Season Opens Saturday, September 17 with Afghanistan-set “Peace Unveiled.”
ITVS, together with partner station Nashville Public Television (NPT) and series partners Nashville Public Library, Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) and Hands On Nashville, is proud to announce the 2011-12 season of ITVS Community Cinema Nashville. Now in its four year, Community Cinema Nashville returns with 10 compelling documentaries, eight of which are culled from this year’s lineup of the venerable PBS series “Independent Lens.” Two are from the upcoming five-part PBS special “Women, War and Peace.” Each film is followed by engaging panel discussions or performances and Q&A sessions. All screenings are free and take place one Saturday per month at 3:00 p.m., with a catered reception at 2:30 p.m., in the auditorium theatre at the downtown branch of the Nashville Public Library, 615 Church Street, except where noted.
The season opens in Nashville on Saturday, September 17 with “Women, War and Peace: Peace Unveiled,” Gina Reticker’s profile of three Afghan women determined to ensure that women have a seat at the table when the post-U.S. surge government under Hamid Karzai begins peace talks with the Taliban. The film, written by Abigail Disney and narrated by Tilda Swinton, is also part of a larger multi-year public media initiative called Women and Girls Lead that will focus, educate and connect citizens worldwide in support of the issues facing women and girls.
Combining independent documentary film, television, new media, and global outreach partnerships, Women and Girls Lead amplifies the voices of women and girls acting as leaders, expands understanding of gender equity, and engages an international network of citizens and organizations to act locally and reach out globally.
Nashville organizations serving girls and women are attending a Women and Girls Lead information session prior to the September 17 screening of “Peace Unveiled.” Organizational leaders will join ITVS regional coordinator Allison Inman, NPT president and CEO Beth Curley at 1:30 p.m. for lunch and a chance to preview clips from this season’s Women and Girls Lead films and the Community Cinema Nashville season, and learn about free resources organizations and individuals can use to further the missions of empowering girls and women here Nashville. RSVP to Allison_inman@itvs.org required. At 2:30 p.m., a catered reception will be open to the public in the conference room adjacent to the auditorium. Representatives from women’s grassroots peace and social justice initiative CODEPINK will be on hand demonstrating the More Than Warmth quilt project, inviting Community Cinema participants to help make quilts for the people affected by war around the world.
Films that are joining “Women, War and Peace: Peace Unveiled” at Community Cinema Nashville that are also part of the Women and Girls Lead initiative include “Women, War and Peace: Pray the Devil Back to Hell” (Gina Reticker / USA); “Taking Root” (Alan Dater, Lisa Merton / USA); “Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock” (Sharon LaCruise, Noland Walker / USA); and “Strong!” (Julie Wyman / USA).
Rounding out the season are “Deaf Jam” (Judy Lieff / USA); “We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân” (Anne Makepeace / USA); “More Than A Month” (Shukree Hassan Tilghman / USA); “Revenge of the Electric Car;” (Chris Paine / USA); and “Hell and Back Again” (Danfung Dennis / USA, UK, Afghanistan).
Community Cinema Nashville, coordinated by Allison Inman, began in 2008 and has steadily built to an audience ranging from 70-200 per screening, with dozens of community partners contributing each month to reception activities and panel discussions. Other organizations that have participated in Community Cinema Nashville include the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Community Food Advocates, Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, YWCA Nashville and Middle Tennessee, Oasis Center, Islamic Center of Nashville, Kilowatt Ours, Scarritt Bennett’s Wisdom House, eXile International, PFLAG Nashville, Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, Pakistani American Association of Nashville, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Nashville Musicians Association, Earth Matters Tennessee, Sustain VU, Middle Tennessee School for the Blind, Belmont University Copyright Club, Metro Beautification and Environment Commission, Metro Nashville Human Relations Commission, National Kidney Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Zeitgeist Gallery, and more.
“The Women and Girls Lead Initiative adds an exciting new element to this year’s season, both with the film choices and the engagement possibilities,” says Inman. “Last summer’s Women’s Empowerment Film Festival at the Library reached hundreds of girls and women, so I know our audience is hungry for these kinds of stories.”
ITVS Community Cinema Nashville 2011-12 Season:
All screening take place at (except where noted):
Nashville Public Library
615 Church Street
Screening 3:00 p.m. / Reception (hosted by the Nashville Public Library Foundation) 2:30
September 17, 2011
Women, War and Peace: Peace Unveiled
(Gina Reticker / USA)
When the U.S. troop surge was announced in late 2009, women in Afghanistan knew that the ground was being laid for peace talks with the Taliban. “Peace Unveiled” follows three women who immediately began to organize to make sure that women have a seat at the negotiating table. One is a savvy parliamentarian who participated in writing the Afghan constitution that guarantees equality for women; another, a former midwife who is one of the last women’s rights advocates alive in Kandahar; and the third, a young activist who lives in a traditional family in Kabul. Convinced that the Taliban will have demands that jeopardize women’s hard-earned gains, they maneuver against formidable odds to have their voices heard in a peace jirga and high peace council. We go behind Kabul’s closed doors as the women’s case is made to U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer, General David Petraeus and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who promises the women that “peace and justice can’t come at the cost of women and women’s lives.” But will this promise be kept? Narrated by Tilda Swinton. “Peace Unveiled” is one of five films in the upcoming PBS special “Women, War and Peace.”
