Community Cinema in a [Blog]Box: As Goes Janesville

If you’ve never been to Community Cinema, this will be a great introduction. On October 16, we screened director Brad Lichtenstein’s documentary As Goes Janesville at the downtown Nashville Public Library. The screening was followed by an engaging discussion with business representatives, sociologists, human resources professionals and more. The film is available for screening online until October 30, and luckily for you, we taped the entire discussion. So here’s everything you need — the film, followed by the panel discussion — to have your own Community Cinema experience. It doesn’t include the tasty free snacks before the screening, or the great people you get to socialize with before and after the film, or the beautiful confines of the downtown library, but you’ll just have to imagine that on your own.

About the film:
As goes Janesville, so goes America… a polarized nation losing its grasp on the American Dream. America’s debate over the future of its middle class has come to the forefront in a pitched battle over unions in Wisconsin. First, GM shuts down Janesville’s century-old auto plant in 2008, causing mass layoffs and residents exiled in search of work. Then newly elected governor Scott Walker ignites a firestorm by introducing a bill to end collective bargaining unleashing a fury of protest and sparking a recall election. Spend three years in the lives of laid-off workers trying to reinvent themselves; business leaders aligned with the governor to promote a pro-business agenda they believe will woo new companies to town; and a state senator caught in the middle, trying to bring peace to his warring state and protect workers’ rights. Learn the truth behind the headlines.

Watch As Goes Janesville on PBS. See more from Independent Lens.

About the Panel discussion:

The event, co-presented by ITVS and Nashville Public Television, was hosted by ITVS regional coordinator Allison Inman. The panel consisted of, from left, moderator Steve Cavendish, Nashville City Paper editor; Sachin Chheda, national engagement director for AS GOES JANESVILLE; Tom Negri, Loews Vanderbilt Hotel; Caroline Blackwell, executive director of the Metro Nashville Human Relations Commission; Richard Lloyd, Vanderbilt University professor of sociology and author of Neo-Bohemia: Art and Commerce in the Postindustrial City; and Dan Cornfield, Vanderbilt University professor of sociology and editor of “Work and Occupations” sociological journal.

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Joe Pagetta, October 26th 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Documentaries, Panelists

(Community Cinema) Teens Take Over Panel Discussion for `Taking Root` (Video)

taking root panel

metro treesOn Saturday, December 17, Community Cinema Nashville hosted a special screening at the Nashville Public Library of TAKING ROOT: THE VISION OF WANGARI MAATHAI. To celebrate the work of Kenya’s Maathai, the Nobel-prize winner and Green Belt Movement founder who died in September,  students from Whites Creek High School and Sierra SCENE (Student Coalition Empowering Nashville Environmentalists) presented their research projects for guests during a pre-screening reception and eco fair.  Following the film, Dr. Cliff Cockerham from Whites Creek High School led a discussion with Sierra SCENE student representatives who all offered eloquent and confident responses to the film and the issues it raised. Cockerham also presented awards to several students for their outstanding environmental science research projects. To further honor the legacy of Maathai, Metro Beautification and Environment Commission donated 75 bald cypress seedlings to attendees and announced plans to plant a special tree at Whites Creek High School in honor of the event.

Raw video of the panel discussion is embedded below.

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Joe Pagetta, January 11th 2012 | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Panelists, Screenings, Women and Girls Lead

(Community Cinema) TAKING ROOT Screening Celebrates Maathai: Includes Student Eco Fair

Wangari Maathai

STUDENT-LED SUSTAINABILITY FAIR TO AUGMENT SCREENING OF TAKING ROOT: THE VISION OF WANGARI MAATHAI, CELEBRATE LIFE OF KENYA’S NOBEL-WINNING ACTIVIST

Nashville Screening To Also Include Seedling Giveaway from Metro Beautification & Environment Commission

Whites Creek High School junior Hailie Wilson took her mysterious health problems to school – specifically, to her environmental science class. When a doctor suggested that Wilson’s vertigo, migraines, asthma and skin growths might be environmental, Wilson, who lives in Bordeaux, began a research project. She’s since been studying the relationship between her symptoms and synthetic chemicals found in soil, water and air in her community, which is near the DuPont chemical plant.

