Rooftop Films presents Sista II Sista Benefit
Friday, August 8th, 2003
8pm: Live music by Marmalade [details below]
9pm: Youth-produced films from around the world
All proceeds benefit Sista II Sista, a freedom school for young women of color in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Sista II Sista was created in 1996 as a response to the lack of community spaces that focused on the experience of young women of color. It was also seen as a proactive space where young women of color could tap into their collective power to fight against injustice. Various programs include interactive workshops, physical activities, field trips, organized action projects, and a "herstory" project. Though their "Big Mouth Project," the Sistas created a video called You Have the Right to Break the Silence about sexual harassment in Bushwick. The film was screened at various workshops, special events and film festivals, including Rooftop Films. for more information.
About the films:
Kids today. People say kids today are violent. They are. People say kids do drugs, have sex, stir up trouble. They do. Kids today are as worldly and dangerous as ever—especially when they're armed with video cameras.
Give a kid a camera, and she'll show you something you've never seen before. Kids aren't afraid to go up to that funny old man who sells junk food from a highway-side shack. And they'll take his life-lessons to heart. Kids are eager to build something, like a boat in the middle of the Bronx, or a wild new washing machine. Kids have their own style of telling each other not to smoke, their own method for protecting each other on the streets, their own means of organizing homeless workers in shantytowns. In this stunning collection of youth-produced comedies, dramas, personal and political documentaries from around the world, you'll see and hear what it means to be young and alive and aware.
Kids today—they're doing things. Watch out.
THE FILMS: Don't Pick It Up Nate Ten (CMP, 0:30)
An animated anti-smoking Public Service Announcement.
Tiger Jack: Mr. Respect Mike Hazard & Capitol Hill School (10:00)
Students at the Capitol Hill Junior High in Minneapolis were fascinated by an old man who sold candy, soda and magazines out of a little shack by a freeway exit. When they started talking to him, they heard his whole fascinating life story, and got plenty of great advice.
Rocking the Boat Joaquin Cotton, Meliza Pena, John Furman (IMNY, 4:00)
A group of high school students build boats to sail on the Bronx River while they analyze and treat the water.
Hip Hop Gurlz Tamika Guishard (IMNY. 8:00)
Tamika studies the positive and negative effects of Hip-Hop culture on young women.
Safe Space Sam Weihoff (IMNY, 6:00)
In this eye-opening documentary about the life of New York City teen sex workers, Sam takes a ride on the Safe Space bus, a mobile care-center which traverses some of New York's most dangerous neighborhoods giving out condoms, clean needles, advice and a safe space.
Addicted to Nothing Brian Mann (IMNY, 5:00)
Queens-native Brian Mann hilariously plays dozens of characters in this parody of teen life slipping into decay through drug use. He also wrote the film, shot it, played the music and created the many costumes.
Orbis Nina Macintosh (5:45)
An industrious young man—played heartbreakingly by Justin Segal, who's been a Rooftop Films volunteer since age 14—has a fascination for laundry and has (perhaps?) invented an environmentally-safe dry cleaning method that's ready to change the world. But it won't help him with the girl of his dreams.
Woodchuck Dan Herring (CMP, 0:30)
How many smokes could a woodchuck smoke if a woodchuck would smoke smokes?
The Rainbow Kid Ebony Williams (CMP, 3:00)
Ebony lays it all on the line in this compelling personal diary by a black, gay teenager.
Finding my heart in Vieques Jon Roman (Pro-TV, 15:00)
Young Jon gets a chance to leave New York for a visit to his native Peurto Rico for the first time since he was a baby.
Companero Piquetero anonymous piquetero (Proyecto Enerc / Indymedia Argentina, 12:00)
World pressures on the Argentine economy have caused a tremendous collapse, leaving masses of workers and their families without jobs or homes. The local Independent Media Center leant a camera to a young "piquetero" (protester, one who carries pickets) to document how members of the Unemployed Workers Movement (MTD) occupy the land in the municipality of Lanus. His insights -- into the nature of life in the slums, the divisions between the ruling powers and the poor people, the dangers and simple pleasures of his life -- show a people who are desperate, defiant and determined to carry on with their lives. [In Spanish with English subtitles.]
Helena: Helen's Journey through Mexico, Helen Cho (Pro-TV, 16:00)
Helen Cho visited remote sections of Mexico last summer, where she captured the lives of indigenous people. These stories include a family living on an island completely isolated from Mexican society, a young girl with no education working to process corn everyday, and families who have been making tortillas and pottery all their lives.
Jai-Yen: Cool Heart Daniel Howard (Pro-TV, 21:00)
Daniel Howard, a young teen from a Brooklyn housing project goes to Laos for 42 days and spends time in one of the most underdeveloped areas of Southeast Asia. The people he meets live under conditions that he has never before imagined. But despite their poverty, he finds these people content and happy without a car, TV or even electricity.
PRODUCTION GROUPS: Children's Media Project (CMP)
is a non-profit organization in Poughkeepsie, New York, which teaches young people how to make videos.
Downtown Community TV Center (DCTV) is the most honored independent nonprofit media center in the nation. Pro-TV is their intensive two-year program which teaches high-school students all aspects of video production.
IMNY is a weekly TV show on WNYE in New York, which showcases the videos of New York City public school kids. Monday nights at 8:30pm.
Indymedia is a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth.
THE MUSIC:
8pm: : Marmalade is a brand new Brooklyn-based group featuring famous indie author John Wray (The Right Hand of Sleep) and drummer chanteuse, Sarah Blust. "Beautiful Soup" is their debut album and is bursting with strummy guitar pop and a healthy dose of New York City post rock. Marmalade live consists of a revolving group of friends, many of whom helped record "Beautiful Soup". Get more info at marchrecords.com.
