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THE FIFTH ANNUAL MEDIA THAT MATTERS FILM FESTIVAL
Our jury has chosen 16 innovative shorts on the burning topics of today: Civic Engagement, Justice, Sustainability and more.
STREAM > CLICK > ACTION
Battleground Minnesota
- Register to vote through Rock the Vote.
- Join the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network to learn about upcoming Hip-Hop summits and campaigns near you.
- Get the facts on young voters from the Youth Vote Coalition.
- Explore the American Civil Liberties Union’s Congressional scorecard to see how your elected officials vote on today’s pressing issues.
All That I Can Be
- Learn about recruitment practices from the National Youth and Militarism Program of the American Friends Service Committee.
- Read personal accounts from troops in Iraq via Operation Truth.
- Need help for college but want an alternative to joining the military? Get alternatives from Military Free Zone.
Pizza Surveillance Feature
- Learn how the Patriot Act impacts your rights from the American Civil Liberties Union’s interactive guide.
- Help safeguard the privacy of reading records by signing the Campaign for Reader Privacy’s petition.
- Opt out from having your personal information shared or sold through the Center for Democracy and Technology.
- Sign up for updates from UnRealID.com to get updated news and campaign information about USA national ID cards.
The News Is What We Make It
- Learn about media reform and media policy issues from the Media Access Project.
- Discover who owns the media through Free Press’s interactive media conglomeration chart.
- Download the Media Policy Action Directory from the Center for International Media Action.
- Sign the Media Carta demanding media democracy through Adbusters.
- Sign the Bill of Media Rights and join over 20 million Americans in support of a diverse, independent, deconsolidated media.
Laptop
- Get 10 tips for donating a computer from Techsoup.
- Find your local library and get connected through the Library Index.
- Learn more about the digital divide from the Digital Divide Network.
- Take free computer tutorials in English and Spanish from GCF Global Learning.
A Girl Named Kai
- Sign up for Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gay weekly alerts and find a PFLAG chapter near you.
- Learn more about coming out in communities of color from the Human Rights Campaign.
- Get a roadmap to implement a better sex education program in your school from Sex, Etc.
- Help end discrimination and violence based on gender by donating to the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition.
Homecoming
- Start a Gay Straight Alliance group in your school.
- Demand that your elected officials support the arts and arts education.
- Join the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network’s Teach Respect Campaign to help end bullying and harrassment in schools.
Bad Choices
- Learn your legal rights as a juvenile through the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice.
- Volunteer as a Big Brother or Big Sister or enroll as a Little Brother or Little Sister.
- Make an impact with your digital story or film through the Youth Media Distribution Toolkit.
- Create your own digital story with help from the Digital Storytelling Cookbook from the Center for Digital Storytelling.
Happy Ending
- Get information on drug and substance abuse from Partnership for a Drug Free America.
- Learn how to cope with substance abuse in your family from the Phoenix House.
- Take a substance abuse quiz through Freevibe.com to learn if you or your friend has a drug problem.
- Make an impact with your youth produced film with the help of Media Rights' Youth Media Distribution Toolkit.
System Failure
- Support Books Not Bars in their efforts to redirect California's resources away from youth incarceration and towards youth opportunities.
- Learn your legal rights as a juvenile through the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice.
- Explore the prison industrial complex through the Corrections Documentary Project’s interactive map.
Fast and Reliable
- Learn more about Dexter’s messenger service, B&L Bike Messenger, by calling 212.560.0771 or by sending an email to bandlcouriers@yahoo.com
- Get the latest news on disability rights from CivilRights.org
- Learn the 10 Commandments for Better Bicycling.
- Take part in World Car Free Day: September 22, 2005.
- Ride in Critical Mass, an ‘unorganized coincidence’ that happens on the last Friday of every month in hundreds of cities around the world. Find a ride near you.
Neglected Sky
- Calculate your carbon emissions with SafeClimate’s Carbon Footprint Calculator.
- Learn about global warming and the Kyoto Protocol through Citizens for Global Solutions.
- Test how your consumer choices effect the environment by playing the Great Green Web Game.
