Film + Video Festival

2:30-2:50 p.m.

Sin Pais (Without Country) a film by Theo Rigby

Two years ago, immigration agents stormed the Mejia's house looking for someone who didn't live there. Sam, Elida, and Gilbert were undocumented and became deeply entangled in the U.S. immigration system. With intimate access and striking imagery, this film explores the complexities of the Mejia's new reality of a separated family.

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3-4:40 p.m.

The Learning a film by Ramona Diaz

American teachers established the English-speaking public school system in the Philippines100 years ago. Now, in a striking turnaround, American schools are recruiting Filipino teachers. This film is the story of four Filipino teachers who come to Baltimore hoping to use their earnings to transform their families' impoverished lives back home. However, the women's idealistic visions of the job soon collide with Baltimore's tough realities.

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4:50'5:50 p.m.

Bad Blood: A Cautionary Tale a film by Marilyn Ness

What if your life-saving medicine contained deadly viruses'and the drug manufacturers, the government, and your own doctors knew but failed to warn you? This film chronicles how a 'miracle' treatment for hemophilia became an agent of death for 10,000 Americans, as well as the hemophilia community's powerful and inspiring fight to right the system that failed them and make it safer for all.

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Saturday Night at the Movies: The Interrupters a Henry Hampton Award-winning film by Steve James, Alex Kotlowitz, and Zak Piper

Tickets are $25 for non-GFEM members and $15 for GFEM members.
Register for this event or contact Evelyn Gibson (703-879-0691) for tickets or more information.

The 2012 Henry Hampton Award goes to "The Interrupters", a MacArthur Foundation-supported film by the creators of "Hoop Dreams"-Steve James, Alex Kotlowitz, and Zak Piper'made with Kartemquin Films. The film presents a raw and unflinching portrait of CeaseFire and its courageous struggle to eradicate violence in the gritty streets of Chicago. Join us for a discussion with CeaseFire founder Gary Slutkin and Interrupter Ameena Matthews. You will also hear about a collaborative effort to expand the CeaseFire approach through the creation of a mobile phone-based initiative, PeaceTXT. The event is moderated by Andrew Zolli, executive director and curator of PopTech, and the award is presented by Academy Award-winning director John Singleton.

Watch the trailer.

The event is hosted by the Council on Foundations and Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media (GFEM) and co-sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and McCormick Foundation.

10:30-11:55 p.m.

No Tomorrow a film by Roger Weisberg and Vanessa Roth

Risa Bejarano was the subject of a recent PBS documentary, "Aging Out," about teenagers leaving foster care. In a shocking turn of events, Risa was brutally murdered, and the film about her last year of life unexpectedly became the centerpiece of a dramatic death penalty trial. "No Tomorrow" takes viewers inside the suspenseful trial and challenges their beliefs about capital punishment.

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8-9:40 a.m.

Better This World a film by Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway

The story of Bradley Crowder and David McKay, who were accused of plotting to firebomb the 2008 Republican National Convention, 'Better This World' is a dramatic tale of idealism, loyalty, crime, and betrayal. It follows the radicalization of these boyhood friends while getting to the heart of the war on terror and its impact on civil liberties and political dissent in post-9/11 America.

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9:50'11:20 a.m.

Where Soldiers Come From a film by Heather Courtney

From a snowy, small town in Northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan, this film follows the four-year journey of childhood friends who join the National Guard after graduating from high school. It offers an intimate look at the young Americans who fight our wars, the families and towns they come from'and the way one faraway conflict changes everything.

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2-3:05 p.m.

Cafeteria Man a film by Richard Chisolm

After several angry kids brought their horrible cafeteria food to the Baltimore City School Board, food expert and chef Tony Geraci came to town as the new food and nutrition director. His plan: feed kids healthy, locally-sourced meals, teach them nutritional awareness, and offer them vocational opportunities in the world of food. 'Cafeteria Man' chronicles Geraci's tenacious efforts to kick-start school reform in Baltimore.

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3:15-4:40 p.m.

Enemies of the People a film by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath

The Khmer Rouge slaughtered nearly two million people in the late 1970s. Yet the 'killing fields' of Cambodia have remained largely unexplained'until now. Thet Sambath, an investigative journalist who lost his family in the conflict, spent a decade gaining the trust of the men and women who perpetrated the massacres. The film includes shocking testimony from the foot soldiers who slit throats and from Pol Pot's right-hand man, the notorious Brother Number Two.

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4:50-6:15 p.m.

Meet the Filmmaker - Fambul Tok a film by Sara Terry, Libby Hoffman, and Rory Kennedy

Victims and perpetrators of Sierra Leone's brutal civil war come together for the first time in an unprecedented program of tradition-based truth-telling and forgiveness. As it shares the ancient practice of fambul tok (family talk), the film explores a culture that believes true justice lies in redemption and healing for individuals'and that forgiveness is the surest path to restoring dignity and building strong communities.

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9:30-11:05 a.m.

Our School a film by Mona Nicoara and Miruna Coca-Cozma

Three Roma children from a small Transylvanian town participate in a project to desegregate the local school, struggling against indifference, tradition, and bigotry with humor, optimism, and sass. This film is a captivating and often funny story about hope and race, as well as an elegy about generational prejudice and squandered opportunities.

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11:15 a.m.'12:40 p.m.

To Be Heard a film by Roland Legiardi-Laura, Deborah Shaffer, Amy Sultan, and Eddie Martinez

This award-winning PBS production tells the story of three Bronx, N.Y., high school students and three innovative, courageous educators who develop a unique program using literacy and poetry to empower young people through language. In our country'where two thirds of all those enmeshed in the penal system are functionally illiterate and only one in eight adults can read well enough to understand the U.S. Constitution'"To Be Heard" helps show why we are in need of new approaches to these problems.

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12:50'2:25 p.m.

The Power of Two a film by Marc Smolowitz

'The Power of Two' offers an intimate look at half-Japanese twin sisters, their lifelong battle with the fatal genetic disease cystic fibrosis, survival through miraculous double lung transplants, and improbable emergence as authors, athletes, and global advocates for organ donation. Featuring expert interviews and deeply personal testimony from the twins, the film provides unprecedented insight into the personal and societal aspects of this modern medical miracle affecting millions worldwide.

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2:35'5 p.m

The Interrupters a Henry Hampton Award-winning film by Steve James, Alex Kotlowitz, and Zak Piper

'The Interrupters' is an intimate look at the stubborn persistence of violence in our cities. Shot over the course of a year, the film follows two men and a woman as they intervene in disputes before they turn violent'using bravado, humility, and even humor to protect their Chicago communities. The film captures not only their work, but their own stories of hope and redemption.

Watch the trailer.