foreign multi-national companies to collect Cairo's garbage. 60,000 Zaballeen - Cairo's indigenous garbage collectors whose livelihood depends on collecting and recycling garbage - will be displaced. Completely dependent on trash for survival, they are fighting for their lives. Watch

Rapping at Fear

Filmmaker: Andrés Tabares
This is Andres' story. Whether in the Colombian countryside before the rebels forced his family to leave, or the city slum where his family now lives, Andres Tabares has always had a way with words. In Andres' barrio where "social cleansing" groups wage war, this thirteen-year-old writes and performs rap to speak out against violence. And people are listening. Watch

Still Standing

Filmmakers: Luis Arcentales, Vanessa Bateau, Jeongwoon Eun, Ines Morales, Adrianne Morraz, Sergio Sanchez
In December 2005, the EVC Youth Organizers Television (YO-TV) crew began interviewing Katrina evacuees living in temporary housing in hotels in Queens, NY. In February 2006, the crew organized a trip to New Orleans to meet with survivors there, document the aftermath of Katrina six months later, and to contrast the experience of survivors in New York City and in New Orleans. Watch

The Apollos

Filmmakers: Nick Parker, Jazmin Jones
The Apollos is about the struggle of a high school senior class to pass a bill making Martin Luther King's birthday a nationally recognized holiday. The idea behind The Apollos came from us wanting to increase youth involvement in social issues, so we decided to use a powerful example. By combining the different interviews into one powerful story we created a non-traditional hybrid interview style to show the union of new and old ideas working towards the same goal. Watch

Sovereign Nation/Sovereign Neighbor

Filmmaker: Kendall Moore
Sovereign Nation/Sovereign Neighbor explores the word 'sovereignty' from the Narragansett Indian point of view. In this seven-minute short film, tribe members voice how legacies of state and federal action and laws have encouraged or discouraged understanding between the tribe and the state of Rhode Island. Watch

Rights on the Line: Vigilantes at the Border

Filmmaker/Producer: WITNESS with the American Friends Service Committee and the ACLU
Rights on the Line: Vigilantes at the Border exposes the ugly anti-immigrant politics that lurk behind the Minuteman Project and also illustrates the continuum between official border militarization and vigilante action. Human rights activists and residents of border communities shot this video. Watch

Power Up

Filmmaker: Sverre Fredriksen
Power Up is an animated short film created with stencils, spray paint and a super-8 film camera. A critical view on today's politics is presented through a twist on a classic video game created with animated stencil graffiti. In 'Bomberman' our protagonist must avoid an increasingly overwhelming load of bombs in order to survive. Watch

Massacre at Murambi

Filmmaker: Sam Kauffmann
During the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, a newly built secondary school on a hill named Murambi was the site of one of the world's most horrifying mass murders. This film informs us about the events that took place at Murambi and explores the link between Rwanda and Darfur, Sudan. Watch

By-Standing: The Beginning of an American Lifetime

Filmmakers: Karen Lin, Kelly Zen-Yie, Karin Chien
By-standing is the collision of two worlds I know: my creative work as a writer/director and my experience as a music video producer. When I first saw Kelly Tsai live, her fierce performance inspired the idea to fuse the visual dynamics of the music video format with the explosive delivery style of spoken word poetry. Watch

Grace

Filmmaker: Kathleen Hulka
The story follows the lives of three women: a young aspiring ballerina, a twenty-something career woman and an elderly grandmother as they all become victims of rape. Grace is a tribute to the female spirit and its ability to triumph over violation, betrayal and disrespect. Watch

I'm Not a Boy

Filmmaker: Julie Joyce
Julie Joyce is not a boy. She is more than just an intense, fast-talking New York City sixteen-year-old. She's a trans-gendered youth who wants what all young people want - to be heard and to have a positive space to live and grow. Watch

Ashray

Filmmaker: Ambika Samarthya
Ashray, one of the project organizations that makes up the Committed Communities Development Trust, is Bombay's first home for children who have either been infected or affected by HIV. The children at Ashray are there because their parents are unable to provide for them and often are very sick or have passed away. Watch

Tyttonen

Filmmaker: Fabian Giessler
This is a short movie inspired by my grandmother who became ill with Alzheimer?s disease and occasionally mixed up dreams with reality. This little movie portrays the ways in which people handle illness as they grow older. Watch

The Final Frontier: Explorers or Warriors?

Filmmakers: Stephen Sotor, Trace Gaynor
On January 11, 2007 China launched a ground missile into space to destroy one of their old satellites, sending thousands of pieces of debris into space that could threaten other nations' communication satellites, including those belonging to the United States. Watch

Superstar

Filmmakers: Naiquan Greene & Reel Works Teen Filmmaking
I was inspired by the people around me to make this film. Most of my immediate family members had aspirations to do great things in life that they were never able to achieve, such as becoming a reporter or an architect. My family's failed attempts to reach their goals prepared me for any obstacles in the future that might prevent me from achieving my own goals. Watch

The Farm Sanctuary

Filmmakers/Producers: M.J. Watkins, Trish Dalton, The Farm Sanctuary, Saint Ignatius School
The Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, they have worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the factory farming industry through research and investigations, legal and legislative actions, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and shelter efforts. Watch