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FESTIVAL NEWS

January 21: Boston, MA; 1:00PM - 3:00PM

The Museum of Fine Arts Film Program presents a series of short films from the Media that Matters Film Festival on power and social justice in America. Symbols of Power: Perspectives on Film series Martin Luther King day at MFA, Boston Screening at 1 pm and 2 pm, Remis Auditorium The Apollos POPaganda: The Art and Subversion of Ron English Vision Test By-Standing: The Beginning of an American Lifetime Recycle

Published on January 21, 2008

January 14: RIGHTS ON THE LINE Discussion; Denver, CO

Ray Ybarra, co-producer of the seventh annual Media That Matters Film Festival winner Rights on the Line: Vigilantes at the Border, will be speaking at an event sponsored by Coloradans for Immigrant Rights, the American Friends Service Committee and the ACLU of Colorado.

The talk, Justice on the Border: Minutemen, Militarization and Deaths on the Migrant Trail, will take place at the American Friends Service Committee at 901 W. 14th St., Denver, Colorado from 6-8pm. The event is free to attend and more info can be found here.

Justice on the Border: Minutemen, Militarization and Deaths on the Migrant Trail with Ray Ybarra - Monday January 14, 2008
Born in Douglas, AZ, Ray’s mother was born just a few miles to the south in the town of Agua Prieta, Sonora. Ray co-wrote and co-produced with AFSC the award-winning documentary, Rights on the Line: Vigilantes at the Border, was instrumental in bringing about a major civil rights lawsuit against one of the vigilantes, and created and coordinated the Legal Observer Project during the Minutemen’s operations. His work has been profiled in a documentary that premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, Crossing Arizona. Ray attended Cochise Community College in Douglas, AZ and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Arizona State University in 2002 and from Stanford Law School in 2007.

Watch Ray’s film, Rights on the Line: Vigilantes at the Border, now and learn how you can take action!

- Austra Zubkovs

Published on January 14, 2008

Eighth Annual Media That Matters Festival - Extended Deadline!

Please check out the Submit page for more details on the extended deadline - January 18, 2008.

We are excited to see the new batch of social-issue shorts from you all. Good luck!

Published on January 3, 2008

Tribeca Film Institute and Media That Matters present TFI Youth Screening Series

Tribeca Film Institute and the Media That Matters Film Festival presents the TFI Youth Screening Series Arts Engine and Tribeca Film Institute partner for the second season of the yearlong TFI Youth Screening Series. The first screening started in September 2007, kicking off with Arts Engine/Big Mouth Films production, Arctic Son. The series will run through May 2008. On a monthly basis a Media That Matters Film Festival short will be paired with a feature curated by Tribeca Film Institute. This will be presented to young people and educators in and around New York City. The educators will receive a screening package with the short film and accompanying Discussion and Take Action Guides to use in their classrooms. All feature-length films will screen at Tribeca Cinemas (unless otherwise noted) 54 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013 @ Laight Street, one block below Canal Street. For more information, visit: www.tribecafilminstitute.org. To book seats, please email youth@tribecafilminstitute.org About the Films Media That Matters Film Battleground Minnesota will accompany Arts Engine/Big Mouth Films' Election Day on January 29th at 12:30pm. Battleground Minnesota is about Hip-hop activist Shakademic who proves that if Walter Mondale can learn how to scratch, young voters can get schooled in election politics. Election Day is a dramatic, character-driven verite documentary that follows fourteen characters across the United States on November 2, 2004, as they struggle to play their part in democracy. Media that Matters Film The Sixth Section will accompany La Misma Luna (Under the Same Moon) on March 3rd at 12:30pm. The Sixth Section is about how during the cold winters of upstate New York, a group of immigrants worked together to give back to their hometown of Boqueron, Mexico. The film portrays real stories being lived by today’s immigrants—stories that don’t fit into the confines of today’s immigration debate. Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna) tells the parallel stories of nine-year-old Carlitos and his mother, Rosario. In the hopes of providing a better life for her son, Rosario works illegally in the U.S. while her mother cares for Carlitos back in Mexico. Unexpected circumstances drive both Rosario and Carlitos to embark on their own journeys in a desperate attempt to reunite. Media that Matters Film The Children of Birmingham will accompany Revolution 67' on March 12th at 12:30pm. The Children of Birmingham is about Baltimore youth telling the story of their 1960s counterparts who fought for civil rights. This animated piece celebrates the powerful role young people had in changing the laws of segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Revolution 67' is an illuminating account of events too often relegated to footnotes in U.S. history — the black urban rebellions of the 1960s. More about TFI Youth Screening Series The TFI Youth Screening Series is a yearlong presentation of films that serves NYC youth and educators with access to free, relevant programming. The aim of the program is to spark debate and galvanize awareness and action in young people around the issues that are affecting them. Each screening is followed by a discussion, a workshop or a Q&A session with the filmmakers to help make the viewing experience richer and more engaging for students Study Guides: Each film will be accompanied by a study guide that will contextualize the issues raised in the film, allowing the discussion to be taken beyond the theater and into classroom and community group settings. Teacher Trainings: Tribeca Film Institute will also hold periodic teacher trainings where filmmakers and educators will discuss the methods of bringing media into the classroom.

Published on January 1, 2008

It’s Time to Worry: Ribena’s False Advertising Exposed by British Teenagers

If you’ve watched Don’t Worry and Profit Cola from the Media That Matters: Good Food collection, then you know how unhealthy soft drinks are and to what lengths corporations are willing to go to market these products to children.

Case in point—Ribena, a major British drink distributor has for many years advertised their signature drink as having more vitamin C than orange juice, and it turns out they were lying (Source: The Daily Telegraph):

Ribena has long been sold as a healthy drink based on advertisements that black currant juice has more vitamin C than orange juice. Its New Zealand advertisements claimed Ready to Drink Ribena had seven milligrams of vitamin C per 100 milliliters (0.25 ounce per 3.4 fluid ounces). But high school students Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo, then 14, found it contained almost no trace of vitamin C after testing the children’s syrup-based drink as part of a science project in 2004.

Auckland District Court Judge Phil Gittos fined GlaxoSmithKline and ordered it to run corrective advertisements, in addition to a message on its Web site. The girls were in court to hear the verdict. “We feel quite proud ... blown away,’’ Devathasan told National Radio. “If we hadn’t done that science test three years ago, Ribena could have been promoted as vitamin-C full forever.’‘

It was “remarkable nobody had even picked it up ... and we just stumbled on it by chance,’’ she said, adding that she thought the fine should have been more because GlaxoSmithKline was a multibillion dollar company. Commerce Commission chairwoman Paula Rebstock praised the teenagers and called them a “true inspiration to everyone at the commission.’’ The commission had sought a fine of NZ$350,000.

Get the full story from The Daily Telegraph.

Contact Ribena to let them know what you think about their misleading advertising tactics.

Watch Don’t Worry.

Watch Profit Cola.

Published on January 1, 2008

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