Detroit filmmakers and visual artists! Allied Media Projects is excited to partner with the Sundance Institute to bring film screenings and workshops to the Allied Media Conference, June 18-21. Discover new forms of storytelling, meet local and national filmmakers and visual artists, and explore how the convergence of story and technology impact justice.
Workshops
On Thursday, June 18 from 10:00 p.m. -5:00 p.m., Sundance’s New Frontier program presents the “New Frontier Day Lab” geared towards Detroit filmmakers and visual storytellers. The event will take place at the Allied Media Conference, and will include presentations and panel discussions with independent artists and social justice activists who are pushing the boundaries of story and experimenting with the language, forms and tools that will become standards for future storytellers and change makers.
On Friday, June 19 from 2:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Sundance presents the “New Frontier Native Forum,” a space for indigenous artists, youth, activists and innovative media makers to have conversations and participate in working sessions around leveraging transmedia storytelling for social and environmental justice. The Native Forum will take place at the Allied Media Conference and allow artists to share ideas, talk about works-in-progress and envision new projects and campaigns. See the full list of presenters on the event page.
Learn more and RSVP online by June 11th.
Documentary Film Screenings
In addition to the workshops above, the AMC is hosting two film screenings in partnership with Sundance Film Forward, an initiative of the Sundance Institute. Film Forward is a touring program that offers film screenings and discussions to excite and cultivate new audiences for independent film. Each screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director, as well as a discussion on the theme “Freedom of Information: The Power of Connectivity for Social Change.”
The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
Thursday, June 18, 7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m., Community Arts Auditorium on Wayne State’s campus. Screening and discussion with director Brian Knappenberger.
The Internet’s Own Boy chronicles the story of programming prodigy and information-access activist Aaron Swartz, who forever left his imprint on the Internet with his development of the basic Internet protocol RSS, his co-founding of Reddit, and his open-access activism, which eventually ensnared him in a two-year legal battle that ended with him taking his life. The documentary is a personal story that shines a light on what we lose when we are tone deaf to technology and its relationship to our civil liberties.
We Are the Giant
Friday, June 19, 8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m., DeRoy Auditorium on Wayne State’s campus. Screening and discussion with director Greg Barker.
In We Are The Giant, ordinary citizens face the same moral questions that have defined revolutionary leaders across the ages, from Jefferson to Che to Mandela. With remarkable access, the film takes its audience inside the lives of six extraordinary people who grapple with the agonizing and universal dilemmas at the heart of all struggles for justice and freedom: whether to take up arms and fight, or to advocate change through peace and non-violence.