- Contact your elected officials about environmental issues through the Sierra Club.
- Get tools on climate change for your classroom from ClimateChangeEducation.org
Young Agrarians
- Support the Farm to School Program by signing the Community Food Security Coalition’s petition.
- Search the Local Harvest map for farmer’s markets, family farms and locally grown produce in your community.
- Read “10 Ways to Ensure Healthy Food for You and Your Family” by Farm Aid.
- Learn 10 things you can do today for food, media and living democracy from the Small Planet Institute.
World On Fire
- View the entire list of recipient charities from the World On Fire video.
- Support the ONE Campaign Declaration to fight global AIDS and poverty.
- Sign up for Response, the Action Against Hunger newsletter that will keep you informed on news and campaigns in the fight to end hunger.
The Luckiest Nut In The World
- Join the Big Noise Campaign and add your voice to millions around the world who are calling for decision makers to make trade fair.
- Purchase fair trade products through Transfair.
- Make trade fair through Oxfam America.
Something Other Than Other
- Discover your hidden biases through Tolerance.org
- Support the Mavin Foundation in their efforts to empower the mixed-race community.
- Get the facts on the 2010 census and its implications for the multiethnic community through Swirlinc.org
- Join The National Association for Multicultural Education’s listserve to discuss multicultural education, share resources, announce conferences and ask questions of educators and activists around the world.
How to Watch a Film
To start watching films, choose your connection speed on the left and click on one of the images above.
For a text-only version of this page, please click here.
Battleground Minnesota
8:00 min
Youth Documentary
Winner of the Jury Award Sponsored by Netflix
Hip-hop activist Shakademic proves that if Walter Mondale can learn how to scratch, young voters can get schooled in election politics.
Youth Documentary
Winner of the Jury Award Sponsored by Netflix
Hip-hop activist Shakademic proves that if Walter Mondale can learn how to scratch, young voters can get schooled in election politics.
All That I Can Be
8:30 min
Youth Documentary
Winner of the Economic Justice Award
William, like many young Americans, feels that joining the military is his only way out of a dead-end job and a rough life.
Youth Documentary
Winner of the Economic Justice Award
William, like many young Americans, feels that joining the military is his only way out of a dead-end job and a rough life.
Pizza Surveillance Feature
2:20 min
Public Service Announcement
Winner of the Civil Liberties
Want some privacy infringement with that? If the Patriot Act continues to grow in scope, you may get more than mushrooms with your next pizza order.
Public Service Announcement
Winner of the Civil Liberties
Want some privacy infringement with that? If the Patriot Act continues to grow in scope, you may get more than mushrooms with your next pizza order.
The News Is What We Make It
8:21 min
Animation
Winner of the Media Reform Award Sponsored by Utne magazine
When the same company owns all the TV stations in town, where can you turn for an alternative perspective? A high-schooler gets burned and turns insult into action.
Animation
Winner of the Media Reform Award Sponsored by Utne magazine
When the same company owns all the TV stations in town, where can you turn for an alternative perspective? A high-schooler gets burned and turns insult into action.
Laptop
0:30 min
Public Service Announcement
Winner of the Digital Divide
A computer is only as advanced as the person behind the keyboard. Laptop reminds us that the digital divide still resides within our borders.
Public Service Announcement
Winner of the Digital Divide
A computer is only as advanced as the person behind the keyboard. Laptop reminds us that the digital divide still resides within our borders.
A Girl Named Kai
8:00 min
Experimental
Winner of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Rights Award
Through a stirring poetic mix of video and sound, Kai appeals to her traditional Taiwanese parents for acceptance in spite of her untraditional take on life and love.
Experimental
Winner of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Rights Award
Through a stirring poetic mix of video and sound, Kai appeals to her traditional Taiwanese parents for acceptance in spite of her untraditional take on life and love.
Homecoming
5:30 min
Youth Documentary
Winner of the Peter Yarrow Peace in Our Classrooms Award Sponsored by Frank Marshall
When coming out makes Ron a target for attack, he finds a school where respect and acceptance are taught alongside Math and English.
