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Hours before tanks rumbled into Washington for Donald Trump’s military parade, ground shaking applause erupted in DC for someone who couldn’t be more opposed to everything the president stands for — author and Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman.

The renowned journalist traveled from New York to the nation’s capital for the world premiere of Steal This Story, Please!, a documentary chronicling her work over many decades to give voice to the voiceless, make the powerful accountable, and to support democracy as the foremost means to safeguard human rights and human dignity.

“Okay, let’s go,” Goodman says at the beginning of the film, an instruction to her camera person as she spots P. Wells Griffith III, the climate change policy adviser to Pres. Trump in his first administration. The year is 2018, the location the Un Climate Summit in Poland, and Goodman is trying to get an answer to...

Exclusive: DC/Dox, the prestigious documentary film festival in the nation’s capital, today announced the full slate for its third edition.

The cinematic event will include a dozen world premieres including The Last Class, a documentary about former Secretary of Labor – and ardent Trump opponent – Robert Reich; the sex trafficking documentary The Right Track, directed by Shareen Anderson; A Savage Art: The Life & Cartoons Of Pat Oliphant, a film about the famed political cartoonist directed by Bill Banowsky, and Immutable, a feature on the Washington Urban Debate League directed by Charlie Sadoff and Gabriel London.

As previously announced (and reported by Deadline), DC/Dox will kick off with the world premiere of Steal This Story, Please!, a documentary about Democracy Now! host and author Amy Goodman, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin.

DC/Dox, running June 12-15, boasts a slate of 59 features and 35 shorts from more than two dozen countries.

When “Sinners” opened to very good if not overwhelming box office numbers, the film’s performance elicited several skeptical reactions from the entertainment press. In doing so, those outlets and their industry sources might have made a case for the value of diversity, at a time when Dei efforts at media companies have come under siege by the Trump administration.

Writer-director Ryan Coogler’s period horror film has provided a welcome spring surge for Hollywood. Yet the tentative responses to its initial results missed the enthusiasm that greeted its arrival, particularly within the Black community, which both over-indexes in terms of movie attendance and is underrepresented in media jobs.

The coverage in outlets like Variety and the New York Times prompted anger across social media, and allegations of double standards when it comes to filmmakers of color. The subsequent discussion has also focused on blind spots in Hollywood about Coogler...

Carl Deal and Tia Lessin’s documentary “Steal This Story, Please!” about journalist and Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman will open the third edition of DC/Dox on June 12.

In the film, Deal and Lessin, who produced “Fahrenheit 9/11,” chronicle Goodman’s personal story along with the monumental events she has covered as a reporter. The film, which will make its world premiere at DC/Dox, highlights the crucial role of journalism in shaping our understanding of truth at a time when independent journalism is under threat.

Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman’s “The Alabama Solution,” about incarcerated men who expose a cover-up in one of America’s deadliest prison systems, will serve as the DC/Dox Centerpiece film. The HBO documentary premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival.

Chase Joynt’s “State of Firsts,” about Sarah McBride’s historic run to become the first trans member of Congress,...

Ryan Coogler responded to the media attention surrounding his Warner Bros. agreement for Sinners, stating that the arrangement he secured is neither new nor unusual in the film industry. During an interview with journalist Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!, Coogler explained that filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth, and Christopher Nolan have received similar deals involving first-dollar gross participation and long-term ownership rights.

“I’m not the first filmmaker to get any of these deals. And Warner Bros. is not the first studio to provide these deals to a filmmaker,” Coogler said. He noted that the studio’s decision to transfer ownership after 25 years was in line with existing industry practices. When asked why his deal drew such heightened attention, Coogler laughed and declined to speculate, adding, “I have my guesses, but I’d rather not say.”

Reports suggested that some rival studios were surprised by Warner Bros.’ willingness to structure the agreement.

On Friday April 18 2025, ABC broadcasts Live with Kelly and Mark!

Season 3 Episode 164 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark” promises to be an exciting one. Airing soon on ABC, the show will feature the talented actress Daisy Edgar-Jones. Known for her captivating performances, Daisy is sure to share insights about her latest projects and experiences in the entertainment industry.

In addition to Daisy’s appearance, the episode will include a special segment with journalist Amy Goodman. Amy will provide helpful suggestions for jewelry shopping, perfect for Mother’s Day. Her tips may inspire viewers to find the ideal gift to show appreciation for their mothers. This segment is likely to resonate with many, as Mother’s Day approaches.

To top off the episode, the popular artist Akon will take the stage to perform. His music is known for its catchy rhythms and engaging lyrics, making this...

Cameron Mathison and former “All My Children” star Josh Duhamel (ex-Leo Dupree) are set to appear as guests on “Live with Kelly and Mark” during the week of April 14-18, 2025, the same week the show moves into its new studio home in New York’s Hudson Square.

Hosted by “All My Children” alums Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, who played Hayley Vaughan Santos and Mateo Santos, respectively, on the daytime drama series, Mathison, who previously played Ryan Lavery, will stop by to speak with his former colleagues on Monday, April 14. The episode will also feature “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Porsha Williams as she talks about the reality show’s latest season.

On Tuesday, April 15, former “Grey’s Anatomy” star T.R. Knight will swing by, and so will David Oyelowo, who will discuss his new Apple TV+ series “Government Cheese.” Look for sustainability expert Ashlee Piper to give some tips on reducing spending.

On Friday November 29 2024, ABC broadcasts Live with Kelly and Mark!

Season 3 Episode 64 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark” promises an exciting mix of entertainment and useful tips. Scheduled to air on ABC, this episode features actor and comedian Ben Stiller, known for his roles in films like “Nutcrackers.” Stiller’s charm and humor are sure to bring some laughs to the show as he shares stories and insights from his career.

In addition to Stiller, the episode includes Amy Goodman, a well-respected journalist. Goodman will share her expertise on Black Friday shopping, offering viewers helpful tips and strategies to navigate the bustling shopping day. Her advice could be valuable for anyone looking to make the most of their holiday shopping experience.

Music lovers will also be in for a treat as Calum Scott takes the stage to perform. Known for his powerful voice and emotional songs,...

On Friday November 8 2024, ABC broadcasts Live with Kelly and Mark!

Season 3 Episode 49 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark” promises an exciting lineup for viewers. Airing soon on ABC, the show will feature actress Lauren Graham, known for her roles in popular series like “Gilmore Girls.” Graham is expected to share insights about her career and perhaps give a glimpse into any new projects she is involved in.

