And the Chinese documentary Last Train Home ended up as my favorite film of the festival, bar none. Director Lixin Fan followed a migrant-worker couple trying to get tickets for trips home to their village to see the kids they left with their grandmother years ago in order to earn a meager living. Watching this devastating portrait of a family trying to glue itself back together, you wonder how China, on its way to becoming the world's richest nation, will avoid civil war if it doesn't also attend to the needs of the millions of poverty-stricken families like this one.

It won the IDFA Best Documenatary Award and is apparently poised to storm America.

Related: The American Ruling Class

Meditate and Destroy focuses on former bad boy turned author and Buddhist teacher Noah Levine. As much a teaching tool as a mini-biography, we learn of the drug addled and crime filled life that transformed this self-proclaimed punk into a force for good in the realm of spiritual guidance. While Levine’s story has much more dramatic punch, it is frequently compromised by director Sarah Fisher’s desire to hard sell the man’s ‘ministry’ and teachings. Cole, on the other hand creates a Religulous like experience in which questions of dogmatic inconsistency provide fodder for humor - and occasional insight.

Indeed, So…Help Me God accomplishes the basic tenets of its set-up. Cole comes across as good natured and genuine, never openly confronting his hosts like HBO pundit Bill Maher did during his documentary. Certainly he lets the subjects spewing hate hang themselves with obvious clarity (a family of rabid homosexual hating zealots are exposed for the robot minding morons they are), but he also wants to understand and experience the substance of religious devotion. After speaking with all manner of types - Muslim, Jew, Hindi, Buddhist, etc. - he decides to confront his quandary head on. Setting up a tent in the desert, he explores the reasons and the need for faith. His last act revelation falls in line with the rest of So…Help Me God‘s direct designs.

Watch «So Help Me God» trailer

Watch «Meditate and Destroy» trailer

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"Revolution of the Spirit in Burma", featuring Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and Alan Clements, the first American ordained as a Buddhist monk in Burma, is one of the DVD extras launched in Canada.

If you have trouble seeing this clip, download QuickTime plug-in.

Instead of laughing at the religious and what they say, he listened and asked questions trying to understand God. Going from one religion to another, from one denomination to another, he begins to realize that the question is not only where God is, but who’s God is the right one. Everyone is convinced their God is the one, but how can you truly believe it if there are so many religions in the world?

It was delightful when occasional, genuine humor would distract you from the truth. While talking to Presbyterians about homosexuals one of the older guys, probably in his 70 said, "Don’t you love that all these fundamentalists quote the King James Version; and he was as queer as three dollar bill."

You can’t help but laugh.

If you want something refreshing, something personal, and powerful – watch "So Help Me God." As an atheist you will see religion from a different perspective and as a theist you will enjoy Simon’s search for God. It’s very healthy to search for the unknown as it takes courage, especially when the unknown defies the mainstream status quo.

A personal master piece that will leave your mind in a deep thought contemplating about your own spiritual state of mind. You owe it to yourself to watch it.

Read the original article here or watch «So Help Me God» trailer.

I hope you enjoy this quirky, unconventional film. 

Love and Light,

Sarah Fisher

Click here to read the rest of Taibbi's article.

The American Ruling Class is at its heart a classic coming of age story. Under the watchful eye of now former Harper's Magazine editor Lewis Lapham, our two protagonists, on the eve of their graduation from Yale, are faced with a decision: try to rule the world, or save it?

It's a momentous decision. But first, we make a distinction. If the graduates' aim is simply to be rich, than any investment bank will do. But if he is in possession of a little pluck and the ambition to rule, then Goldman Sachs is the place.

From Paul Rubin to Jon Corzine to Hank Paulson, men who have shaped the political economy of the country have done their obligatory stint at Goldman before casting the die of the world's destiny.

Do political parties and elections really decide things in America, or do investment bankers in the guise of public servants? Will our two young heroes go for the brass ring, or for something more intangible and far finer?

