Date: June 3

Time: 7PM

Location: Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Details: 90 min, USA, 2013.

Filmmaker(s): Ben Nabors

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Synopsis:  Despite unbelievable circumstances, young Malawian William Kamkwamba builds a power-generating windmill from scraps parts, effectively rescuing his family from famine and poverty.  This feature-length documentary tells the story of a unique individual whose incredible invention sets in motion a series of events that will forever change his life.

Director Ben Nabors in Attendance for Post Screening Q&A.

Awards:  Grand Jury Award, SXSW Film Festival 2013

Date: June 17

Time: 7PM

Location: Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Details: 90 min, USA, 2013.

Filmmaker(s): Angad Bhalla
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Synopsis: The injustice of solitary confinement and the transformative power of art are explored in Herman’s House, a feature documentary that follows the unlikely friendship between a New York artist and one of America’s most famous inmates as they collaborate on an acclaimed art project.

Director Angad Bhalla in Attendance for Post Screening Q&A.

Date: July 1, 2013

Time: 7PM

Location: Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Details: 101 min, Georgia / Germany, 2013.

Filmmaker(s): Tinatin Gurchiani

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Synopsis:  A film director casting a 15-23-year-old ideal protagonist visits villages and cities to meet people who answer her call. She follows those who prove to be interesting enough through various dramatic and funny situations.

Date: July 15

Time: 7PM

Location: Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Details: 64 min, USA, 2013.

Filmmaker(s): Lynne Sachs

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Synopsis:  Since the early days of New York’s Lower East Side tenement houses, working class people have shared beds, making such spaces a fundamental part of immigrant life. Initially documented in Jacob Riis’ now controversial late 19th Century photography, a “shift-bed” is an actual bed that is shared by people who are neither in the same family nor in a relationship. Simply put, it’s an economic necessity brought on by the challenges of urban existence. Such a bed can become a remarkable catalyst for storytelling as absolute strangers become de facto confidants.

In this provocative, hybrid documentary, the audience joins a present-day household of immigrants living together in a shift-bed apartment in the heart of Chinatown. Seven characters (ages 58-78) play themselves through autobiographical monologues, verité conversations, and theatrical movement pieces. Retired seamstresses Ellen Ho and Sheut Hing Lee recount growing up in China during the turmoil of the 1950s when their families faced violence and separation under Chairman Mao’s revolutionary, yet authoritarian regime.  Yun Xiu Huang, a nightclub owner from Fujian Province, reveals his journey to the United States through the complicated economy of the “snakehead” system, facing an uphill battle as he starts over in a new city.

With each “performance” of their present, the characters illuminate both the joys and tragedies of their past.  As the bed transforms into a stage, the film reveals the collective history of Chinese immigrants in the United States, a story not often documented.  Further, the intimate cinematography and immersive sound design carry us into the dreams and memories of the performers, bringing the audience into a community often considered closed off to non-Chinese speakers.  Through it all, “Your Day is My Night” addresses issues of privacy, intimacy, and urban life in relationship to this familiar item of household furniture.

Director Lynne Sachs and co-Producer Sean Hanley in Attendance.

Special Co-Presentation with Documentary Educational Resources!

Date: July 29

Time: 7PM

Location: Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Details: 58 min, USA, 1978.

Filmmaker(s): John Marshall and Mark Erder

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Synopsis: The once thriving industrial town of Haverhill, Massachusetts on the Merrimack River now resembles, in the words of one of the film’s subjects, “a ghost town where you expect to see tumbleweeds come rolling down Main Street.” This film examines a dying industrial town and its politicians’ search for votes over such issues as municipal spending, rising taxes, the revitalization of depressed areas, and attracting new industry.

The film’s central event is the 1976 Mayoral election. Election scenes are intercut with comments from Haverhill residents, members of a local foundation, political scientist Frances Fox Piven, the president of the local union, and the shoe manufacturers themselves. The oral history which surrounds the election footage is a reservoir of information about Haverhill’s present condition as well as its past.

DER Executive Director Alice Apley to speak about John Marshall, his influence and work.

Date: August 12

Time: 7PM

Location: Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Details: 85 min, Poland, 2013.

Filmmaker(s): Michal Marczak

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Synopsis: 

Have Sex. Save the World.

Berlin’s Fuck For Forest is one of the world’s most bizarre charities. Based on the idea that sex can save the world, the NGO raises money for their environmental cause by selling home-made erotic films on the internet.

Director Michal Marczak joining by Skype and Producer Shane Boris in person for a Q&A.

DOCYARD 2013 Winter Season Closer! Join us!

Date: April 22, 7PM at the Brattle Theatre, Cambridge

Details: 90min, USA, 2012

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Synopsis: Localore, a new initiative produced by AIR (Association of Independents in Radio), is transforming public media. Our 10 Lead Producers, in collaboration with their local station radio and television incubators, spent the last year focusing their ingenuity on blending digital and traditional broadcast tools and platforms to expand the reach of public media in local communities and establish new capacity for R&D at stations. Collectively,  our local production teams, in collaboration with technology partner Zeega, are leading us to a new vision of public media, pushing the envelope on storytelling and documentary to shine new light on a rich and diverse 21st century America.

Media Makers in Attendance for a Post-Screening Q&A with PBS’s Hari Sreenivasan

Participating Producers and Stations:

Jennifer Brandel / WBEZ, Chicago, IL – Curious City: Let’s Get Answers 

Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and Eric Pearse-Chavez/ KCRW, Los Angeles, CA – Sonic Trace

Julia Kumari Drapki/KVNF, Paonia, CO – iSeeChange 

Ken Eklund/Twin Cites Public Television, St. Paul, MN – Ed Zed Omega

Delaney Hall/KUT Austin, TX – Austin Music Map

Todd Melby/Prairie Public Broadcasting, North Dakota – Black Gold Boom 

Erica Mu – KALW, San Francisco, CA – Hear Here: A Pop-Up Radio Project 

Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar – WYSO, Yellow Springs, OH – Reinvention

Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson (The Kitchen Sisters) – KQED Radio and Television, San Francisco, CA – The Making Of…

Val Wang and Kelly Creedon – WGBH, Boston, MA – Planet Takeout

Kara Oehler – Zeega

Executive Producer:  Sue Schardt 

Executive Editor:  Noland Walker

Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Wyncote Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Special Co-Presentation with IFFBoston!

Date: Saturday, April 27 @ 2:45PM

Location: Somerville Theatre, Screen 3

Details: 90 min, USA, 2013.

Filmmakers: Banker White and Anna Fitch

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Synopsis: The Genius of Marian follows Pam White in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease as her filmmaker son documents her struggles to hang on to a sense of self. The film is a visually rich, emotionally complex story about one family’s efforts to come to terms with the changes Alzheimer’s disease brings.

Filmmakers in Attendance for Post Screening Q&A

FOR TICKETS CLICK HERE! 

Date: Sunday, April 28 @ 3:00PM

Location: Somerville Theatre, Screen 2

Details: 93 min, USA, 2013.

Filmmakers: Maja Borg

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Synopsis: An experimental documentary that explores our dual fascination with destruction and relentless optimism about the future.

Filmmaker in Attendance for Post-Screening Q&A.

FOR TICKETS CLICK HERE!

Click here to view the trailer. 

Date: Sunday, April 28 @ 5:45PM

Location: Somerville Theatre, Screen 5

Details: 115 min, Denmark, 2012.

Filmmakers: Joshua Oppenheimer

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Synopsis: In a country where killers are celebrated as heroes, the filmmakers challenge unrepentant death squad leaders to dramatise their role in genocide. The hallucinatory result is a cinematic fever dream, an unsettling journey deep into the imaginations of mass-murderers and the shockingly banal regime of corruption and impunity they inhabit.

Post Screening Skype Q&A with Filmmaker

 FOR TICKETS CLICK HERE!