Joining Graham is Tim Matheson, who will discuss his latest book, “Damn Glad to Meet You: My Seven Decades in the Hollywood Trenches.” Matheson has had a long and varied career in the entertainment industry, and his stories from the past seven decades are sure to be captivating. Fans of his work will likely appreciate the behind-the-scenes look he provides.

Additionally, journalist Amy Goodman will offer tips on holiday shopping. With the holiday season approaching, her advice could...

On Monday October 28 2024, ABC broadcasts Live with Kelly and Mark!

Live’s Countdown to Halloween Season 3 Episode 40 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark,” titled “Live’s Countdown to Halloween,” promises to be a festive and entertaining show. Airing on ABC, this special episode will feature a mix of music, fun, and helpful tips as Halloween approaches.

Jason Derulo will join Kelly and Mark as a special guest. Known for his catchy songs and energetic performances, Derulo is sure to bring excitement to the studio. Fans can look forward to hearing him discuss his latest projects and perhaps even share some Halloween-themed fun.

Amy Goodman will also make an appearance, offering viewers last-minute suggestions for Halloween costumes. With her creative ideas, people scrambling for costume inspiration will find helpful tips to make their celebrations a bit more special. This segment is sure to spark some creativity...

On Monday 28 October 2024, Talk broadcasts Live with Kelly and Mark!

Season 3 Episode 40 Episode Summary

In the upcoming episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark,” excitement is in the air as the show welcomes popular guests and fun segments. Jason Derulo, known for his catchy songs and energetic performances, will be stopping by to chat and share some of his latest projects. Fans of his music can look forward to a lively conversation and maybe even a few surprises.

The episode will also feature Amy Goodman, who will provide some creative suggestions for last-minute Halloween costumes. With Halloween just around the corner, her tips could help viewers come up with fun and unique ideas to impress friends and family. Whether it’s a clever DIY costume or a simple yet effective look, Amy’s advice is sure to inspire.

To top off the show, Andrea Bocelli and Lauren Daigle will take...

On Monday, Kelly and Mark welcome multi-talented artist Jason Derulo to their stage. Derulo will be sharing details about his latest album, Nu King, and giving fans a sneak peek into his upcoming tour. As Halloween approaches, “Live’s Countdown to Halloween” kicks off with Amy Goodman offering creative tips for those still seeking the perfect […]

Live with Kelly and Mark: Jason Derulo, Andrea Bocelli & Lauren Daigle...

On Monday, October 28, 2024, “Live with Kelly and Mark” returns with an exciting episode that promises to entertain and inspire. Season 3, Episode 40 features a star-studded lineup, starting with the talented Jason Derulo. Known for his catchy hits and dynamic performances, Derulo is sure to bring energy to the show. Fans can expect him to share some insights about his latest projects and maybe even a sneak peek of new music.

The episode also includes a special segment with Amy Goodman, who will offer creative suggestions for last-minute Halloween costumes. With Halloween just around the corner, many will appreciate her tips for fun and easy outfits. Goodman’s ideas are likely to spark some inspiration for those still searching for the perfect costume.

To top it all off, viewers will be treated to a stunning performance by Andrea Bocelli, accompanied by Lauren Daigle. Their collaboration promises to be a highlight of the episode,...

On Friday 2 August 2024, Talk broadcasts Live with Kelly and Mark!

Season 2 Episode 236 Episode Summary

In this episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark,” viewers can expect an exciting lineup. Actor David Boreanaz, known for his role in “Seal Team,” will join the hosts to talk about his latest projects and share some behind-the-scenes stories from the show. His charm and experience are sure to bring an engaging conversation.

The episode will also feature Amy Goodman, who will be styling the kids of “Live” in back-to-school fashion. This segment promises to be fun and informative, giving parents and kids some great ideas for their wardrobe as the school year begins. Amy’s expertise in fashion will help make the kids look stylish and ready for the classroom.

Additionally, Carleigh Bodrug will be in the kitchen, creating some food favorites. Her simple and delicious recipes will inspire viewers to try new meals at home.

On Friday August 2 2024, ABC broadcasts Live with Kelly and Mark!

Foodfluencer Friday: Trending Summer Food Faves Season 2 Episode 236 Episode Summary

In this episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark,” viewers can expect a lively and fun-filled hour titled “Foodfluencer Friday: Trending Summer Food Faves.” The episode promises to bring a delightful mix of entertainment and inspiration as the hosts dive into the latest summer food trends.

Actor David Boreanaz, known for his role in “Seal Team,” will join Kelly and Mark for an engaging conversation. His insights and experiences in the entertainment industry are sure to add an interesting perspective to the show. Fans of Boreanaz can look forward to hearing about his latest projects and what he enjoys most about summer.

In addition to the exciting guest, Amy Goodman will showcase her talent by styling the kids of “Live” in trendy back-to-school fashion. This segment will highlight the latest...

This Friday Live with Kelly and Mark welcomes actor David Boreanez, journalist Amy Goodman, and food influencer Carleigh Bodrug to the show. David Boreanez will be discussing the new and final season of Seal Team, in which he plays United States Navy Seal Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Jason Hayes. Boreanez is known for his […]

Live with Kelly and Mark: David Boreanez, Amy Goodman, Carleigh Bodrug...

On July 2, Live with Kelly and Mark welcomes Susie Essman, Mike Rowe, and Amy Goodman to the show. Susie Essman, an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, and television producer, is best known for her role as Susie Greene in the critically acclaimed HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm. Essman’s character, the wife of Jeff […]

Live with Kelly and Mark: Susie Essman, Mike Rowe, Amy Goodman...

Get ready for a delightful episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark,” airing at 1:00 Pm on Tuesday, July 2, 2024, on Talk. Season 2, Episode 213 brings a fantastic lineup of guests and fun segments that promise to entertain viewers.

First up is Susie Essman, known for her hilarious role on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” She joins Kelly and Mark for a lively chat, sharing insights into her career and perhaps some behind-the-scenes stories from the hit show.

Next, Mike Rowe, the host of “Something to Stand For,” brings his trademark wit and charm to the show. Viewers can expect interesting anecdotes and discussions about his latest projects and passions.

To celebrate the upcoming Fourth of July, the episode features a special segment with Amy Goodman, who hosts a fireworks picnic. This segment promises to add a festive flair to the show, offering viewers tips and ideas for a memorable holiday celebration.