The American Ruling Class takes "Government Sachs," as The New York Times has called the firm, subtly, but with profound irony, to task.

What The Critics Are Saying:

"Dramatic, superbly produced and directed, thoughtful and thought provoking, The American Ruling Class offers a candor rarely glimpsed by ordinary citizens into who really calls the shots in America during these opening years and decades of the 21st Century."
-The Midwest Book Review

"A brilliant documentary/comedy, part Monty Python, part Michael Moore; brings to life the question: Can one join the power elite and yet work for the public interest?"
- Joseph A. Author, Power of Privilege: Yale and America's Elite Colleges

"The American Ruling Class is the most cinematically subversive film to come along this decade. Led by the extremely lucid and funny Lewis Lapham, the nation's number one intellectual treasure, the film takes us on a luminous quest... Director John Kirby has fashioned a sly film; it plays with form, but is populist in outreach, transcending documentary expectations with wit, style and political savvy."
- Peter Wintonick, Director/Producer, Manufacturing
Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media

"Hilarious, coruscating...a master class in master-of-the-universe studies"
- Tait Harlin, New York Magazine

"Divine madness...a documentary version of The Wizard of Oz ...
director John Kirby and Lapham attempt to illuminate the heart of darkness
inside the American political-economic machine. What they find ain't pretty."
- Matthew Hays, Montreal Mirror


Awards & Festivals

Special Mention, New York Loves Film, Tribeca Film Festival
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)
Woodstock Film Festival
Williamstown Film Festival
Two River Film Festival
Sedonna Film Festival
Rehoboth Film Festival
American Film Institute, Special Showing
American Cinematheque

Read more about The American Ruling Class below. To screen this film online, buy a ticket for $4.95. The ticket is good for one week. After this, the price of the ticket can be applied to your purchase of the DVD. Or you can buy the DVD now.

As such, he strikes out on the journey that will be the subject of the documentary, done in collaboration with his two brothers Ben and Nigel Cole. With a background in commercials, the brothers bring a visually expressive eye to the proceedings, adding a new dimension of sight and sound that keeps the documentary from slipping into dry discussion. It helps that Simon is a personable and earnest interviewer who does not hesitate to bare his regrets and fears to the camera. The film also benefits from a variety of religious figureheads who share their opinions with a candid openness that echoes throughout the film.

This is an honest attempt to explore one man’s religious conundrum, yet Simon personifies those of us who have questioned their faith or lack thereof. He is earnest and steadfast, a narrator without a shadowy agenda to ridicule or challenge the beliefs of those he encounters and questions. He is burdened by his dilemma and seeks an answer to it in any way he knows how. The final scenes of Simon isolating himself to the desert for some serious soul-searching are among the most emotionally affecting in the film – you can see the exhaustion and difficulty to cope transcribed on Simon’s face. So Help Me God is his story, and it is an exhilarating one.

Lots of great films and filmmakers from around the world in competition, including Emma Franz's Intangible Asset #82.

More to come...

Screenings:

1:30 PM Wed, Jun 17 at Round House Theater
1:45 PM Fri, Jun 19 at Discovery HD Theater

Q. Why is it important that this story be told?

A. My films always begin with something that is happening inside myself, but that I also see reflected in the world around me. I think people are starting to feel like they're coming to a dead end with the old models of creating change in the world, especially some of the forms of activism that are focused on what we're against, as opposed to what we're for, and that are anger-based. I definitely found that with myself, and so I discovered a new kind activism that has its roots in the attitudes of Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. You could call it compassionate activism or spiritual activism -- positive, celebrating life, and solution based.

