ARTIVIST

THE ARTIVIST NEWSLETTER
Uniting the Artistic, Activist, & Progressive Community

"One person with one camera and one idea can make all the difference in the world"
Morgan Spurlock, Super Size Me


June 1 - LATE DEADLINE FOR FILM SUBMISSIONS!!
(FORWARD TO YOUR GROUPS AND FRIENDS!)


"ARTIVIST" is the 1st international film festival dedicated to addressing Human Rights, Children's Advocacy, Environmental Preservation, and Animal Advocacy. Our mission is to strengthen the voice of international activist artists - "Artivists" - while raising public awareness for social global causes.

The 5th Annual Artivist Film Festival is currently accepting international Film and Video submissions that concern themselves with human rights, social or political issues, children's issues/advocacy, animal issues/rights, or environmental issues. Artivist also accepts films that tell inspirational stories and / or are "empowering." Each year Artivist screens shorts, feature-length films, documentaries, narratives, music videos, experimental and animated shorts directed by established international filmmakers, novice filmmakers and the YouTube community. Since 2004, Artivist has showcased 300 films representing 52 countries, and has publicized its events to over 15 Million people in the United States, U.K., and Portugal.

2008 PROMISES FIVE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL SITES: Because the 2007 Artivist Film Festival was so well received, it went on to travel to two more international cities, London and Lisbon. This year, in 2008, we had a special film presentation at Georgetown University in February. Now we are preparing the 2008 festival program to premiere in Hollywood, then travel to London, Lisbon, Mexico City and Tokyo.

To submit your film before the June 1st deadline, click here!


BE A PART OF IT - JOIN US!

Join us in our global mission of raising awareness and promoting positive change. The Artivist Board is now accepting resumes and applications for various Writers and Associate Producers. To learn more about what the Artivist organization has to offer click here!


FILM SPOTLIGHT: ZEITGEIST

By John Hoelle

Zeitgeist is a film that demands audiences question the fundamental structures underlying contemporary civilization. Specifically, the documentary attacks what it calls the American “tripartite myth” of God, country and prosperity. Produced and self-funded by Peter Joseph, Zeitgeist is designed to shock viewers into awareness, and has spawned a maelstrom of controversy over its calculated iconoclasm and portrayal of Christianity as pastiche fiction, the events of 9/11 as government conspiracy, and the role of the Federal Reserve as an institution of mass subjugation. While the film may lack the verifiable sources, or even the embodied voices many expect in a classic documentary, Joseph brings a fresh and vital viewpoint to a public forum and viewers are responding. Released exclusively on the internet in June of last year, Zeitgeist is currently the most daily-watched feature-length documentary in Internet history, with combined total views averaging around 70,000 a day, according to Joseph’s website. One gets the sense that the energy around this work and the unique formal aspects of the film itself somehow represents the collective consciousness, which is a real sign of the times.


The 2007 Artivist Film Festival was proud to provide Zeitgeist with its theatrical debut, and the film captured the “Best Feature – Artivist Spirit” prize. Joseph appreciates the prestige the festival is bringing to Zeitgeist: “My film was lifted to a higher respect because of its association with Artivist. I feel The Artivist Film Festival is an outstanding, dignified and honorable organization, which works to bring out important suppressed issues, rather than placating the publics' ill-conditioned interests. Artivist is doing what all media outlets should be doing: educating, raising awareness and increasing consciousness. [The programmers] were not scared to take the risk of showing a film which more traditional and establishment minded individuals might consider to be offensive.”


Zeitgeist seeks to upset many common understandings about how the world works – and one thing is sure, do not expect Joseph to cash in materially on the growing recognition of his film. He is already developing a follow-up (Zeitgeist – Addendum, due this October) to be released like its precursor, for free on the internet. “I do not seek profit outright. If people respect the message, they will help.” Joseph’s new film seeks to answer the question “What do we do now?” regarding the issues raised in the first film.


Joseph doesn’t have tips specifically for filmmakers, but to those who in any way seek to affect social/personal change for the better, he recommends thinking way outside of our normal zone. “The true functionality of any conscious, evolving human being, it to be able to stand ‘outside’ of his or her learned associations and objectively analyze the true empirical relevance, or lack thereof, of what they have been taught is true. It is this process of realization, learning and thus change, that will lead the species to continually higher levels of evolution and progress, because the limitations of personal ‘identity’ and thus ego will no longer exist.”


Zeitgeist can be seen in entirety at www.zeitgeistmovie.com



THE 2007 ARTIVIST AWARDS

On November 11, 2008, the 4th Annual Artivist Film Festival concluded with the 2007 Artivist Awards. Our activist honorees were Ted Danson, Alyssa Milano, Dr. Gloria Lane and Claes Nobel, of the Nobel Prize Family, for their outstanding dedication to human rights, animal advocacy, and environmental protection. Upon receiving his award, Claes shared his experience in having attended many Nobel Prize Awards over the years, describing his Artivist honor as a " paramount juggernaut" and added humorously that it felt "Darn Good!"

