ZEITGEIST MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ARTS CENTER

Welcome to our interactive website/blog where you may comment on the films and events you have seen or would like to see at Zeitgeist!



Zeitgeist founder and video artist Rene Broussard


_____________________________________________________________________________________
We are currently in a state of "flux", but usually have programming every Tuesday through Sunday Night. Come join us as we present our 20th year of programming.

MARCH & APRIL 2007 EVENTS
All events @ Tulane University - School of Architecture
(Richardson Memorial Bldg., Thomson Hall, Second floor, Rm. 201 and/or Rm 204) unless otherwise noted.
$7 general / $6 students & seniors / $5 Zeitgeist members / Free for patron members and Tulane students & faculty unless otherwise noted.

Please note: The School of Architecture building is directly on St. Charles Ave to the right of the front parking loop. It is free to park on campus on weekends and nightly after 7:00 p.m.

_____________________________________________________________________________________



Come back baby!

New Orleans loves and misses you!


___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For immediate Release:

Rene Broussard, Executive Director
Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center
www.zeitgeistinc.net zte@bellsouth.net

new phone: 504 827-5858

interim mailing/shipping address:

Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center
1220 A North Robertson Street
New Orleans, LA 70116

Future address:

Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center
2940 Canal Street
New Orleans, LA 70119
_______

Great News:

Now that the move is behind us,

our plans for the future keep getting bigger and bigger every day!



but, Zeitgeist needs your help!



As you all certainly know by now, Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center has moved out of its home in Central City that we have shared with Barrister's Gallery for the last eight years.



IN THE INTERIM:



While our new home in Mid-City is being renovated, Zeitgeist will be programming films and other events at Tulane University in the two auditoriums they have in the School of Architect Bldg. (Richardson Memorial, 2nd Floor, main lobby). Special thanks to Ana Lopez and Reed Kroloff.



Programming @ Tulane begins Wednesday, March 21 (see March/April 2007 Events below). One auditorium seats 200 and has an enormous screen, about 50 feet wide and a massive digital video projection system. The other auditorium seats 100 and has fixed stadium seating.

The building is right on St. Charles Avenue. Parking is free and open after 7:00 p.m. and on weekends. You don't have to be a student to park on campus after 7:00 p.m. There is parking on St. Charles and in the front loop, plus there is a large parking lot directly behind the building that you can enter from Freret St. We will have our exotic concessions, but sorry, no alcohol. Good news: Tulane students, faculty & staff will be admitted free to all events on campus, but of course, donations are still greatly appreciated.

Barrister's Gallery/Andy Antippas has moved to a new gallery space below his home at 2331 St. Claude Ave, where he will be having monthly exhibitions starting on March 24 with Myrtle von Damitz III. Barrister's will also regularly continue to curate its larger group exhibitions with Zeitgeist in our new space



OUR NEW SPACE:



Move over Landmark! Introducing Zeitgeist’s Canal Space Cinema @ 2940 Canal St. & South Gayoso, half way between Jefferson Davis & Broad St. It is the old Molar Beauty College. It is a former public library built with money donated to the city by Andrew Carnegie. It is right across the street from Warren Easton High School and the Regional Transit Authority and one block from Chickie Wah Wah . The building is about to be renovated. I am currently negotiating a lease agreement for the entire ground floor (3500 sq. ft.) plus a private 30 car parking lot.







It will easily seat over 100 and I will be purchasing several couches for the front rows and then have my metal, cushioned chairs up on risers. It will have a small, permanent stage. It will be handicap-accessible with both central air and heat.



NEW AND EXCITING INFO:



Zeitgeist will be expanding our box office/concessions to include THE HOLOCENE, a tea & coffee house (open mornings – mid-afternoon and in the evenings for Zeitgeist events) that will include a “Fair Trade” gift shop featuring rare and hard to find indie & foreign DVDs for sale / local and international creative music CDs / film, music & art books/ Tibetan and local jewelry / auyurvedic & wellness supplies / art objects by local artist / etc.

I also hope to collaborate with NOVAC and L.I.F.T. Productions to have a digital video editing suite and video library and offer regular classes and workshops during the days.

Visual artist/Curator Gary Oaks will be coordinating all of our visual art exhibitions and we hope to have exhibitions bi-monthly. Gary Oaks is also planning to offer drawing and painting classes for adults in the space during the days. The space will also be available for a modest rental fee during the daytime for meetings, classes or other events. Artists or organizations interested in offering classes or events for kids on the weekends during the day should contact me.

_______________________________________________________________

MARCH & APRIL 2007 EVENTS
All events @ Tulane University - School of Architecture
(Richardson Memorial Bldg., Thomson Hall, Second floor, Rm. 201 and/or Rm. 204) unless otherwise noted.
$7 general / $6 students & seniors / $5 Zeitgeist members / Free for patron members and Tulane students & faculty unless otherwise noted.

Please note: The School of Architecture building is directly on St. Charles Ave to the right of the front parking loop. It is free to park on campus on weekends and nightly after 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday, March 21 through Saturday, March 24 nightly @ 7:30 p.m.
WILD TIGERS I HAVE KNOWN by Cam Archer.

From Executive Producer Gus Van Sant and director Cam Archer (American Fame: Drowning River Phoenix, Forgetting Jonathan Brandis and the award-winning shorts Godly Boyfish and Bobbycrush) comes this outrageous and inventive gay, coming of age comedy. Logan is a soft spoken and lonely 13 year old boy with a crush. Unlike his equally lonely friend Joey, who obsesses over the sexual exploits of the popular boys, Logan is fixated on the boys themselves, particularly Rodeo Walker. Rodeo is the only one of the group of cool kids who shows any friendliness towards Logan, in other words, he doesn’t go out of his way to make Logan’s life miserable. As they strike up a mismatched friendship, Logan’s infatuation with Rodeo inspires him to create a new persona named Leah. Leah and Rodeo grow close through whispered late night phone calls, and when Leah agrees to meet Rodeo face to face it is Logan who must finally prove that he can ask for what he so achingly wants. Starring Malcolm Stumpf, Patrick White, Max Paradise, Fairuza Balk, etc.

_____

Wednesday, March 21 through Saturday, March 24 nightly @ 9:30 p.m.
NOTES ON MARIE MENKEN by Martina Kudlacek (In The Mirror of Maya Deren).

With the recent release of the Edie Sedgwick biopic Factory Girl by L.I.F.T. Production (Zeitgeist’s first ever Corporate Patron member) we pay homage to the other “Chelsea Girl”, legendary experimental filmmaker/artist Marie Menken. NOTES ON MARIE MENKEN explores the nearly forgotten story of the maverick artist Marie Menken (1909 - 1970), who became one of New York's outstanding underground experimental filmmakers of the 1940s through the1960s, inspiring artists such as Stan Brakhage, Andy Warhol, Jonas Mekas, Kenneth Anger, and Gerard Malanga. Menken was the inspiration for the character "Martha" in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and ended up as a Warhol Superstar. New York composer and musician John Zorn contributes a wonderful film score for this revealing documentary, which allows a glimpse into Menken's social and artistic struggle featuring Andy Warhol, Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, Peter Kubelka, Gerard Melanga, Jonas Mekas, Marie Menken, Mary Woronov, Alfred Leslie, Billy Name, etc.

______

Wednesday, March 28 @ 7:30 p.m.
PETER GREENAWAY’S 4 AMERICAN COMPOSERS (JOHN CAGE & ROBERT ASHLEY).


This acclaimed series offers startling and intimate insights into the music and ideas of four very original American composers. Each composer--John Cage, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, & Robert Ashley--is presented incorporating performance and conversations with and about the artist. Each hour-long program creates an experience that extends beyond the music alone, it explores each composer's concepts and expresses their individual personalities.

_______

Thursday, March 29 @ 7:30 p.m.
PETER GREENAWAY’S 4 AMERICAN COMPOSERS (PHILIP GLASS & MEREDITH MONK).


This acclaimed series offers startling and intimate insights into the music and ideas of four very original American composers. Each composer--John Cage, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, & Robert Ashley--is presented incorporating performance and conversations with and about the artist. Each program creates an experience that extends beyond the music alone, it explores each composer's concepts and expresses their individual personalities.

______

Friday, March 30 through Sunday, April 1 nightly @ 7:30 p.m.
A FLUXUS / YOKO ONO TRIBUTE



Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center, in collaboration with Astralwerks Records,
are organizing A TRIBUTE TO YOKO ONO to coincide with the release of the Yoko Ono remix compilation OPEN YOUR BOX. The three night event is also a celebration of the entire Fluxus Movement.

Hot on the heels of ONO: YES, I’M A WITCH which featured collaborations between Yoko and an entire generation of musicians whom she has inspired including: The Flaming Lips, Peaches, DJ Spooky, Le Tigre, Shitake Monkey, etc.

The tribute will include personally autographed promotional items, screenings of Fluxus films by Yoko Ono and other filmmakers, re-staging of some of her notorious actions, readings from her maverick book Grapefruit A Book of Instructions and Drawings, visual art and tributes by area musicians.



Yoko Ono is the best-known individual associated with Fluxus Movement, but many artists, including George Maciunas, LaMonte Young, John Cage, Paul Sharits, etc. have associated themselves with Fluxus since its emergence.



"The Fluxus movement emerged in New York around 1960, then it took root in Europe, and eventually in its way to Japan...Fluxus objects and performances are characterized by minimalist but often expansive gestures based in scientific, philosophical, sociological, or other extra-artistic ideas and leavened with burlesque.

In the '60s, when the Fluxus movement was most active, artists all over the globe worked in concert with a spontaneously generated but carefully maintained Fluxus network. Since then, Fluxus has endured not so much as a movement but as a sensibility--a way of fusing certain radical social attitudes with ever--evolving aesthetic practices. "

FLUXUS Literally translated from Latin, the name means "insistent change, or flux." There are also definitions dealing with purging the bowels, which George Maciunas refers to in his Fluxus Manifesto. George Maciunas called the Fluxus movement "a fusion of Spike Jones, vaudeville, gag, children's games and Marcel Duchamp."

Friday, March 30 @ 7:30 p.m.
THE MISFITS: 30 YEARS OF FLUXUS by Lars Movin. A video portrait of Fluxus, a group of artists who, since the 1960s, have completely disrupted our ideas of what art can be. A large part of the video was made in Venice in 1990, when many of the original Fluxus artists met to hold a large exhibition in connection with the Biennale—almost thirty years after the first highly untraditional Fluxus concerts that took place in various cities. The video itself is also untraditional as it takes advantage of the possibilities of manipulation provided by video technology. The tape includes interviews with most of the leading Fluxus artists, documentations of their works, and clips from videos and films made during the thirty years of this ungovernable art form. With Eric Anderson, Philip Corner, Henry Flynt, Ken Friedman, Alison Knowles, Jonas Mekas, Yoko Ono, John Cage, Joseph Beuys, Geoffrey Hendricks, and many more.; FLUXMASS, a discussion on the Fluxus Movement and an exhibition of documentary photos of the legendary event by LSU professor Susan Elizabeth Ryan (photos on view all three nights); a performance by Donald Miller and via phone fluxus artist Charles Curtis; a John Cage lecture "How to Improve the World (You will only make matters worse)" by Brian Boyles, etc. $10 general/ $8 members. (Or get a 3 day pass for only $25 gen/$20 members).

