Saturday, April 14, 2007

DAY TWO Saturday, April 14, 2007 3:00 p.m.??? - 10:00 p.m.   Johanson Charles Gallery 1345 Division Street Historical Eastern Market District  Detroit, MI 48207   Mohawk Girls A film by Tracey Deer 2005, 63 minutes In MOHAWK GIRLS, filmmaker Tracey Deer intimately captures the lives of three exuberant and insightful Mohawk teenagers as they face their future. Like Amy, Lauren and Felicia, Deer grew up on the Kahnawake Native Reserve, but she left to attend school. Now, she returns to document two critical years in the lives of these teens who are contending with the unwritten rules of their close-knit community. To move away from the reserve means you risk losing your credibility, or worse, your rights as a Mohawk. But to stay is to give up the possibilities offered by the "outside world." With insight, humor and compassion, Deer takes us inside the lives of these three teenagers as they tackle the same issues of identity, culture and family she faced a decade earlier. Interspersed with home videos from Deer's own adolescence, MOHAWK GIRLS is a deeply emotional yet unsentimental look into what it means to grow up Native at the beginning of the 21st century.   AWARDS, FESTIVALS, & SCREENINGS Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal American Indian Film Festival Winnipeg Aboriginal Film and Video Festival Calgary International Film Festival Fargo Film Festival Freeze Frame International Children's Film Festival Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth Imagine Native Film & Media Arts Festival Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival Flicks: International Film Festival For Young People Festival de Cinéma des 3 Amériques Rendez-Vous Du Cinema Québécois Montréal First Peoples' Festival ViewFinders: International Film Festival for Youth Herland Film and Video Festival NO! A Documentary a film by Aishah Shahidah Simmons USA/2006,  94 minutes AfroLez® Productions, LLC – Production Company and Print Source     One out of three women in the United States will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Through testimonies from Black women survivors, commentaries from acclaimed African- American women scholars and community leaders, including Johnneta Betsch Cole, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Elaine Brown, and Beverly Guy-Sheftall; impacting archival footage, spirited music, dance, and performance poetry, NO! unveils the reality of rape, other forms of sexual violence, and healing in African-American communities. What does it look like to visually make central that which has been placed on the margins and on the periphery? Moving from enslavement of African people in the United States through present day, NO! moves from rage/trauma/emotional and physical pain to meditation to action to healing where the consciousness of the featured Black women survivors of rape and sexual assault, who range in age, geographic location, and sexual orientation, transforms from victim to survivor to educator, activist, and healer.   In NO!, African-American history is feminized while simultaneously addressing the rape and sexual assault of Black women and girls. Based on an understanding that heterosexual violence against women will end when all men, make ending this international atrocity a priority in their lives, the commentary and performance of five Black men activists and cultural workers including Ulester Douglas and Sulaiman Nuriddin of Men Stopping Violence and the late award-winning poet Essex Hemphill, are also integrated with the African-American women's voices. While NO! explores how the collective silence about acts of sexual assault adversely affects African Americans, it also encourages dialogue to bring about healing and reconciliation between all men and women.     About the Filmmaker   Aishah Shahidah Simmons is the producer, writer, and director of the feature length documentary NO!. She is an award-winning African-American feminist lesbian independent documentary filmmaker, television and radio producer, published writer, international lecturer, and activist based in Philadelphia, PA. In 1992, Aishah Shahidah Simmons founded AfroLez® Productions, an AfroLez®femcentric multimedia arts company committed to using the moving image, the written and spoken word to address those issues which have a negative impact on marginalized and disenfranchised people. Coined in 1990 by Ms. Simmons, AfroLez®femcentric defines the culturally conscious role of Black women who identify as Afrocentric, lesbian, and feminist. For three years she co-produced two monthly public television programs for a PBS affiliate in Philadelphia. Her internationally acclaimed short videos Silence…Broken and In My Father’s House, explore the issues of race, gender, homophobia, rape, and misogyny. Click here to learn more about the film NO! In the Time of the Butterflies by Mariano Barroso Producer General Rafael Trujillo (Edward James Olmos) is in the midst of his dictatorial grip over the people of the Dominican Republic. Minerva Mirabal (Salma Hayek) and her two sisters--collectively known as Las Mariposas (The Butterflies)--attempt to take down the vicious ruler with the help of a small rebel faction. This stirring drama documents the adversity the sisters face in trying to overthrow the murderous Trujillo regime and bring freedom to their nation. Starring:  Salma Hayek, Lumi Cavazos, Edward James Olmos, Mia Maestro, Pilar Padilla View trailer below. Mama Lee's House 45 minutes Directed by Njia Kai I need to get a blurb from Njia. For best results, give them plenty of sun, frequent watering, and regular fertilization.