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Media for Social Change - CITIZENShift

An interactive platform for community driven content on social issues + activism.

Re-broadcast of Shaw TV media coverage of 2006 book launch!Yesterday

Ok, heads up everybody!

For those who’ve missed this, check out the half hour episode of “Caring for Communities” that profiles the book launch of “The Colouring Book” (back in 2006) which will be airing on the following dates on Shaw TV, Channel 4:

*Wednesday, May 3 at 10:00 pm

AND

*Sunday, May 7 at 10:00 am

After the broadcast, the promo footage can be downloaded from the following websites:

The Vancouver Foundation

OR

Caring for Communities

Thanks to Gabrielle Martin for this great news update! Gabe you rock!

Harvey Milk, documentary and fictionJanuary 3

Harvey Milk (left); Sean Penn playing Harvey Milk (right)

Last week, I saw both the 1984 documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, directed by Rob Epstein, and the recently released fiction film Milk, directed by Gus van Sant. Both tell the story of the rise to prominence and assassination of the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the U.S. Milk was elected San Francisco supervisor in 1977 but then gunned down along with Mayor George Moscone by a bitter rival. Comparing the two films is a fascinating exercise, as they cover pretty much the same territory and the documentary clearly inspired the fictional treatment. I am sure many students will be doing just that for their term papers. To me, the Oscar-winning documentary is worthy and competently made, definitely worth seeing (now available from Amazon) but more interesting as a historical record than as a piece of filmmaking: it’s pretty traditional and sometimes a bit plodding. But the fictional Milk is a true cinematic acc

“El Barco”January 2

The drive to Buenavista took place against the backdrop of the setting sun and wind-blown dust that blurred the horizon.Zig-zagging through a series of small villages, most of which probably held their lot of Mexicans migrating North, what looked like a huge boat mast appeared in the distance.This must be “El Barco.”

We had just previously phoned Antonio Rivera to say we were coming for a visit. Antonio is a worker we had met a few years before in St-Rémi, a small farming town just outside of Montreal.He has been working in the fields of Canada for a good decade and is always very outspoken and critical.When he is not working in Canada, Antonio is a farm worker in his home village. We went to visit him in Buenavista to find out more about what was pushing him North every season.

Antonio had let us know he would be waiting in the bakery. There was only one in the town. Surprised to see us arrive in his remote village, he gave us a warm welcome and was eager to show us around.He led us to the massive boat-shaped church and gave us a personal tour of it.The church was still under construction t

That’s a wrap! We think.December 28 2008

One of our last days in China with the boxing team.

In the wee hours of Dec. 21, 2008, we wrapped up our shoot. Probably. It’s hard to say since we haven’t viewed our footage or started editing. We have over 100 hours of video to plow through. Gulp. That will be a nice way to start off 2009.

After three days in Mumbai shooting a promo for MTV India, Mary Kom returned to Manipur on Dec. 20, our last full day there. We hurried over to her home but we lost the light too quickly and were unable to shoot much of anything. We were stressed. We had come all this way to film her and we had run out of time. Our flight was departing at 9 a.m. the next day.

Mary and her husband Onler understood our predicament, so they invited us over at 5 a.m. the following morning to film what we could. In the end, we captured some beautiful moments of their little family eating breakfast and just hanging out. We did a rushed interview with Mary in Manipuri, with Onler translating for us. They were really accommodating. They even fed us a hearty breakfast in record time and whisked us off to the airport with minutes to spare. Then, our plane was delayed three hours. Bad luck. We had to distract ourselves i

Tandoori NightsDecember 27 2008

Remember that little Bollywood movie we were in as extras when we arrived in Mumbai last June? Well Karzzz made it to the big screen in October 2008. And though we did a careful frame by frame analysis, neither one of us is featured in the actual film (but the girl standing on Emily’s left in the photo above is shown several times). We didn’t feel too badly. As one irate reviewer on IMDB put it: “Bad acting, some terrible dialogue, and it drags for close to THREE HOURS…this film should be an embarrassment to anyone and everyone involved with it.”

Oops.

The music video from the film in on YouTube here. It’s pretty catchy. It’s now an anthem in the Sarkissian household.