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Impact Film Festival '09 Alum Libby Spears is poised to see excerpts from her film, PLAYGROUND, screened before a senate committee hearing on sex trafficking for the second time in three months. She will also participate in the hearing, provided the DC inclement weather doesn't result in a reschedule.  The film is shaping attitudes and legislation as increasing numbers of policy-makers are exposed to its powerful portrayal of sex trafficking of children in the US.

Senator Richard Durbin, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law will convene a Subcommittee hearing entitled "In Our Own Backyard: Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in the United States" this week, a direct result of viewing PLAYGROUND, which outlines the problem in the US.  They plan to present excerpts from the film at the hearing.  This follows a hill briefing Senator Ron Wyden held in December and legislation he introduced that targets federal funds to regions of the country with the greatest need.  According to the legislation, each pilot project would receive a grant of $2.5 million.  The money would be used for:

• Shelters to provide separate housing for trafficking victims;
• Clothing and other daily needs to keep victims from returning to the street;
• Victims' assistance counseling and legal services;
• Education or job training classes for victims;
• Training for law enforcement and social services providers;
• Police officer salaries-patrol officers, detectives, investigators;
• Prosecutor salaries and other trial expenses;
• Investigation expenses-wiretaps, expert consultants, travel, other "technical assistance" expenditures (currently, there is a cap on "technical assistance" that is too low.);
• Outreach, education, and deterrence/prevention efforts.

Libby Spears, who also participated in Senator Wyden's event, told us, "We're thrilled that PLAYGROUND is being utilized by policy-makers in their efforts to end sex trafficking and increase support for victims in the US.  These hearings are the beginning of the battle and more legislators and citizens need to engage in the conversation that PLAYGROUND is trying to jumpstart."

We'll check in with Libby after the hearing and keep you updated on what happens, as well as any change-making from other films we've championed as they move beyond awareness to achieving real impact.

To all of the artists, panelists, partners, programmers, supporters, vendors, and volunteers for the Impact Arts + Film Fund (IAFF) programs in 2008-2009, a very hearty thank you!  It has been such an honor to showcase high-caliber work, build prestigious and exciting panel discussions and celebrate your accomplishments. 

It is always a thrill when films that you've championed receive the second highest filmmaking honor: Academy Award nominations (the highest of course being the Oscar win).  A special shout out of congratulations to the 2009 films we screened in DC:

FOOD, INC - Best Documentary Feature

THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS - Best Documentary Feature

IN THE LOOP - Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

THE MESSENGER - Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

Woody Harrelson, THE MESSENGER - Best Supporting Actor Role

When my fellow co-founders Jamie Shor, Kimball Stroud and our friends and partners at IAFF set about creating this organization, we weren't entirely sure what we were building.  But we knew a few things: (1) we were committed to elevating the themes and topics in the arts through film screenings, panel discussions, promotional events and the press to educate and enlighten audiences; (2) our location in the nation's Capital and our backgrounds in politics, policy and entertainment enabled us to provided benefits to filmmakers and artists beyond what other organizations can; and (3) we are measured by the success we share with our artists and their education campaigns.  The tagline for our Festivals and screenings has been "Where Film Crosses the Aisle" and we're happy to report, our events are populated with politically-diverse points of view and representatives who value the insights conveyed in Impact films.

Tina Daunt wrote of our Kick-off in the Los Angeles Times, "One of the most successful innovations at both conventions this year is also one of the most unlikely: A film festival."  Since launching at the Democratic and Republican Conventions with a nine-film slate including IOUSA, TROUBLE THE WATER, FLOW, BOOFIE MAN: THE LEE ATWATER STORY, KICKING IT and BATTLE IN SEATTLE, we have held successful policy-focused screenings in 2009 of Oscar-nominated FOOD, INC and IN THE LOOP, plus GOOD HAIR and ME AND ORSON WELLES.

Our 2009 Impact Film Festival, with most screenings in the US Capitol building, included Oscar-nominated THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS and THE MESSENGER, as well as MONEY-DRIVEN MEDICINE, PLAYGROUND and a private screening for CLIMATE REFUGEES, which had its acclaimed public World Premiere at the Just concluded 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Senator Barbara Boxer was in attendance at both events, to drive home climate change as a national security issue.  All our screenings include such policy-maker attendance to enhance the dialogue and increase engagement, which you can find elsewhere on our site.