Don’t...

Julian Casablancas virtually sits down with economist Richard Wolff in the latest edition of the Strokes singer’s Rolling Stone interview series S.O.S. — Earth Is a Mess.

“Professor Rick Wolff is the premiere economist of our time and, boy, did he not disappoint the aliens. Speaking with him was an honor and one of the most enlightening conversations I’ve ever had in my life,” Casablancas said in a statement. “He breaks down very complex history and its evolutions into the current situation in a simple way; it’s nothing short of mind-blowing.

Exclusive: Theorem Media is putting the spotlight on legendary singer, songwriter, actor and human rights activist Harry Belafonte with Disrupting Injustice: A Belafonte Remix. The educational entertainment company has set a six-part docuseries inspired by and featuring the titular icon.

The music-driven docuseries is inspired by and will feature Egot recipient Belafonte and explore social justice issues around the world by documenting some of today’s most prominent artists/activists as they reimagine Belafonte’s iconic songs that speak truth to power. Artists Aloe Blacc, Angelique Kidjo, Maxwell, Gaël Faye, Common and John Forté are set to appear in the series. They will be joined by directors, activists and journalists including Kamilah Forbes, Carmen Perez, Chris L. Jenkins and Amy Goodman. Disrupting Injustice: A Belafonte Remix will explore including systemic racism, gender and society, digital activism, indigenous populations as well as cultural warfare.

“When I wrestle with the questions that...

Julian Casablancas’ the Voidz brought their Hackers-ready “Alien Crime Lord” to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Thursday, performing the track on a set that recalled a Nineties garage from an MTV music video.

The song originally premiered via Grand Theft Auto, on Casablancas’ Online radio station, K.U.L.T. 99.1Fm Vespucci Beach Station “Low Power Beach Radio.” It was formally released on all platforms on December 15th. In true Voidz fashion, the singer’s instantly recognizable voice is obscured by tripped-out robot effects, electric guitars, and plenty of synths.

The Voidz have shared a new single, “Alien Crime Lord,” inspired by action films. The track originally premiered on lead singer Julian Casablancas’ new Grand Theft Auto Online radio station, K.U.L.T. 99.1Fm Vespucci Beach Station “Low Power Beach Radio,” as part of the game’s Cayo Perico Heist update.

Over electric guitar and Eighties synthesizers, Casablancas sings in an Auto-Tuned voice that sounds straight out of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

“We wanted to make a song that sounded like Jean Claude Van Damme standing up on...

The Strokes performed two songs from their latest LP The New Abnormal as musical guests on Saturday Night Live, the New York band’s first appearance on the show in nine years.

For their first performance of the episode — a very New York episode, as host John Mulaney previously noted — the Strokes delivered the New Abnormal opener “The Adults Are Talking,” before returning later on with “Bad Decisions.”

The Strokes — now a four-time SNL musical guest — last appeared on the show in 2011, when they served as musical guest on a Miley Cyrus-hosted episode.

Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas has partnered with Rolling Stone to launch a new interview series, S.O.S. — Earth Is a Mess.

The first episode debuts Thursday, October 29th, and features a chat with Democracy Now! host and best-selling author, Amy Goodman. An avowed Goodman fan, Casablancas opens the interview by admitting he’s spent the last five years trying to get one of his songs played during a Democracy Now! musical break.

The interview touches on an array of subjects, starting with 2020 elections and the importance of ousting President Donald Trump,...

Showtime has set its latest documentary slate with projects from the likes of Jesus Camp directors Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, A Private War director Matthew Heineman, Homeland’s Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon, Generation Wealth director Lauren Greenfield and Dirty War director Rick Rowley.

The 2020 slate was revealed by Gary Levine, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks at the Winter TCA press tour.

Grady and Ewing are making their first foray into episodic television with Love Fraud, which will launch at the Sundance Film Festival, the first time a TV series will run on day one of the festival. The project follows the search for one man, Richard Scott Smith, who over the past 20 years used the internet and his dubious charms to prey upon unsuspecting women in search of love – conning them out of their money and dignity. It will launch on May 8 and is directed and exec produced...

The world premiere tonight at the Sundance Film Festival of the Harvey Weinstein documentary Untouchable didn’t mention the Park City gathering itself where the now disgraced producer held court for years but some drama of its own.

Initially delayed by “technical difficulties,” as one Sundance staff told the line of hundreds waiting to get in, the Marc Theatre screening itself was actually interrupted three times on Friday to the obvious irritation of attendees. On each occasion and with no explanation given, the house lights came up in full for nearly 20 seconds as the Ursula Macfarlane directed film played to groans from the packed venue.

Filled with paparazzi footage of self-described NYC “sheriff” Weinstein threatening and cajoling with cameramen over the years, the film doesn’t unveiled anything new. The fairly comprehensive effort does feature heartbreaking on-camera interviews with alleged victims such as Boardwalk Empire alum Paz de la Huerta.

Broad City star and co-creator Ilana Glazer canceled a political event at a Brooklyn synagogue Thursday night after the building was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti. “I had this nightmare image in my head,” Glazer says in an interview posted online today, explaining that she feared for the safety of the 200 people who had turned up for the event.

Glazer was scheduled to speak at the Union Temple Synagogue in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights neighborhood, along with moderator Amy Goodman and New York state Senate candidates Andrew Gounardes and Jim Gaughran. Goodman, of the Democracy Now! website, posted an interview with Glazer today, along with footage of the actress breaking the news of the cancellation to attendees. “We don’t feel safe,” she told the crowd.

Goodman’s Democracy Now! report includes photos of the highly offensive graffiti, including a reference to Hitler and the Holocaust. The incident follows last Saturday...

Ilana Glazer, co-creator and star of Comedy Central’s “Broad City,” shut down a political event scheduled for November 2 in Brooklyn, New York after anti-semitic graffiti was found inside the location, the Union Temple in Prospect Heights. A custodian at the temple discovered the vandalism, which included the phrase “Kill All Jews” written on one of the doors inside the synagogue. The slurs are being investigated as a hate crime by New York City police.

The Union Temple event, hosted by Glazer, was to feature a conversation with New York state senate candidates Andrew Gounardes and Jim Gaughran and journalist Amy Goodman. The conversation was going to take place at 8:30pm Et but Glazer cancelled the event a half hour before. Speaking to Democracy Now! earlier this morning, Glazer said she couldn’t go through with the event because, “I can’t put these 200 people who came to listen in a safe space…...

