Fifth Annual Media that Matters Film Festival Celebrates Cinema and Social Activism

The Fifth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival, produced by Arts Engine, Inc., a nonprofit that supports the creation of documentary films that make a difference, today will premiere 16 documentary films that were celebrated last week at an awards ceremony, which featured actor/director/writer Tim Robbins as a presenter and Air America Radio's Sam Seder as its host.

The premiere screenings will be held today at BAMcinematek in Brooklyn at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Tickets to the premiere screenings are $10 each and are available at the BAM Box Office (718) 636-4100 or through http://www.movietickets.com/. In addition, all 16 festival films will begin streaming online for one year today on the Festival's website (http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/).

At the May 26th awards ceremony that honored this year's crop of visionary filmmakers, Robbins and Seder were joined by two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple, comedian and radio host Al Franken, social activist and musician Peter Yarrow ("Peter, Paul & Mary"), media policy reformist Robert McChesney, filmmaker Rodney Evans and New York State Assembly Member Deborah Glick, all of whom presented awards. The Fifth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival awards ceremony and reception was held at HBO's New York screening room. All 16 films were honored with awards and $10,000 in outreach grants were distributed.

"Independent media of all kinds, especially films that address social issues have been reaching larger audiences and growing in impact. At the same time, it is difficult to reach audiences with this media through mainstream distribution outlets," said Katy Chevigny, Executive Director of Arts Engine, Inc. "Arts Engine and the Media That Matters Film Festival in particular work to develop innovative strategies to get social-issue films to new groups and individuals."

This work is paying off as evidenced by the organization's success promoting the films in last year's festival. Over 50 screenings around the country and the world were organized for festival films, and the festival's website, which offers streaming video of all of the films, averages 150,000 unique visitors each month.

"It's an exciting time. Technology is creating a lot of exciting opportunities for so many different points of view, and providing important new delivery systems," commented award presenter Tim Robbins. "We no longer have to rely on major corporations for things to be seen. We have the Internet to distribute and to find new material, new voices and new points of view -- points of view that have been thwarted or kept back by a studio system that is not very adventurous or daring."

Sarah McLachlan sent a speech to the awards ceremony commenting on the importance of social change. "Media that Matters is about people making the switch from apathy to action. I'm so happy to have World on Fire be recognized as a motivator of that kind of change."

The sixteen provocative, short, social-issue films in the festival range from fast-paced musical animations to insightful personal documentaries that offer new perspectives on the war in Iraq, racial identity, global warming, gay rights, civil liberties, sustainable agriculture/development, drug addiction and more.

AWARDS

"Everything I have seen so far has been fascinating," said former Minnesotan Al Franken, who introduced Battleground Minnesota, the eight-minute Jury Award-winning film that follows a young African-American hip-hop artist as he gets the low down on the political process from former vice-president Walter Mondale and other key political figures in the battleground state.

The Jury Award was sponsored by Netflix and presented by Ted Sarandos, the company's chief content officer. "Netflix is proud to be back in the Media That Matters Film Festival because we share the vision that film is not only an amazing source of entertainment but also an essential vehicle for social change."

  Awards were presented to:

