Documentary Educational Resources - Subject / Urban & Rural Studies / Homelessness

Ordinary Lives

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:51:00 GMT

Mumbai is the financial capital of India, which is predicted to be the most populated city in Asia in 2020. Today, half of the city’s population – 7 million people – are living in slums. Such demographics only exacerbate the economic issues and infrastructural problems that exist. While offering solutions to problems faced by the people living in areas of appalling housing, confined space, and extremely low incomes, the Indian government, NGOs and other research institutes treat people as if they are figures rather than human beings. Although several studies and films have been made on the issues of slums, their major focus lies in housing, infrastructure and other environment-related problems. They ignore the larger questions of how people are psychologically and socially shaped by their confined living spaces and how those residents, in turn, define the place they inhabit.

Ordinary Lives uncovers the living conditions of residents in a slum in Mumbai, focusing closely on the daily struggles of one joint family with ten members of three generations crammed in a 180-square-foot shack. This family represents those in India at the very bottom of the social hierarchy. The subordinate and poor – especially the young and the women – have different concerns from those of government officials, whose goal is to replace the slums with a new cosmopolitan, modern development modeled after those in Shanghai.

Through a poised juxtaposition of voices from both inside and outside the slums, the film re-examines issues such as poverty, human rights, and gender equality that have been troubling India and other developing countries.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Eyes & Lenses IV - Competition of Ethnographic and Anthropologic Films, Poland, 2007

International Ethnographic Film Festival of the Royal Anthropological Institute, UK, 2007

Roving Eye Documentary Film Festival, Providence, RI, 2007

Parnü: International Film Festival, Estonia, 2007

Film South Asia 2007, Nepal

India International Women Film Festival, New Delhi, 2007

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Peter, Donald, Willie, Pat

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:58:00 GMT

Peter, Donald, Willie, Pat
Buy Now: $320.00

Peter, Donald, Willie, Pat is a portrait of four homeless men who live in a shelter in Boston. The tape follows them through their routine at the shelter, and documents their lives on the streets.

Peter is an ex-hippie who collects trash to sell at flea markets. Donald served ten years at Leavenworth on a bank robbery charge. Pat was sexually abused as a child, and has been in and out of foster homes for the last thirteen years. Willie came to the shelter to recover because he lost six of his fingers after spending the night in a snowbank.

The film reveals the complexity and diversity of these men's lives; how in some ways they have been victims, yet in other cases they have succeeded in exploiting the "system." The film is not judgmental. It simply shows how these four men have become members of a new class of survivors.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Outstanding Social Documentary, New England Film Festival

First Place, Athens Intn'l Film Festival

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Roma Stories

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 08:59:00 GMT

Roma Stories
Buy Now: $320.00

In Japigia, a neighborhood in the periphery of Bari, Italy, a small community of Roma (Gypsies) carve out an existence in an illegal, ramshackle encampment. The local church has offered them a piece of land with prefabricated houses, but the town hall is preventing this offer due to their own plans for a future a railway station. Continually in danger of evacuation and making a living primarily by begging for money, the Roma still manage to foster a strong community and lively social atmosphere.

Living for a one year within the community, the filmmakers extract both the emotional and anthropological details from this vibrant microcosm which remains largely hidden and ignored by its own city. Seventeen-year-old Dorina is released from an institute for minors and soon married amid much negotiating and festivities. Dainef waits for the arrival of his daughter from Romania. Young Aida dreams of becoming a model, and eleven-year-old Laura would rather go beg with her mother than go to school. Aida is taken away by Serbian Roma, and her father must decide how to take action. And throughout are the songs which were written over the course of the filming - poetic illustrations of their lives and problems on a contentious and desolate land, but a still a land where one is born, grows up, and dreams.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival, Taiwan, 2013

Second Prize, International Art Gispy Competition of Lanciano, 2003

Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, Canton, China, 2003

Documentary & Ethnographic Film Festival of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2003

First Documentary Film Festival of Le Mans, France, 2003

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Bound by Haiti

Thu, 26 Jul 2018 09:36:00 GMT

Bound by Haiti
Buy Now: $320.00

Bound by Haiti is the story of Aaron Jackson and John Dieubon - two young international activists forced to deal with the tragedy of the Haiti earthquake first-hand. Raised on a wealthy resort, Aaron has dedicated his life to eradicating intestinal parasites in Haiti; born and orphaned in Port-au-Prince, John's mission is to inspire a new generation of Haitian children.

Born into completely different worlds, these two men joined together to transform the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. From Hollywood fundraisers to the most desperate Haitian villages, they hope to build change from the ground-up. As Aaron tries to adjust his personality to the high-stakes world of fundraising, John works on the ground with villagers to change a country's mentality.

When the earthquake of January 12, 2010 strikes, they must confront the biggest challenge of their lives. Driving into the streets of Port-au-Prince, John is forced to haul the dead bodies of his friends and countrymen. Later, he is left to pick up the pieces of a broken country. Armed with his digital camera, he took pictures across the city before the arrival of any news agency. In the United States, Aaron is forced to deal with the organizational chaos. Frantically trying to call John, he searched in vain to find a way to travel to Haiti. Eventually finding his way, he returned to find the collapsed buildings and millions of homeless in the streets. And he returned to find John - his optimistic vision challenged, his psyche damaged.

Featuring rare footage from immediately following the earthquake, Bound by Haiti follows these unlikely friends on a journey for change before and after one of the most devastating international events of our time. In the end, the film is not the story of poverty, but of possibility.

Festival Highlights

National Black Theatre Festival, 2011

Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, 2011

Special screening sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Washington, DC, 2011

Astoria/LIC International Film Festival, 2011

Tulsa International Film Festival, 2011

DocUtah, 2011

Central Florida Film Festival, 2011

Boston International Film Festival, 2011

Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, 2010

Best Documentary Nominee, New Hampshire Film Festival, 2010

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