Youth Documentary
Winner of the Peter Yarrow Peace in Our Classrooms Award Sponsored by Frank Marshall
When coming out makes Ron a target for attack, he finds a school where respect and acceptance are taught alongside Math and English.
Bad Choices
3:00 min
Youth Digital Story
Winner of the Youth Voice Award Sponsored by Paola Freccero
Without a support system, it’s hard for a teenager to stay out of trouble. Aderian reflects on the lessons he has learned from his bad choices.
Youth Digital Story
Winner of the Youth Voice Award Sponsored by Paola Freccero
Without a support system, it’s hard for a teenager to stay out of trouble. Aderian reflects on the lessons he has learned from his bad choices.
Happy Ending
8:00 min
Youth Documentary
Winner of the Family and Society Award
Drugs have taken Chris’s mom out of his life but not out of his heart. In this personal travelogue, he goes to Philadelphia in search of a happy ending.
Youth Documentary
Winner of the Family and Society Award
Drugs have taken Chris’s mom out of his life but not out of his heart. In this personal travelogue, he goes to Philadelphia in search of a happy ending.
System Failure
8:00 min
Documentary
Winner of the Criminal Justice Award Sponsored by Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation
Physical abuse, sexual harassment, inadequate education for incarcerated youth – if a society can be graded by how it treats its prisoners, then the state of California gets an “F.”
Documentary
Winner of the Criminal Justice Award Sponsored by Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation
Physical abuse, sexual harassment, inadequate education for incarcerated youth – if a society can be graded by how it treats its prisoners, then the state of California gets an “F.”
Fast and Reliable
7:53 min
Documentary
Winner of the Against the Odds Award
Nothing can stop Dexter the bike messenger — not homelessness or even a close encounter with a ten-ton truck.
Documentary
Winner of the Against the Odds Award
Nothing can stop Dexter the bike messenger — not homelessness or even a close encounter with a ten-ton truck.
Neglected Sky
1:36 min
Youth Animation
Winner of the Environment Award Sponsored by Loreto Bay Company
In this fast-paced animation, youth producer John Cooney shows us that a little effort can go a long way in reversing global warming.
Youth Animation
Winner of the Environment Award Sponsored by Loreto Bay Company
In this fast-paced animation, youth producer John Cooney shows us that a little effort can go a long way in reversing global warming.
Young Agrarians
8:00 min
Documentary
Winner of the Nourishing Change Award Sponsored by W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Young people plant the seeds for a sustainable future in this portrait of organic farming in California.
Documentary
Winner of the Nourishing Change Award Sponsored by W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Young people plant the seeds for a sustainable future in this portrait of organic farming in California.
World On Fire
4:20 min
Music Video
Winner of the Citizen Engagement Award Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Foundation
$5,000 could cover the cost of hair and make-up for one day on set in LA or pay for one year’s schooling for 145 girls in Afghanistan. Sarah McLachlan does the math and encourages you to join her.
Music Video
Winner of the Citizen Engagement Award Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Foundation
$5,000 could cover the cost of hair and make-up for one day on set in LA or pay for one year’s schooling for 145 girls in Afghanistan. Sarah McLachlan does the math and encourages you to join her.
The Luckiest Nut In The World
8:00 min
Musical
Winner of the Global Justice Award Sponsored by Oxfam America
A singing peanut and his gang of shelled friends explain that sometimes free trade is just nuts.
Musical
Winner of the Global Justice Award Sponsored by Oxfam America
A singing peanut and his gang of shelled friends explain that sometimes free trade is just nuts.
Something Other Than Other
7:05 min
Experimental
Winner of the Tolerance Education Award Sponsored by Third Millennium Foundation
New parents Jerry and Andrea have endured their own share of discrimination growing up. They hope their newborn son can grow up identifying as something other than “other.”
Experimental
Winner of the Tolerance Education Award Sponsored by Third Millennium Foundation
New parents Jerry and Andrea have endured their own share of discrimination growing up. They hope their newborn son can grow up identifying as something other than “other.”
The Media That Matters Film Festival is a project of Arts Engine Inc.,
a 501(c)(3) organization
