Via NPR Throughline: Dare to Dissent
Originally aired December 14, 2023
This photo of a man standing in front of tanks in Beijing's Tiananmen Square has come to symbolize ordinary people standing up to power.
Want more? NPR's Throughline podcast has an entire episode on this topic. The link is here.
Via Guild Cinema Via Guild Cinema
FEMALE DIRECTORS IN PLAIN SIGHT shorts series - PAINTING THE TOWN: THE ILLUSIONISTIC MURALS OF RICHARD HAAS, IT HAPPENS TO US and POSSUM LIVING
Jun 4 thru 6
Tue to Thu 3:30, 8pm
DIRECTOR AMALIE ROTHSCHILD WILL BE IN PERSON FOR THE SCREENINGS PLUS CINEMATOGRAPHER NANCY SCHREIBER WILL BE PRESENT FOR ALL SHOWS EXCEPT THE FINAL THURSDAY 8PM SCREENING!
GALLERY TALK: The Fillmore East and My Unexpected Career in Rock Music PhotographyGALLERY TALK: The Fillmore East and My Unexpected Career in Rock Music Photography
Monroe Gallery of Photography, June 8, 4:30 PM
PAINTING THE TOWN: THE ILLUSIONISTIC MURALS OF RICHARD HAAS - Director Rothschild, along with cinematographer Nancy Schreiber, fashions her own exuberant film mural based on the life and very public work of the celebrated architectural muralist Richard Haas. Since 1974 his “trompe l'oeil” paintings have caused double takes from Munich to Phoenix. His artistry transforms cityscapes in ways that confound and delight. He is an artist with a mission–to make the urban environment visually pleasurable, and therefore more livable and humane. [Dir. Amalie R. Rothschild - 1990 - 56m approx.]
IT HAPPENS TO US - Made in 1971 by an all-woman crew, women who are rich and poor, young and older, black and white, married and unmarried, tell dramatic stories about why and how they ended their pregnancies when abortion was still illegal. [Dir. Amalie R. Rothschild - 1972 - 30m approx.]
POSSUM LIVING - Hailed by the New York Times when it premiered at MoMA’s New Directors series, director Schreiber went on to become one of America’s few successful women DPs – most recently with the hit TV series P-Valley– but she was never given another chance to direct a movie. This short documentary tells the story of Dolly Freed, author of the 1970s cult classic Possum Living. It shows how this father and daughter pair quit their job and school respectively to live out of their suburban home. As per the book's subtitle, it teaches how to "live well without a job and with (almost) no money."
ABOUT THE DIRECTORS - NANCY SCHREIBER, ASC and AMALIE R. ROTHSCHILD
Nancy Schreiber (ASC) is an award-winning director and cinematographer based in both New York and Los Angeles. Schreiber has directed four dance films including RITES of PASSING and documentaries which included the award winning POSSUM LIVING and an hour long PBS film on women artists called FROM THE HEART.She was the fourth woman ever voted into membership into the prestigious American Society of Cinematographers. Schreiber has compiled over 130 credits, an eclectic list of narrative film and television credits as well as music videos, commercials and documentaries. Schreiber landed on Variety’s 10 cinematographers to watch before taking home the coveted Best Cinematography award at Sundance for the film NOVEMBER, with Courteney Cox. Schreiber has been nominated for an Emmy, an Independent Spirit Award nominations, was awarded the Women In Film Crystal /Kodak award, and in February 2017 was the first women honored with the ASC ( American Society of Cinematographers) President’s award . Schreiber is also a member of the the TV academy , Film Independent, International Documentary Association, Local 600. Women in Film, and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Amalie R. Rothschild is one of the four founders of the successful and progressive 53-year-old distribution cooperative New Day Films. An award-winning filmmaker and photographer she is noted for her documentaries about social issues as revealed through the lives of people in the arts. Ms. Rothschild's keen eye has documented seminal events in history. She was the de facto photographer at the Fillmore East Theater in NYC and on staff at the 1969 Woodstock Festival and the author of Live at the Fillmore East: A Photographic Memoir. Her films include the groundbreaking It Happens to Us made in 1971 with an all-woman crew and the first American film to argue that women should have the right to control their own bodies and end a pregnancy. Other films are Nana Mom and Me, Conversations with Willard van Dyke, and Woo Who? May Wilson. Her film Painting the Town: The Illusionistic Murals of Richard Haas premiered at Sundance, was shown in the New Directors/New Films sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center and won the Best in Festival Emily Award at the American Film and Video Festival, as well as a Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival, among other honors. While based professionally in New York City, since 1983 she lives roughly half the year in Italy.
Via The Real Frame: War Photography on Screen - The Real Frame
May 21, 2024 by David Butow David Butow –
As if the political tension in the United States couldn’t get any higher, this spring a new movie depicting a full-scale, near-future civil war in the country is filling theaters and drawing good reviews. The film, “Civil War”, directed by Englishman Alex Garland, (“The Beach”, “Ex Machina”), imagines that the country is ruled by a quasi-dictator serving his third term as president. The opposing side is comprised of a well-organized and equipped army of rebels (called the “Western Alliance”), that is on the move to Washington, D.C. to remove him from power.
The main point of the movie is, I think, to force audiences to confront the possibility, however remote, that something like this could actually happen. The U.S., despite illusions of “exceptionalism,” is fundamentally no different from any other empire that can break down and/or break apart. This is big stuff, but the POV of this terrible scenario is told through the narrow experiences of a group of four journalists, principally two still photographers played by Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny.
It’s rare that photojournalists are the main protagonists in a film, they’re usually quirky side characters like Dennis Hopper’s idiosyncratic portrayal of a half-crazed Vietnam War photographer in “Apocalypse Now.” But putting them in the center of the plot requires detail of their working habits, and more importantly, into the emotional and ethical challenges they face as they make their way through one violent situation after another. The whole raison d’être of them being there is questioned. Are they after the thrill or some greater good? What is the role of journalistic observers in conflict? I can’t say those questions are deeply examined but they are certainly put up on the metaphorical blackboard (or video projector if you prefer).
If you haven’t seen the film but might go, be aware there is a lot of violence depicted, sometimes rather realistically and without the heavy music and other mood overlays we’re used to in Hollywood movies. I found this starkness jarring, but effective. Another thing I thought the film did rather well was show how quickly things can happen, often when you’re not expecting them, and also how chaos and semi-normalcy can exist in proximities much closer than you might expect.
Conversely, I thought there were some things about the journalists the filmmakers definitely got wrong, but how many movies have I seen where the main characters are lawyers, doctors, cops or soldiers? I imagine that people in those professions, who are used to being depicted on screen, don’t usually overanalyze every misleading detail. But the photojournalistic community, never shy about taking itself seriously, and with a rare spotlight on its profession, has had a lot to say about “Civil War.”
The best commentary I’ve seen is in the video here. It features a thoughtful interview with photojournalists Lynsey Addario, Peter van Agmatel, Ron Haviv and John Moore. These four have about as much experience covering conflicts as any photographers working today, and they are all highly intelligent and deeply reflective about those experiences. In addition, the photographer Mohamed El Masri, speaking with the assistance of a translator, describes the specific danger and challenges with covering the war in Gaza.
They’ll tell you what they thought of the movie, but more important, how they think about the role of the press, and what it is really like to witness, record and communicate terrible acts of violence.
Via The Santa Fe New Mexican "Our View"
May 21, 2024
Journalists must be able to do their jobs
Journalists have no right to break the law in covering stories of public interest — that goes without saying even though the Constitution’s First Amendment clearly protects freedom of press. That freedom includes gathering the news, not just its publication.
Because of that protection, news reporters and photographers must be left alone to do their jobs. That’s especially true in a breaking-news situation in which impartial witness is essential. That’s one — but only one — reason police officers’ decision to arrest a reporter and photographer on the University of New Mexico campus while they documented the clearing of an encampment of student protesters is so distressing.
Independent journalist Bryant Furlow and photographer Tara Armijo-Prewitt — a married couple — were at the campus Wednesday morning to observe what likely would be the last days of the encampments. Furlow said he accompanied Armijo-Prewitt, who had been documenting the weeks-long protests, early Wednesday because UNM President Garnett Stokes had said the day before that police would be tearing the camps down.
Like reporters everywhere, Furlow wanted to be on the ground as news was happening. As with any potential clash between police and protestors, the public interest is clear. Journalists must be allowed to do their work. That did not happen last week.
According to a statement released through New Mexico In Depth — an online organization to which Furlow often contributes — the reporter gave his account of events, citing his request for information from officers on where to stand and his willingness to follow police instructions. He said he also informed officers he was a member of the media.
Nevertheless, both Furlow and Armijo-Prewitt were arrested.
The fact journalists were arrested for documenting events should concern all who believe in the free flow of information. Both state police and UNM campus police were involved in removing the encampments. Their bosses — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Stokes — should be investigating to find out why journalists doing their jobs and complying with officers were arrested.
The arrest after a reporter asked for a badge number and while photographing police actions is particularly troubling. It shows an apparent unwillingness on the part of police to have their actions documented for the public to see.
As Foundation for Open Government Executive Director Melanie Majors said, “If the media is arrested for doing their job, where does that leave the rest of us?”
The two, according to Furlow’s statement, were charged with criminal trespass and wrongful use of public property. They spent about 12 hours in custody after their arrests. Campus police made the arrests, and the correct action now is to drop the charges and apologize.
Further, given the tenor of the times — these protests are not going away — police at every level must be better educated about the rights of the media. Officers must understand they have no right to stop journalists from doing their jobs. In fact, when they do so, those officers are violating the Constitution.
There can be no freedom of the press without freedom to gather the news. Period.
Statement from New Mexico reporter about his arrest at UNM encampment protest
“Upon arriving on the scene, I asked officers where news media were permitted to stand to document the operation and did not receive an answer. I asked officers several times if there was a public information officer on scene with whom I could speak and was told there was not. I also inquired about who was in charge but got no response. We at all times followed instructions we received from police and stayed behind the yellow police tape. We were arrested while photographing the operation and shortly after asking an NMSP officer for his badge number and name. As I was being arrested, I said I was a member of the press repeatedly and loudly.
“We spent approximately 12 hours in custody following our arrests.
“We want to secure legal representation to fight the criminal charges before we speak further about our arrests.
“Thank you.”
Gallery Talk With Amalie R.
Rothschild
Award-winning
photographer, filmmaker and author of “Live At The Fillmore East”
May 17, 2024
Not to make anyone feel elderly, but the 1960s are now more than 60 years old.
That startling fact leaps to the fore when one considers Monroe Gallery of Photography’s newest exhibit, simply titled 1964. The gallery calls it the year the 1960s truly began, complete with inflection points such as the musical British Invasion, Muhammad Ali becoming the world heavyweight boxing champion, and the slayings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi.
Several images show fans in states of euphoria over seeing — or preparing to see — The Beatles. In Bill Eppridge’s The Beatles With Ed Sullivan, about a dozen men hold cameras to document the band’s every move. It’s not unlike fans in 2024 using cellphones for the same purpose. In Bob Gomel’s Black Muslim leader Malcolm X Photographing Cassius Clay, Ali hams it up, while the usually stoic civil rights figure grins behind the camera. In Eppridge’s Kent Courtney, National Chair of the Conservative Society of America, Courtney tightens his tie, cutting a powerful image of buttoned-up status quo conformity.
The gallery will host a talk with Amalie R. Rothschild, a filmmaker and photographer who has created documentaries about social issues, at 4:30 p.m. June 8. — B.S.
details
Through June 23
Monroe Gallery of Photography
112 Don Gaspar Avenue
505-992-0800; monroegallery.com
May 14, 2024
By Michael Diemar
"The 43rd edition of The Photography Show felt very much a homecoming for exhibitors and visitors alike. Following stints at Pier 94 and Center415, the fair returned to what many regards as its rightful home, the Park Avenue Armory. The venue itself looked better than ever and the overall quality of the works on show was excellent. But there was also something else that came into play. While most of the people I talked to described the fair as beautiful, they also pointed out that it was manageable. There were 77 exhibitors in all, plus a separate section for publishers and rare book dealers. Some art fairs have twice that number of exhibitors, if not more, and it gets exhausting, plus, quality tends to suffer." Click for full article.
Via Humanities Kansas Big Idea series.
May 7, 2024
May 6, 2024
"Since the beginning of the encampment, Nina Berman, a professor and documentary photographer and filmmaker, had been doing nightly outings with students, training them in the field while also keeping them safe."
Related: Nina Berman Photographs "Columbia's Campus in Crisis: for The New Yorker