On September 14 Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will introduce Jackson Browne as he receives the Gandhi Peace Award from Promoting Enduring Peace at the Lyman Center for the Performing Arts starting at 7:30 pm.

Kennedy, the second son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is an American environmental attorney, author, and activist who serves as president of the board of Waterkeeper Alliance, a non-profit environmental group that he helped found in 1999.

Dr. Joseph Bertolino, president of Southern Connecticut State University, will greet the audience, as will Andrew Wolf, New Haven’s Director of Arts, Culture and Tourism. Ben Grosscup and Luci Murphy of the People’s Music Network will begin the evening with musical tributes. Chris George of Iris (Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services) and Frida Berrigan, columnist for Waging Peace and daughter of Philip Berrigan, will also speak.

Jackson Browne is the first artist to receive the Gandhi Peace Award.

All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, And The Spirit Of I.F. Stone screens Friday February 10th through Sunday February 12th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood). The movie starts at 7:30 all three evenings.

Independent journalists Amy Goodman, Glenn Greenwald (Snowden), Jeremy Scahill (Dirty Wars), Matt Taibbi and others are changing the face of journalism, providing investigative, alternatives to mainstream, corporate news outlets. Cameras roll as they expose government and corporate deception – just as the groundbreaking journalist I.F. Stone did decades ago. With government deception rampant, and intrusion of state surveillance into private life never more egregious, many journalists are finding that to aggressively investigate governments rather than act as “stenographers to power”, they need to abandon mainstream corporate news media to work at alternative, web-based sites. All Governments Lie will forever change the way you watch and read the news.

The critics love All Governments Lie: Truth,...

Sundance is over and the prizes are won. People have dispersed to their homes and the realities that await them there.

This was a Sundance like no other I can remember, and I have attended every single one since 1986! The cold was extreme; and the political engagement and disgust was extreme. Not only did we have the Inauguration the first day, but the Women’s March the second day had probably 6,000 people marching and on that day the first of many deplorable executive orders (this one against women of the world and their control over their own bodies) began flying off the desk of our current president, who has continued to issue at least one every day, each one more despicable than the previous. Politics and women took center stage.

Chelsea Handler leads the women’s march in Park City, Utah. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The Sundance slant...

On Monday, October 17, a North Dakota judge dismissed the criminal charges that had been filed against journalist Amy Goodman, host and executive producer of Democracy Now, over her reporting on a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Judge John Grinsteiner ruled there was no probable cause to support the allegations, and therefore, he dismissed the case. Of course, this is good news. But the dangerous reality is that journalistic freedom is still under threat as arresting journalists and filmmakers who are reporting on citizen protests has become a bonafide trend. On Tuesday, October 11, Deia Schlosberg, producer of the 2016 documentary How […]...

Amy Goodman, the progressive journalist and co-host of “Democracy Now!” will turn herself in Monday to authorities in North Dakota, where she said she has been charged with participating in a “riot.” “I came back to North Dakota to fight a trespass charge. They saw that they could never make that charge stick, so now they want to charge me with rioting,” Goodman told Democracy Now! “I wasn’t trespassing, I wasn’t engaging in a riot, I was doing my job as a journalist by covering a violent attack on Native American protesters.” Also Read: Shailene Woodley Arrested in Pipeline Protest On Sept.

At its best, journalism should have an adversarial relationship with power, constantly questioning or combatting it in a relentless pursuit of the truth. Unfortunately, modern media conglomerates have a vested interest in making money over uncovering lies, and thus are willing to be spokespeople for the powerful instead of the ones who hold their feet to the fire. Fred Peabody’s new documentary “All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone” takes on the inherent flaws of the modern news media and how they are increasingly reluctant to investigate or criticize government policies.

Read More: The 75th Annual Peabody Awards Announce Latest Group of Winners: ‘Mr. Robot,’ ‘UnREAL,’ and More

In “All Governments Lie,” Peabody explores the legacy of I.F. Stone, whose groundbreaking reporting filled his tiny 4-page newsletter from 1953 to 1971. He inspired many of those changing the face of journalism who are featured in “All Governments Lie,...

After a promising initial line-up, the Toronto International Film Festival has delivered more titles with their full Canadian slate. Among the line-up is Xavier Dolan‘s It’s Only the End of the World, Bruce MacDonald‘s new feature Weirdos, Deepa Mehta‘s Anatomy of Violence, as well as Two Lovers and a Bear, starring Tatiana Maslany and Dane DeHaan, which we have the first trailer for today.

We said in our review from Cannes, “Kim Nguyen’s Two Lovers and a Bear is a film that suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. Like an indie playlist stuck on constant shuffle, unapologetically reveling in a sort of manic unclassifiable genre. This isn’t always necessarily a bad thing, but, for some reason, Nguyen’s scattershot tonal shifts — which hop between a romance on the rocks; a self-serious study of grieving; and a surreal buddy comedy — can prove quite jarring.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! wrapped up a week of Brooklyn-filmed episodes by reflecting one last time on how much the borough has changed since Jimmy Kimmel's childhood here decades ago. To illustrate how different Brooklyn is now, Kimmel reimagined one of the greatest films about the area – Spike Lee's 1989 classic Do the Right Thing – as the gentrified Do the White Thing, an all-star sendup of Bedford-Stuyvesant's hipster transformation.

In the sketch, many of Do the Right Thing's famous scenes and characters are lampooned to reflect the neighborhood's current...

I'm sure you're all aware of filmmaker and activist Bree Newsome's bold act of defiance in South Carolina last week; if not, what rock have you been hiding under? A Google or Twitter search of her name will get you all caught up.  Or you can also watch her tell the whole story on any of the TV shows she appeared on yesterday, which was apparently media day for her. She was interviewed by Amy Goodman for Democracy Now, by Chris Hayes on MSNBC, by CBS News, and several others, seemingly ending the day with an appearance on Larry Wilmore's late-night show, "The Nightly Show," on Comedy Central. She even now has her own Wikipedia page. I've embedded the...

Ken Jacobs. Photo by María Meseguer.This past June in A Coruña, Spain (S8) 6th Mostra de Cinema Periferico hosted a retrospective of Ken Jacobs. A legend of experimental filmmaking, this New Yorker gave a master-class about the influence of abstract paintings on his work, presented a broad selection of films in his filmography to the audience, and premiered New Paintings by Ken Jacobs (2015), a new film performance using his famous Nervous Magic Lantern, consisting of a series of abstract slides that he projects with a special device of his own creation. The program focused on Jacobs’ first films, close to a kind of Brakhage-like documentary style, the long series he made along with Jack Smith as an actor/performer, and his experiments with 3D, both in film and digital formats. After all these screenings, we had a coffee or two with him and talked about the films in the program.