September 28, 2011
Women, War and Peace: Pray the Devil Back to Hell
(Gini Reticker / USA)
(Special Co-Presentation with Lipscomb’s HumanDocs series; screening is at Lipscomb University’s Ward Hall)
8:30 p.m.
A winner of the best documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival, “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” is the astonishing story of the Liberian women who took on the warlords and regime of dictator Charles Taylor in the midst of a brutal civil war, and won a once unimaginable peace for their shattered country in 2003. As the rebel noose tightened around the capital city of Monrovia, thousands of women – ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim – formed a thin but unshakeable line between the opposing forces. Armed only with white t-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they literally faced down the killers who had turned Liberia into hell on earth. In one memorable scene, the women barricaded the site of stalled peace talks in Ghana and refused to move until a deal was done. Their demonstrations culminated in Taylor’s exile and the rise of Africa’s first female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Inspiring and uplifting, the film is a compelling example of how grassroots activism can alter the history of nations. “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” is one of five films in the upcoming PBS special “Women, War and Peace.”
October 15, 2011
Deaf Jam
(Judy Lieff / USA)
National poetry slams for youth have been gaining momentum but few, if any, deaf teens have ever been included in these contests. In “Deaf Jam” a group of New York City deaf teens reveal their passions, frustrations, and senses of humor as they discover American Sign Language poetry — eventually stepping into the world of the youth poetry slams with their hearing peers.
November 26, 2011
We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân
(Anne Makepeace / USA)
The Wampanoag nation of southeastern Massachusetts ensured the survival of the first English settlers in America, and lived to regret it. “We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân” tells the story of the return of the Wampanoag language, the first time a language with no Native speakers has been revived in this country. Spurred on by an indomitable linguist named Jessie Little Doe, the Wampanoag are bringing their language and their culture back.
December 17, 2012
Taking Root
(Alan Dater, Lisa Merton / USA)
How does the simple act of planting trees lead to winning the Nobel Peace Prize? Ask Wangari Maathai of Kenya. In 1977, she suggested rural women plant trees to address problems stemming from a degraded environment. Under her leadership, their tree-planting grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, defend human rights and promote democracy, earning Maathai the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.
January 14, 2012
Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock
(Sharon LaCruise, Noland Walker / USA)
As a black woman who was a feminist before the term was invented, Daisy Bates refused to accept her assigned place in society. “Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock” tells the story of her life and public support of nine black students to attend the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, which culminated in a constitutional crisis–pitting a president against a governor and a community against itself.
February 11, 2012
More Than a Month
(Shukree Hassan Tilghman / USA)
Shukree Hassan Tilghman, a 29-year-old African American filmmaker, is on a cross-country campaign to end Black History Month. Through this tongue-in-cheek journey, “More Than a Month” investigates what the treatment of history tells us about race and equality in a “post-racial” America.
March 17, 2012
Revenge of the Electric Car
(Chris Paine / USA)
Revenge of the Electric Car presents the recent resurgence of electric vehicles as seen through the eyes of four pioneers of the EV revolution. Director Chris Paine (“Who Killed the Electric Car?” 2006) has had unprecedented access to the electric car research and development programs at General Motors, Nissan, and Tesla Motors, while also following a part time electric car converter who refuses to wait for the international car makers to create the electric cars the public demands. As more models of electric cars than ever before start to arrive in showrooms and driveways across the world, Chris Paine’s film offers an inspiring, entertaining and definitive account of this revolutionary moment in human transportation. “Revenge of the Electric Car” follows these auto makers as they race each other to create the first, best, and most publicly accepted electric cars for the new car market.
April 21, 2012 (Nashville Film Festival Screening)
April 28, 2012
Hell and Back Again
(Danfung Dennis / USA, UK, Afghanistan)
What does it mean to lead men in war? What does it mean to come home – injured physically and psychologically – and build a new life? “Hell and Back Again” asks and answers these questions with the conflict in Afghanistan as the backdrop. Two overlapping narratives intercut: the life of a Marine on the war front, and the life of the same Marine in recovery at home – creating a realistic depiction of how Marines experience this war.
May 19, 2012
Strong! (Julie Wyman / USA)
A formidable figure, standing at 5’8″ and weighing over 300 pounds, Cheryl Haworth struggles to defend her champion status as her lifetime weightlifting career inches towards its inevitable end. “Strong!” chronicles her journey and the challenges this unusual elite athlete faces, exploring popular notions of power, strength, beauty and health.
ITVS COMMUNITY CINEMA is a monthly screening series featuring upcoming selections from the Independent Lens season. Presented in partnership with local public television stations and leading community organizations, ITVS Community Cinema holds preview screenings in over 90 cities across the country making a real contribution on a range of current social issues by connecting communities with organizations, information, and the opportunity to get involved.
ABOUT ITVS AND INDEPENDENT LENS
ITVS is a leading funder and presenter of award-winning documentaries and dramas on public television, innovative new media projects on the Web, and the Emmy Award-winning weekly series Independent Lens on Tuesday nights at 10 PM on PBS. Independent Lens is jointly curated by ITVS and PBS and is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private corporation funded by the American people, with additional funding provided by PBS and the National Endowment for the Arts.