Saturday, March 31 @ 7:30 p.m.
A TRIBUTE TO YOKO ONO

featuring the complete FLUXFILM ANTHOLOGY (1966-1970) featuring films by Nam June Paik, Dick Higgins, George Maciunas, Chieko Shiomi, John Cavanaugh, James Riddle, Yoko Ono, George Brecht, Robert Watts, Pieter Vanderbiek, Joe Jones, Eric Anderson, Jeff Perkins, Wolf Vostell, Albert Fine, George Landow, Paul Sharits, John Cale, Peter Kennedy, Mike Parr and Ben Vautier. Starting in the early sixties, Fluxus followed in the footsteps of the Futurist and Dada avant-gardes, going against the established grain of Fine Art and Official Art and promoting imposture as an aesthetic dimension. Fluxus interdisciplinary aesthetic brings together influences as diverse as Zen, science, and daily life and puts them to poetic use. Initially received as little more than an international network of pranksters, the playful artists of Fluxus were, and remain, a network of radical visionaries who sought to reconcile art with life. Dating from the sixties and compiled by George Maciunas (1931-1978, founder of Fluxus), this is a document consisting of 37 short films ranging from 10 seconds to 10 minutes in length. These films (some of which were meant to be screened as continuous loops) were shown as part of the events and happenings of the New York avant-garde. Made by the artists listed above, they celebrate the ephemeral humor of the Fluxus movement; excerpts from the documentary YOKO ONO: HERE AND NOW; GRAPEFRUIT: THE STORY OF JOHN & YOKO by Cecilia Dougherty. This outrageous cult hit features an all-female cast, featuring famed Lesbian writer Suzie Bright as John Lennon and Shelly Cook as Yoko, Grapefruit plays with the romanticized history of the iconic Fab Four, gently mocking John and Yoko's banal squabbles and obsessive rituals of self-display. Based obliquely on Yoko Ono's book, the tape works on many levels to reposition this mythic tale of Beatles boy's life by casting '80s women in mod drag—effectively mapping the lesbian sub-culture onto heterosexual mass culture. Discounting the importance of reproducing facts and historical accuracy, Dougherty gives an incisive reading of the creation of pop culture icons: it doesn't matter who plays John Lennon because ultimately John Lennon is not a person anymore. As a star, he is a projection of our society's collective needs and desires; a Yoko Ono listening party complete with door prizes of free promotional items from Astralwerks Records; plus performances by Rob Cambre, saxophonist Roy McGrath, etc. $10 general/ $8 members. (Or get a 3 day pass for only $25 gen/$20 members).

Sunday, April 1 @ 7:30 p.m.
ZEFIRO TORNA OR SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF GEORGE MACIUNAS by Jonas Mekas.

A tribute from one Lithuanian expatriate to another, ZEFIRO TORNA is Jonas Mekas at his most heartfelt. Comprised of diary footage of fluxus founder George Maciunas from the mid-50s until his tragically early passing in the mid-70s, this early-90s production is a beautiful portrait of a lost friend and living spirit.; Second only to Yoko Ono, Paul Sharits is the most famous of the fluxus filmmakers, having known and worked with Paul when I was the film curator of Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, we are proud to present this late, great artist’s trilogy THE MANDALA FILMS BY PAUL SHARITS featuring PIECE MANDALA/END WAR (1966, color, silent, 5 min.), N:O:T:H:I:N:G (1968, color, sound, 36 min.), T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G (1968, color, sound, 12 min.); “GAPING CHEST WOUND” (a rare, large painted photo of Paul Sharit’s scar from when he was stabbed in a fight in Buffalo poolhall, that Paul gave me months before his death will be on display all three nights); Plus a performance by FLUXUS AMONGSTUS (featuring Potpie and Gabe Pickard), $10 general/ $8 members. (Or get a 3 day pass for only $25 gen/$20 members).

________

A CALL TO ARTISTS:

Bands, musicians, performers, filmmakers, visual artists and activists who would like to create or perform covers, works in homage, or inspired by this maverick artist or arts movement should contact Rene at zte@bellsouth.net

_________

Wednesday & Thursday, April 4 & 5 @ 7:30 p.m.
FLOCK OF DODOS: THE EVOLUTION-INTELLIGENT DESIGN CIRCUS by Randy Olson.


The highly anticipated, comic and controversial feature documentary, "Flock of Dodos: the evolution-intelligent design circus," is the first feature film to take an even-handed look at the intelligent design vs. evolution clash that appeared on the covers of Time and Newsweek in 2005. Filmmaker, scientist, surfer and evolutionary biologist Dr. Randy Olson explores the controversy over the teaching of evolution and the recently developed alternative, intelligent design. Olson, a native of Kansas, visits his home state and the community of Dover, Pennsylvania, which attempted to introduce intelligent design in science classes. Olson draws on basic aspects of evolution as metaphors, including the extinct dodo, which he suggests symbolizes what happens to those unable to change with their environment. Featured are seven top advocates for intelligent design, including Dr. Michael Behe, author of "Darwin's Black Box," fourteen evolution Ph.D.'s, a poker game among eight evolutionists, a rabbit eating its own poop, and a flock of animated dodos playing poker, dancing, and helping the audience answer the question, "who really is the 'flock of dodos?'" Co- presented by the New Orleans Secular Humanist Society.

Please Note: on Thursday, April 5 there will be a short Q & A with Dr. Barbara Forrest, who was a plaintiff witness at the Dover PA Intelligent Design trial.

_______

Wednesday & Thursday, April 4 & 5 @ 9:30 p.m.
SELECTIONS FROM THE 2006 RURAL ROUTE FILM FESTIVAL


The Rural Route Film Festival was created to highlight works that deal with rural people and places. The festival, which showcases rural themes in an urban environment, features award-winning narrative, documentary, and experimental films as well as music videos. Based in New York City, the most urban of environments, the festival brings an alternative to the box office action flick so often set in New York or Los Angeles. We give city folks a chance to see what’s going on in the rest of the world, and bring a sense of home to country folk that have relocated to the city. We are also programming more and more international work, including films in this year’s festival from England, Siberia, Canada, Portugal, India, and Germany. Zeitgeist presented this outrageously funny and inventive program back in December, but I was the only New Orleanian to see them (the audience was comprised of four people who work for I.B.M. who were in town for a convention and an Israeli student). These films are so incredibly good I am bringing them back. So please come. I laughed my ass off!

SELECTIONS FROM THE RURAL ROUTE FILM FESTIVAL 2006 featuring:

POLIKARP AND HIS WOMEN by Alexander Khantaev & Vlad Ketkovich, 2006, 6 min., doc., Siberia, Russia. A short glimpse into the life of Siberian folk artist, Polikarp Sudomoikin, who worked for a collective farm for most of his life, and the many ‘vocal’ peasant women of the village. Situated 300 miles from Baikal Lake, the village, Bichura, is dwelt by traditional old believers, who where forced to Siberia during Katharine the Great and still preserve their traditions.

SOUTH CENTRAL FARMERS by Ross Guidici, 2005, 7 min., doc. South Central L.A. Since 1992, the 14 acres of property located at 41st and Alameda Streets in famed ‘urban’ South Central Los Angeles have been used as a community garden or farm. 350 low-income families farm the land, feed their families and stay off of welfare. The farm also serves as a safe community for their children to grow up in this dangerous section of the city.

HIGH PLAINS WINTER – WINNER BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM - by Cindy Stillwell, 2006, 10 min., exp. Ringling, MT, Red Lodge, MT, Hailey, ID. High Plains Winter (the final installment of an experimental outdoors trilogy) is a film about the winter landscape and how it affects the human spirit on the high plains of Montana. The American/Scandinavian sport ski joring, which involves a horse & rider pulling a skier, is the centerpiece of this visual study of winter on the high plains. Alongside the sport imagery are majestic, winter landscapes and signs of domestic life: horses, dogs and people. www.hybridmediafilms.com

JUNIOR – WINNER BEST NARRATIVE FILM – by Allison Cook, 2006, 17 min., narr. Brownwood, Texas. Toby, a sullen teenager, must descend into the depths of small-town Texas to spend the summer with his dad, Darrell. Pulled from the comfort of his middle-class existence, Toby has to cope with his father, an overbearing carouser who makes his living as a ranch hand, and try to get through this visit with no disasters. When Darrell goes overboard, trying to impress his son at the local rodeo and the visit turns sour, Toby is forced to see his dad clearly, and choose whether to forgive him or not. www.juniorfilm.com

FARMER BROWN by Charlie Cline, 2005, 4 min., narr. Braxton County, West Virginia. Enjoy this document of life on the farm - a timeless scene that could be occurring yesterday, 100 years ago, or 100 years from now. Follow this pillar of the American work ethic as he feeds the chickens, chops the wood, digs up the garden, and deals with incursions from other realms into his idyllic world.

HEART AND MOLE by Katharina Frank, 2004, 4 min., narr. Animation, Los Angeles, CA/Hamburg, Germany. The industrious mole leads a dreary boring life. But one day, he meets Miss Hedgehog, and digs thousands of mole hills in the shape of a giant heart on his meadow. Aliens discover the heart from above instead, and decide to pay a visit...

BEAR by Su Rynard, 2004, 9 min., exp. doc. Kimmount, Ontario, Canada. Black Bears forage for food in their current natural habitat - the township dump, while an intermittent parade of people, SUVs and minivans toss out garbage. While sometimes humorous, a fragile and disturbing biological relationship is portrayed.

LAND OF THE PINES by Dan Sokolowski, 2006, 5 min., exp. Kemptville, Ontario, Canada. Through photographic evidence, we take a journey through real and imagined images of that quintessential Canadian tree......the Pine. Dan Sokolowski’s unique combinations of painting, photography, and film originally appeared in RRFF 2004 with Lightyear. www.sokcinema.ca

GO BAREFOOT by Matt Meindl, 2005, 8 min., narr. Toledo, Ohio & Swanton, Ohio. Now grown up and contemplating the exponential possibilities of ants, Myra recalls her childhood fight to save all the six-legged crawlers in her big backyard. The cruelty of life and more importantly, nature’s ability to cope and regenerate are the lessons learned in her crusade to guard the lawn against big brothers with big boots. This one totally reminded me of Helen Hill.