Read full interview at National Post

Read Velcrow Ripper Blog at MyFilmBlog

NEW YORK (MAY 4, 2009) - Beginning today, millions of people across the United States will be able to access the transformational documentary that captures the wave of Spiritual Activism exploding around the planet, and the powerful personalities who are igniting it on Video On Demand (VOD). Not yet available on DVD, Fierce Light is now accessible to viewers from the comfort of their homes or on the go at Fiercelight.MyFilmBlog.com. Available to all U.S households or mobile devices with a high-speed Internet connection, Fierce Light inspires viewers to embrace the transformational power of what Martin Luther King called "Love in Action," and what Gandhi called "Soul Force." Filmmaker Velcrow Ripper calls this uncompromisingly non-violent phenomenon Fierce Light-and attests that it is this very spirit that swept Barack Obama into the White House.

Velcrow Ripper, visionary filmmaker of Fierce Light said, "The philosophy that guides my work is the transformation of our world one person at a time. Fierce Light was created to empower people, to continue the change that is sweeping the world from Africa to Washington, from Mexico to Sri Lanka to South Central Los Angeles. By making my film available on demand, I hope to tap into the digital revolution that helped sweep Barack Obama into office."

When viewers purchase a ticket to watch Fierce Light On Demand at MyFilmBlog.com, the price of the ticket ($4.95) will be applicable to the purchase of the DVD when released later in 2009 by Alive Mind. Fierce Light will also be available at select theaters and community screenings across America before the DVD release.

About Fierce Light

Fierce Light reveals the power of what Alice Walker calls the 'Human Sunrise." This film reveals what is possible when human beings, faced with a world in crisis, rise to their absolute best. The film features such luminaries as Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Alice Walker; Buddhist peace-activist monk Thich Nhat Hanh; famed tree-sitter Julia Butterfly Hill; Hollywood celebrity turned spiritual activist Daryl Hannah; dharma punk, Noah Levine, and many more. Fierce Light shows how small changes made by individuals have the power to transform our world. When billions of people make small changes, this results in enormous change. This exciting transformation begins in the heart, when one person dares to care. Each and every person has a role to play in this profound shift in consciousness, a shift from the small 'me' to the great 'we.' This is the evolution of activism, and the evolution of spirituality - a revolution of the heart.

To read Velcrow Ripper's blog or to watch Fierce Light, visit Fiercelight.myfilmblog.com.

About Alive Mind:

Alive Mind releases high quality documentaries in the areas of enlightened consciousness, secular spirituality and cultural change. Alive Mind's recent DVD releases include FlicKeR, about the Beatnik artist and inventor of the Dreamachine; Tibetan Book of the Dead, narrated by Leonard Cohen; HAIR: Let the Sun Shine In about the generation-changing musical; and Through the Eastern Gate, a soul-provoking look into the deeper meaning of life.

Visit Alive Mind at www.alivemind.net. Sign-up for the newsletter and receive 10% off of your first purchase.

It's the most unlikely of road-trip movies. Simon Barker is already a noted Australian jazz drummer when he first hears the music of Korean shaman Kim Seok-Chul (pictured above). He's so inspired he travels to the country to seek out the source of this incredible sound, but there are a few problems.

For one, his guide takes it upon himself to decide if Barker is worthy of making the journey, or if he's just another Westerner who wants to exploit the centuries-old culture. For another, Seok-Chul is an 80-year-old recluse, protected by the government. The shaman and drummer is one of the country's most important cultural treasures, so much so that he has his own designation: Seok-Chul is the Intangible Asset No. 82.

It's a race against time to meet the ill man and part of the journey is spent learning the intricacies of Korean music. The style is all about relaxed power, Barker describes.

"I was sitting in the practice room, throwing myself on the ground as if someone in my life had just died," he says in astonishment.

Once he's mastered some of the techniques, and performed with Korean musicians, he's finally deemed ready to meet the master himself. Barker and his guide travel to a remote area to witness a ceremony few have seen: a shaman praying for himself.

Read the original article by Erin Criger here.

To read director Emma Franz's blog, click here.