We have also launched books with impactful subjects.  Most recently, an event with Anne E. Kornblut for her book Notes From The Cracked Ceiling: Hilary Clinton, Sarah Palin, And What it Will Take For A Woman To Win.  It included a discussion with Dee Dee Meyers, Nicolle Wallace and Kathleen Parker, introduced by The Fix's Chris Cillizza.  See Video clips here: http://tinyurl.com/y8f37ql

IAFF held successful events for Douglas Brinkley's The Wildnerness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt And The Crusade For America and Dan Mirvish and Eitan Gorlin's I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man's (Wildly Inappropriate) Adventures With The Last Republicans.

None of this would have been possible without our "Artists Making an Impact" Presidential Inauguration event and "First Amendment Party" as part of the White House Correspondence Dinner weekend, which helped elevate our mission and raise funds for our programs.

We hope you will browse our site to learn more about our mission and sign up for updates for our 2010 activities.

May all your artistry have impact in 2010 and beyond.

Jody Arlington, Co-Founder 

A full house of DC pols, press, patriots and representatives from half the city’s think tanks and policy forums came out for the DC premiere of Impact Arts + Film Fund & IFC's IN THE LOOP screening and reception. The film rightfully draws “instant comparisons to some of the great political and absurdist comedies such as DOCTOR STRANGELOVE, WAG THE DOG, THANK YOU FOR SMOKING and MONTY PYTHON. With razor-sharp, truly laugh-out-loud dialogue the film pokes fun at the absurdity and ineptitude of our highest leaders. With everyone looking out for number one, and the fate of the free world at stake (but apparently incidental), the hilarious ensemble cast of characters bumbles its way through Machiavellian political dealings, across continents, and toward comic resolutions that are unforeseeable.”  

Of the many staffers, members and former members in the audience: Rep. Lynn Woolsey and her Chief of staff Nora Matus; former Rep. Karen Thurman; Senator Chuck Schumer staffer Stacy Ettinger; Joel Segal, Legislative Asst. to Rep. John Conyers; and Senator Kay Hagan’s State Director Muthoni Wambu.

Director-writer Armando Iannucci, star David Rasche and several of the films co-writers including Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, and David Grier, attended the event for a post screening discussion and reception.  As expected, the DC crowd more than most responded to characters and scenarios that they have been living or watching unfold for the past seven years from inside the beltway.  What made this an Impact movie was two-fold:  The film reveals the perils of linguistic imprecision in politics and diplomacy, and how easily meaning can be manipulated.  Secondly, anyone who has been a staffer, congressional intern or worked in politics is haunted by their own "Malcolm Tuckers", bullying, swearing, sometimes just mean bosses or colleagues.  Or conversely, bumbling elected and appointed "leaders" who couldn't survive without their aids.  We’ve also seen the young interns taking up squash, or now-a-days basketball, just in case that coveted opportunity to play with the big guy finally happens.  During the Q&A Conyers aid Segal noted the factual accuracy of Armando and his team’s fictional rendering of Washington.  Armando says he continues to be asked by policy-makers “how did you find that out? Who told you? We never told anyone.” to things he invented.  Rasche, who plays a David Addington/Donald Rumsfeld-type character at State, said he prepared for the role for years, simply by watching CNN, MSNBC and FOX; whereas James Gandolfini, spent a couple days at the Pentagon to learn how to walk, talk and swear like a four star anti-war general.  The inevitable comparisons between Malcolm Tucker’s swearing communications pro and DC’s own foul-mouthed Rahm Emanuel also emerged in the post screening discussion.

But ‘splaining, (to repeat the unfortunate word choice of Senator Coburn in the other political theatre taking place this week in the Sotomayor Supreme Court nomination hearings) will never do this film justice.  You must see it when it opens theatrically across the US on July 24^th, here in DC at the E Street Theater.  Trailer and good tidbits here: http://tinyurl.com/cqa9j9

The Impact Arts & Film fund was recently honored as one of a select group invited to attend THE GOOD PITCH at the 2009 SILVERDOCS Festival, a forum designed to bring together the media makers and NGOs to harness the power of documentary to initiate global change.  In association with Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, eight film projects that tackle important global and national issues were presented to a group of experts from over 95 charities, foundations, advertising agencies, and public and commercial media interests.  Here at IA&FF, we are looking forward to finding ways to promote some of these extraordinary projects.

 IndieWire remarked that as THE GOOD PITCH came “roaring into Silver Spring with a vengeance,” there were  “some wonderful surprises of synergy, and moments that crystallized partnerships and opened eyes to the new memes of strategic partnership for documentaries”.  The event travelled to DC from Hot DOCS, where Cara Mertes, director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, said, “The Good Pitch is a new evolution in the pitch forum format,” and Still in Motion “noted that “emphasis of The Good Pitch is not on ‘advocacy,’ so much as on global social transformation”.    SILVERDOCSartistic director, Sky Sitney, echoed this sentiment, saying, “It is a perfect fit with our ethos of celebrating excellence in cinema, supporting a diverse range of voices and storytelling, and fostering the power of documentary to enhance our understanding of the world”.