DOOMED by Lowell Dean, 2006, 15 min., narr. Craven, Saskatchewan, Canada. A young couple in love, friends spending time together on a quiet afternoon, small-town kids looking for a good time. And zombies. Lots of flesh-eating zombies (done up with a superb low budget fx job by self-taught make-up artist Emersen Ziffle). Small town Saskatchewan is doomed when a zombie outbreak threatens the prairies. Lowell Dean’s primary interest is in fantasy films. He also has an 'unhealthy obsession' with zombies. www.lolofilm.com

RINGO by Dave Monahan, 2005, 6 min., exp. The Old West. An experimental musical western starring John Wayne and Roy Rogers. Lawman saves outlaw; lawman loses outlaw; lawman becomes outlaw. Found footage gleaned from over 20 public domain films was edited, composited, and set to Don Robertson’s classic 1964 story-song to spawn this rapid-fire saga of male bonding with a vengeance. Monahan teaches film production at the Univ. of North Carolina, Wilmington.

THE SILVER JEWS’ “I’M GETTING BACK INTO GETTING BACK INTO YOU” by Alan Webber & Anthony Matt, 2006, 3 min., music video. Lynbrook, NY & New York, NY. A toy cowboy writes postcards to his lost love in the suburbs. Can he win her back, or is he just being played with? Clever, witty rock band, The Silver Jews, poke fun at and celebrate country music in postmodern fashion through wordplay about honky tonks and rhinestone suits, alongside familiar jangley C&W riffs. Lead singer, David Berman, is also a critically acclaimed poet/writer, who lives in Nashville, TN. www.dragcity.com

MIMES OF THE PRAIRIE by John Hansen, 2005, 5 min., narr. Des Moines, IA. A Ken Burns style mockumentary telling the struggle of a proud people overcoming adversity. Winner for “Best City – Des Moines and Best Film” in the 2005 48-hour Film Project.

_______

Saturday, April 7 @ 3:00 p.m.
A TEA PARTY TO HONOR HELEN HILL

complete with films, videos, spoken word performances, music, and vegan deserts. This is the second in a series of bi-monthly tributes being planned by Zeitgeist to honor the memory of this remarkable artist and person. Weather permitting we will have our tea party outside in Audubon Park directly in front of Tulane and then make our way inside for the films and performances @ 4:00 p.m. Free and open to all, please feel free to bring the kids. Please bring your favorite or most outlandish teacup or mug.

Call for works: Anyone who made films in any of Helen’s classes or individuals who would like to perform in Helen & Paul’s honor are asked to contact us so we can include you in one of the tributes. Please call Rene at (504) 827-5858 or zte@bellsouth.net



The tributes will be free and open to the public, but individuals wishing to make a donation to help defray the costs of organizing the series are welcome to do so. We would like to raise enough funds to bring in artists who were Helen's friends and whom she collaborated with from Canada and around the U.S. to guest curate programs of films in her honor. Filmmaker Trixie Sweetvittles is scheduled to curate May’s film program. Donations should be made out to: Zeitgeist inc. (with For Helen in the memo line).

Wednesday, April 11 @ 7:30 p.m.
THE MUSIC FILMS OF JEM COHEN plus KELLI SHAY HICKS in concert.



This compilation features 11 of Jem Cohen's collaborations with musicians. Made on 16mm, Super 8 and Video, the works include the music of R.E.M., Gil Shaham and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Void, Elliot Smith, Jonathan Richman, Miracle Legion and Olivier Messiaen. $10 general / $8 members.

NIGHTSWIMMING
R.E.M. long-form video, "Full Moon Version", 1995, 8:15, 16mm/Super 8
After seeing my film, Drink Deep, which revolved around rural swimming holes, R.E.M. asked me to make the video for "Nightswimming." We wanted to make something erotic that broke away from the crass formulas of MTV--to offer different kinds of bodies, male and female, and to extend the liberating possibilities of "skinnydipping" to people altogether outside of the predictable demographic. Later, when the band was collecting pieces for a home video release, I asked if I could expand the project into more of an independent film, and to include a section that would retain the spirit of the piece, but without music. (It was always my intention to pull "music videos" as far away from being commercial promos as possible).

COUNTRY FEEDBACK
R.E.M., 1991, 4:40, Super 8
One of R.E.M.'s most personal songs, and my favorite, which made the project particularly interesting and difficult. I saw it as a reflection on regret. I learned a lot about editing here: holding shots back, stripping things down, waiting.

E-BOW, THE LETTER
R.E.M. Director's Cut, 1996, 5:22, 16mm/Video
The song, written in the form of a letter, invokes travel and memory, apprehension and hope. The video was shot in L.A., New York, and Prague, but I wanted to blur the distinctions between the cities because regional distinctions are rapidly disappearing as corporate presence becomes increasingly dominant. Because of the nature of the job, I was unfortunately unable to entirely avoid lip-sync, but I made sure that all of the instruments were plugged in and I encouraged the band to play, read, and hang out as if they were in a normal practice room. Patti Smith's presence is critical in the video, as it has been in R.E.M.'s approach to music. We got on a tram with her in Prague and shot without permission. It occurred to me later that the reason I loved the shot of the two girls (who just happened to be in the Prague train station) was that they reminded me of her, as a New Jersey teenager en route to the big city, "following her star."

WINTER MOVEMENT (FOUR SEASONS)
Gil Shaham/Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, 1996, 6:40, 16mm/Super 8
Classical music video for Deutsche Grammophon
I was interested in showing classical musicians as human beings: intense and passionate. The Orpheus Orchestra, which functions as a leaderless collective, were a great subject. We filmed guest violinist Gil Shaham talking about Vivaldi's work, and went out on the New York's wintry streets asking random passersby to read Vivaldi's poetic footnotes describing the music's progression.

WHAT DOES AWAY MEAN?
Public Service Announcement, 1989, 0:30, Super 8
Done as part of C-Hundred Film Corp's "Direct Effect" PSA series.
Music by D.C. punk/metal band, Void.



LUCKY THREE
Elliott Smith, 1997, 11:30, 16mm
An independent film portrait of singer/songwriter Elliott Smith in Portland, Oregon in 1996, wherein he plays three songs. The songs were done live acoustic--in his old studio, a living room, and a bathroom (it was quiet in there). It's also a small portrait of Portland, Oregon. The songs are "Between the Bars", "Angeles", and a cover of "Thirteen" by Big Star. This is Elliott as I remember him, at his simple finest as musician.

I WAS DANCING IN THE LESBIAN BAR
Jonathan Richman, 1996, 3:00, 16mm
Shot live at New York's Knitting Factory. Jonathan Richman needed his first video. I didn't want to do any lip-sync, and neither did he, so we shot a live performance in New York and I also stopped people on the street and had them dance to the song on a boombox.

YOU'RE THE ONE, LEE
Miracle Legion, 1989, 4:00, Super 8/Video
An early effort for a friend's band that never quite got their due.
Small town/Big town Super 8 and moments from a show at the old CBGBs.

TALK ABOUT THE PASSION
R.E.M., 1988, 3:40, Super 8/Video)
My first (non) music video, with some images borrowed from THIS IS A HISTORY OF NEW YORK. (I was asked to make it from that work, but chose to shoot some additional material specifically for the video). Shooting on an abandoned elevated rail structure above the city, I encountered a man who had set up his home in the shadow of a docked battleship. It concerns homelessness and military expenditure, counting and accountability. Knowing it would be broadcast, I made an attempt (perhaps naïve) to foreground the political.

BELONG
R.E.M., 1992, 5:00, Super 8/Video
The simplest convergence of landscape (the train trip out of New York through the Jersey Meadowlands) with live, non-sync concert footage; plus fragments of Super 8 aerials I shot from a small plane in Florida. The intro refers to events in Eastern Europe and China's Tiananmen Square. In 2005, shooting on the same train line through the same windows, I would have my film confiscated and turned over to the FBI. The once innocent bridges, parking lots, and abandoned fields were now "infrastructure" and a supposed national security concern.

VOCALISE
Olivier Messiaen, 1995, 5:20, 16mm/Super 8
Chung/Bastille Opera Orchestra
I was invited by Deutsche Grammophon to make another classical video. Impressions of Messiaen's bird and color obsessions, in another bid to bring classical music into the everyday world.

KELLI SHAY HICKS is a brilliant singer/songwriter from Nashville who plays the guitar and autoharp and whose debut CD - Bucked is a collection of her songs recorded by Jem Cohen in abandoned urban spaces in upstate New York.

__________












The Fourth Annual

New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival

April 12 – 22, 2007



Ten Days. Fifty films. Five US premieres.

Plus live music, guest filmmakers and actors, special guest presenters, workshops, and more.



Venues include

Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center,

Ashe Cultural Arts Center, One Eyed Jacks, and Canal Place Cinemas.



Highlights include a benefit concert featuring Righteous Babe Records recording artist Toshi Reagon, several evenings of films by New Orleans filmmakers, arguably the first fiction film shot in Iraq after the US occupation, award-winning films from Lebanon, Mali, Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Greece, Cuba and Palestine; plus an appearance by actor/producer Danny Glover. See www.nolahumanrights.org for a complete schedule. Updates and more information will be posted on the festival website shortly.







SCHEDULE:

(for detailed film descriptions look below the schedule)

_______________________________



Thursday, April 12 - Opening Night:



Canal Place Cinema



7pm: Back and Forth: A Program of Shorts curated by Courtney Egan (55 min) Locally-produced Short films made before the storm and flooding of 2005 will be contrasted with work made since, presenting similar subjects and locations seen through different eyes, at different times. Filmmakers present.



9pm: Opening night party - @ Handsome Willy's, 218 South Robertson (between Canal & Tulane)
(one free drink with ticket stub from opening night films)

_________________________________



Friday, April 13:



Ashe Cultural Arts Center



6pm: Alienated: Undocumented Immigrant Youth (28 min) Gives voice to undocumented youth immigrants facing the challenges of life after high school with no options for legalized work or college.



playing with:

Legacy Of Torture (28 min) In 1973, thirteen alleged "Black militants" were arrested in New Orleans. Some of them were tortured for several days by law enforcement authorities.



Plus panel and guest speakers

Co-Presented by Critical Resistance New Orleans



8pm: Benefit concert featuring Righteous Babe Records recording artist Toshi Reagon and Asali Devan. Proceeds benefit the INCITE/Women's Health and Justice Initiative New Orleans Women's Clinic. Tickets: $10



Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center (At Tulane)



9pm: An Unreasonable Man (122 min) The life and career of Ralph Nader, one of the most unique and controversial political figures of the past half century.



