Neil’s illness confined him to a chair, even taking away the use of his arms. As his body became a prison, his blog The Plattitude became his means of connecting with the rest of the world. As he puts it late in I Am Breathing, “the freedom to communicate has to be your strongest and most powerful freedom”. In the film we watch as he composes posts with voice recognition software, a laborious and frustrating process. We see his words spelled out on the screen and hear his thoughts transformed into beautiful and hilarious narration. In this way director Emma Davie builds the doc around Neil’s wisdom, courage and cheeky humor in the face of death.

Now the team of I Am Breathing‘s is resharing all one hundred posts of The Plattitude, one each day, counting down the days until Global Awareness Day for MND/ALS June 21st, an event which will be marked by worldwide screenings of I Am Breathing. Neil’s widow Louise wrote an introduction for the blog and added a commentary to each post. The original comments are preserved so that you can read the feedback and encouragement that meant so much to Neil. In addition to the film’s website, you can follow these posts on I Am Breathing‘s Facebook page and Twitter feed at the hashtag #Plattitude.

Following the T/F screening at Ragtag, fellow documentarian Alison Klayman asked Emma Davie about what was unexpected in telling Neil’s story. Her emotional response is in the video below.

No is director Pablo Larrain third consecutive film dealing with the rule of General Augusto Pinochet, whose military junta governed Larrain’s native Chile from 1973-1990. Each approaches life under the dictatorship through the story of an unusual, seemingly apolitical protagonist. Tony Manero (2008) follows a psychopath obsessed with imitating John Travolta’s character in Saturday Night Fever, a darkly comic echo of Pinochet’s regime. In Post Mortem (2010) a middle-aged morgue worker’s strange romance with a burlesque performer plays out during the violent coup that brought Pinochet to power. In No our hero is René Saavedra, an ad-man who creates a catchy campaign to bring down the general. Saavedra is portrayed in a powerful and subtle performance by Gael Garcia Bernal.

No has a direct connection to Columbia, in that it was produced by Hickman grad Daniel Dreifuss. In the video below, shot following our closing night screening at the historic Missouri Theater, Dreifuss discusses the film’s universalism and its use of archival material to create “a feature with a documentary soul”.

Sarah’s father, the actor Michael Polley, serves as the film’s narrator. You can hear his elegant and resonate voice at the beginning of the film’s trailer.

It’s difficult to say much more about Stories We Tell without giving away any of its twists and turns. If you’ve seen it already or wish to read on at your own risk, there are many places to turn. Tim Grierson at Deadspin, Manhola Dargis of the New York Times and Eric Kohn at Indiewire all offer insightful reviews. Rachel Dodes interviewed Polley about the film for the Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog. And you can listen to her discuss the film on San Francisco public radio.

Stories We Tell is now playing at the Angelika Film Center New York and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas.

Following its theatrical run, Herman’s House we play PBS’s POV this summer on July 8th.

-Dan Steffen

T/F: How did you first become involved in telling Herman and Jackie’s story?

AB: My introduction came through Jackie. She was a friend of mine from school, and we were politically active together, so I first learned about Herman through her art. A gallery in Europe put out a book of Jackie and Herman’s correspondence. When I read that, I realized there was something here even more interesting than an art project, that there was a compelling friendship and an unusual mentor/student relationship.

T/F: Did you know at the outset that you wouldn’t be able to film Herman in Angola?

AB: Yeah, I spoke with other filmmakers who had attempted to film Herman and they were denied. I wrote a letter and I was denied. But I spoke with him on the phone early on and I began to think, maybe not seeing him makes sense . . . that it’s a way to highlight his separation. But it was also a challenge, not to have your main character on screen.

T/F: Could you tell during that first conversation how powerful Herman’s presence was, and how powerful his voice was at conveying that presence?

AB: Yes, definitely. He was always very comfortable on the phone and very relaxed, but his voice was able to convey so many emotions.

At the same time we were worried about what we were going to show, because we wanted to have times where it was just Herman, where the audience was just with Herman and his thoughts.

T/F: And did you plan on using animation to help fill in those scenes?

AB: Yes and no. I knew we would need animation, but I didn’t realize we’d need to rely on it as much as we did. We were wary of the traps of animation, that we could fill in too much. We wanted to bring attention to what was lacking. We wanted the darkness and the black. We also didn’t want the animation to feel too digital, since this is the story about a man who has been in prison since the 70s. Nicholas (Brault) did an amazing job and once we found this texture it really came together. We knew we wanted to treat the archival footage in the film, especially since we didn’t have archival of Herman himself, to create an impressionistic sense, to make it feel like more of a memory. It really blended well with the animation.