The eight inspiring finalists that presented at SILVERDOCS, “one of the most prestigious film events devoted to the non-fiction form,” according toFest21, were selected from a pool of over 300 applicants.  The film projects ranged widely in topic, incorporating issues reaching from environmental sustainability to non-violent resistance in the Middle East.  They included the following, as described by Cineuropea.org:

BUDRUS HAS A HAMMER/Dir. Julia Bacha

A Palestinian community organizer unites Fatah, Hamas and Israelis in a Gandhian struggle to save his village, unleashing a non-violent movement - with women on the front lines - that is still gaining ground today.

CAPE WIND: THE FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE OF POWER IN AMERICA/Dir. Robbie Gemmel

CAPE WIND illuminates the divisive controversy surrounding the Cape Wind Project – a proposal to build 130 wind turbines off the coast of Cape Cod – translating the furor which exploded on the Cape Cod community into a story of transcendent national importance for the future of sustainability in America.

ETHIOPIA’S EXCHANGE/Dir. Hugo Berkeley

ETHIOPIA’S EXCHANGE tells the story of a woman on a mission - and a world of trouble standing in her way. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, a charismatic Ethiopian economist, wants to end hunger in her famine-plagued country. She designed the nation's first commodities exchange, which she hopes will revolutionize an age-old market system.

GREEN SHALL OVERCOME/Dir. Megan Gelstein

GREEN SHALL OVERCOME takes an in-depth look at the green-collar job movement through the lens of Van Jones, an African-American civil-rights lawyer. Jones envisions the new green economy as a pathway out of poverty for low-income Americans while simultaneously solving challenges of environmental destruction. After years of advocating for change, Jones is recruited by the Obama Administration and appointed Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation by the White House Council on Environment Quality.

HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE/Dir. Stephen T. Maing

HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE is about one of China's first citizen reporters and the achievements of a fearless new digital youth generation. The film follows the evolution of a young vegetable seller from blogger to internet celebrity as he reports on sensitive news stories in China.

HUNGRY IN AMERICA/Dirs. Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush

HUNGRY IN AMERICA will investigate why nearly 38 million Americans - including 14 million children - go hungry here, in one of the richest nations on earth.

OUT IN THE SILENCE/Dir. Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer

Out in the Silence uses the story of a small American town confronting the firestorm of controversy ignited by a same-sex wedding announcement to illustrate the challenge of being an outsider in a conservative environment and catalyze new ways of making resources and support available for those working for change.

SPLIT ESTATE/Dir. Debra Anderson

SPLIT ESTATE follows an unfolding conflict in the Rocky Mountains. With cries from Washington for more domestic gas and oil production, the citizens of Colorado and New Mexico find themselves in the path of an unstoppable rush to drill that is destroying their health, their homes, and their communities.

Out of a rousing series of fast-paced pitches, each lasting a mere seven minutes, came on-the-spot financing, next-day TV broadcast offers, as well as NGO, non-profit, and media platform partnerships.  One high-profile alliance was forged between Art Stevens, relationship manager at the Calvert Foundation, who offered a contribution of $10,000 to filmmakers Megan Gelstein and Rick Butler, the makers of GREEN SHALL OVERCOME.  Other notable partnerships included a broadcast offer from Planet Green for Debra Anderson’s SPLIT ESTATE.  Additionally, Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson’s MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN, one of the films pitched at last years BRITDOC’s Big Pitch last year, earned the SILVERDOCS’ World Feature Award, along with $10,000.

The Impact Arts & Film Fund was delighted to be included in the GOOD PITCH’s first venture into the North American film community and will continue to pursue partnerships with these and other social action films.  Congratulations to SILVERDOCS, the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation, the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, and Sandi DuBowski for their masterful stewardship of the event.  From SILVERDOCS, THE GOOD PITCH will go first to London, September 7^th-8^th, and then on to the Independent Film Week in New York City on September 24^th.

We'll continue to update and these projects make their way to completion, and out into the world.

Here at Impact we are thrilled to be presenting an advance screening of the documentary FOOD, INC, on Monday, June 8 at 6:00PM at Landmark’s E Street Cinema (555 11th St, NW, WDC)  The screening will be followed by a discussion with filmmaker Robert Kenner, Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma), Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and food safety advocate Barb Kowalcyk.

