The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Nicole Hughes:

Should Drive-Thrus Be Banned?

Eco-Moms Mad About “Greenwash” Barbie

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Andy Kondrat:

Home Depot Will Recycle Your CLF Bulbs for Free

Department of Energy Predicts 50% Energy Increase By 2030

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Jon Popham:

NYC Waterfalls Installation Starts This Week

Capt. John Smith Is Back…and Running for President

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Giulia Rozzi:

Yoga Across the Border

Emile Norman: By His Own Design

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Gina Telaroli:

Silverdocs 08: A Post-Fest Wrap-Up

Human Rights Watch 08: Letter to Anna

It’s June 27th, I’m Gina Telaroli and this is TakePart.com’s look at the week in social action

Letter to Anna (Eric Bergkraut)

Screens Today, Thu Jun 26: 1 & 6:15

The Human Rights Watch 2008 International Film Festival closes tonight with Eric Bergkraut’s Letter to Anna, a post-death exploration of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and her work. The general subject couldn‘t be more relevant to today, what it means to write and report on what the government doesn’t want the public to know is something we could all stand to think about.   And Anna, simply by the nature of her story, is a captivating person to learn about.

Anna was a Russian journalist that was assassinated in 2006 (on Putin’s birthday nonetheless). Known for her eye-opening pieces about the Russian War in Chechnya and the numerous human rights violations that were occurring, Anna was always putting herself at risk for her work. She also made a point to focus on how the war was being portrayed to Russian citizens. Her work led to her being used during terrorist negotiations and even to her abduction by Russian troops while in Chechnya. She not only wrote stories, she lived them.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Nicole Hughes:

U.S. Media Ignores Link Between Midwest Floods and Global Warming

Top 10 Houseplants for Removing Indoor Air Pollution

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Andy Kondrat:

Dubai to Build Rotating Positive Energy Tower

Bioethicist Peter Singer Tackles World Food Shortage

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Jon Popham:

Americacorps Workers Assist Flood Ravaged Town

Australians “Out-Fat” Americans

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Giulia Rozzi:

Progressive Book Club

Oprah Recommends “A New Earth”

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Gina Telaroli:

Human Rights Watch 2008 Film Festival Update

SilverDocs 2008 Update

So the first week of Human Rights Watch is almost over so if you’re in NYC, catch something while you still can. I’ll be posting reviews of the remaining films in the next few days before they screen so keep checking back. Each film’s screening times will be listed and I’ll leave a schedule of reviews to come here.

Also in case you’re just tuning in now, here’s a little refresher on what’s already played:

• Human Rights Watch 08 : Calle Santa Fe
• Human Rights Watch 08 : The Beytrayal (Nerakhoon)
• Human Rights Watch 08 : American Outrage
• Human Rights Watch 08 : A Promise to the Dead

Here’s what’s ahead:

• Under the Bombs : http://filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/hrw08/underthebombs.html
• The Sari Soldiers : http://filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/hrw08/thesarisoldiers.html
• Traces of the Trade : http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/hrw08/tracesofthetrade.html
• Letter to Anna : http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/hrw08/lettertoanna.html

After all is said and done I’ll post a comprehensive piece full of Takepart links that will let you connect to the issues in the film!

The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) Director: Ellen Kuras & Thavisouk Phrasavath, Country: US/Laos; Release: 2008, Runtime: 100

Screened : Sat Jun 14: 6:30 and Sun Jun 15: 8:30

Ellen Kuras has been shooting other people’s movies for years and it turns out she has also been shooting her own. The Betrayal, which she made with and about her friend Thavisouk Phrasavath, takes it’s audience from Laos to New York from the 1980s to the present. It’s a film that deals with family, war and the bonds that we keep and the bonds that we break.

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American Outrage (Beth Gage & George Gage, USA, 2007; 56m )

screening : Sat Jun 14: 4:15 and Mon Jun 16: 1:30 & 9

American Outrage focuses on the Dann sisters and their fight to keep their Western Shoshone lands. In 1863, the Shoshone signed a treaty with the US allowing them to pass on their lands. That treaty, The Treaty of Ruby Valley, was a treaty of good faith and in no way signified that the Shoshone were giving up their lands. However, in 1974, Mary and Carrie Dann, elderly Shoshone grandmothers, found themselves accused of trespassing on their own land. The lengths that the government went to to remove the Dann sisters and their livestock from their property is astounding.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Debra Winger and Rights Camera Action!

James Byrd Jr. and the Struggle for Tolerance

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Nicole Hughes:

Green Video of the Week: 5 Tips for Reducing Your Garbage

The Week in Green Politics

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Andy Kondrat:

Disappearing Destinations: Visit Before They Vanish

Chuck Norris Wants America to Start Drilling for Oil Here and Now!

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Jon Popham:

NASA Plans Voyage to the Sun

The Girl Effect

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Giulia Rozzi:

Gay Discrimination at Seattle Baseball Game

Bison Brucellosis

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Gina Telaroli:

Fathers Day Celebration of Movie Dads #1

My Father’s Gift of Tecumseh!

Over the next 2 weeks we at TakePart will be providing coverage of the 2008 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. Any post that has the above banner will feature content related to the festival, whose films highlight issues that define us as world and prove how powerful the movies can be.

This year’s fest travels the globe taking us to Laos, the American West, Chile, Russia and many more places deserving of some attention. We visit the likes of writer Ariel Dorfman (pictured to the left), two Shoshone grandmothers and Russian independent journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

One thing that has always been interesting for me is watching the festival develop as digital filmmaking has developed over the years. When dealing with films that have important and unique content, sometimes the craft of documentary becomes less important, but with filmmakers tools have become more affordable and more transportable, sloppy filmmaking is becoming harder to let go.

That being said, there isn’t another festival where I consistently learn more.

Check back for our coverage of HRWFF 08 and takepart to check out the entire line-up!

I was a pretty lucky kid. I grew up with a father who had an interest in Native American history. And despite the inherent contradiction that my father also influenced me to be an avid Cleveland Indians fan, I’ve always been thankful that he brought an awareness of Native American history into my life. We would go on cross country trips out west and when I was about 14 we drove on down to Southern Ohio to see what remains my favorite theater experience to this day, Tecumseh!. The play was based on one of my father’s favorite books, Allan W. Eckert’s A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh.

Tecumseh! is about the tragic Shawnee chief of the same name and is told in what I remember to be a breathtaking outdoor amphitheater with real horses and gunpowder. It was awe-inspiring, even for a fourteen year old who thought she was too cool to go on vacation with her family. And while I’m sure my critical thoughts on the piece are influenced by my age and ignorance of all things theater at that time, I think I can safely say that the story was amazing, the tragedy of which has always stayed with me.

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