_________________________________



Saturday, April 14:



Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center (At Tulane)



5pm: ¡Salud! (92 min) The curious case of Cuba, a cash-strapped

country with one of the world's best health systems. Introduced by acclaimed Actor/Producer Danny Glover - in person!


7pm: Falluja (30) Through compelling and emotional first-hand accounts and live-action cinema verite, a ground-level view of the effects of the US assault on Falluja. Filmmaker Jacqueline Soohan (Fourth World War) will be present to introduce the film.

Playing with:

Shorts Program: Palestine Revolution Cinema (80 min) Curated by Emily Jacir, a stunning collection of films made by Palestinian revolutionary filmmakers in the 60's and early 70s, previously unseen in the US.



9pm: An Unreasonable Man (122 min) The life and career of Ralph Nader, one of the most unique and controversial political figures of the past half century.

_________________________________



Sunday, April 15:



Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center (At Tulane)



5pm: A Girl Like Me (8 min) - A film about the standards of beauty imposed on today's black girls and how this affects their self-image.

playing with:

By Invitation Only (57 min) An unprecedented look at the inner workings of the insular world of New Orleans' old line Carnival society through the lens of one of its own. Filmmaker Present



7pm: Vital Voices (Total Length: approx. 95 min) A selection of urgent and beautiful films from around the world. Featuring: Present, Cleveland Street Gap, Canal Nueve, White Feathers, Boom, Jean Paul, Hide Your Words, Hazards Of Engagement (see descriptions below). Some filmmakers present.



9pm: Kamp Katrina (73 min) In the days after Katrina, Bywater resident, Ms. Pearl, converted her backyard into a tent city where 14 displaced people lived for 6 months. Filmmaker David Redmon (Mardi Gras: Made In China) will be present to introduce the film.



__________________________________



Monday, April 16:



Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center (At Tulane)



7pm: Road to Guantánamo Part documentary, part drama, this stunning and powerful film tells the story of three young British men who were captured by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan in 2001 and detained as "enemy combatants" at Guantánamo Bay.

9pm: Ahlaam (Dreams) (110 min) Beginning in the bombed ruins of a psychiatric asylum, a fiction film from post-war Iraq, filmed in the days after the US invasion.



___________________________________



Tuesday, April 17:



Ashe Cultural Arts Center



6pm: NOLA Students Speak Out! Selections from the Ashe Cultural Arts Center youth filmmaking camp, and Students at the Center (40 minutes) These moving films by New Orleans high school students cover a range of important topics and themes. Filmmakers present.



7pm: Special Program sponsored by New Orleans World Social Forum Organizing Committee. Notes From Porto Alegre (28 min) In January 2005, youth producers traveled to Porto Alegre, Brazil to participate in the World Social Forum. Plus Special guests. This event is free



8:30pm: Heartlines: (97 minutes) After serving a jail sentence for theft, Mayisa, a young man with a cruel past and an uncertain future, is released. A heartwarming narrative film about the road to redemption.



____________________________________



Wednesday, April 18:



Ashe Cultural Arts Center



6pm: Free Ya Hood (80 minutes) Highlights New York City activists' work organizing against police brutality.



Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center (At Tulane)



7pm: Rainbows End (75 min) A multi-national journey exploring gay rights from the center to the borders of Europe.



9pm: Just Married (72 min) Following Kifah and Sudah, two newly married Palestinian women, Just Married reveals the personal drama that emerges from the political crisis.



__________________________________________



Thursday, April 19:



Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center (At Tulane)



7pm: Occupation 101 (89 min) A comprehensive introduction to the facts and hidden truths surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, dispelling many of its long-perceived myths and misconceptions.



9pm: Canal Nueve (7 min) Documenting the popular take-over of a corporate radio station in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Playing with:

Crossing Arizona (77 min) Examines the crisis of immigration through the eyes of those directly affected by it.



___________________________________



Friday, April 20:



Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center (At Tulane)



7pm: Present (8 min) Living in Sydney, Miyoko's seemingly simple existence is complicated by the weakness of her body and the strength of her memories.

Playing with:

Color Of Olives (92 min) An elegant and visually breathtaking new film about the Palestinian experience. A beautifully affecting reflection on the effects of racial segregation, the meaning of borders and the absurdity of war.



9pm: USA vs Al-Arian (99 min) An activist Arab family in Tampa Florida is targeted by the US government.



___________________________________



Saturday, April 21:



One Eyed Jacks



7pm: Fire The Next Time (15 min) WORLD PREMIERE A powerful new documentary of disposession and resistance in New Orleans. Filmmaker Jacqueline Soohan (Fourth World War) will be present to introduce the film.



Playing

with

Katrina Story (35 min) Directed by New Orleans Bounce superstar Tenth Ward Buck, Katrina Story tells his first-hand experience of being in New Orleans East as Katrina struck, his evacuation to the Houston Astrodome. Featuring powerful footage from the storm, performances by local hiphop artists, interviews with other New Orleans rappers, and more. Filmmakers present



Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center (At Tulane)



5pm: Ra Choi (2 hrs) The story of four Vietnamese street kids in

Australia trying to make a life for themselves.



9pm: Hide Your Words (27 min) A graceful and eloquent documentary about the plight of young girls in Iran.

Playing with:

Garlic and Watermelons (56 min) US PREMIERE A compelling and touching story of a family and community of Greek Gypsies displaced by official racism and hostility.



________________________________________



Sunday, April 22:



Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center (At Tulane)



Closing Night/Earth Day Program

5pm: Plagues And Pleasures on the Salton Sea (71 min) The strange history and unexpected beauty of the Salton Sea - one of America's worst ecological disasters - is revealed. Narrated by John Waters. Filmmakers present



7pm: Bamako (118 minutes) A fiction film from Africa that puts the IMF and World Bank on trial. "Needs to be seen, argued over, and seen again." – nytimes.



9pm: Letters from Beirut (20) WORLD PREMIERE Filmed in the days following the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, one Beirut woman's personal story of the devastation.

Playing with:

Leila Khaled: Hijacker (58 min) On August 29th, 1969, 24 year old Leila Khaled became the first woman ever to hijack an airplane.

11:00 p.m. - Closing Night Party - @ Handsome Willy's, 218 South Robertson (between Canal & Tulane) featuring a Crawfish boil

_____________________________________________________________________



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All Programs are $6, unless otherwise noted. Festival Pass is $40.

Please check www.nolahumanrights.org for full descriptions, program updates, expanded listings, and more.

_______________________________________________________


Venues:



Landmark Canal Place Cinema

333 Canal St @ N. Peters

New Orleans, LA 70130



Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center

@ Tulane University - School of Architecture - Richardson Memorial Bldg., Second floor, Rms. 201 & 204 - St. Charles Avenue. (504) 827-5858 (Note: It is free to park on campus on weekends and nightly after 7:00 p.m)



Ashe Cultural Arts Center

1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd

New Orleans, Louisiana 70113

(504) 569-9070



One Eyed Jacks

615 Toulouse Street

New Orleans, LA



Festival Staff

Jordan Flaherty, Rene Broussard, Jerald White, Tory Pegram, Jacqueline Soohen, Thomas Bacon, Leonora Tisdale, Heather Sinclair, Molly McClure.



Special Thanks to:

Ashe Cultural Arts Center

Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center

ACLU Foundation of Louisiana

Charitable Film Network

Amnesty International, New Orleans

Renaissance Project New Orleans

New Orleans Palestine Solidarity

People's Hurricane Relief Fund

People's Institute For Survival And Beyond

Iron Rail Bookstore and Infoshop

Consulat General du France

Ariel Montage

Students at the Center

One Eyed Jacks

Canal Place Cinema

Tulane University

LIFT Productions

Sip Wine Store

Whole Foods



____________________



Film Descriptions:



Opening Night: Back and Forth



Courtney Egan presents a program of locally produced shorts. Films made before the storm and flooding of 2005 will be contrasted with work made since, presenting similar subjects seen through different eyes and different times. What things used to be like, what it’s like now, who gets to tell the story — how are these things shaping what’s to come?

Includes short films and excerpts by Royce Osborn, Helen Hill, music video director Will Horton, Walter Williams (of Mr. Bill fame), Earlneka Royale of Students at the Center, J Bogas, the Yes Men, NOCCA student Helen Schmehl, the New Orleans Kid Camera Project, Laura Belsey with Babs Johnson, and Survivor’s Village. Some filmmakers present, Q&A to follow!

Mr. Bill Presents the Estuarians of America’s Wetlands, dir. Walter Williams, 2004, 3 min.
Murky the Mudcat explains land loss in south Louisiana to Mr. Bill.

Before the Flood, dir. Royce Osborn, 2006, 6 min.
Royce Osborn offers historical perspective on the Afro-Creole culture of New Orleans.

The Changing of the Mascot, dir. Earlneka Royale, summer 2005, 5 min.
A student researched the history of race relations at Douglass High School and created this digital story about the changing of her school’s name and mascot in the 1970’s.

Paco’s Gert Town Story, dir. Helen Schmehl, 2006, 4.5 min.
NOCCA student Helen Schmehl created this piece about an area of New Orleans known as Gert Town where residents face unique safety hazards after the storm. One man, Paco, tells of his involvement in the project to save his neighborhood from the nearby closed chemical facility, now a brownfield site, the Thompson-Hayward Plant.

Decorating Grandma Bobbie’s House, dir. The Gert Town Hounds - New Orleans Kid Camera Project, 2007, 3.5 min.
Even a boarded up house can have color and character, according to this Gert Town family. A community art project is functional as well as beautiful.

Sneekin’ in the Superdome, dir. J. Bogas, 1985, 3:5 min.
A tribute to big arena rock and roll and the refusal to pay an admission fee. “Sneekin in the Superdome” includes a short glimpse (the bootleg tape) from the Rolling Stones concert that set an indoor attendance record – 81,500 - in 1981.

Katrina’s Children, excerpt, dir. Laura Belsey, producer Babbs Johnson, 2007, 5 min.
A young girl’s drawing brings out the story of her experience in the Superdome, a “shelter of last resort.”

Back that Thang (Ass) Up, DJ Jubilee music video, dir. Will Horton, 1998, 7.5 min.
DJ Jubilee’s fans hold nothing back in this music video shot around New Orleans and in housing developments in the late 1990’s.

H.O.P.E. – Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere, dir. Survivors’ Village, 15 min.
On Martin Luther King Day, 2007, residents of the St. Bernard Housing development marched through the fences and began to clean up their apartments so they could return home. To support them, activists occupied units in the development until they were forcibly removed. This piece is an inside view of local activism and efforts to reopen public housing.

HUD Identity Correction in New Orleans, the Yes Men, 2007
The Yes Men take on the closure of public housing in New Orleans in their unique way, by impersonating a HUD official, the “assistant secretary” to Alphonso Jackson.

