Back in December, The Ossining Documentary & Discussion Series gathered at the Budarz Theater at the Ossining Public Library for this month’s screening of The Human Experience. Simply – The Human Experience is a documentary that follows the story of Jeffrey Azize and his journey as he searches for answers to the question, "What does it mean to be human?” Divided into three experiences, we follow Azize and his brother as they 1) live out on the streets of New York City among the homeless, 2) travel with Surf for a Cause to Peru and visit a hospital for abandoned children, happy despite their illnesses, and 3) venture with friends to rural Ghana, where they met families and victims of AIDS on their way to visit a leper colony, befriending disfigured lepers exiled from their villages along the way. The film circles back and concludes in a beautiful way that I won’t ruin for you! But I’d recommend having some tissue nearby. What they all ultimately discover are messages that resonate with all demographics, from gender to age to ethnicity to mobility – The overwhelming takeaway I gathered was a sense of community that we as humans desire, build, move through, grow from and develop into. This was certainly my favorite screening thus far – perhaps because it ultimately encompasses every film that we show. The discussion after the screening showed just how touched everyone had been after the film as well. ~Cheers to Community~
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Written by CEO & Founder, Toro Adeyemi Last week, the Ossining Documentary & Discussion Series met and screened Bag It, a humorous & informative film that deals with issues surrounding single-use plastic bags. This documentary was well time as a movement towards charging for plastic bags (and banning them altogether!) has gained momentum throughout the country as well as the world. The film queries, Is Your Life Too Plastic? “We need to understand that our modern day convenience of single-use plastic bags seems free but actually comes at a very high cost to our health and environment. When we put our garbage at the curb we think it goes away. But where is away? There is no away,“ says panelist, Sharon Rowe, an Ossining-based business owner interviewed in the film. What did I take away?
It really is crazy how much plastic we use and waste and just toss away. In the images above, the OD&DS committee took on a challenge: 5 of us would collect all of the plastic we saw in the streets for 3 days before the screening.
Imagine how much we would have collected after a week. Imagine, what’s going on in your neighborhood? Written by CEO & Founder, Toro Adeyemi Last week, before this government shutdown had begun, the Ossining Documentary and Discussion Series met to watch Dear Governor Cuomo, a concert protest film that raises awareness surrounding hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock found deep within the earth. It’s no bueno. Here’s some of why:
While it would be great if the US had an independent source of energy, the fracking solution is too short term. Once natural gas depletes, where will we be? My thoughts are we should find more sustainable methods of energy retrieval – solar power anyone?? This documentary was incredibly insightful and pretty entertaining given the intermittent musical performances. We were fortunate to have an amazing discussion panel as well! I asked Jon Bowermaster, writer/director of Dear Governor Cuomo, Paul Gallay, President of Riverkeeper, and Catherine Borgia, Westchester County Legislator, to role play: “We’ve seen this film, we’re discussing how horrible this process is for the environment and for people in general. I’d love to hear from each of you, what is something good about fracking?”
Short story shorter, none of these experts could come up with an answer. Governor Andrew Cuomo has the power to stop this from happening in the State of New York – Tweet #banFracking @NYGovCuomo and let him here your voice! This is an issue that affects us all. Want to learn more? Get the lowdown on hydraulic fracturing at http://nyagainstfracking.org/facts/ Written by CEO & Founder, Toro Adeyemi This past weekend, we finished up filming Uncovering Eden, a short independent film written and directed by Chelsea Lupkin (see the Story below). As the Marketing Producer for this film, it was my job to craft a press release and to reach out to possible backers for the Kickstarter campaign. This included social media outreach as well as taking more traditional avenues by reaching out to bloggers, reporters and editors via relevant forums (Jewish websites, local news stations, etc). With about 5 days or so left in the campaign, it was pretty nerve-wracking! We were thousands of dollars away from our goal and the pressure was on. Thankfully we saw some big numbers as the clock wound down and, naturally since I am writing about the filming process, we made and then exceeded our goal. Another role I played was as Assistant Director, and during the first week of filming this was particularly important due to the number of extra’s on set. We had to conduct a good deal of blocking to make the hallway scene as fluid and natural as possible, and the shots turned out great. It was especially fun to get to chat with this young group of high school actors: some were eager to be heading off to college, others were enjoying their summers, and all were excited to just be there and be a part of the movie. It was interesting for me to see them, so young, not having lived away from home or gone off to college yet—it certainly reminded me of my age and all that I have experienced, and it reminded me of how excited I was to head off to Carnegie Mellon University 5 years ago. The second week of filming had a much smaller cast, namely the lead, Edie, and her grandmother. Set in a house in Yardley PA, the final shots were both the sweet interactions between the two as well as the more tense scenes. Seeing both Chelsea and our Director of Photography, Jason Krangel, craft each shot was insightful to watch. Our day ended with the strange feeling and realization that we were all done filming…and some champagne to celebrate of course! We had our behind the scenes shots taken by Chaz Boyd and his Nikon (don’t bring your Canon’s around him, folks!). This one is a personal favorite from the first weekend. The adventures of post-production are before us. We’ll keep you posted on when Uncovering Eden premieres! I’d like to give a very special shout out to our friends at Eco-Bags Products, Inc. for providing the swag we gave to the cast and crew! The organic cotton reusable Hudson bags were a great way to personalize the gifts, and we filled the organic produce bags with freshly picked peppers, eggplants, blackberries, tomatoes, string beans and thyme. Check out the photo gallery for some behind the scenes photos! Be sure to like Toro Communications on Facebook! Actress Victoria Pedretti, who plays Edie in Uncovering Eden.
Written by CEO & Founder, Toro Adeyemi Wednesday night's screening of Seeds of Freedom was an insightful look into the story of seed: "...From its roots at the heart of traditional, diversity rich farming systems across the world, to being transformed into a powerful commodity, used to monopolise the global food system. The film highlights the extent to which the industrial agricultural system, and genetically modified (GM) seeds in particular, has impacted on the enormous agro -biodiversity evolved by farmers and communities around the world, since the beginning of agriculture." Some takeaways I left with include:
You can watch the 30 minute film, Seeds of Freedom, here. It's not asking you to change your habits... ...It's asking you to be aware of your options and make educated choices. Spread the Seed! |
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