I still can’t get thoughts of the man being trampled at Wal-Mart out of my head.   I’m still slightly amazed that this has happened (although not really).  For some more Wal-Mart food for thought, give a watch to the video below by my favorite collaborative arts collective, Meerkat Media and featured in the 6th annual Media that Matters Film Festival.

takepart to keep up to date on the Wal-Mart story.

Wendy pointed out the wonderful site “Yes We Carve” last week and now it gets even better with an inspiring pumpkin carving video. I have to saw I agree with Boing Boings thoughts on the video though.

I also love the song in the background, which is by the band The National.   Actually a fellow Meerkat and Blogger (whose blog you should all read) made a beautiful travel video using that song.   You should go after the jump and watch it, it makes me feel good about life.

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Yesterday I had the privilege of going to Tribeca Cinemas to both watch The Secret Life of Bees with a bunch of awesome high school and middle school students and present Meerkat Media’s film Every Third Bite (which we made with one of my favorite TakePart ladies - Wendy Cohen!). The screening was a part of the youth program part of the Tribeca Institute - where they teach kids how to watch and make films. Every Third Bite was there with Media That Matters (which as Giulia pointed out is now accepting entries)

After the films everyone talked about how we can all help the bees and parallels between the two films (in the end it all comes down to treating people and bees well). And awesomely both films were chock full of good bee info!

So give a watch to Every Third Bite below and go after the jump for TakePart links to bee related stories and a trailer for The Secret Life of Bees.

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Filmmaker Magazine has released their list of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” The list is always an interesting read and as a filmmaker, I find it be motivation to get working on my own projects.

But what made the list totally awesome this year was the inclusion of the great Jesse Epstein! Jesse’s work mainly deals with body image and perceptions of beauty - a subject that definitely needs more discussion. Her film Wet Dreams and False Images takes us inside a barber shop where the patrons admire glossy pictures of famous women in little clothing and then to an airbrushing studio where we learn the truth about the ladies in the pictures.

One of my personal favorites, The Guarantee, is a hand drawn, animated story of a male dancer who is forced to make a decision regarding his nose and plastic surgery. It’s funny, poignant and the pacing is such that you have time to think about the issue at hand whilst simultaneously being entertained.

Another thing that makes Jesse super cool is that she works for Shooting People, an awesome group that works to connect and help promote independent filmmakers and their work! (You can even watch the film Wendy and I made with Meerkat Media on their site :

• http://shootingpeople.org/watch/film.php?film_id=51140 )

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My good pal Elliott over at Meerkat Media did an interesting post recently about unique songstress Joanna Newsom and the labor movement. In it, he looks at one of Newsom’s earlier songs “Yarn and Glue” and he points out what seems to be an awesome political message:

But it’s the song’s lyrics, not the production, that’ve got me stoked. Catch these selected lines from the track Yarn and Glue, which catalog the toasts of conspiratorial workers on their day of rest, amid a world of power, money and surveillance:

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I was at the Nantucket Film Festival about a week ago to screen Meerkat Media’s film Every Third Bite. While there I only caught one film at the actual festival (it seemed a better use of my time to enjoy the outdoors). The film I saw was Brad Anderson’s Transsiberian. I’ve always been a fan of Anderson and usually enjoy his intelligent and uncommon approach to commonplace genres. Perhaps it’s been a while since I saw one of his films and in that time my viewing preferences have changed, but I found Transsiberian to be somewhat disappointing in a few ways.

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

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

* * *

Andy Kondrat:

Dubai to Build Rotating Positive Energy Tower

Bioethicist Peter Singer Tackles World Food Shortage

* * *

Jon Popham:

Americacorps Workers Assist Flood Ravaged Town

Australians “Out-Fat” Americans

* * *

Giulia Rozzi:

Progressive Book Club

Oprah Recommends “A New Earth”

* * *

Gina Telaroli:

Human Rights Watch 2008 Film Festival Update

SilverDocs 2008 Update

PLUS

EQUALS

Me being one happy filmmaker and one happy blogger! I’ll have a lot of pictures and videos to show you once I get an upload cord, but here is the skinny on DocuClub, Meerkat Media, Stages and our Silverdocs screening!

DocuClub : http://www.mediarights.org/docuclub/

DocuClub is a film screening series of works-in-progress documentaries. Each month, a filmmaker presents a rough cut of her film. Afterwards, a moderator facilitates a discussion between filmmaker and audience. Constructive feedback from these sessions informs the finished film. Past films that have been screened at DocuClub include Born Into Brothels, The Boys of Baraka, and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.

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So far so good! It’s my last day at Silverdocs but so far it has been nothing short of amazing. Here’s a little refresher on what I’ve seen and also a list of what’s to come. Stay tuned for more Silverdocs 08 and for a comprehensive write-up stocked full of TakePart links about how you can connect to the issues in the films.

Thus Far:

• Silverdocs 08 : Head Wind
• Silverdocs 08 : Meet the Paro (Mechanical Love)
• Silverdocs 08 : Opening Night and All Together Now

To Come:

• A look at Up the Yangtze : http://silverdocs.com/festival/films/2008/yangtze/
• A discussion of the DocuClub screening of my film Stages
  
• Some shorts : http://silverdocs.com/festival/films/2008/shorts-program-4-disconnections/
• Corridor 8 : http://silverdocs.com/festival/films/2008/corridor-8/
• Frederick Wiseman’s Law and Order : http://silverdocs.com/festival/films/2008/law-and-order/
• A film that’s all about Dust : http://silverdocs.com/festival/films/2008/dust/
• More video!!!!
• Lot’s of pictures

For now, here are some pictures from pal Cheryl - who also has a film in this years’ fest!

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/23166402@N06/sets/72157605653795062/