Countdown to Zero: Angel passes

When Lucy Walker’s documentary about the current global nuclear threat opens this weekend in Washington, DC and New York (and begins a national rollout next weekend),  interested citizens will have the opportunity to obtain free passes, courtesy of “angels” who are sponsoring tickets.

Participant Media produced  Countdown to Zero and previously produced the Academy Award winning films An Inconvenient Truth and The Cove.  Participant Media’s goal is to provide “entertainment that inspires and compels social change.” Last year, Participant Media’s Academy Award nominated film Food, Inc. sure convinced me to be a more mindful food consumer based on justice issues and I am becoming a vegetarian . (See my review Food, Inc.)

I reviewed “Countdown to Zero” earlier this month  in NCR  Countdown to Zero: Nuclear reality and lost opportunity

Click here for cities, theaters and links for tickets. http://www.takepart.com/node/165470

The Twilight Saga: Basically a love story

For a film essay by Sr. Hosea Rupprecht and I, visit The Tidings or a slightly different version at Arkansas Catholic.

The Labyrinth documentary to show at Arclight during DocuWeek

If you like documentaries, and live in New York or Los Angeles (or nearby) be sure to check out The Labyrinth during DocuWeek, July 30-August 19, 2010.

For more information on the films and screening dates, visit DocuWeek 2010

The Labyrinth Director/Producer: Jason A. Schmidt
Memory, art and hell collide as an Auschwitz survivor finally confronts the horrors of his past after 50 years of silence. Marian Kolodziej was on one of the first transports to enter Auschwitz. He survived five years imprisonment and never spoke of his experience until after a serious stroke in 1993. He began rehabilitation by doing pen-and-ink drawings depicting his horrific experience. His drawings and art installations, which he called The Labyrinth, fill the large basement of a church near Auschwitz. Through the blending of his testimony and graphic drawings, this documentary explores the memories and nightmares that were buried for years.

Producer: Ron Schmidt, S.J.
Executive Producer: Arthur Schmidt
December 2nd Productions
38 min. USA/Poland

I have seen the film three times and it is a powerful and moving personal experience of Auschwitz by a Catholic partisan who was only a very young man when transported there; he was consigned to building the camp and worse. This is a testament to the power of art to transcend horror, even decades later. It is a film for all audiences who care about the human person, the human family, the human experience.

Media Literacy on the rise: Notes from World Summit on Media for Children and Youth

This is a bit late, but here is a blog entry I wrote for the national Catholic Reporter on the World Summit on Media for Children and Youth that I attended in Sweden in June:

Sr. Rose’s Notes on the World Summit on media for Children and Youth

Searching for Peace: National Film Retreat July 16-18, 2010

The 11^th Annual National Film Retreat

SEARCHING  FOR PEACE

Fri. Jul.16th-Sun.Jul.18th, 2010

View and discuss four dramatic films to mine

human and spiritual insights on the theme of peace.

Suitable for anyone who loves movies.

FILM ROSTER

Departures

The Lives of Others

Marvin’s Room

King of Hearts

Retreat Directors:

Frank Frost, Frank Frost Productions

Fr. Greg Freidman, OFM, St. Anthony Messenger

Sr. Hosea Rupprecht, FSP, Pauline Center for Media Studies

Registration Fee: $235.00

Includes room & board

To register contact:

GRAYMOOR

Spiritual Life Center

1320 Route 9, Garrison, NY 10524

(845)424-3671 X2111

http://www.graymoorcenter.org