In FOOD, INC. Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of e coli--the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually.

This is one of the most important documentaries of the year and the discussion promises to be engaging.   In case you can't make the screening, Magnolia Pictures will open FOOD, INC. on June 19 in Washington, DC.

The Washington Post reports rap legend and Impact Artist Darryl “DMC” McDaniels returned to Washington following his January performance at the Impact Film Fund’s “Artists Making an Impact” event to promote the city's foster home program. He learned he was adopted as an infant ten years ago, which was chronicled in the documentary DMC: MY ADOPTION JOURNEY. He subsequently has dedicated significant time to recruiting foster families and adoption. McDaniels is taping ads for the city’s program, funded by a $100,000 donation from Freddie Mac Foundation in the hopes of finding 500 new D.C. homes within 18 months. Do you have what it takes? Learn more here.

We have been busy here at Impact, adjusting the name of our non-profit to reflect a wider array of activity, and updating our website to showcase more of our past programs and upcoming events.  It's a work in progress, but we think it will be a great tool as we expand and find new ways to connect arts and impactful change here in the nation's capital and beyond.  Look around if you get a chance, and let us know what you think.  Our own Minjae Ormes and Jay Buys and Matthew Billingsley at Visceral made it all happen, and we're really grateful for their hard work.

Academy-Award nominated and Impact Film Festival selection TROUBLE THE WATER will be airing on HBO Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 8:30 PM.  Tia Lessin and Carl Deal were featured on this morning's MSNBC's Morning Joe discussing a central question, three years later, where is the "bailout" money for New Orleans?  And where is public attention on the ongoing human suffering?   If you didn't get a chance to see the Documentary in theaters or on the Festival circuit, don't miss it:

The day before Hurricane Katrina hit, 24-year-old Kimberly Rivers Roberts, a resident of New Orleans' 9th Ward, turned her new video camera on herself, declaring, "It's going to be a day to remember." With hardly any supplies and no way of leaving her hometown, Roberts taped her harrowing ordeal as Katrina raged and the levees failed. Directed and produced by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, TROUBLE THE WATER opens with this unforgettable home video footage, then follows Kimberly and her husband Scott on a two-year odyssey - from the devastation of the storm to their escape from the city, to resettlement in Memphis, to an eventual return to a decimated New Orleans - telling a story of transformation, heroism and love. A 2008 Academy Award® nominee for Best Documentary Feature. Premieres on HBO Thursday, April 23 at 8:30pm ET/PT. Read more. 

The Ashland Independent Film Festival (April 2-6, 2009) just wrapped up its 8^th edition, and deserves high marks across the board for execution, programming, audiences, staff and a special award for being in one of the most beautiful settings imaginable.  This regional festival packs in world class directors, producers, cinematographers, animators because they know they will find highly enthusiastic and engaged audiences, terrific facilities, staff and volunteers, with intimate and engaging encounters along the way.   The entire city supports this Festival, creating a warm and inviting opportunity to experience the town (made famous by the Shakespeare Festival) and its full range of cultural and gastronomical offerings.

I had the distinct pleasure of representing the Impact Film Fund as a jurist in the Feature Documentary category along with San Francisco Chronicle film critic G. Allen Johnson and IFPs Milton Tabbot.  We screened fourteen artful and impactful films exploring environmental issues (AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, FUEL, THE GREENING OF SOUTHIE); social justice (THEY KILLED SISTER DOROTHY, ASK NOT, PROM NIGHT IN MISSISSIPPI, ARCHAEOLOGY OF MEMORY: VILLA GRIMALDI), the Arts (THROW DOWN YOUR HEART, IN A DREAM, BETWEEN THE FOLDS, AUTOMORPHOSIS, GARRISON KEILLOR: THE MAN ON THE RADIO IN THE RED SHOES), or personal (PRODIGAL SONS) or ethnographic explorations (FOOTSTEPS IN AFRICA, A NOMADIC JOURNEY). 

THEY KILLED SISTER DOROTHY won with THROW DOWN YOUR HEART and IN A DREAM very close runners up.  Dorothy’s brother, David Stang, was in attendance an accepted the award.  It was very inspiring to see such engaged, sophisticated audiences flocking to see these films and grappling with their themes and implications in myriad ways. 