Speaking with Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman at Sundance yesterday, "Selma" director Ava DuVernay responded to the furor surrounding the film with characteristic grace, paying homage to the "giants, real, bold, brave Americans of color, and otherwise, all kinds of people, who marched for something that was really important" before addressing Hollywood's systemic failure to make room for diverse voices. (Watch the full interview below.) Acknowledging that the film's Best Picture nomination is "nothing to sneeze at," DuVernay argues that the problem is not the Academy per se, but the fact that "Selma" was the only strong Oscar contender this year to feature people of color in prominent roles in front of and behind the camera: [T]he question is: Why was Selma the only film that was even in the running with people of color for the award? You know what I mean? I mean, why are there not—not just black,...

"Selma" premiered in London last night; but before she made her appearance there, last week, Ava DuVernay gave a four-part, hour-long video interview to Amy Goodman, for the progressive "Democracy Now," in which they talked about the Oscars, "Selma" and a few other things. Among the interesting tidbits shared in the interview, Ms. DuVernay revealed that she never believed or expected that she was going to get an Oscar nomination for Best Director, and had been, in fact, telling people just that, since last fall, even though everyone (including myself) did not believe it. But, naturally, she is very disappointed that David Oyelowo was passed...

The headline at Democracy Now! reads “Selma Director Ava DuVernay on Hollywood’s Lack of Diversity, Oscar Snub and #OscarsSoWhite Hashtag.” But aren’t we so very tired of the...

Et is partnering with zulily.com to bring you the Style Steal of the Day: this time, a classic gold necklace for an unbeatable price.

If you want to pump up your work wardrobe, the easiest way is by mixing up your jewelry. And zulily.com is showing you how you can save while upgrading your accessories!

Et is partnering with zulily to bring you the Style Steal of the Day: a classic gold necklace for an unbeatable price. zulily's Lifestyle Editor Amy Goodman spotlights a delicate gold leaf necklace, which retails for $72 but zulily is selling for only $17. Click here to purchase this and other fabulous items for work or play.

Watch the video for more, and tell us in the comments: What is your go-to piece of jewelry?...

Essayist Ta-Nehisi Coates made waves last week when he built the case for reparations in The Atlantic. The piece has drawn considerable attention from all sides, including both critical dismissal and supportive analysis. On Thursday morning, Coates sat down with Democracy Now's Amy Goodman to further explore his belief that the descendants of U.S. slaves should be given compensation from the government.

Recently, Democracy Now's Amy Goodman published this story about the controversy over re-opening uranium mines on Navajo lands. The documentary, The Return of Navajo Boy, has been credited with bringing the issue of uranium contamination from post WWII mining into the public eye. Read Goodman's piece below.

"A Slow Genocide of the People" Uranium Mining Leaves Toxic Nuclear Legacy on Indigenous Land

By Amy Goodman

The iconic Grand Canyon is the site of a battle over toxic uranium mining. Last year, a company called Energy Fuels Resources was given federal approval to reopen a mine six miles from the Grand Canyon’s popular South Rim entrance. A coalition of Native and environmental groups have protested the decision, saying uranium mining could strain scarce water sources and pose serious health effects. Diné (Navajo) tribal lands are littered with abandoned uranium mines. From 1944 to 1986, 3.9 million tons of uranium ore were chiseled and blasted from the mountains and plains of the region. More than 1,000 mines have closed, but the mining companies never properly disposed of their radioactive waste piles, leading to a spike in cancer rates and other health ailments. Broadcasting from Flagstaff, Arizona, we speak with Taylor McKinnon, director of energy with Grand Canyon Trust, and Klee Benally, a Diné (Navajo) activist and musician. "It’s really a slow genocide of the people, not just indigenous people of this region, but it’s estimated that there are over 10 million people who are residing within 50 miles of abandoned uranium mines," Benally says. Benally also describes the struggle to preserve the San Francisco Peaks, an area considered sacred by 13 Native tribes, where the Snowbowl ski resort is using treated sewage water to make snow.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

Amy Goodman: "Song of the Sun" by Klee Benally. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. Yes, we are on the road in Flagstaff, Arizona. Every year, millions of tourists flock here to visit the Grand Canyon, marvel at the spectacularly vast gorge carved out by the Colorado River. This natural wonder is a window into the Southwest region’s geological and Native American past.

Today the Grand Canyon is also the site of an ongoing battle over uranium mining. Last year, a company called Energy Fuels Resources was given federal approval to reopen a mine six miles from the Grand Canyon’s popular South Rim entrance. A coalition of Native and environmental groups have protested the decision, saying uranium mining could strain scarce water sources in the desert area and pose serious health effects.

Members of the Navajo Nations are all too familiar with the dangers posed by uranium mining, because their tribal lands are littered with abandoned mines. From 1944 to 1986, 3.9 million tons of uranium ore were chiseled and blasted from the mountains and plains of this region. Over the years, more than a thousand mines and four processing mills on tribal land closed. However, the mining companies never properly disposed of their radioactive waste piles, leading to a spike in cancer rates and other health ailments.

This is a clip from the documentary The Return of Navajo Boy about Navajo who have suffered health problems due to environmental contamination.

Lorenzo Begay: My mom and my Uncle Bernie were just little kids when their mom and their grandma both got lung disease.

Bernie Cly: [translated] I remember we lived by the mines. Uranium was in the water we used for washing and drinking. This is how we lived. One day, Mom went to the hospital. Us kids waited all summer for her to come home. Harry Goulding came and told us that Mom died. Grandma started to cry, "My daughter..."

Amy Goodman: That’s a clip from the award-winning documentary film, The Return of Navajo Boy, produced by Jeff Spitz and Bennie Klain.

Well, for more on the uranium mining in this region and other environmental challenges, we continue our conversation with Taylor McKinnon, director of energy with Grand Canyon Trust, and with Klee Benally, a Diné, or Navajo, activist. He’s the former lead singer of the punk band Blackfire; founder of Outta Your Backpack Mediacollective, which teaches filmmaking to indigenous youth; and a volunteer with Clean Up the Mines!, a nationwide effort to clean up abandoned uranium mines.