T/F: What’s happening on the activism front? Has there been any movement on ending long term solitary confinement?

AB: It’s going to be a long journey. Once something has become an institution, like this has, it is difficult to change. I hope the film helps to humanize the issue, and that people can begin to develop an emotional connection to it, something beyond statistics.

This campaign is really happening state by state, since it is primarily in state prisons that this solitary confinement is happening. The NYCLU just helped organize a screening in Albany, New York that was attended by several politicians interested in working on this issue. In Arizona they screened the film as part of a campaign not to build new solitary cells. There is also a campaign to have the American Institute of Architects change their code of ethics to state that it is not acceptable to build inhumane facilities like these.

So there are a lot of ongoing activism throughout the country focused on this issue. I hope the film can continue to serve as a resource for them.

Herman’s House is playing now at Cinema Village in NYC. This weekend’s screening will feature post-film Q and As with filmmakers and activists working on the issue of long term solitary confinement. The schedule of screenings is as follows:

Friday, April 19, 7:00 PM (SOLD OUT!)
Moderator: Anna Sale, WNYC Reporter
Speaker: Taylor Pendergrass, Senior Staff Attorney, New York Civil Liberties Union
Speaker: Jackie Summell, Artist, Activist Featured in Film
Speaker: Angad Bhalla, Director of Herman’s House

FRI April 19, 9:15 PM
Speaker: Five, Mualimm-AK, NYC Jails Action Coalition
Speaker: Angad Bhalla, Director of Herman’s House

SAT, April 20, 7:00 PM
Moderator: King Downing, Campaign to End the New Jim Crow
Speaker: Soffiyah Elijah, Executive Director, Correctional Association
Speaker: Angad Bhalla, Director of Herman’s House

SAT, April 20, 9:15 PM
Speaker: Jean Casella, Editor, SolitaryWatch.com
Speaker: Angad Bhalla, Director of Herman’s House

SUN, April 21, 3:00 PM
Speaker: Angad Bhalla, Director of Herman’s House
Speaker: Representative from Metro NY Religious Campaign Against Torture

Tonight! One night only! Fake It So Real (T/F 2011) is playing online for free! Enter the lives of the dedicated men of the Millennium Wrestling Federation as they spend a week preparing for a big show. You can watch Fake It between 7:30-9:30 Eastern/6:30-8:30 Central tonight on the UStream link you’ll find embedded here. Following the film, it’s your chance to probe the unhinged mind of filmmaker Robert Greene during an online Q and A. Be warned though, things may become disturbing. Last year Michael Tully of Hammer to Nail attempted to interview Greene before the film’s VOD release, and the results weren’t pretty.

This number was reached through a combination of audience donations made during the two screenings of the film during the fest, entry fees for the True Life Run, a generous matching donation from the Bertha Foundation, support from the official True Life Fund sponsor The Crossing and the incredible efforts of the students of Hickman High School. $20,000 of the funds will go to RISC (Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues), an organization founded by the film’s director Sebastian Junger in honor of his fallen colleague and Restrepo co-director, Tim Hetherington. In a phone conversation Wednesday between RISC’s Deputy Director, Lily Hindy, and True Life Fund director, Tracy Lane, Hindy was overwhelmed by the generosity of the people of Columbia, “We are so grateful. Thanks to you, we can fund an entire training session.” Each training session provides 24 combat journalists with a medical kit and the medical skills needed to save each other’s lives on the battlefield. Junger visited The Crossing during T/F, to share his experiences alongside his former colleague on the battle field and to explain the life-saving opportunities that RISC provides. Hindy visited Columbia’s three public high schools as well as the photojournalism department at MU during T/F week, to share information about RISC with young journalists. $16,760 will go to the Milton Margai School for the Blind in Sierra Leone, where Tim took many photographs.

Which Way is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington premieres on HBO this Thursday, April 18th. A slideshow of Tim’s photography is available on their website.

You can find more photos of the “Stilted” installation below. Also, be sure to check out Yulia Pinkusevich’s homepage for many more pictures and videos documenting her impressive body of work.

photo by Scott Patrick Myers

photo by Scott Patrick Myers

photo by Scott Patrick Myers

photo by Scott Patrick Myers

 

If you want to hear more, check out Mountain Animation‘s new album, Lava Letter, in it’s entirety on the group’s bandcamp page. And don’t miss the first Folk to Folk video featuring a boisterous street performance by Yes, Ma’am.