ABOUT OUR FILMS
The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers brings free screenings of independent film and their filmmakers to Charleston and provides communities across the South with a tour of highly talented independent filmmakers. Audiences have seen more than 200 films and have engaged filmmakers in post-screening discussions in more than 44 communities across the Southern United States. Southern Circuit is the nation’s only regional tour of independent filmmakers, providing communities with an interactive way of experiencing independent film.
The tour takes the audience away from their televisions, DVD players, and computers to connect them with independent filmmakers and encourage them to talk with one another about the films and their meanings. Southern Circuit transforms watching independent films from a solitary experience into a communal one. The 2012-2013 Southern Circuit films are a partnership with the College of Charleston’s First Year Experience program.
We often present other films throughout the year, outside of Southern Circuit. Watch the website for details.
AN ENCOUNTER WITH SIMONE WEIL [FILM SCREENING]
THURSDAY, JANUARY 31 , 7PM
RECITAL HALL, SIMONS CENTER FOR THE ARTS, 54 ST. PHILIP STREET
Documentary, 85 minutes
SYNOPSIS:
An Encounter with Simone Weil tells the story of French philosopher, activist, and mystic Simone Weil (1909-1943), a woman Albert Camus described as “the only great spirit of our time.” On her quest to understand Simone Weil, filmmaker Julia Haslett confronts profound questions of moral responsibility both within her own family and the larger world. From the battlefields of the Spanish Civil War to anti-war protests in Washington DC to captivating interviews with people who knew Weil, the film takes the viewer on an unforgettable journey into the heart of what it means to be a compassionate human being.
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” These words, written by Simone Weil, provide the engrossing entry point to the film’s exploration of moral responsibility against the backdrop of 21st-century America. She was a tireless advocate for the poor and unemployed. The filmmaker’s own struggles with suffering (her father committed suicide and her brother battles severe depression) are interwoven with Weil’s dramatic life story to create a deeply moving film.
In her short life, Simone Weil fought in the Spanish Civil War, worked as a machine operator and farm laborer, debated Leon Trotsky, taught high school students and union members, and was part of the French Resistance. The daughter of affluent Jewish parents, she spent her life advocating for the poor and disenfranchised in France and for colonized people around the world, organizing and writing on their behalf. She was a consummate outsider who distrusted ideologies of any kind. Upon her death at 34, Simone Weil left behind a body of work that fills fifteen volumes and establishes her as a brilliant political, social, and spiritual thinker.
In her writings, she analyzed power and its dehumanizing effects, outlined a doctrine of attention and empathy for human suffering, and critiqued Stalinism long before most of the French left wing. She believed intellectual work should be combined with physical work and that theories should evolve from close observation and direct experience. After three Christian mystical experiences, she began grappling with religious faith, its role in human history, and the shortcomings of organized religion. Her best-known works, all published posthumously, are Gravity & Grace, Oppression & Liberty, Waiting for God, and The Need for Roots.
Weil’s ideas have influenced countless people, including Susan Sontag, Graham Greene, and T.S. Eliot. The New York Times described her as “one of the most brilliant and original minds of twentieth-century France.” But by far her biggest advocate was the existentialist philosopher Albert Camus, who played a major role in getting her work published after her death. He even made a pilgrimage to her writing room before leaving for Stockholm to receive the Nobel Prize in 1957. Yet despite these luminary supporters, Simone Weil is a little-known figure, practically forgotten in her native France and rarely taught in universities or secondary schools. The audience is invited to join the filmmaker, Julia Haslett, for a discussion after the screening. A reception will take place after the film.
TRAILER: www.linestreet.net
FILMMAKER BIO:
Julia Haslett, Director/Editor/Producer
Julia Haslett makes expressionistic documentaries about contemporary and historical subjects. She is producer/director of the highly acclaimed Worlds Apart (2003) series about cross-cultural medicine, and producer of the companion hour-long documentary Hold Your Breath (2005), which broadcast on PBS in 2007. Her documentary shorts Hurt & Save (2001), Flooded (2003), Eclipsed (2007), and Pure & Simple (2008) have screened at numerous festivals and galleries. She has worked at WGBH-Boston, the Discovery Channel, and as a filmmaker-in-residence at the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics. Haslett was awarded a MacDowell Colony Fellowship to advance her work on An Encounter with Simone Weil, which is her first feature-length film.