Wilson’s research project, which involves testing and comparing soil samples from the DuPont area and Bethel Church of Christ in Joelton, will be on display at the December 17, 2:00 p.m. ITVS Community Cinema Nashville screening at the downtown Nashville Public Library of TAKING ROOT: THE VISION OF WANGARI MATHAAI as part of a student-led sustainability fair. High school students from Sierra SCENE (Student Coalition Empowering Nashville Environmentalists) will present their research projects before a panel of judges. Prizes will be given to winning projects during the post-screening discussion, which is also led by students and their teacher mentors.

In addition, Metro Beautification and Environment Commission will give away dozens of seedlings to people who sign up to receive one at the screening (first-come, first-served while they last), and announce plans to plant a tree in Nashville to memorialize the life and work of Wangari Maathai.

WHAT: FREE screening/discussion of TAKING ROOT: THE VISION OF WANGARI MAATHAI and student-led sustainability fair.

WHO: ITVS Community Cinema Nashville, presented by NPT, Nashville Public Library, Nashville Film Festival and Hands On Nashville with special partners Sierra SCENE, The Sierra Club of Middle Tennessee, and Metro Beautification and Environment Commission.

WHEN: Saturday, December 17, 2 p.m. reception/sustainability fair, 3 p.m. film/discussion
For more information, visit: http://www.itvs.org/engagement.

Where: Nashville Public Library, Downtown Branch, 615 Church St., Nashville, TN 37219

Please contact Allison Inman (allison_inman@itvs.org or 615-585-8321) by Thursday, December 15, for accessibility or accommodation requests, including captioning, sign language translation, or audio description services.

Here’s a clip:

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Joe Pagetta, December 8th 2011 | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Panelists, Screenings, Women and Girls Lead

Audience envisions forgiveness at Nashville ‘Pushing the Elephant’ screening

At Saturday’s Community Cinema screening of “Pushing the Elephant,” audience members participated in an activity designed to help them envision forgiveness. “Pushing the Elephant” tells the story of Rose Mapendo’s remarkable emergence from violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo as an advocate for the rights of women and the power of forgiveness and reconciliation. Dr. Bethany Haley and Quincee Gideon from Nashville nonprofit eXile International, along with Marie-Aimee Abizera from African Leadership Refugee Ministry, passed out stones prior to the screening, explaining that the stone represents the burden of unforgiveness. Following the panel discussion with Haley, Gideon and Abizera, audience members were encouraged to release their stones in a basket next to a candle that symbolized hope or renewal.

Prior to the screening, Haley, Gideon and Abizera informally led the forgiveness exercise while audience members mingled over refreshments outside the auditorium. Community Cinema coordinator Allison Inman introduced Nashville Public Television’s Joe Pagetta, who promoted the Nashville Film Festival’s upcoming screening of “Fambul Tok,” a documentary about formal forgiveness and reconciliation ceremonies in Sierra Leone. NPT’s president and CEO, Beth Curley, announced a new public media initiative from ITVS and PBS targeting issues affecting girls and women globally. During the panel discussion, Curley also pointed audience members to NPT’s ongoing “Next Door Neighbors” series, which tells the stories of Nashville’s immigrant communities.

The screening was presented by series partners Nashville Public Television, Nashville Public Library, Nashville Film Festival and Hands On Nashville, with special presenting partners eXile International and YWCA Nashville and Middle Tennessee.

Dr. Bethany Haley of eXile International discusses the insiduousness of rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo by Frank Keesee.

Marie-Aimee Abizera, a survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, encourages the audience to get to know the immigrants and refugees in their community. Photo by Frank Keesee.

eXile International displayed art made by war-affected children in the DR Congo. Photo by Frank Keesee.