Taylor McKinnon, as well as Klee Benally, again, welcome. Klee, talk more about what the Navajo, the Diné people, are facing.

Klee Benally: Yá’át’ééh abíní . And first of all, thank you and welcome to the racist state of Arizona and the slightly racist, slightly less racist city of Flagstaff. We have been challenged with resource colonization in this area for many years. It’s really the battle—the geopolitics here are rooted in racism. They’re rooted in the corporate greed that we continue to face this day. More than 20,000 Diné, or Navajo, people have been forcibly relocated from our homelands because of Peabody Coal’s activities on Black Mesa, and we have an estimated more than 1,000 abandoned uranium mines on our lands. In 2005, the Diné, or Navajo, Nation decided to ban all uranium-mining activities on our lands. But today, we have tribal council representatives who are really just selling our future away and trying to lift this ban. And so we, at this point, are in a situation where there have been no meaningful health studies on the impacts of uranium mining in our community.

Amy Goodman: Give us an example of what one of these abandoned mines look like.

Klee Benally: Well, I was actually just in Cameron, about 40 minutes away from here, yesterday with Taylor McKinnon doing a presentation. And just about 50 feet away from the chapter house, which is the local government area in this area, there is an abandoned uranium mine that is a—looks like a hill. I mean, contaminated radioactive dirt looks like regular dirt. It’s an invisible threat. But there were toys. There were—from what I understand, there were signs of children playing in this hill, and there were houses just right the base of this. But one of these rocks, when a Geiger counter was set on it, it went through the roof. And so, these abandoned uranium mines look like the rest of the natural landscape.

Amy Goodman: And there are how many?

Klee Benally: There are an estimated over a thousand in our homelands. But there are estimated to be over 10,000 abandoned uranium mines throughout the whole United States, and it’s primarily within 15 Western states. But the Epa has never done a meaningful inventory on these threats that are really a toxic legacy that impacts us to this day. It’s really a slow genocide of the people, not just indigenous people of this region, but it’s estimated to be that there are over 10 million people who are residing within 50 miles of abandoned uranium mines.

Amy Goodman: Taylor, what is Grand Canyon Trust doing about this?

Taylor McKinnon: We’ve been largely focused on efforts by the uranium industry to develop new mines on public lands. And since the mid-2000s, when the price of uranium spiked, we’ve seen a real resurgence of uranium-mining activity in northern Arizona. So we’ve been—we led the charge to compel the—alongside a number of different tribal and conservation and community partners, to compel the Obama administration to enact a ban on new mining in Grand Canyon’s watersheds. That went into effect in 2012. However, it did not apply to old mines, mines that were built in the 1980s. And we’ve seen federal agencies—the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service—allow three of those mines to reopen without undertaking new public or environmental reviews. They’re relying on their 1980s reviews, and thus effectively ignoring reams of new science about the potential impacts of those mines to groundwater, to aquifers that feed springs in the Grand Canyon, that are critical for wildlife, that are held sacred by Native peoples, and that form all of, except for the Colorado River, the perennial surface water in the Grand Canyon. These are—

Amy Goodman: Let’s turn to another clip from the film, The Return of Navajo Boy, the award-winning documentary produced by Jeff Spitz and Bennie Klain about the Cly family, Navajo who have suffered health problems due to environmental contamination. Here, we hear more about the impact of uranium mining on the Navajo community, on the Diné people.

DINÉ Woman: [translated] We live in the midst of uranium. We walk upon it every day. Our houses are built with it. It’s in our walls.

Kerr-McGee Oil Industries Promotional Film: Royalties from the uranium mines are providing much-needed cash for the Navajo prospector and for the tribe. Many of the Navajo men are employed in the uranium mines, where they are valued as conscientious workers.

Lorenzo Begay: The mining company didn’t tell our fathers and uncles that uranium could kill them or they would be used to make atomic bombs.

Amy Goodman: Again, that’s a clip from The Return of Navajo Boy. Klee, what are families told? What are communities told? I mean, we’re dealing with, one, the abandonment of a thousand uranium mines, but then also the building of more now.

Klee Benally: Well, the Epa has a five-year plan that was initiated to clean up these abandoned uranium mines. But the reality is, is that these mines are not being cleaned up. The Epa is turning these abandoned sites into containment or to waste dumps that are toxic, that are hazardous, that are still leaching contaminants into our waterways, that are still impacting our grazing lands and our sheep and so forth. And we have abandoned uranium mines and threatened new proposed uranium mines in proximity to our sacred sites, which are vital for our way of life, for our cultural identity. So we are being told that—essentially, the message that we are sent is, is that our—the impacts to our health, our well-being and who we are in our sacred lands is not meaningful enough to have serious cleanup.

Amy Goodman: How do the rules work, because of the different laws on Native American reservations?

Klee Benally: Well, the cleanup is a slow process. It’s a complex process. And I think that it is challenging in relation to the current law on the rez, but we have to look at the reality that, as I mentioned before, there are more than 10,000 abandoned uranium mines throughout the U.S. There are some areas where the abandoned mines or new proposed mines are located in close proximity to our reservation lands. They’re on public—they’re on private lands, and they leach toxic contaminants. The dust, the toxic particles, blow into our communities. And we have no control. We have no way to regulate that. I mean, for example, in Church Rock, New Mexico, where in 1979 one of the largest toxic spills happened in U.S. history, there’s still nothing that has really been done to clean up. There’s new proposed mines happening outside of our tribal lands, right off the borders. So, this is a very complex issue. There are multiple agencies that are involved. And what we end up seeing happen is, is that our future gets railroaded over in the interests of corporate greed.

Amy Goodman: Can you talk briefly about the San Francisco Peaks and what they are, for people who have never heard of them?

Klee Benally: Doko’oo’sliid, or the holy San Francisco Peaks, are holy to more than 13 indigenous nations. They are central for our cultural survival.

Amy Goodman: Where are they?

Klee Benally: They’re located just right outside of Flagstaff, and they’re the highest point in northern Arizona. You can see the Grand Canyon from them. You can see just such a beautiful landscape. And they’re vital not only for our cultural practices, but they’re an ecological island that are home to endemic species such as the San Francisco Peaks ragwort, which is only found on the San Francisco Peaks and nowhere else in the world.

Amy Goodman: And what’s happening with them?

