Community Antenna: Grassroots Media

Community media existed before the birth of cable television and public-access channels. This year's Festival presents some of North America's pioneering grassroots media projects, which flowered in the late 1960s. With the development of new technology and the changing political landscape, video became a vehicle for community protest, organizing, and celebration. The first session (Friday, Kaufmann Theater ) includes two projects from 1968 and 1969: "Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant" was the first African-American community television series; the Canadian "Challenge for Change" project was an effort to use film to foster citizen-government dialogue, with the aim of addressing social, economic, and political injustices.

The other sessions (Saturday and Sunday, Linder Theater ) explore the history of the public- access movement and highlight some of the leading innovative groups in New York City, including Downtown Community Television (DCTV), Paper Tiger TV, and Educational Video Center (EVC). An inspiring message from Commander Marcos of Chiapas, Mexico, underscores the fact that community media is now a global movement, but one that continues to be driven by its original spirit -- media of, by, and for the people. Discussions will be held after each of these screenings.

Samba, Sexuality, and Sertao: Brazil

This year's Festival celebrates recent documentary film and video production from Brazil. These works include a lighthearted look at the arts, with "O Amor Natural" (Friday, Auditorium), "Gilberto Gil" ( Wednesday, Linder), and "Portrait of a Serial Kisser" (Tuesday, Orientation Center), as well as more political and economic issues, from AIDS activism (Saturday, Linder) to the precarious lives of Brazil's street children and scavengers (Saturday, Linder). While much of this work is produced by mediamakers from Rio de Janeiro, films from Brazil's Northeast (Wednesday, Auditorium) and an indigenous production about Waiapi Indian efforts to demarcate their own lands (Tuesday, Orientation Center) are also included. Most of the filmmakers will be present.

The 1980s and1990s saw the rise of identity politics, in which ethnic and cultural groups struggled with, among other things, self-representation, especially in the mass media. In the wake of this movement, mediamakers began working with their own communities to re-enact aspects of their lives -- re-experiencing original events on camera. Activist, educational, and therapeutic mediamakers have all taken advantage of this artistic technique to create highly dramatic works. Titles in this section include "Sons" (Friday, Auditorium), "Tchuma-Tchato" (Saturday, Kaufmann), "When Women Unite: Story of an Uprising" (Saturday, Linder), and "Twenty Years Later"(Tuesday, Kaufmann).

Special Programs

Symposia

Friday, November 7
A full day of screenings and discussions presented with the Center for Media, Culture and History and the Department of Anthropology, New York University.

10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Community Antenna: Early Grassroots Media

2:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Samba, Sexuality, and Sertao: New Voices in Brazilian Documentary

Free with Museum admission. Seating is limited. For reservations and a complete schedule, call 212-998-8550.

High-School Program

Screenings and discussions for high-school students at sites throughout the five boroughs, including the American Museum of Natural History; Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island; American Museum of the Moving Image, Queens; and The Point, the Bronx. Free admission at most sites. Seating is limited. For exact dates, sites, reservations, and information, call 212-769-5305.