Marie-Aimee Abizera passes out stones to the audience in an exercise on forgiveness. Photo by Frank Keesee.

The broadcast premiere of “Pushing the Elephant” is today (March 29) at 9 p.m. on Independent Lens.

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Allison Inman, March 29th 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Documentaries, Panelists, Screenings

Deep Down comes to Nashville with filmmaker Sally Rubin

Did you know that your power in Nashville comes from coal extracted by mountaintop removal mining? I learned this by entering my zip code on the website for Community Cinema’s November film, Deep Down. Try it yourself here.

Exploring the issue of mountaintop removal coal mining through the citizens of Maytown, Kentucky, Deep Down shows why some locals defend coal companies and the jobs they bring despite the consequences of strip mining on the land they love. Deep Down is the story of two friends, Terry Ratliff and Beverly May, who find themselves in the middle of a local debate when a coal company moves in. Wise to the effects of strip mining on the land, water, and health of the people, Beverly leads a group of citizens against the company while Terry seriously considers an offer to buy his land for mining. Beverly pleads for her neighbors to help her preserve the profoundly rich resources of the Appalachian mountains while they argue that mining is their livelihood, plain and simple.

Deep Down screens Saturday, November 6, at 3 p.m. at Nashville Public Library’s downtown branch (615 Church St.). At 2:30, we’ll host a free reception with refreshments and a demo from Kilowatt Ours on saving energy in the home.

We’re lucky in Nashville to have Deep Down filmmaker Sally Rubin joining us from Los Angeles for a panel discussion after the film. Also on the panel are:

  • Jeff Barrie of Kilowatt Ours
  • Laurie Kalmanson of The Climate Project
  • Anne Holmes and Kaitlin Cockerham of Sierra SCENE (Student Coalition Empowering Nashville Environmentalists)
  • Stephen George, City Paper editor (moderator).

The screening is co-presented by Kilowatt Ours and Sierra SCENE as well as our series partners NPT, Nashville Public Library and Nashville Film Festival.

Sally Rubin is also attending an event Friday, November 5, at David Lipscomb University called “God’s Mountains: Faith, Justice, and Mountaintop Removal,” where she’ll show the film to area faith leaders who are interested in environmental issues. Deep Down’s faith-based outreach program features materials faith leaders can take to their communities to educate and inspire members about the issues of mountaintop removal and creation care. Lipscomb University will show the film for students (and the public) Wednesday, November 10, at 8:30 p.m. at Shamblin Theatre as part of the university’s HumanDocs film series.

Hope to see you Saturday at the library! No RSVP needed. Seating is first come, first served.

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Allison Inman, November 4th 2010 | Posted in Documentaries, Panelists, Screenings

REEL INJUN Panelists Announced For October 30 Screening

If you’re joining us on Saturday, October 30 for the Community Cinema Nashville screening of REEL INJUN: ON THE TRAIL OF THE HOLLYWOOD INDIAN, you’ll be treated to what is sure to be an engaging post-screening discussion.

Joining us for the post-screening discussion will be:
Bill Miller, Grammy-winning Native American recording artist, painter and speaker
Dr. Daniel Usner, Jr., professor of American Indian history at Vanderbilt University (moderator)
Chanda Joesph, Bureau of Indian Affairs
Albert Bender, Cherokee historian, activist and writer
JJ Kent, Lakota recording artist, storyteller and cultural educator

The screening of REEL INJUN: ON THE TRAIL OF THE HOLLYWOOD INDIAN takes place Saturday, October 30, 3 p.m. Get there early for a 2:30 p.m. reception hosted by the Nashville Public Library Foundation.

Nashville Public Library
615 Church Street
Nashville, TN 37219
Screening is FREE and open to the public

Watch the full episode. See more Independent Lens.

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Allison Inman, October 27th 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Documentaries, Panelists, Screenings