Monster in New Orleans, dir. Helen Hill with Paul Gailiunas, 2006, 1.5 min.
Animator Helen Hill and husband/musician/doctor Paul Gailiunas created this piece upon return to New Orleans in September 2006. Helen was murdered in her home on January 4th, 2007. This sobering piece attests to the difficulty they had in deciding to return to the city they loved.



A Girl Like Me (8 min) - Director Kiri Davis. A film about young Black girls and issues concerning the standards of beauty imposed on today’s black girls and how this affects their self-image. The film also reconducts the “doll test” initially conducted by Dr. Kenneth Clark, which was used in the historic desegregation case, Brown vs. Board of Education, shedding new light on how society affects black children today and how little has actually changed. www.reelworks.org.



Ahlaam (Dreams) (110 min) Director: Mohammed Al – Daradji. Baghdad 2003: confusion, uncertainty and death engulf the bombed ruins of a Psychiatric Asylum. A fiction film from post-war Iraq, shot with non-professional actors in the days after the US invasion.



Alienated: Undocumented Immigrant Youth (28 min) Director: Educational Video Center. Alienated gives voice to undocumented youth immigrants facing the challenges of life after high school with no options for legalized work or college. A determined young woman from St. Vincent commutes from Brooklyn to New Jersey to work as a nanny for $4 an hour, while another young woman from St. Lucia tells how she was detained in seven U.S. prisons between the ages of 17 and 20. Meanwhile, anti-immigrant groups rally around lobbying efforts that seek to impose ever-harsher policies and to 'protect our borders.' Through interviews with legal counselors, youth service providers, and activists on both sides of the immigration debate, Alienated examines what it means to be young, able and 'illegal' in America.



An Unreasonable Man (122 min) Director: Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan. With the help of exciting graphics, rare archival footage and over forty on-camera interviews conducted over the past two years, "An Unreasonable Man" traces the life and career of Ralph Nader, one of the most unique, important, and controversial political figures of the past half century. http://www.anunreasonableman.com/



Bamako (118 minutes) Director: Abderrahmane Sissako. Executive Producer: Danny Glover. Melé is a bar singer, her husband Chaka is out of work and the couple is on the verge of breaking up... In the courtyard of the house they share with other families, a trial court has been set up. African civil society spokesmen have taken proceedings against the World Bank and the IMF whom they blame for Africa's woes... Amidst the pleas and the testimonies, life goes on in the courtyard. Chaka does not seem to be concerned by this novel Africa's desire to fight for its rights... “Needs to be seen, argued over, and seen again.” – nytimes.









Boom (2 minutes) Director: David Sullivan. A short, abstract, computer animated film by New Orleans filmmaker David Sullivan.






By Invitation Only (57 min) Directed by Rebecca Snedeker

Inclusion in New Orleans' old line Carnival society remains "by invitation only," but this new documentary gives viewers an unprecedented look at the inner workings of this insular world through the lens of one of its own. Questioning its racial exclusivity, filmmaker Rebecca Snedeker decided to forego the debutante tradition that was a birthright of women in her family - but still she could not ignore its hold on her identity. In this film, she follows another young woman's ascension to her throne as a Mardi Gras queen, along the way revealing the tension between family and social status with both her own personal convictions and the winds of change in tradition-bound New Orleans. As Hurricane Katrina laid the cultural and racial complexities of the Crescent City bare, this film offers a probing and highly personal view into one of its oldest and most controversial traditions. http://www.byinvitationonlythefilm.com/



Canal Nueve (7 min) Director: Jen Lawhorne and Arnaldo Pena. Canal Nueve (“Channel Nine”) explains how a march of neighborhood women in Oaxaca, Mexico arrived at a state television station asking for a space to get their voices on the air. Upon being denied by media executives, the women decided to stay and occupy the station. For a few weeks they operated the station on their own.



Cleveland Street Gap (3 minutes) Director: Helen Hill and Courtney Egan. The late, great filmmaker Helen Hill recovered soggy home movies from her flooded house. These recent 16mm films, underwater for weeks, show haunting decayed imagery of lives so suddenly and drastically displaced by water. Cleveland Street Gap, edited by Courtney Egan, contrasts Helen's neighborhood before and after the flooding.



Color Of Olives (92 min) Director: Carolina Rivas. From Mexican director Carolina Rivas and cinematographer Daoud Sarhandi comes this elegant and visually breathtaking new film about the Palestinian experience. The Amer family lives surrounded by the infamous West Bank Wall, where their daily lives are dominated by electrified fences, locked gates and a constant swarm of armed soldiers. This unique and intimate documentary shares their private world, allowing a glimpse of the constant struggles and the small, endearing details that sustain them. THE COLOR OF OLIVES is an artistic and beautifully affecting reflection on the effects of racial segregation, the meaning of borders and the absurdity of war. http://www.thecolourofolives.com/



Crossing Arizona Directors: Joseph Matthew and Dan DeVivo. (77 min) With Americans on all sides of the immigration issue up in arms and Congress embroiled in a knock-down-drag-out policy battle over how to move forward, CROSSING ARIZONA shows how we got to where we are today. “Crossing Arizona” examines the crisis through the eyes of those directly affected by it. Frustrated ranchers go out day after day to repair cut fences and pick up the trash that endangers their livestock and livelihoods. Humanitarian groups place water stations in the desert in an attempt to save lives. Political activists rally against anti-migrant ballot initiatives and try to counter rampant fear mongering. Farmers who depend on the illegal work force face each day with the fear that they may lose their workers to a border patrol sweep. And now there are the Minutemen, an armed citizen patrol group taking border security into their own hands. As up-to-date as the nightly news, but far more in-depth, “Crossing Arizona” reveals the surprising political stances people take when immigration and border policy fails everyone. http://www.crossingaz.com/



Falluja (30) Directors: Hamudi Jasim, Brandon Jourdan, Jacquie Soohen. Fallujah starts out with a chronicle of events leading up to the November 2004 assault: The April 2003 massacres in Fallujah, when the U.S. opened fire on residents protesting the US military's taking over their local school, killing 15 civilians; the four Blackwater private security contractors killed in March 2004; the April 2004 attack that failed to "secure" the city, and so on. Then, through compelling and emotional first-hand accounts and live-action cinema verite, the Deep Dish TV video provides a ground-level view of the effects of the November assault on the families who were unable to flee the city. Stories and images of maimed and injured children, as well as destroyed mosques, schools, and hospitals, glaringly contradict the official claims that there were no more civilians remaining in Fallujah when the attack began.



Fire Next Time (15 min) Director: Jacqueline Soohen. WORLD PREMIERE. A powerful new documentary on New Orleans post-Katrina, dispossession, and community resistance.



Free Ya Hood (1hr, 20 minutes) Directors: Free Your Hood Coalition. Free Your Hood Coalition is a NYC coalition working on issues of police brutality. This video highlights the Coalition’s work organizing against police brutality and informing community members about their rights when interacting with the police. The video also discusses “Rapintelpro,” the government’s profiling and targeting of the hip-hop community.



Garlic and Watermelons (56 min) US PREMIERE Directors: Cameron Hickey and Lauren Feeney. Prokopis is a 36-year-old father with two precocious young sons and a new baby daughter. To support his family, he sells seasonal produce from the back of his red pickup truck: garlic in the spring, watermelons in the summer, potatoes in the fall, and holly around Christmas. He also collects and sells scrap metal. When his family is evicted from the settlement where they had lived for generations, his job becomes more difficult. Now, he has to come up with money for rent, water, and electricity every month. He is promised a subsidy from the local municipality, but the money proves elusive. Prokopis takes on a new role: as the unofficial representative of the group of forty families who were displaced to make room for the parking lot. He meets with human rights activists, shares his story with the international media that have descended on Athens in the months leading up to the Olympics, and brings his struggle to the mayor’s doorstep and finally to the courts. http://www.patternfilms.com/



Hazards of Engagement (24 min) Director: Sammy Loren. A New Orleans student visits Argentina and stays with social movements there. His visit raises questions about what is international solidarity.



Heartlines: (97 min.) Director: Angus Gibson. After serving a jail sentence for theft, Mayisa, a young man with a cruel past and an uncertain future, is released. He is offered a new chance at life by a well-meaning pastor, Jacob Musi. Jacob and Manyisa must learn that the road to redemption is not without pain.



Hide Your Words (27 min) Director: Behnam Behzadi. A graceful and eloquent documentary about the plight of young girls in Iran who spend their days dreaming of going to school while they work in salt mines and fear the impending reality and helplessness of arranged marriages.



Jean Paul (9 min) WORLD PREMIERE Director: Francesco Uboldi. Baloum is a very remote and pristine village up in the mountains of Western Cameroon. Jean Paul was born and raised there. He's dying chained to a tree, victim of superstitions. He's been left without food and water for days. Jean, the man who is in charge of his custody, talks about a magical ring. http://www.francescouboldi.com



Just Married (72 min) Director: Ayelet Bechar. This film follows Kifah and Sudah, two newly married Palestinian women, and their experiences with the Citizenship Law that has been in effect in Israel since 2003. Under the law, residents of Palestinian-ruled territories are forbidden to enter Israel, even if they are married to Israeli citizens. Bechar, by capturing each couple in its most private moments, reveals the personal drama that emerges from the political crisis. Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles.




Kamp Katrina (73 min) Directors: Ashley Sabin and David Redmon. Ms. Pearl — a New Orleans native — converts her backyard into a tent city where 14 displaced people live for 6 months. She provides construction jobs and basic resources to help them assist in rebuilding the city. The situation gradually goes violently awry and she is confronted with an array of abuses amidst a broken city. http://www.carnivalesquefilms.com



Katrina Story (35 min) Director: 10th Ward Buck. New Orleans Bounce music superstar 10th Ward Buck tells his first-hand experience of being in New Orleans East as Katrina struck, his evacuation to the Houston Astrodome, as well as music performances, interviews with other New Orleans rappers, and more.




Legacy Of Torture (28 min) Directors: Andres Alegría, Claude Marks & The Freedom Archives. In 2005 several former members of the Black Panthers were held in contempt and jailed for refusing to testify before a San Francisco Grand Jury investigating a police shooting that took place in 1971. The government alleged that Black radical groups were involved in the 34-year old case in which two men armed with shotguns attacked the Ingleside Police Station resulting in the death of a police sergeant and the injuring of a civilian clerk. In 1973, thirteen alleged "Black militants" were arrested in New Orleans, purportedly in connection with the San Francisco events. Some of them were tortured for several days by law enforcement authorities, in striking similarity to the horrors visited upon detainees in Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib.



