cultural film // Current

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16 hours ago

Lucky: O Blest are the Survivors

“Lucky” is a 2-minute animated short film by Yibi Hu, who describes his main inspirational idea as an enigmatic but... more

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Tattooed Under Fire: Fort Hood, War Experiences Inked on the Body

American’s are deeply saddened by the shooting tragedy at Fort Hood, an attack by Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan... more

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A Little Girl's Ride on a Magical Fairground Carousel

“Un Tour de Manège” (A Ride on a Fairground Carousel) is an enchanting animated short film by Les... more

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Kicks 4 Cranes: Feet and Cranes, Together at Last

“Kicks 4 Cranes” is a hauntingly lovely short film by Seattle-based filmmaker Matt Cibelli, a film that’s sure... more

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Between: The Exit is the Only Entrance

“Between” is a 4-minute short experimental film by the German filmmaker Tim Bollinger. The film has been described as... more

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That's Gay: Conversion

Tired of being gay? Well, Richard Cohen and his Ex-Gay cohorts can help. Join Bryan Safi as he navigates the world of conversion... more

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George Washington: The Loss of All Things

“George Washington” is David Gordon Green’s acclaimed impressionistic Southern Gothic debut film, which one... more

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Beyond Embedded: Ben Harper & Heath Ledger’s musical friendship

http://blogs.current.com/music/2009/10/28/beyond-embedded-ben-harper-heath-ledgers-musical-friendship/ Ben Harper and Heath... more

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A Beautiful Mind: Stephen Wiltshire Draws New York City from Memory

Steven Wiltshire (born in 1974) is an accomplished architectural artist who has been diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder.... more

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Saving the National Parks one photo at a time: Ian Shive

In case you missed Wild Exposure with Ian Shrive, a documentary of his experiences photographing the National Parks for "Photos Across America" on Current, All is not lost. Current Green caught up with Ian between signings (Literally. I think he was driving).

Current Green: How did you get into photography?

Ian Shive: It started as an attempt to share new experiences and places with friends and family when I first moved to Montana for college after growing up in New Jersey. Montana was so radically different that I had to find ways to send photos back home to “prove” to friends what I was seeing out west. Most of my friends back then had not seen the American West and once you see it – it never leaves you. I remember one experience in particular where I had photographed a scene in the Crazy Mountains of Montana and when I got the film back – the photos were so disappointing. I had failed to accurately capture what I was hoping for and so began an inadvertent journey of teaching myself photography. Still, photography wasn’t an obvious career choice for me, despite the fact that my father is a photographer specializing in architecture. I simply saw it as a means of sharing and that continues to this day.

Current Green: What came first? Love of wilderness or love of photography?

Ian Shive: My first experience of wilderness outdoors was in New Jersey, and so that’s pretty much where I spent all of my time. Most people don’t think of New Jersey as a place with great outdoors but it is and was amazing. We had wildlife refuges and parks that for a 5-year old up until my teen years, were more than enough to spark my interests. When I was 14 years-old, my parents took me on my first trip to a major National Park – the Grand Canyon. That trip left an indelible mark and opened my eyes to the immensity of the west and especially the magic of the national parks. When I returned to Montana for college, I was never in class because Bozeman was so close to Yellowstone National Park (only 90 miles north), so photography and the parks and the love of wilderness all started in earnest. About six years later, I was completely obsessed and engrossed in the outdoors and photography.

Current Green: You have said that there is a difference between nature photography and conservation photography. Can you explain the difference?

Ian Shive: Nature photography and conservation photography frequently appear the same. It could be a bird in the backyard feeder, a beautiful landscape of a national park or a great wildlife shot. The place where the two diverge is that nature photography takes no action – the image is for yourself or for a magazine. Conservation photography takes the process a step further by taking that same image and using it for advocacy, education and to bring awareness or aid to the subject or ecosystem depicted in the image. It’s sort of like giving back to the landscape that you’ve borrowed from as a photographer.

Catch the full article, more pictures, and the videos on the blog post:
http://blogs.current.com/green/2009/09/30/saving-the-national-parks-one-photo-at-a-time-ian-shive/In case you missed Wild Exposure with Ian Shrive, a documentary of his experiences photographing the National Parks for... more

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1 month ago

Who is the Weather Underground?

This is a long documentary but not boring. There are interviewes with B. Doren and B Ayres. Bill Ayres did go to trial for being a... more

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28 days ago

The Born to win

The Born To win takes an intimate journey into the Florida Derby through the eyes of a jockey agent. It features candid interviews... more

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25 days ago

OAKLAND LOCKDOWN by Hannibal, Rekia Jibrin and Jacobs Ladder

Oakland Lockdown raises public and policy awareness about the destructive and discriminatory practices of policing, parolee surveillance, and the social stigmatization of incarcerated and marginalized, low-income residents of Oakland. Using footage from local policing activity in Oakland, intimate interviews of with marginalized residents who have been imprisoned or impacted by the imprisonment of close family members. This documentary brings to light the trauma, destruction, and frustration experienced by those who remain repetitively wreaked by the economic, psychological, social, and moral stigmatization of criminalization. With one in 31 people in the United States under correctional supervision—whether in prison or jail, or on parole or probation, and millions with a felony record that will never be erased, many struggle to regain their lives and be a productive members of their community. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2002, eighty-three percent of people in jail reported income of less than $2,000 in the month prior to arrest, one-third lower than the average monthly wage of the general public. Consequently, people who have been incarcerated face obstacles when attempting to find a job and housing and are vulnerable to homelessness, being banned from federal housing, while simultaneously facing severe ruptures with their families. Oakland Lockdown’s narrative responds to the recent call for a national conversation on American values in cities like Oakland where violence, racism, and incarceration destroys and fragments poor communities of color. This project cannot occur at a more timely political and economic moment with legal mandates ordering Governor Schwarzenegger to reduce and alleviate prison overcrowding. While the governor still appeals the terms of these mandates, his proposals continue to include the construction of more prisons and the transference of prison populations out of the state of California, further away from their families. Amist this prison crisis climate is the spectre of the $19.7 million COPS grant awarded to the city of Oakland that was a part of the $787 billion economic stimulus bill President Barack Obama signed into law this year. The $19.7 million was more money than any other U.S. city received from the Justice Department's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants. How such federal and local police funding intersects with policing practices affecting vulnerable populations on probation, parole, and in particular how the COPS grant may require the Oakland Police Department to participate in enforcement under Section 287 (g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act which can require local police agencies to assist the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) in their invasive and discriminatory activities within Oakland is to be addressed in this project. The impact of the criminal justice system on low-income communities cannot be ignored.Generations of poor, people of color disproportionately face race-based policing, controversial parole practices, and incarceration; this documentary demonstrates just that. It urges for a larger discussion between community members, lawyers, funders, educators, and police officers, about the epidemic of violence that Attorney Eric Holder describes as robbing “our youth of their childhood” and perpetuating “a cycle in which today's victims become tomorrow's criminals.” This doc aims to generate public discussion around the following issues: 1) the criminalization of marginalized populations who experience the mental trauma of violence and lock up, 2) attention towards street policing and parole practices, 3) unreasonable barriers to the reintegration of people returning from prison who are stigmatized with criminal records. 4) Furthermore, even though Oakland remains a sanctuary city, This doc addresses how documented or undocumented immigrants are also subjected to controversial policing practices.Oakland Lockdown raises public and policy awareness about the destructive and discriminatory practices of policing, parolee... more