ASK NOT director Johnny Symons, AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD cinematographer Tim Gorski, FIERCE LIGHT director Velcrow Ripper, PROM NIGHT IN MISSISSIPPI director Paul Saltzman and UPSTREAM BATTLE producer Magdalena Hutter participated in a terrific Filmmaker TalkBack forum “Tools for Change: Documentaries and Social Action.”  Filmmakers discussed the central issues in their films, how they are trying to connect with and engage audiences, and discussed artistic decisions in crafting their storylines to appeal to wider demographics.  As moderator, polled the audience, who skewed older, to explore how many were facebooking, twittering, and engaging in causes on the web, and the numbers were high.  Most viewed themselves as activists.  Most had seen one or more of the films represented on the panel.  Lots of questions.  The most memorable line for me, was Gorski’s, in response to an audience members wondering if there were a way to centralize causes and interests.  “We’re all suffering from “multiple interests disorder”.  Too true.  I wasn't able to attend the other two panel discussions, but I heard good things about both.  

Festival Highlights included an evening with animator, director, producer and writer Bill Plympton, who provided fascinating insights into his animation techniques, and the uber-fabulous Elvis Mitchell, who pontificated on Cinema Past, Present and Future for 90 minutes of what they call film church at Sundance.  I didn’t realize how much of a comedian Elvis is, in addition to all his other talents.

Both received awards at Sunday night’s well attended award ceremony and dinner:  Plympton took home the Artistic Achievement Award, and Mitchell the Rogue Award (and I’d wager a much sought after wheel of cheese from the Rogue Creamery).   Full list of Festival Winners:

Juried Best Feature:  PAPER COVERS ROCK

Juried Best Documentary Feature: THEY KILLED SISTER DOROTHY

Rogue Creamery Audience Award: Documentary: GARRISON KEILLOR: THE MAN ON THE RADIO IN THE RED SHOES

John C. Schweiger Audience Award: Dramatic Feature: PAPER COVERS ROCK

Juried Best Documentary: Short Subject: THE WAR OF 33

Audience Award Best Short Film Dramatic or Documentary: KICK LIKE A GIRL

Juried Best Short: ACHOLILAND

Special Jury Mention: Short Film: TRECE ANOS (THIRTEEN YEARS)

Juried Best Animated Short: SEBASTIAN’S VOODOO

Juried Best Acting Ensemble: MAN MAID

Special Jury Mention: Acting: Jeannine Kaspar in PAPER COVERS ROCK

Best Cinematography, The Gerald Hirschfeld, ASC Award: Feature: PAPER COVERS ROCK

Family Choice Audience Award: THE FAN AND THE FLOWER

Rogue Award: Elvis Mitchell

Artistic Achievement Award: Bill Plympton

Congratulations to all the filmmakers, and bravo to Executive Director Tom Olbrich, Managing Director Jane Sage, Director of Programming Joanne Feinberg, their crack team of professionals: Wendy Conner, Laura Jones, Laura Henneman, Christi Wruck, Cristina Linclau and all the sponsors and volunteers--the lifeblood of any Festival. 

 Last Night's Cinema Eye Awards, honoring outstanding achievement in documentary filmmaking, developed for and by filmmakers, saw James Marsh's MAN ON WIRE and Ari Folman's WALTZ WITH BASHIR take home most awards.  A few Impact Film Festival filmmakers were nominated, including Patrick Creadon's I.O.U.S.A and Carl Deal and Tia Lessin's TROUBLE THE WATER.  

Many of the same programmers that graciously helped program the Impact Film Festival at the political conventions this summer were the nominating committee for Cinema Eye: Sundance's Cara Mertes and David Courier, Toronto's Thom Powers, Full Frame's (formerly) Phoebe Brush, Sarasota's Tom Hall, Tribeca's David Kwok, Hampton's David Nugent, Los Angeles Film Festival's Rachel Rosen, and SILVERDOC's Sky Sitney.  POV's Yance Ford wasn't on the Cinema Eye nominating committee, but was a major participant in the evening, coming on stage with AJ Schnack in THE ORDER OF MYTHS Mardi Gras King and Queen Garb, mentioning later when announcing an award winner that her arrival was the first time she'd been in a dress.  

Doc Luminaries presented the awards: Al Maysles, DA Pennebaker, along with Morgan Spurlock, Jehane Noujaim, Laurie Anderson, and the extraordinary Andrea Meditch.

The winners were:

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking, Production and Editing

James Marsh and Simon Chinn's MAN ON WIRE

Outstanding Achievement in Direction, music  graphic design and animation and best international feature

Ari Foman's WALTZ WITH BASHIR

Outstanding Achievement in Debut Feature and Audience Choice

Yung Chang's UP THE YANGTZE

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

Peter Zeitlinger's ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Congratulations to these and the other nominees who brought us such diverse, extraordinary and impactful filmmaking in 2008, and Bravo to AJ, Thom and their team for such a fun show.