Leila Khaled: Hijacker (58 min) Director: Lina Makboul. It was August the 29th, 1969 and TWA flight 840 had just taken off. The destination was Tel Aviv, Israel. A short while later a woman leaves her seat and threatens the crew with hand grenades and enters the cockpit. She takes hold of the microphone; "Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please, kindly fasten your seat belts. This is your new Captain speaking. The Che Guevara commando unit of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine..." 24 year old Leila Khaled had just completed her first hijacking and at the same time she became the first woman ever to hijack an airplane. http://www.leilakhaled.com/



Letters from Beirut (20) Director: Rick Rowley. This powerful film, shot in the days following the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, follows one Beirut woman’s personal story of the devastation, as well as her search for the stories behind the photos of violence and loss she’s seen, in her work as a journalist. WORLD PREMIERE.



Notes From Porto Alegre (28 min) Directed by Global Action Project Youth Producers. In January 2005, G.A.P. youth producers traveled to Porto Alegre, Brazil to participate in the World Social Forum. Using the WSF credo "Another World is Possible" youth interviewed activists who participate in local and global social movements, and filmed cultural and political activities in the Youth Camp, City of Hip Hop and other spaces at the WSF. Included are interviews with Sem Terra Movement (Brazil), Cooperativa Impa (Argentina), La Fábrica Ciudad Cultural (Brazil), Jubilee South (South Africa), Freedom of Expression Institute (South Africa).



Occupation 101 (89 min) Directors: Abdallah Omeish and Sufyan Omeish. Occupation 101 presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts and hidden truths surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and dispels many of its long-perceived myths and misconceptions. The film also details life under Israeli military rule, the United States' role, and sheds light on the major obstacles which stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace. Unlike any other film ever produced on the conflict -– ‘Occupation 101’ explains the situation in a comprehensive manner and gives audiences a complete context in which to better understand the Israeli-Palestinian encounter. The film depicts the root causes of the conflict through Israeli, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, American, and Palestinian voices that are rarely ever heard through mainstream media outlets. The film covers a wide range of topics -- which include -- the first wave of Jewish immigration from Europe of the 1880’s, the 1920 tensions, the 1948 war, the 1967 war, the first Intifada of 1987, the Oslo Peace Process, Settlement expansion, the role of the United States Government, the second Intifada of 2000, and also covers the recent Gaza Disengagement of August 2005. http://www.occupation101.com



Plagues And Pleasures on the Salton Sea Directors: Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer. Once known as the “California Riviera,” the Salton Sea is now called one of America’s worst ecological disasters: a fetid, stagnant, salty lake, coughing up dead fish and birds by the thousands. Yet a few hardy eccentrics hang on to hope, including a roadside nudist waving at passing European tourists, a man building a religious mountain out of mud and paint, beer-loving Hungarian Revolutionary Hunky Daddy, and the real-estate “Ronald McDonald” known simply as The Landman. Through their perceptions and misperceptions, the strange history and unexpected beauty of the Salton Sea is revealed. Narrated by underground film icon John Waters. http://www.saltonseadoc.com/



Present (8 min) Director: Julietta Boscolo. Living in Sydney, Miyoko's seemingly simple existence is complicated by the weakness of her body and the strength of her memories. A beautiful and surprisingly powerful film.



Ra Choi (2 hrs) Director: M. Frank. Set in the Sydney suburbs; Ra Choi is the story of four street kids down on their luck and trying to make a life for themselves. It's a moving and emotional journey where the strength of the human spirit is often the only hope they have in their intertwined lives. Ra Choi is a Vietnamese expression, which translated means "Coming out to play." It refers to the immersion into street life. Dac Kien, Lanh, Trinh and Lucy and their friends are more than just kids on the street. They are family who cannot survive without each other's support. They will soon discover the true meaning of friendship and loyalty. http://www.rachoi.com



Rainbows End (75 min) Directors: Jochen Hick & Christian Jentzsch. Rainbow's End is a multinational journey exploring gay rights from the center to the borders of Europe. From parades and protests in Warsaw and Krakow to touching personal stories with social, religious and political insights, the film moves from street activism to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. A starting point for any timely and relevant discussion regarding the future of lesbian, gay, bi and transgender people within Europe and throughout the world. Canvassing the European countryside, Rainbow's End covers significant territory:




Road to Guantánamo Director: Michael Winterbottom. Part documentary, part drama, this stunning and powerful film tells the story of the 'Tipton Three' three young British men from Tipton who were captured by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan in 2001 and detained as "enemy combatants" at Guantánamo Bay, without charge or legal representation, for nearly three years. As well as interviews with the three men themselves and archive news footage from the period, the film contains an account of the three men's experiences following their capture by the Northern Alliance, the subsequent handover to the United States military and their detention in Cuba. The Tipton Three were all released without charge in 2004. http://www.roadtoguantanamomovie.com/



¡Salud! (92 min) Director: Connie Field. A timely examination of human values and the health issues that affect us all, ¡Salud! looks at the curious case of Cuba, a cash-strapped country with what the BBC calls ‘one of the world’s best health systems.’ From the shores of Africa to the Americas, !Salud! hits the road with some of the 28,000 Cuban health professionals serving in 68 countries, and explores the hearts and minds of international medical students in Cuba -- now numbering 30,000, including nearly 100 from the USA. Their stories plus testimony from experts around the world bring home the competing agendas that mark the battle for global health—and the complex realities confronting the movement to make healthcare everyone’s birth right. Narrated and Produced by Danny Glover – in person! http://www.saludthefilm.net



USA vs Al-Arian (99 min) Director: Line Halvorsen. An activist Arab family in Tampa Florida is targeted by the US government. The film shows a personal story of a family living in a society where fear of terrorism has resulted in increasing stigmatization and discrimination against Muslims. For years, Nahla Al-Arian and her children have been fighting to prove the innocence of husband and father Sami, a Palestinian refugee, university professor and civil rights activist, who has lived in the USA for more than thirty years. In 2003, Sami Al-Arian was accused of giving material support to a terrorist organization and held in solitary confinement for over three years. His six-month trial ended without a single guilty verdict. The failure to convict Dr. Al-Arian was seen as a stinging rebuke for the federal government. While the Bush administration considered this a landmark case in its campaign against international terrorism, Sami Al-Arian claims he has been targeted in an attempt to silence his political views. Because the jury hung on some of the counts, however, Dr. Al-Arian remained in jail as the prosecution threatened to retry him. http://www.usavsalarian.com/



White Feathers (8 min) Directed by Rebecca Scott. A young African woman is being initiated into an African ceremony with an unacceptable past. Within this ceremony Female Genital Mutilation is believed to cleanse woman and promote virginity, women cannot be respected as an adult unless they have undergone this procedure.



SHORTS PROGRAMS:



Vital Voices: Special Shorts Program

A selection of powerful, poetic, and beautiful short films from around the world. Films include Present, Cleveland Street Gap, Canal Nueve, White Feathers, Boom, Jean Paul, Hide Your Words, and Hazards Of Engagement. (Total Length: approx. 95 min)



Palestinian Revolution Cinema Curated by Emily Jacir.

A special tribute to a group of filmmakers who have made significant contributions to various categories of Palestinian Revolution Cinema between the years of 1968 and 1982. Given the current political environment in Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon in 2007, it is especially important to screen these films that have slipped through the cracks of history. They are a visual testament to past events and offer us a glimpse of history from the perspective of the people who actually lived it, a perspective not sanctioned by the official US/European meta-narrative of the region. In the context of last summer's Israeli invasion of Lebanon, screening Monica Maurer's film Born Out of Death of the aftermath of the Israeli bombardment of Beirut in 1981 has an ever more present urgency. How does our frame of reference of the current dire and desperate situation for Palestinians shift when we see the 1974 Israeli destruction of the Palestinian refugee camp Nabatiya in Mustafa Abu Ali's film They Do Not Exist? Aside from a premiere in New York last month, most of these films have never before been seen in the US. Films include: 1) Away from Home - Qais Il Zobaidi/Syria /11 min/ 1969. 2) The Visit - Qais Il Zobaidi/Syria/ 10 min/ 1970. 3) Children Nonetheless - Khadija Abu Ali/Palestine/ 25 min/1980. 4) They Don't Exist - Mustafa Abu Ali/Palestine/ 25 min/ 1974. 5) Born Out of Death - Monica Maurer/ Palestine/ 9 min/ 1981. Please see here for more detailed descriptions: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6560.shtml



NOLA Students Speak Out! Special Shorts Program : Selections from the Ashe Cultural Arts Center youth filmmaking camp, and Students at the Center (40 minutes)


For Media inquiries, additional information or to volunteer please contact info@nolahumanrights.org or call 504 827-5858


In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the people of New Orleans are struggling for justice, human rights, and the right of return. We are proud to bring this festival of cinema to New Orleans in partnership with local social justice organizations doing vital work in this city. Our goal is to raise awareness of human rights issues and provide a forum for artistic expression of these themes. www.nolahumanrights.org

FESTIVAL HISTORY:

The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival was founded in 2004
by a coalition of local organizers and community members, consulting with
local organizations including representatives of the ACLU Foundation of
Louisiana, Families and Friends of Louisiana‚s Incarcerated Children, New
Orleans Palestine Solidarity, New Orleans American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee, Planned Parenthood of Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta, Iron
Rail Bookstore and Library, Neighborhood Gallery, Loyola Amnesty
International, Zeitgeist Multidisciplinary Arts Center, and more. Although
operated by an all-volunteer staff on a shoestring budget, the first annual
festival presented a range of local and national premieres including Fourth
World War, Until When, Lost Boys of Sudan, Rana‚s Wedding, and the first New
Orleans showing in at least thirty years of Battle of Algiers.

The Second Annual New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival
presented 35 new films in 17 days and eight venues and featured two world
premieres. At the third festival, from April 6 ˆ 15, 2006, New Orleanians
viewed more than 40 films from 5 continents. The 2006 festival also had
screenings in Shreveport and Natchitoches, Louisiana.

------------------------------------------------
MORE INFORMATION:

The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival was created to
support New Orleans‚ social justice community.

We are proud to bring this festival of cinema to New Orleans in partnership
with local social justice organizations doing vital work in this city. Our
goal is to raise awareness of human rights issues and provide a forum for
artistic expression of these themes.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the people of New Orleans are
struggling for justice, human rights, and the right of return.

Despite our hardship and loss, we are dedicated to continuing this festival
in tribute to New Orleans‚ community of resistance.