Q & A with the Director/Editor/Producer Julia Haslett will take place after the film.
Recital Hall, Simons Center for the Arts, 54 St. Phillip Street
TRUST: A Second Act in Young Lives [FILM SCREENING]
Thursday, February 28 , 7PM
RECITAL HALL, SIMONS CENTER FOR THE ARTS, 54 ST. PHILIP STREET
Documentary, 78 minutes
Synopsis:
Amazing things unfold as the young members of Chicago’s Albany Park Theater Project transform the traumatic story of 18-year-old Honduran immigrant Marlin into a daring, original play. TRUST: Second Acts in Young Lives is about creativity and the unexpected resources inside youths, who may be discounted because of their youth, race or ethnicity, or because they come from under-resourced neighborhoods without access to arts programs. TRUST received the Jury Award from the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, the Youth Vision Award from the United Nations Association Film Festival and the Best Documentary Award from the Reel Rasquache Art & Film Festival.
TRAILER:
trustdocumentary.org
Filmmaker Bio:
Veteran independent filmmaker Nancy Kelly made an award-winning documentary trilogy about the transformative power of art: TRUST: Second Acts in Young Lives, about a Honduran teen whose traumatic life story is unveiled in a daring original play; Smitten (PBS Prime Time Special), about art collector Rene di Rosa; and Downside Up (PBS Independent Lens series), about how America’s largest museum of contemporary art, MASS MoCA, revived Kelly’s dying home town. She also made the narrative feature Thousand Pieces of Gold (PBS American Playhouse series) starring Rosalind Chao and Chris Cooper. She has been a fellow at the Sundance Institute and a Bay Area Video Coalition Mediamaker. Her next documentary, Rebels with a Cause, premieres fall 2012.
Q & A following with filmaker Nancy Kelly
Recital Hall, Simons Center for the Arts, 54 St. Philip Street
The College of Charleston’s Alternative Spring Break program is collecting art supplies for their upcoming service trip to Honduras. They are seeking donations of sketch books, color pencil, water based paint, brushes, sharpener and erasers in order to get a new art program for The Alonzo Movement off the ground. The Alonzo Movement is a youth development program located in Flor del Campo in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. This program is part of the Charleston-based non-profit LAMB.
LAMB works with the community of Flor del Campo to empower the youth and create a safer environment for everyone. Honduras is flooded with gangs and gang violence, and Alonzo Movement serves youth in the area as a positive alternative to gang life. The Alonzo Movement works with the youth, promoting and encouraging their interests in further education, sports and now art.
Bring your donations to the film screening and meet the students that will be traveling to Honduras!
The MisAdventures of the Dunderheads [FILM SCREENING]
Thursday, March 28, 7PM
RECITAL HALL, SIMONS CENTER FOR THE ARTS, 54 ST. PHILIP STREET
SYNOPSIS:
In the MisAdventures of the Dunderheads meet an old Montana family who’ve been in the mountains too long, but they’re as all-American as apple pie and murder. Eccentric, strong-willed Grandmother Ira (Olympia Dukakis) is quietly raising her teenage grandkids, Womple (Haley Joel Osment) and Ella (Alison Brie) when Womple accidentally kills his best friend.
Before the local law can show up, Ira bundles the teenagers into an ancient Ford Falcon and takes off for her fantasy idea of a safe haven – Canada. There is one big problem. Ira can’t read – even highway signs – and leads the family on a bizarrely funny journey through the American West, ending up in Mexico. Granddaughter Ella is a pretty and immature 18-year-old wrapped up in a world of sexy fantasy that’s several degrees off kilter. She travels with a pillowcase full of headless dolls, and tries to kindle romance with gas station attendants every time they stop. Her method is successful until the penniless trio drives off without paying.