Mr. Nobel went on to thank Artivist for "advancing the work of individuals, corporations, and organizations who are inspired to spread bravely and truthfully the mission of creating a world that is better, safer and saner than the one that we have today."


TEN MINUTES WITH DR. GLORIA LANE

Call Me Gloria


By Jonathan Tyrrell


Dr. Gloria Lane has had countless roles in life. She's been an officer in the U.S. military, a dedicated wife, a doting mother, student, university professor, even a youthful tracker of carnivals at some long distant point.

Then on Oct. 6, during her 50th birthday celebration, she received a telephone call. It was her doctor. She had multiple sclerosis.


She would assume a new role; that of survivor.


Dr. Gloria is 75 now and needs to use a wheelchair, but you’d never guess either of those things from the passionate determination in her voice. “The only thing I can’t do is walk, other than that I can do everything. I can use my computer, telephone and of course work with people on a daily basis in whatever way they need to be helped.”


A seemingly tireless accumulator of hyphenates, Dr. Gloria picked up, along with MS survivor, the monikers of women’s advocate and in 1982, she founded the nonprofit Women’s International Center (WIC) whose mission is “Acknowledging, Honoring, Encouraging, and Educating Women”. A couple of years later, she started the Living Legacy Awards.


WIC helps women from other countries learn the fundamentals necessary to thrive in the U.S., including everything from language instruction to obtaining a Driver’s License. WIC is now working with like-minded organizations to assist homeless and abused women. In addition, WIC has linked up with a past Living Legacy Awards Honoree in sponsoring an orphanage of mostly girls in a small village in Nigeria. "You’ve got to start with the young ones.” Future endeavors include implementing programs that “…put out how women can make more money by helping each other start businesses,” says Dr. Gloria.


The first annual Living Legacy Awards presentation took place in honor of International Women’s Day in 1984. In the years since they have honored over 250 individuals from all walks of life for their contributions to humanity. Honorees have included everyone from Dr. Sally Ride to Benazir Bhutto, Uta Hagen to Mother Teresa, Senator Dianne Feinstein to Tippi Hedren.


Dr. Gloria hopes to partner with Artivist so that WIC can bring its history and viewpoint to the Artivist community and integrate the interests of both, thereby highlighting, through films and videos, the significant contributions women have made to the world.


When asked for any advice she might have for artists and activists today she responded, “First of all, you have to know what you want. Second, you have to stick to where you are going, and say to yourself, “I’m going, I’m going and I will not stop until I achieve what I’m after. I think that Artivist does exactly that.”


Time was running out and I had to ask Dr. Gloria if she had any favorite quotes. Her response was revealing, moving and perfectly fitting. “One of my favorite quotes is from Winston Churchill who in the dark days of World War II said, “In all the world the one thing that you must do is never ever never give up.” And that’s how I live, I just never give up. There’s no other way because the only way you achieve anything is to never give up. It’s too easy to quit, too easy to say it's too hard, too easy to say “No, let somebody else do that.” If you've got a dream live it, if you've got that dream make sure everybody else knows what your dream is, and make them part of your dream. Don’t try to do it all by yourself because it's not gonna happen. There are lots of people there to support you but you must make sure you communicate your dream so it includes those people and doesn’t just glorify yourself but glorifies all of the people that you’re hoping to help. You've gotta acknowledge everybody, because everybody has something to say or do that makes a difference.”


Commenting on WIC’s future, Dr. Gloria says with typical determination, “There are lots of things to do yet. I’m not giving up anytime soon.”



VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT: BETH FISHER

By Terri Iler


Beth Fisher describes herself as “one of those people who continuously spouts her opinions about politics and the evironment to anyone willing to listen.” A volunteer of The Artivist Collective since its beginning in 2004, she recalls receiving an unexpected phone call one morning from friend and Artivist founder Diaky Diaz: “After she underwent her metamorphosis into an activist, she knew I was the right person to contact because I believed the world needed to be exposed to the realities documented in the festival films, even if they were painful to watch.”


Nine months later the first film festival was held and Fisher was its volunteer coordinator. Over the years, she has continued to nurture its growth as a producer, associate producer and no frills event assistant. “I’ve done everything from finding the donors and sponsors to recruiting the volunteers to handling the food and even collecting tickets. I simply show up and take care of those things that need taking care of.”


In her first year as volunteer coordinator, she “literally relied on faithful friends, family and congenial volunteer organizations” to work at the festival. “It’s amazing,” she comments, “how many people you need and how it always manages to come off without a hitch.” Now that the Artivist Collective has steadily flourished into an internationally recognized organization, Fisher is “thrilled to have been there from the beginning . . . though hopefully this is just the beginning.”


When asked how Artivists has given back to her, Fisher responded: “I have learned the importance of diplomacy and the fact that people need to be willing to sit down at the table. Even in selecting the festival sponsors,” she explains, “we do not let them dictate what we do or do not show, no matter who we choose.” And as the showing continues with every year’s eye-opening films and videos, Fisher will continue to volunteer and, she assures us, will “always be there around festival time.”

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ARTIVIST:

"Merging Art & Activism

For Global Consciousness"

www.ARTIVISTS.org