------------------------------------------------
FESTIVAL AWARDS:

Every year, the festival presents audience choice awards to filmmakers based
on the results of audience ballots as well as a jury prize voted on by
festival organizers and members of the social justice community. Below are
the 2006 festival award winners:

2006 AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER for BEST FEATURE: FACES OF CHANGE by MICHELE
STEPHENSON

2006 AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER for BEST SHORT: ABORTION DIARIES by PENNY LANE

2006 JURY AWARD WINNER for BEST FEATURE: PALESTINE BLUES by NIDA SINNOKROT

2006 JURY AWARD WINNER for BEST SHORT: CHILDREN OF THE STORM: TEENS SPEAK
OUT by BETSY WEISS

2006 OFFICIAL SELECTION, OPENING NIGHT FILMS: AFTER THE WIND∑, FINDING
COMMON GROUND, PEOPLE SAY and TREME.

2006 OFFICIAL SELECTION, CLOSING NIGHT FILMS: RIGHTS ON THE LINE, THE
EXONERATED, FACES OF CHANGE and PALESTINE BLUES.

--------------------------------------------

SUPPORT THE FESTIVAL:

The Human Rights Festival is an all-volunteer, extremely underfunded,
effort. Proceeds support local organizing. Please donate or volunteer to
support the festival. Visit www.nolahumanrights.org for more information.

SUPPORT JUSTICE FOR NEW ORLEANS
www.nolahumanrights.org

______________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

All Zeitgeist events are co-sponsored by L.I.F.T. Productions and WTUL – FM.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Upcoming major events:

A Tea Party/Film Tribute To Helen Hill – Zeitgeist will present a bi-monthly series of tributes by visiting and local artists to Helen Hill. The next one is April 7 @ 3:00 p.m. (see below). Filmmaker Trixie Sweetvittles comes to Zeitgeist in June to curate a program of Wild and Wooly Animations in honor of Helen.
_____

Visiting gay, experimental Canadian filmmaker Steve Reinke comes to Zeitgeist this May to present his new program of experimental films entitled My Rectum Is Not A Grave.

_____

June 6 - 10, 2007 - Zeitgeist commemorates the 25th Anniversary of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s death with a mini-retrospective.

_____

Zeitgeist will host The Reel Identities: Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Trans-gendered Film Festival @ Tulane in June 2007.

_____

GRAND OPENING! - We hope to open our new location @ 2940 Canal St. at the end of September (God and permits willing!)

_____

December 7 – 15, 2007 Zeitgeist is planning to revive the Zeitgeist Creative Music Festival as an annual festival.

_____

January 11 – 20, 2008 we will present the 2nd Annual New Orleans Middle East Film Festival (with music, performance and food to make it more festive!)

_____

We would like to give very special thanks to our four corporate sponsors:

L.I.F.T. Productions

WTUL – FM

WAYNE TROYER – ARCHITECT

AIDAN GILL FOR MEN

______


If you, your business or organization would like to help support Zeitgeist and the development of the

ZEITGEIST’S CANAL SPACE CINEMA and THE HOLOCENE


Please send your memberships or donations made out to “Zeitgeist inc.” to:

Rene Broussard, Executive Director

Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center

1220 A North Robertson Street

New Orleans, LA 70116

www.zeitgeistinc.net

zte@bellsouth.net

504 827-5858 – Zeitgeist

504 352-1150 – cell

For donations specifically for the bi-monthly series of Helen Hill Tributes, please put “For Helen” in the memo line.

If you are willing to volunteer or intern with Zeitgeist please e-mail or call Rene at the contact info listed above.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SPECIAL OFFER!!! A great deal for you and a fundraiser for Zeitgeist.

One of our favorite film distributors (and good friends), FIRST RUN FEATURES, has agreed (after some serious poor-mouthing/Katrina guilt) to offer our patrons a hefty 40% discount off ANY title in their DVD catalog. Their impressive collection of over 250 titles contains many films which began their theatrical life here. They have further agreed to donate an additional 15% of all sales generated from this offer back to Zeitgeist as a fundraiser. Shipping is free for orders of $25 or more

That’s a 55% discount, which is pretty damn generous.

Visit their web site (www.firstrunfeatures.com) to view their entire line-up. Over 250 independent, animated, foreign and documentary films to chose from. If you decide to buy, just use coupon code "ZEITGEIST" (all caps) at the checkout page to receive your 40% discount. Plus.

Most films retail for $29.95, but after deducting 40%, your cost is only $17.97. That’s cheaper than ordering from Amazon and Zeitgeist gets 15% of you purchase as a credit towards our future film rentals.

Titles Zeitgeist has shown from First Run Features and First Run/Icarus Films that you could now own include:

THE KNOWLEDGE OF HEALING, an illuminating examination of Tibetan medicine
DESERTED STATION from Iran
SILENT WATERS from Pakistan
S21: THE KMER ROUGE KILLING MACHINE
THE TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER
THE TAKE, an anti-globalization, real life political thriller
ANGEL ON THE RIGHT from Tajikistan
RACHIDA from Algeria
MARGARETTE’S FEAST from Brazil
WOMEN’S PRISON from Iran
TICKET TO JERUSALEM from Palestine
FEMALE MISBEHAVIOR by Monika Treut
MONGOLIAN PING PONG
HOWARD ZINN: You Can’t Be Neutral On A Moving Train
DEATH BY DESIGN by Peter Friedman
BROTHERS IN ARMS, the John Kerry documentary
FEED, intercepted satellite feeds of politicians at their worst
HOMO SAPIENS 1900, doc on the history of Eugenics
LIVE NUDE GIRLS UNITE, doc about strippers organizing a union
PASSING IT ON a doc about the Black Panthers
ONE NATION UNDER GOD, about efforts to convert gays & lesbians into straights
ELECTRIC SHADOWS from China
BROTHERS IN TROUBLE from Pakistan/Great Britain
LEILA from Iran
MENDEL from Norway
MIDNIGHT DANCERS by Mel Chionglo
NO FEAR, NO DIE by Claire Denis
ONLY THE BRAVE from New Zealand
PETITE FRERES by Jacques Doillon
SEXUAL LIFE OF THE BELGIANS
THE DISENCHANTED by Benoit Jacquot
THE EMBALMER by Matteo Garrone
HALFMOON based on the three stories by Paul Bowles
HOLLOW CITY from Angola
I, WORST OF ALL by Maria Luisa Bemberg
THE WOUNDS from Bosnia
Etc.

Plus some of the films that Zeitgeist should have shown, but you can now buy include:

THE DEVIL’S MINER from Bolivia
THE INTERNATIONALE featuring Billy Bragg
LA COMMUNE by Peter Watkins
WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE about George Bush and the religious right
ARISTIDE AND THE ENDLESS REVOLUTION
WAR PHOTOGRAPHER
49 UP by Michael Apted
BRIGHT LEAVES by Ross McElwee
BLOOD IN THE FACE a documentary on the KKK in America
DANGEROUS LIVING a doc about being gay in non-western societies
GENDERNAUTS by rosa Von Praunheim
LET’S GET FRANK, doc about openly gay Rep. Barney Frank
POWER AND TERROR: NOAM CHOMSKY IN OUR TIMES
VENUS BOYZ doc about the Drag Kings
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PHILIP K. DICK
GOOGOOSH: IRAN’S DAUGHTER
BUFFALO BOY from Vietnam
THE COW from Iran
THE CUP FINAL from Israel
DON’T LET ME DIE ON A SUNDAY from France
GO FOR ZUCKER a German/Jewish comedy
HAMOUN from Iran
TORREMOLINOS 73 from Spain
TUVALU by Veit Helmer
WHISKY from Uruquay
THE VIRGIN MACHINE by Monika Treut
Etc.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zeitgeist has also gotten in a shipment of really beautiful, hand-crafted jewelry (necklaces and bracelets) from Tibet that we will be selling in our mini-gift shop as a fundraiser to continue our sponsorship of two Buddhist monks, Tsering Phunstock and Tashi Phunstock, in India.



With proceeds from the TIBETAN BUDDHISM: A FILM SURVEY which Zeitgeist presented this past year, we were able to sponsor these two monks, Tsering and Tashi, in India. We would love to be able to renew our sponsorship, so come and check oput our gift shop. Thanks for you generous support.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ZEITGEIST IS NOW 20 YEARS OLD!

Founded in 1986 by Rene Broussard when he was a BFA student in the Drama & Communications Department at the University of New Orleans. Zeitgeist was initiated as an experimental theater troupe and derives its name from The Adventures of Phoebe Zeitgeist, a comic series which ran in Evergreen Review in the 1970's. Phoebe was the lead character in Zeitgeist's first theatrical production, Blood on the Cat's Neck by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The word Zeitgeist, is a German noun meaning "the spirit of the times". When Zeitgeist was incorporated as a non-profit organization with the sate of Louisiana, there mission statement simply became “something for and against everyone!”

Zeitgeist went on to produce several other successful plays including Shakespeare the Sadist by Wolfgang Bauer, Rocking Back and Forth by Gunter Grass, Let’s Eat Hair by Karl Lazlo and an environmental theatre piece/musical about the Manson Family entitled Commune. The emphasis of the organization changed to that of the city of New Orleans' leading exhibitor of alternative cinema with series and originally curated programs of experimental and underground films being presented in various locations.

In June of 1990, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, one of the top 10 alternative arts centers in the U.S. offered Rene Broussard the position of Film Curator. In the three years Broussard was in Buffalo, N.Y. (1990-1993), Zeitgeist continued to do sporadic programming. Broussard served as a the co-director of the WAYS IN BEING GAY FESTIVAL and the director of the OUTRAGE GAY & LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL.

In June of 1993, Broussard returned to New Orleans to establish Zeitgeist as a full-time alternative cinema doing regular programming at the Masonic Temple, The Latin American Bar, Muddy Waters and Pussycat Caverns eventually establishing their own screening room at the late Movie Pitchers. After three more address changes on O’keefe Ave (where we were partnered with Clinton Peltier’s x art gallery) and Magazine Street, Zeitgeist found it's current home, located at 1724 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., which Zeitgeist has shared with Barrister's Gallery for seven years.

Zeitgeist is an entirely volunteer, artist run organization that does not receive grants or public funds, who presents film, video, performance art, visual art and literary events six nights a week, year-round and is considered one of the premiere alternative arts center in the South. Zeitgeist was awarded the Mayor's Arts Award by the Arts Council of New Orleans and is the main venue for the NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL (April 12 – 22, 2007), the NEW ORLEANS BOOK FAIR (every October) and the NEW ORLEANS MIDDLE EAST FILM FESTIVAL (December 5 – 17, 2006).

In preparation for this 20 year celebration I decided to make a list of

My 20 Favorite Films of the Last 20 Years

My goal was to screen all twenty of them, but there simply wasn’t enough time and money to do so. Plus in a couple of cases, (All About Lilly Chou Chou and Why Is Yellow The Middle Of The Rainbow?) the films were simply no longer in theatrical distribution in the U.S., but I did manage to program 13 of them now, the others I hope to find a way to bring them over the course of the upcoming year.