Her brother Womple is 17, going on ten. He believes his absent father is a famous big game hunter in Africa. Womple keeps busy ducking the trouble that plagues him everywhere he goes, all the while scheming on how to track down his missing dad. At journey’s end, on top of a Mexican volcano, the teenagers discover that their grandmother has always been their best friend in this both funny and poignant fable of the human family.
TRAILER:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br0xuauypJ0
FILMMAKER BIOS:
D. G. Brock
D.G. Brock spent her childhood in Alabama, Texas, and Colorado. She earned a degree in Motion Pictures/Television Production from the University of California, Los Angeles, where her screenplay, Jeremy Todd, was chosen as one of the five finalists in the prestigious Goldwyn Writing Awards. While a student at UCLA, she worked for legendary film producer, Roger Corman, where she gained experience writing, directing, and producing features, including the cult high school comedy, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Forever. She gained further experience as a screenwriter for the Disney Channel and on Disney’s Honey, I Blew Up the Kid. However, D.G.’s first love is independent film, and she has been a busy consultant and producer on over 20 features including Buffalo ’66, Tristan & Isolde, Girl in the Park, Southland Tales, The Brown Bunny, and the French film, Upside Down. MisAdventures of the Dunderheads won Best Feature Film at The Big Apple Film Festival at Tribeca Center (NYC) and was also featured at the Rhode Island and Orlando International Film Festivals. D.G. is currently finishing the screenplay for the next film she will direct, How To Be A Celebutante.
Bruce Stubblefield
After graduating Cum Laude from the University of California, Los Angeles, Bruce Stubblefield edited numerous features for producers such as Roger Corman, and worked as an assistant director, production manager, and producer. In 1991, he produced Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Forever, a perennial money-maker that has remained in distribution with Lions Gate Entertainment since its original release. He was Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Editor on three Academy Award winners, Dances with Wolves, Speed and U-571. His sound credits also include The Santa Clause, Payback, A Knight’s Tale, Battle Los Angeles, and The Blind Side. Bruce is the producer of MisAdventures of the Dunderheads starring Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis, Academy Award Nominee Haley Joel Osment, and SAG Award winner, Alison Brie. After winning Best Feature Film at the Big Apple Festival at Tribeca Center, the film is distributed by international sales agency, Artist View Entertainment.
Q & A following with Filmmakers
Recital Hall, Simons Center for the Arts, 54 St. Philip Street.
Heart of Stone [FILM SCREENING]
Thursday, April 25, 7PM
RECITAL HALL, SIMONS CENTER FOR THE ARTS, 54 ST. PHILIP STREET
Documentary, 84 minutes
SYNOPSIS:
Heart of Stone chronicles Newark’s Weequahic High School, which in the 1960’s was an academically-distinguished, mostly Jewish enclave immortalized in the novels of Philip Roth, its most famous alumnus. When Ron Stone became principal in 2001, WHS was one of the most violent in the country and overrun with gangs. Determined to restore the school to its former glory, Principal Stone enlists the help of African-American and Jewish alumni to raise much-needed money for essential materials. Fearless, he convinces the local leader of the Bloods to help keep kids in school until graduation, and inspires this Bloods leader to himself go on to college. Resolved to work with gang members, Stone creates a non-violence zone where grievances are solved through conflict resolution sessions. Stone is a modern American hero, and the film demonstrates how disparate groups can join forces to give their old communities something they have not had for generations: a future.
TRAILER:
http://www.heartofstonethemovie.com/
FILMMAKER BIO:
This is Beth Kruvant’s third documentary. Her first documentary, Born in Buenos Aires, won the Directors Award at the Detroit Jewish Film Festival. Kruvant’s second film, The Right To Be Wrong, was featured on PBS, and is being distributed by National Film Network. Kruvant practiced civil and criminal litigation law for 20 years in New Jersey, before creating Good Footage Productions, Inc., a charitable organization formed to produce documentary films that raise awareness of communities in crisis. Its newest film, Heart of Stone, focuses on the crisis in education in Newark, New Jersey.
Q & A following with filmmaker Beth Kruvant
Recital Hall, Simons Center for the Arts, 54 St. Philip Street.