Klee Benally: Well, right now, we’re—for the past 30 years—really, for the past 20 years, it’s been a heated battle to protect this mountain from resource extraction and development, and not just talking about coal, uranium, oil, natural gases, but recreation as a resource extraction on these sacred lands. The San Francisco Peaks are managed by the United States Forest Service as public land, and currently they lease part of those lands to a ski resort known as Arizona Snowbowl, that is—

Amy Goodman: Snowbowl?

Klee Benally: Snowbowl. And they’ve permitted to expand their development into rare alpine forests, clearcutting more than 30,000 trees, many of them old-growth. And the most controversial part is that they’ve entered into a contract with the city of Flagstaff. The politicians of Flagstaff have sold 180 million gallons of treated sewage per year for snow making. And this, right—

Amy Goodman: Of sewage?

Klee Benally: Of treated sewage for snow making.

Amy Goodman: So this is greywater?

Klee Benally: Well, it’s considered treated sewage, or reclaimed water. And so, in this case, there are harmful contaminants that are not tested or treated for by the Epa that are allowed to be in this wastewater, and it’s being sprayed on this sacred church of ours. Right now, even though we’ve had more than 10 years of legal battles that have gone all the way to the Supreme Court, the situation is that we don’t have guaranteed protections for religious freedom as indigenous people. And Snowbowl has become—in 2011, they became the first ski area in the world to make snow out of 100 percent treated sewage effluent.

Amy Goodman: Taylor, is there any legal means to challenge this?

Taylor McKinnon: Well, it’s not an issue that Grand Canyon Trust has worked on. I know that the Hopi Tribe has ongoing legal challenges in state court and federal court.

Amy Goodman: So, are the Navajo—Klee, are the Navajo and Hopi working together on this?

Klee Benally: We had a coalition of 14 indigenous nations actually working together on this with six environmental groups, that had led the charge to defend this sacred mountain on cultural and environmental grounds. But those challenges failed in the Supreme Court. And so it reaffirmed that we, as indigenous people, don’t have guaranteed protection for our religious freedom. And that’s the situation we’re in now. I’ve been arrested multiple times trying to stop the excavators up on this mountain, and that seems to be the only redress that we really have.

Amy Goodman: I wanted to turn to one last clip from this film, The Return of Navajo Boy, the film that’s produced by Jeff Spitz and Bennie Klain. Here, we learn about water scarcity and contamination on Diné land.

Lorenzo Begay: The community water pump is about five miles from my mom’s house. We all get our drinking water from the same place. There’s about 200 people who live in this area. It takes about 10 minutes to fill one barrel. My niece Sherri learns to be patient filling the barrels. The government came here a few years ago to check the safety of our drinking water, but they never came back with the results.

Amy Goodman: That’s a clip from the film that we have been playing through this segment, The Return of Navajo Boy. Klee Benally, the scarcity of water?

Klee Benally: So, the framing of this section, I understand, is the winners and losers of these struggles. But there are no winners when we destroy Mother Earth. When we destroy the water that we need to drink, then we destroy the air that we need to breathe and the ground that we need to feed ourselves from. And so, right now, the Epa has closed 22 wells that have been determined to have too high of levels of toxic contaminants in them on the Navajo Nation. But many of our people don’t have running water; they don’t have electricity. Yet our lands have been exploited. We have coal-fired—three coal-fired power plants that pollute our air. We have these abandoned uranium mines and new mines that are threatening the region. We have fracking, hydraulic fracking, that’s threatening our land, as well. But this isn’t just an issue for here. Wherever there’s an environmental crisis, there’s a cultural crisis, because we are people of the Earth. This is a social crisis that everybody has some impact of, because when we look at the larger challenges of global warming, global warming, from an indigenous perspective, is just a symptom of how we are out of balance with Mother Earth. So this is a problem that’s all over.

Amy Goodman: Talk about how climate change affects indigenous people.

Klee Benally: Well, we see the threats of displacement of indigenous people from the waters that are rising and depopulating villages that were on islands. We see the threat of the caribou migrations and those impacts. And we see this key resorts that feel like they need to make snow because they don’t have enough natural snow, and so they desecrate sacred mountains such as this. I mean, the—it’s not—we are all indigenous to this land, to somewhere, on our mother, the Earth. And so, these impacts impact us all.

Amy Goodman: And, Taylor, finally, the effect of climate change on the Colorado River area and the Grand Canyon?

Taylor McKinnon: Researchers have projected declines in flow of up to 30 percent in the coming century, owing to climate change and other factors. And so, in a time when we’re—the Colorado Plateau and the Colorado River Basin and its water users stand to lose the most, it’s a time for this region also to look very carefully at the energy choices that we’re making.

Amy Goodman:

I want to thank you both for being with us. Taylor McKinnon is with the Grand Canyon Trust. Klee, I’d like you to stay with us for our next segment. Klee Benally, Diné, Navajo, activist, the former lead singer of the punk band Blackfire. We’re also, when we come back, going to be joined by Alex Soto, who will talk about indigenous organizing on the border. He is a member of the Chicano-indigenous hip-hop duo Shining Soul.

Originally published on Democracy Now.org...

We have been following this New York City Fest's development for a while and wish it well. Needless to say an important program of films.

Rated Sr Socially Relevant Film Festival New York , a new non-profit film festival will run March 14-20, 2014 at New York’s Quad Cinema. Founded by award-winning actor, filmmaker and curator Nora Armani, the festival will showcase films with human interest stories and socially relevant themes as a response to the proliferation of violence and violent forms of storytelling. Rated Sr aims to promote positive social change through the powerful medium of cinema.

Amy Goodman will deliver the festival’s keynote address on Tuesday, March 18th and she will give out the “Rated Sr Social Justice Award” for raising awareness to issues outside mainstream media. Such is the philosophy behind Democracy Now! Currently aired by more than 1,000 radio, television, satellite and cable TV networks in North America, and watched in dozens of countries via the Internet.

Over thirty narrative and documentary films will screen including twelve feature films which will compete for the Grand Prize, a week-long theatrical engagement at the Quad Cinema, courtesy of the QuadFlix Select Program, and ten documentaries will compete for the documentary prize. The winner will receive a VOD DVD distribution deal courtesy of Cinema Libre Studio, a leader in the distribution of social issue documentaries and independent feature films.

