A stranger with a middle-eastern look about him comes up and offers you a free trip to Egypt. What would you be concerned about? Would you take them up on it? Tarek Mounib, born in Canada of Egyptian parents, now living in Switzerland, went to Trump rallies, stood in Grand Central Station, and went on… [Read More]
Walking on Water – Finding the Real in Art
“Artist is not a profession. You don’t work from 9 to 5. To the artist, you are all the time artist. There is no moment you are not artist.” The artist Christo is known worldwide for his very large scale temporary art projects. But after the death of his wife and collaborator Jeanne-Claude, he made… [Read More]
General Magic – The Success of Failure
“Failure is not the end. Failure is actually the beginning” In the early 1990s a group of Apple employees left the company to try to take computing to the next step—a handheld computer that people can carry around. And they did. Except the company they started failed. But failure isn’t always failure. General Magic documents… [Read More]
Hesburgh – Conscience of the Nation
He was called “the Conscience of the Nation.” He was the advisor and friend of Presidents of both parties from Dwight Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan. He served (and eventually chaired) the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. And around the Notre Dame campus (where he was President for 35 years) he was Father Ted. Father Theodore Hesburgh… [Read More]
Amazing Grace – A Trip to Church with Aretha
Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul, was a well-established star in 1972 when she chose for her next album to return to the music of her youth—gospel. The daughter of a Baptist minister, singing in church was where her sound was born. In Amazing Grace, we travel back to the two-night recording session/church service that… [Read More]
Oscar-Nominated Short Documentaries
When it is time to award the best in films each year, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences include three categories of short films in their Oscar presentations. Most people don’t get to see many shorts. They play at festivals, and occasionally in front of a feature film. But short films are an… [Read More]
Slamdance Film Festival – Day 4
Covering Slamdance has been a bit different for me because I didn’t actually attend the festival. Through filmmakers and publicists sharing screeners with me I’ve covered the film festival from the warmth of southern California.
Slamdance Film Festival – Day 3
Since most of the films (exceptions: Boni Bonita and This Teacher) I’m reporting on today are docs, I’d like to highlight some documentary filmmakers who have premiered work at Slamdance: Marilyn Agrelo (Mad Hot Ballroom), Seth Gordon, (King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters), Kurt Kuenne (Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His… [Read More]
Islam and the Future of Tolerance
An atheist and a former Islamist extremist walk in to a bar… Joking aside. Sam Harris is a known atheist and the author of The End of Faith, among many others. The End of Faith was Sam’s immediate reaction to the events of 9/11, and includes numerous references to Islam. To roughly quote Sam, he… [Read More]
Invisible Hands – Meeting the Children Who Work for You
If you look around your desk, or your pantry, you will almost certainly see products that come to you because of child labor (which is very often slavery).
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