film

Before there was Occupy Wall Street or the Arab Spring, there was ACT UP... the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power.  Twenty five years ago, Jim Hubbard began his documentary about the incredible grassroots fight against AIDS and the U.S. government.  At 7 PM on Tuesday, December 4, he will appear at a screening of his new film "United in Anger: A History of ACT UP" at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy NY in an event co-sponsored by the Arts Department at RPI and iEAR Presents!

Admission to this all-ages event is by donation ($10 suggested, $5 student/low income).

According to the NY Times, "As scrappy and passionate as the actions it documents, 'United in Anger: A History of Act Up' delivers a living tribute to a movement spawned by death and despair." Check out the review!

Many horror film fanatics call F.W. Murnau's silent German classic starring Max Schreck--who sports grotesque makeup that transforms him into a symbol of pestilence and decay--the scariest Dracula adaptation ever. The film was shot in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania during the early days of film. The chilling tale kicks off when a real estate agent (Gustav von Wangenheim) begins conducting business with eerie Count Orlok (Schreck), who goes on a rampage when he becomes obsessed with the man's comely wife (Greta Schröder).

Join filmmakers Eron Davidson and Ana Noguiera for a riveting new film that juxtaposes the rise and fall of apartheid in South Africa with the harsh reality of life in Palestine today.

Davidson is a Jewish Israeli, while Noguiera is a white South African.  Both live in the United States now.

While Davidson has made other films before, and is a media activist, this was Noguiera's first film. Noguiera was a producer for Democracy Now! as well as active in other forms of media.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Dr. Barry Trachtenberg, Director of the SUNY Albany Judaic Studies Program and Associate Professor in the Department of History.

One country's terrorist is another country's revolutionary...

The award-winning documentary "Freeing Silvia Baraldini" is a profound inquiry into the life of an Italian woman who became an American radical.  Silvia spent 24 years in prison following her conviction of helping to free Black Panther, Assata Shakur from prison.  Filmmakers Margo Pelletier and Lisa Thomas unlock a chapter in U.S. radical politics that has been until now, sequestered by the U.S. government.

Click here to see a trailer for "Freeing Silvia Baraldini" and find out more about the film!

A new Academy Award-nominated drama about Germany in the 1970s: Murderous bomb attacks, the threat of terrorism and the fear of the enemy inside are rocking the very foundations of the still fragile German democracy.

The radicalised children of the Nazi generation led by Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu), Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck) and Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) are fighting a violent war against what they perceive as the new face of fascism: American imperialism supported by the German establishment, many of whom have a Nazi past.

Their aim is to create a more human society but by employing inhuman means they not only spread terror and bloodshed, they also lose their own humanity. The man who understands them is also their hunter: the head of the German police force Horst Herold (Bruno Ganz). And while he succeeds in his relentless pursuit of the young terrorists, he knows he’s only dealing with the tip of the iceberg.

7PM Screening of "Captured"  

Since 1979 Clayton Patterson has dedicated his life to documenting the final era of raw creativity and lawlessness in New York City's Lower East Side, a neighborhood famed for art, music and revolutionary minds. "Little brother is watching big brother"--traversing the outside edge, he's recorded a dark and colorful society, from drag to hardcore, heroin, homelessness, political chaos and ultimately gentrification.

PLEASE NOTE: The Director, Dan Levin has informed us that due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict, he will be unable to attend the screening for a Q & A.

The Sanctuary for Independent Media and Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace welcome filmmaker Joe Stillman and Iraq Veterans Against the War co-founder Jimmy Massey for a screening of the new documentary "From Mills River to Babylon and Back... The Jimmy Massey Story."

Former Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey, a 12-year Marine veteran, served in Iraq in 2003. He witnessed—and in some cases participated in—the killing of innocent civilians. The Iraqis “were just doing their normal routines,” he says, “and they were getting frickin’ blasted for it.” He began to speak out to his superiors and was eventually diagnosed with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. He won an honorable discharge in December 2003

Celebrate bike month with an evening of short bicycle-themed movies curated by the Troy Bike Rescue collective to make you laugh, cry, think, and—most importantly—get out and ride! Co-sponsored by New York Bicycling Coalition; valet bike parking available.

Our press release:

"Two Wheels Good" to Celebrate Bicycle Culture with Independent Films at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy

Wake up and smell the global economy with acclaimed filmmaker Su Friedrich as she takes you from Guatemala to South Carolina to New York City to see how her morning cup of coffee has passed through the hands, and lives, of countless people. Co-sponsored by the Honest Weight Food Co-op.

Our press release:

Filmmaker Su Friedrich Screens Her Coffee Epic
"From the Ground Up" at the Sanctuary

The Kahnawake Mohawk ironworkers who helped to build the famed bridges and skyscrapers of New York City lived with their families in 10 square blocks in Brooklyn—a neighborhood known as Little Caughnawaga. Reaghan Tarbell traces her family roots to create a portrait of this vibrant community and the women who sustained it.

Our press release:

Native American Filmmaker Visits the Sanctuary