Films:

Feature Competition Narrative and Documentary

Coney Island: Dreams for Sale, Alessandra Giordano, USA, 81min, 2013, documentary

Dovid Meyer, Paul Mones , USA/Israel, 101 min, 2013, narrative

Flore, Jean-Albert Lièvre, France, 2014, 85min, documentary

Forward 13: Waking Up the American Dream, Patrick Lovell, USA, 120 min. 2013, documentary

If Only Everyone, Nataliya Belyauskene, Armenia, 2012, 94min, narrative

Indian Summer, Simon Brook, France, 84, 2013, documentary

Lucky Express, Anna Fischer , USA, 87, 2013, documentary

Offside Trap (Abseitsfalle), Stefan Hering, Germany, 98min, 2012, narrative

Orphans of the Genocide, Bared Maronian, USA, 91min, 2013, documentary

Small Small Thing, Jessica Vale, USA, 85min, 2013, documentary

Documentary:

Coal Rush , Lorena Luciano & Filippo Piscopo, USA, 85min, 2013,

Control, Chris Bravo & Lindsey Schneider, USA, 50min, 2013 (Nyfa artist)

Destiny's Bridge, Jack Ballo, USA, 80min, 2013 (Nyfa artist)

From the Black You Make Color, Richie Sherman & Judy Maltz , USA, Israel, 75min, 2012

Hamshen Community at the Crossroads of Past and Present, Lusine Sahakyan, Armenia, Turkey, 60min, 2012

Not Who We Are, Carol Mansour, Lebanon, 72min. 2013

Stable Life, Sara Macpherson, USA, 52min, 2013

The Throwaways, Bhawin Suchak, USA, 62min, 2013

Festival partners include:

·Academic partner, the School of the Visual Arts Social Documentary department, home of the new Mfa in Social Documentary filmmaking.

·Dailymotion, the official video media partner. A selection of close to 100 film trailers from the festival submissions are viewable on an official festival page, garnering close to 100,000 visits to date.

·Village Voice (Media partner)

·Other promotional partners of the festival include: Nyfa, Indieflix, Unifrance Films International, Cineuropa, Alouette Communications, Fiaf, Samuel Infirmier, Final Draft and Center for Remembering and Sharing.

·New-York based metalsmith designer Michael Aram has donated a special trophy to be awarded to the recognized Rated Sr honoree.

·The festival awards the Vanya Exerjian award to a film that raises awareness to violence against women and girls, in commemoration of Armani’s late cousin and uncle, victims of a violent hate crime.

Rated Sr is a film festival that focuses on socially relevant human stories and raises awareness to social problems by offering positive solutions through the powerful medium of cinema. Rated Sr believes that through raised awareness, expanded knowledge about diverse cultures, and the human condition as a whole, it is possible to create a better world free of violence, hate and crime.

Rated Sr Socially Relevant Film Festival New York shines the spotlight on filmmakers who tell compelling, socially relevant narratives across a broad range of social issues without resorting to gratuitous violence and violent forms of movie-making. Rated Sr Films are enlightening, uplifting, entertaining, but most of all artistically appealing. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales each year of the festival will be donated to a charity selected from the fields of: poverty, homelessness, cancer and aging.

This review was originally published in February. Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey With Mumia Abdul-jamal never played theatrically in St. Louis (thankfully) and my review has been amended to include a look at the extras on the new DVD of the film.

Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey With Mumia Abdul-jamal is a documentary from producer, director, cinematographer Stephen Vittoria about convicted cop killer and former Black Panther Mumia Abdul-Jamal (real name: Wesley Cook), an articulate, relatively intelligent radical with a distinctive speaking voice and a passion for public relations. Slickly produced, and with an excellent original score by Robert Guillory, the film is presented as a collective form of tribute to Mumia, with dozens of “witnesses” including Amy Goodman, Angela Davis, Dick Gregory, Ruby Dee, Cornel West, Peter Coyote, Lydia Barashango, Juan Gonzalez, and Linn Washington, all testifying on-camera to the brilliance of the subject’s writing skills.

Three very worthwhile documentaries are now available on DVD and/or VOD for you to check out! First, Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal is now on iTunes and DVD. Featuring contributions from the likes of Cornel West, Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Rubin Hurricane Carter, Dick Gregory, Peter Coyote, Ruby Dee, M-1, Giancarlo Esposito, Amy Goodman, and many others, Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal, focuses on Abu-Jamal's career as a prolific writer and journalist from Death Row. The DVD package includes the explosive new short film Manufacturing Guilt, which details the efforts of the Philadelphia Police Department and...

First Run Features film will release Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal on iTunes and DVD on June 11. The home video package will Include the explosive new short film Manufacturing Guilt, which details the efforts of the Philadelphia Police Department and District Attorney's office to frame Mumia Abu-Jamal, as the press release states. Featuring contributions from the likes of Cornel West, Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Rubin Hurricane Carter, Dick Gregory, Peter Coyote, Ruby Dee, M-1, Giancarlo Esposito, Amy Goodman, and many others, Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal, focuses on Abu-Jamal's career as a prolific writer and...

By Alex Simon

Mumia Abu-Jamal has been one of journalism’s most outspoken voices for nearly forty years. However, Mumia’s greatest fame has come not from his written work, but from the fact that he is one of the most famous state “employees” in the country: he has been in state prison since 1982, serving on death row until just over a year ago.

Born Wesley Cook in Philadelphia, Abu-Jamal made his name as a tireless writer and journalist during the racially-charged 1970s that often portrayed the City of Brotherly Love as anything but. With his intense coverage of the M.O.V.E. organization, a black empowerment group whose ongoing battle with the police and city hall came to a fiery end in 1985, Abu-Jamal became a constant thorn in the side of the city’s powerful establishment. Things came to a sudden head for Abu-Jamal himself on the evening...

Films from each side of the settlement walls have broached the conflict at the Oscars, despite a detained director

The Academy Awards ceremony will make history this year with the first ever nomination of a feature documentary made by a Palestinian. 5 Broken Cameras was filmed and directed by Emad Burnat, a resident of the occupied Palestinian West Bank town of Bil'in, along with his Israeli filmmaking partner Guy Davidi.

What does a Palestinian farmer wear on the red carpet in Hollywood? We were almost prevented from knowing, as Burnat, his wife and 8-year-old son were detained at Los Angeles International Airport and threatened with deportation. Despite his formal invitation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an Oscar-nominated filmmaker, it took the intervention of Oscar-winning documentarian Michael Moore, who now sits on the Academy Board of Governors, followed by Academy attorneys, for Burnat and his family to gain entry into the country.