By Chris Knight, National Post

You might expect the director of programming at Toronto’s Hot Docs film festival to have a fixed notion of what is and isn’t a documentary, but Sean Farnel, now in his fourth year in the job, says it’s a moving target.

“I’m becoming less of a purist about the form as I see filmmakers doing impressive things,” Farnel says. “This is a case where the term ‘non-fiction’ is better than ‘reality’ — whatever that is. Documentary as a non-fiction form has become very fluid in the last 10 years ... You see docs consistently pushing the form in new directions.”

Two popular, form-pushing films released last year illustrate his point. Waltz with Bashir, by Ari Folman, recreates the Israeli filmmaker’s memories of the 1982 war with Lebanon through animation. Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg was part monologue, part travelogue and partly made up, though clearly even the imaginary parts of Manitoba’s capital are close to Maddin’s heart.

This year’s festival, which opens next Thursday with a screening of Jennifer Baichwal’s Act of God, includes a number of what Farnel calls “creative documentaries.”
Cooking History, about soldiers’ food during wartime, uses tableaux and elaborate reconstructions. Antoine, a Canadian film by Laura Bari, immerses the viewer in the universe of a blind five-year-old boy. Big River Man, which Farnel calls a “demi-documentary” in the festival’s program notes, “might be another example of walking the line between fiction and non-fiction to achieve what Werner Herzog would call poetic truth.”

While there’s never any shortage of good documentaries or appreciative audiences, Farnel believes Hot Docs offerings can appeal even to the multiplex crowd. “We have movies that are as funny as any broad comedy and as dramatic as any mainstream drama,” he says. “The reason our audiences have doubled in the last three years is that audiences that take that chance get hooked fast.”

Ultimately, he says, what he, his fellow programmers and attending filmmakers are looking for is the unexpected hit.

“It’s easy to see where films like The Cove and Burma VJ that have won awards and are coming to the festival with a lot of momentum — it’s easy to see where they’re going to have a very good festival,” he says. “But I’m excited to see which of the films that we haven’t seen a lot of bubble up and cause conversation.” Farnel is shy about picking favourites, but when asked for some possible dark horses at this year’s festival, he rattles off some unusual fare that fascinated him: Outrage, Defamation, About Face, The Sound of Insects and The Way We Get By.

Still, he admits public reaction can startle him. “I was surprised that Taking Root won the audience award last year,” he says, referring to Lisa Merton and Alan Dater’s story of Kenyan political activist Wangari Maathai. “Not that it didn’t deserve to win, but it was such a small, modest film.”
As with so many of Toronto’s film festivals, viewers are a vital component to ultimate success. “These are all in a sense word-of-mouth films,” says Farnel. “These films are such great conversation starters and are such a social experience. I’m excited about what the audiences tell me.”

Read the rest of the article here.

See you there.

The star of the film, the Nollywoood director Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen (known as "Da Guv'nor in Lagos), had made 157 movies when "Nollywood Babylon" started filming. By now I'm sure that number has increased drastically as he directs two more during the four-month period the documentary crew was filming. Lancelot is a quirky, very serious, loveable character. Watching him scream at his grip in one scene and then comfort his actress after an emotionally draining performance, you can see just how much he cares about this business.

I only wish the film made an effort to slow down a bit more than its star. The directors, Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal estimated some 9000 cuts, and that seems to exclude the cuts made within the Nollywood film clips themselves. This MTV-style editing makes watching the film a little bit like wiping out under a giant wave. The new information hits you full speed, and you're left with a mouth full of sand and an unsatisfying feeling of accomplishment. Each Nollywood poster shown in a split second has a wealth of information just beyond our grasp and the effect is a bit nauseating. The style matches the subject, but in this case a moment of silence, or even a single extra second spent on each shot would be very much appreciated. Perhaps the responsibility is placed on the audience to sit up, pay attention, and do our own research later.

Read the original article by by Whitney Borup here. Sign-up for the Alive Mind newsletter to receive information about upcoming releases, screenings near you and special promotions.