My 20 Favorite Films of the last 20 years, That Played @ Zeitgeist.

ARCHANGEL by Guy Maddin
WHERE IS THE FRIEND’S HOME? by Abbas Kiarostami
SCARED SACRED by Velcrow Ripper
BESHKEMPIR: THE ADOPTED SON by Aktan Abdykalykov
THREE ROOMS OF MELANCHOLIA by Pirjo Honkasalo
HOLLYWOOD, HONG KONG by Fruit Chan
TALES OF THE GIMLI HOSPITAL by Guy Maddin
ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU CHOU by Shunji Iwai
GAZA STRIP by James Longley
KAIRAT by Darezhan Omirbaev
FREEDOM IS PARADISE by Sergei Bodrov
ABANDONED by Arpad Sopsits
THE GARDEN by Derek Jarman
PARADISE LOST: THE CHILD MURDERS AT ROBIN HOOD HILLS by Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky
TRIBULATION 99 by Craig Baldwin
WHY IS YELLOW THE MIDDLE OF THE RAINBOW? by Kidlat Tahimik
FIREWORKS (HANA-BI) by Takeshi Kitano
SMOKE by Mark D’Auria
LILIES by John Greyson
IN A GLASS CAGE by Augustin Villaronga

and

My Favorite Films Of The Last 20 Years That should have played At Zeitgeist:

REFLECTING SKIN by Philip Ridley
LES DIABLES by Christoph Ruggia (never released in the U.S., but I am working with the French Consulate to get it)
LEOLO by Jean-Claude Lauzon
THIS IS ENGLAND by Shane Meadows (So good, I saw it twice at the Toronto Film Fest, yet to premiere in the U.S.)
HAPPINESS by Todd Solandz
POISON by Todd Haynes
MYSTERIOUS SKIN by Gregg Araki
A ROOM FOR ROMEO BRASS by Shane Meadows


If you support what we are doing you should join us by getting a membership or signing up as a volunteer.


Highlights from Zeitgeist’s 20 years include:

visiting filmmakers:

Legendary lesbian/experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer, Mark Pauline (Survival Research Laboratories), Francis James (Moon Blue Traces), transgressive filmmaker Alan Sondheim, Leslie Thornton (Peggy and Fred In Hell), animator/screenwriter Tom Zummer, lesbian video artist Julie Zando, Janet Wondra & Jeff Walker (Uncool Orbit), Tom Richards & Marta (pixel-vision/video artists), drag/activist video artistsBrenda Sexual & Glennda Orgasm, documentary filmmaker Harrod Blank, New York gay filmmakerMark D’Aria, lesbian video artist Sadie Benning, hip hop video artist and media assassin Art Jones, Anne Craig & Maia Harris (Storyville: The Naked Dance), documentarian Paul Stekler, Isaac Webb (The Wedding), underground filmmaker Jeri Cain Rossi, Rene Broussard (The Fatboy Chronicles), German filmmaker/curator Ingo Petzke, Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov, San Francisco filmmaker Eric Saks, transgressive filmmaker Joe Christ, Craig Baldwin (Sonic Outlaws), lesbian filmmaker/curator Jenny Olsen, New York experimental animator Donna Cameron, experimental & documentary filmmaker Lynne Sachs, experimental filmmaker Mark Street, legendary German gay filmmaker Rosa Von Praunheim, gay experimental filmmaker from Berlin Michael Brynntrup, gay filmmaker/producer from Berlin Jurgen Bruning, gay Canadian filmmaker Bruce La Bruce, Wash Westmoreland Squishy Does Porno and later Quincinera), documentary filmmaker from Bombay Anand Patwardhan, legendary British filmmakers Isaac Julien & Mark Nash, documentarian Les Blank, documentarian Robert Mugge, Peter George (Surf Nazis Must Die), the legendary late Austrian experimental filmmaker Kurt Kren, lesbian experimental filmmaker Jennifer Reeves, legendary German experimental filmmaker Wilhelm Hein & photographer Annette Frick, German filmmaker Stephan Sachs, Will Frank, Mike Lyddon & Karl DeMolay (Zombie vs. Mardi Gras), black independent New Orleans video artists King Jeff & El Timo, documentary filmmaker Rick Delaup, screenwriter/filmmaker Henry Griffin, Cheryl Dunye (Watermelon Woman), Douglas Langway (Raising Heroes) , video artist/curator Courtney Egan, experimental animator/curator Helen Hill, experimental filmmaker Betsy Weiss, documentarian Neil Alexander, San Francisco experimental filmmaker Alfonso Alvarez, New York experimental filmmaker Bill Morrison, Chicago filmmakers Jim Finn & Dean Rank, cult filmmaker John Michael McCarthy, Shreveport filmmaker/curator David Nelson, experimental animator Devon Damonte, cult filmmaker/prankster Igor Vamos, Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker Laura Dunn (Green), Diane Zander (Girl Wrestler), documentary filmmakers Louis Alvarez & Andrew Kolker, San Francisco filmmaker/curator Melinda Stone, cut-up animator Martha Colburn, DIY-punk filmmaker James Schneider, documentary filmmaker/curator Matt McCormick, documentary filmmaker/sex worker Scarlet Harlot, legendary concert filmmaker Steve Gebhardt, inter-active computer/video installation artist Paul Vanouse, inter-active computer/video artist/curator Patrick Lichty, installation artist Andrew Wade Smith, legendary pranksters RTmark, film/music performers Wet Gate, legendary filmmaker/video artist/composer/musician Tony Conrad, New York underground filmmaker Rachel Amadeo, documentary filmmakers Jane C. Wagner & Tina Tina Di Feliciantonio, Academy Award nominated Cuban/American filmmaker Juan Carlos Zaldivar (90 Miles, Soldiers Pay), comedian/filmmaker/actor/writer Harry Shearer, Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker Sam Green (The Weather Underground), Two time Academy Award nominated editor/filmmaker Dawn Logsdon (The Weather Underground, Paragraph 174), human rights activists/filmmakers Big Noise Tactical Media, Termite T.V., local activist turned filmmaker who went to Palestine with the New Orleans Human Rights Delegation Rebecca Rapp, German experimental filmmaker Caspar Stracke, filmmaker/hobo Bill Daniel, Academy Award Winning Documentary Filmmaker Barbara Trent (The Panama Deception), New York filmmaker Michelle Stephenson (Faces Of Change), Leonard Abrams (Quilombo Country), New York activist/filmmaker Peter Kinoy, Mayorial candidate turned filmmaker Manny Chevrolet, concert filmmaker Michael Murphy, activist filmmaker Mary Beth Black, filmmaker/professor Mark Morris, computer animator David Sullivan, documentary filmmaker Royce Osborn, documentary filmmaker Jeremy Campbell, documentary filmmaker William Sabourin O'Reilly, Texas filmmaker Nick Cooper, New Orleans filmmaker Jason Vowell (Aperture), filmmaker/organizer Christopher C. Brown, video artist Tim Best, Gordon Soderberg (Walkin To New Orleans), Palestinian filmmakers from The Balata Film Collective, corporate pranksters The Yes Men, legendary feminist filmmaker Julie Gustafson, etc.

Major Film series & Events:



The Performance Group on Film; Neue Deutche Kino; The World Made Flesh: American Experiments In Marginality; Beuys And Beyond: Contemporary German Artists On Film; Louisianalysis & Texastentialism; Kino Der Obsessionen; Avant-garde Cinema; Female Ejaculation Night!; Fluxus & Situationist Cinema; German Film in the Experimental Feature & Short; Contemporary Silent Classics; The Visual Politics of Hip Hop; Films In The Hood; Dissident Films; Recent African Cinema; Queerly Canadian; The Films of Kidlat Tahimik: A Third Wold Projector; Beckett on Film; Inspired by Bach; A Young Boy's Dreams Are Often Wet: Appropriated Images of Youth; The Films of Pier Paolo Passolini; The Films of Atom Egoyan; The Early Films of Peter Greenaway; The Surreal Animations of The Brothers Quay; The Films of Jan Svankmajer; The Films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder; The Films of Danny Lyons; Northern Exposures; Tales from the Winnipeg Film Group; 50 Years of Perversion: The Films of Rosa Von Praunheim; The Films of Isaac Julien; The Films of Marlin Riggs; The Films of Kenneth Anger; The Films of Stan Brakhage; The Films of Derek Jarman; The Films of Andy Warhol; The Films of Fernando Arrabal; Mondo Manitoba Marathon; Movie Days: International Children's Film Series; Zelten verboten! (No camping!): New Queer Cinema from Germany; Laurels For The Stans: Films from the Silk Road; 15 Years/15 Films; Film Movement Presents; Why They Hate U.S.: Thirty documentaries depicting U.S. Acts of Terror and Foreign Policy Run Amok; The Silent Films of Stan Brakhage (as interpreted by the Improvisational Arts Council); Super Super 8 Film Festival Tour; Lenin Busted; Rural Route Film Festival Tour; Madcat Women's Film Festival Tour; Gadabout Film Festival Tour; Clermont-Ferrad Short Film Festival Tour; Rooftop Films; Iranian Films; Arab Cinema Celebration; Juvenile In-Justices; NOVAC Retrospective; Classic and Contemporary Japanese Cinema; The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival (I, II & III); Beyond the Veil; Global Film Initiative Tour; Soccer Cinema/Football Films; Zeitgeist Finds Religion; Tibetan Buddhism: A Film Survey; White Fluffy Duckies; Mao Now; Masculine/Feminine; Africa on Film; Europe Watches America; The Films of Michael Haneke; Free Cinema Retrospective; New Orleans Filmmakers Present; Banned Book Week Film Series; The Films of Pierre Coulibeuf; Zeitgeist's 20th Anniversary Retrospective; The New Orleans Middle East Film Festival (December 5 – 17, 2006), etc.

Performances by:



Richard Schechner, Kathy Randels, Vanessa Skantze, Lisa D’Amour, Anne-Liese Juge, Lucas Cox, J. Hammons, Tamer, Jose Torres Tama, Audrey Elizabeth, Nick Faust, Brenda Sexual & Glennda Orgasm, Penny Arcade, Moving Humans, ArtSpot Productions, Dennis Formento, John Sinclair, Caged, The Death Posture, Joe Goodrich, Brother Clit, Crescent City Puppetry Festival, Ronald Ehmke, Greg Walloch, Alan Reade, Wet Gate, Happensdance Modern Dance Company, Queerly Canadian Performance Festival, David Bateman, David Roche, Michael Achtman, ComedySportz, State Of The Nation: Third Annual Performance Festival, the Annual Sex Workers Art Show Tour, etc.

Concerts: