The annual Toronto film festival Hot Docs is underway, and one of the featured documentaries tackles the tragic and gruesome story of serial killer Robert Pickton. The notorious murderer was responsible for the deaths of at least 26 women, many of whom were Aboriginals, drug addicts and prostitutes from Vancouver's rough Downtown Eastside.
Imagine for a brief moment, that the world’s last five remaining communist countries decided to unite forces and hire the world’s top advertising agencies to re-brand and create a resurgence in the ideologies of Communism?
"White Noise explores the seductive power of extremism. Hatred feels good. But the fix is fleeting. As the film progresses, the subjects reveal the contradictions at the heart of their world. Lauren Southern advocates for traditional gender roles, but resents the misogyny and sexism of her peers. Mike Cernovich warns that “diversity is white genocide,” but has an Iranian wife and biracial kids.
The Xuzhou chained woman incident, also known as the Xuzhou eight-child mother incident, is a case of human trafficking, false imprisonment, sexual assault, severe mistreatment, and subsequent events that came to light in late January 2022 in Xuzhou's Feng County, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
To call attention to bullying, the Singapore Coalition Against Bullying for Children and Youth has released a video that gets shorter each time it is viewed.
Hosted on a site called Share It To The End, the short animated video depicts a boy getting bullied at school and telling us he always feels alone and doesn’t feel safe anywhere.
"Suzanne Lacy is an internationally known artist whose work includes installations, video, and large-scale performances on social themes and urban issues. One of her best-known works to date is The Crystal Quilt (Minneapolis, 1987) a performance with 430 older women, broadcast live on Public Television." (http://www.suzannelacy.com/)
A performance art piece by a student who sat in a cage to protest a draconian lockdown of the Beijing Film Academy (BFA) recently went viral, and was censored just as quickly. Like many other Chinese citizens, university students have been living under strict lockdowns, and are beginning to chafe at the restrictions—and at administrators’ lack of responsiveness to students’ concerns.
As the death toll from Israel’s attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip continues to rise, a guerrilla projection on May 13, 2021 illuminated a building in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood with messages of solidarity with Palestinians.
Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has extracted 30 blocks of glacial ice from the waters surrounding Greenland and placed them in public spaces across London, where they will be left to melt.
Called Ice Watch, the temporary installation is meant to serve as a visual reminder of the impact of climate change on the environment.
https://vimeo.com/114980972
"Probably one of the most important and timely shorts for America this year. Reinaldo Marcus Green's film addresses the upsetting aspects of New York City's stop-and-frisk policies with sensitivity and insight."
-Jeff Bowers, VICE (http://bit.ly/1mU7HHQ)
Greta Thunberg has launched a campaign video of a housing burning to the ground as she calls for more action on climate change.
The shocking clip shows a family waking up, having breakfast and talking as their home is engulfed by flames and clouds of smoke.
The video was released by the Swedish climate activist's Fridays for Future, which has partnered with LA-based creative agency FF.
Alejandro Ghersi, the Venezuelan-born artist behind Arca, is part of a relatively recent and growing diaspora, and at a time when the political situation back home is at a fever pitch, it feels difficult not to see the ways this album relates to the anguish of that experience.
grrrRoar! Ecology is sexier when you focus on women and fanged beasts. Fashions in leopard print help us make that connection globally and online. Polluters at least pause at the reminder that nature isn't dead yet and in fact stirs the same passion as the woman you just met who's saying something about "Fanged Wilds"!
DISAPPEARED IN AMERICA is an ongoing project by Visible Collective/Naeem Mohaiemen that uses films, installations, and lectures to trace migration impulses, hyphenated identities, and the post-9/11 security panic. Excerpts of the project have been shown at various venues, including the 2006 Whitney Biennial.
Bit Rosie showcases female music producers in high quality performance videos and short documentaries. Our videos and digital archive project with the New York University library document the work of women using music technology to make sounds across genres and locales.
Bit Rosie is directed and produced by Adele Fournet.
http://www.adelefournet.com/
On 7th December 2009, “Picha Mtaani” was launched at a colorful ceremony in Nairobi. “Picha Mtaani” in partnership with UNDP Kenya, was an initiative that seeks to create a platform for peace building, national healing and cohesion through street picture galleries, hosted dialogues and repertoire of the reflections and discussions.
Text by David Artavia
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An ad from Calvin Klein on Mother's Day featuring a pregnant transgender man and his trans partner has sparked a wave of backlash on social media.
The resistance to Trump’s ICE militia is strong and is documented in the online art exhibition, “ABOLISH ICE” https://sites.google.com/view/abolish-ice/home The participating artists-activists are from New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California.
Activist Boniface Mwangi on confronting corruption in his homeland, and director Sam Soko on recording his campaign
Kenyan director Sam Soko’s debut documentary feature, Softie, opens with the film’s protagonist, Boniface Mwangi, sourcing 1,000 litres of pigs’ blood. “I’ve found a van for you. When do you want it? When are you getting the blood?” Mwangi asks.
In 2008, my work as an artist took me to a gigantic landfill outside Rio de Janeiro called Jardim Gramacho. After operating for more than 30 years, the sanitary facility, once one of the largest in the world, had reached its maximum capacity and was on the eve of closing permanently.
Foreigners out! Schlingensiefs Container (Ausländer raus! Schlingensiefs Container), alternately named "Wien-Aktion", "Please Love Austria—First European Coalition Week", or "Foreigners Out—Artists against Human Rights", is an art project and television show from 2000 that took place within the scope of the annual Wiener Festwochen. It was created by Christoph Schlingensief and directed by Paul Poet.
Laura Poitras’s Academy Award–nominated documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) about photographer Nan Goldin is a powerful and thoughtfully constructed film. Focusing on Goldin’s work with the activist group Prescription Addiction Intervention Now (PAIN), it allows viewers to continue appreciating the ongoing rebellion and inspiration of this singular artist.