  Battleground Minnesota (8 min.)     System Failure (8:00 min) -
  - Youth Documentary                 Documentary
  Directed by Gabriel Cheifetz,       WITNESS, Executive Producer, Ella
  Produced by Phillips Community      Baker Center for Human Rights,
  Television                          Co-Producer
  Introduced by Al Franken,           Winner of the Criminal Justice
  Winner of the Jury Award            Award ($1,000) sponsored by
  ($1,000) sponsored by Netflix       Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation
  and co-presented by Tim             and presented by Robin Reid,
  Robbins, and Ted Sarandos,          Board Member of Arts Engine, Inc.
  Chief Content Officer of
  Netflix                             Fast and Reliable (7:53 min) -
                                      Documentary
  All That I Can Be (8:30 min) -      Tom Soper, Director/Producer,
  Youth Documentary                   Sean Morrison, Co-Producer
  Educational Video Center,           Winner of the Against the Odds
  Producer                            Award presented by Sam Seder
  Winner of the Economic Justice
  Award presented by Barbara          Neglected Sky (1:36 min) - Youth
  Kopple                              Animation
                                      John Cooney, Director and
  Pizza Surveillance Feature          Producer with Citizens for Global
  (2:20 min) - Public Service         Solutions
  Announcement                        Winner of the Environment Award
  Micah Laaker, Director,             ($1,000) sponsored by Loreto Bay
  American Civil Liberties Union,     Company and presented by David
  Producer                            Butterfield of Loreto Bay Company
  Winner of the Civil Liberties
  Award presented by New York         Young Agrarians (8:00 min) -
  State Assembly Member               Documentary
  Deborah Glick                       Johanna Divine, Director/Producer
                                      Winner of the Nourishing Change
  The News Is What We Make It         Award ($1,000) sponsored by W.K.
  (8:21 min) - Animation              Kellogg Foundation and presented
  Nickey Robare,                      by Nicole de Beaufort, Kellogg
  Director/Producer                   Foundation consultant
  Winner of the Media Reform
  Award ($1,000) sponsored by         World on Fire (4:20 min) - Music
  Utne Magazine and presented by      Video by Sarah McLachlan
  Judy Rudrud of Utne magazine        Sophie Muller, Director
                                      Winner of the Citizen Engagement
  Laptop (0:30 min) - Public          Award ($1,000) sponsored by Green
  Service Announcement                Mountain Coffee Roasters
  Larry Frye, Director, Public        Foundation and presented by
  Interest, Producer                  Michael Dupee of Green Mountion
  Winner of the Digital Divide        Coffee Roasters Foundation
  Award presented by Sam Seder
                                      The Luckiest Nut in the World
  A Girl Named Kai (8:00 min) -       (8:00 min) - Musical
  Experimental                        Emily James, Director, Fulcrum
  Kai Ling Xue, Director/Producer     TV, Producer
  Winner of the Lesbian, Gay,         Winner of the Global Justice
  Bisexual, Transgender Rights        Award ($1,000) sponsored by Oxfam
  Award presented by Rodney           America and presented by Barbara
  Evans, Director of "Brother to      Fiorito, Board Chair of Oxfam
  Brother"                            America

  Bad Choices (3:00 min) - Youth      Something Other Than Other (7:05
  Digital Story                       min) - Experimental
  Aderian Fair, Director, Natasha     Jerry A. Henry and Andrea J.
  Freidus and Curt McPhail,           Chia, Directors and Producers
  Producers                           Winner of the Tolerance Education
  Winner of the Youth Voice Award     Award ($1,000) sponsored by Third
  ($1,000) sponsored by Paola         Millennium Foundation and
  Freccero and presented by           presented by Carol Stakenas of
  Robert McChesney, founder of        Third Millennium Foundation
  Free Press
                                      Homecoming (5:30 min) - Youth
  Happy Ending (8:00 min) - Youth     Documentary
  Documentary                         Brian Schirber and Kirstin
  Chris Irrizarry, Director, HBO      Nelson, Directors, Listen Up! and
  Young Filmmaker Lab, Producer       Perpich Center for Arts
  Winner of the Family and            Education, Producers
  Society Award presented by          Winner of the Peter Yarrow Peace
  Eliza Byard, President of the       in Our Classrooms Award ($1,000)
  Arts Engine, Inc. Board             sponsored by Frank Marshall and
                                      presented by Peter Yarrow of
                                      Peter, Paul and Mary

"We marched a long time ago for the mother of all efforts which let us know that we could change things in this country," commented award presenter Peter Yarrow. "We live in a world where in each generation there are people who become active. I want to pay tribute to all of you [filmmakers] for carrying on this work."

The Fifth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival includes a yearlong program of web streaming, DVD distribution and screenings around the country intended to connect audiences to inspiring, independently and youth-produced short films that spark debate and action.

ABOUT ARTS ENGINE, INC.

The Media That Matters Film Festival is produced by Arts Engine, Inc, a nonprofit organization that supports, produces, and distributes independent media of consequence and promotes the use of independent media by advocates, educators and the general public. By fostering the production and use of independent film, video and new media, Arts Engine connects media makers and active audiences in order to spur critical consideration of pressing social issues. Arts Engine projects include MediaRights (http://www.mediarights.org/), the Youth Media Distribution initiative (http://www.ymdi.org/) and documentary films such as Deadline (http://www.deadlinethemovie.com/). For more information visit http://www.artsengine.net/.

SOURCE: Media Rights

CONTACT: Terence Womble, +1-917-216-3251, terencenyc@aol.com, Anayansi
Diaz-Cortes, +1-646-230-6288, press@mediarights.org, both of Media Rights

Web site: http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/
http://www.mediarights.org/
http://www.ymdi.org/
http://www.artsengine.net/
http://www.movietickets.com/