I V A A S K S

Documenting The Masses

Tagged CUNY:

Toward the end of last year ::: http://vimeo.com/39156555
My partner in crime Martyna and I filmed, quite a few actions that extended form the Occupy Wall Street movement, namely the student protests and teach-ins.One of these was organized by Students United For A Free Cuny in which Louis Reyes Rivera, (poet, lecturer, activist, educator, freedom fighter among other things) passed on some of his wisdom from the 1969 Student Take Over of City College to a new generation of young activists.
Rivera has since passed, earlier this month…this film is dedicated to his memory.Perhaps his words will resonate with you.Enjoy.
On a filmic note :::I just watched Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Distant - apparently available in its entirety on youtube though i don’t recommend you watch it this way.The cinematography is mesmerizing (and youtube degrades it).In watching, in its meditative pace, the viewer feels sucked in - enters another’s life completely.
But…What I was really inspired by this week was a film by Srdjan Keca, whom I met at the Berlinale Talent Campus last month. His A Letter To Dad is premiering at Full Frame next month. Brilliantly and sensitively crafted… transformative.
Catch it, somewhere.

“In 1969, a group of black and Puerto Rican students occupied City College demanding the integration of CUNY, which at the time had an overwhelmingly white student body. The occupation spread to other CUNY campuses, forcing the Board of Trustees to implement a ground-breaking new admissions policy.”

http://vimeo.com/31285186

Such occupations also occurred in the 1980s and 2000s.
It’s that time again.

As Graduate Film students at Hunter College in New York, we’re very excited to see how the spreading Occupy Wall Street movement is giving new momentum to the militant protest culture of Cuny (City University, NYC).

We filmed the second General Assembly at Hunter College, and the first “Occupy Cuny” teach-in at Washington Square Park on October 21st, 2011. During the last weeks, we learned how quickly small protest gatherings can turn into new social movements. This is a document about the struggle of students and adjunct faculty at Cuny. This local struggle is part of an international student movement against neoliberal dictatorship.
This is only the beginning. The time for action is now.

Find out how to support, participate, take action:
cunygeneralassembly.wordpress.com
studentsunitedforafreecuny.wordpress.com
resistandmultiply.wordpress.com (at Hunter College)
cunyadjunctproject.org
nycga.net (Occupy Wall Street)
occupywallst.org

Being in the midst of events, as they are manifesting is exciting. I was recently reminded of some brilliant films like Harlan County and Primary,
there is something very special in capturing moments that are of historical significance, even more so participating in them.

And the latest inspiration is Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin’s experiment Chronique d’un été (Chronicle of A Summer). One of first introductions to Cinéma Vérité, it illustrates the problems of film reality, how it’s depicted, portrayed and relayed to the audience. The film poses questions “Are you happy?” and “How do you live?” in an attempt to comment on the state of affairs in 1960 Paris. What I was most impressed by is the concept itself; the idea of approaching a theme/situation/topic from the point of view of social engagement and conversation, a study, a research in real time “authenticity of life as it is lived”. The film’s outcome was not what the parties had anticipated but rather it was a revelation of the many layers of representation…the subjects assuming a role on the camera, their awareness of assuming the role, the creation of a “socio-drama to permit each person to play out his life role before the camera.”

(read : “Chronicle of a Film,” by Edgar Morin in Ciné-Ethnography: Jean Rouch ed. by Steven Feld)

Oct 26

“In 1969, a group of black and Puerto Rican students occupied City College demanding the integration of CUNY, which at the time had an overwhelmingly white student body. The occupation spread to other CUNY campuses, forcing the Board of Trustees to implement a ground-breaking new admissions policy.”
http://vimeo.com/31285186
Such occupations also occurred in the 1980s and 2000s.It’s that time again.
As Graduate Film students at Hunter College in New York, we’re very excited to see how the spreading Occupy Wall Street movement is giving new momentum to the militant protest culture of Cuny (City University, NYC).
We filmed the second General Assembly at Hunter College, and the first “Occupy Cuny” teach-in at Washington Square Park on October 21st, 2011. During the last weeks, we learned how quickly small protest gatherings can turn into new social movements. This is a document about the struggle of students and adjunct faculty at Cuny. This local struggle is part of an international student movement against neoliberal dictatorship.This is only the beginning. The time for action is now.
Find out how to support, participate, take action:cunygeneralassembly.wordpress.comstudentsunitedforafreecuny.wordpress.comresistandmultiply.wordpress.com (at Hunter College)cunyadjunctproject.orgnycga.net (Occupy Wall Street)occupywallst.org
Being in the midst of events, as they are manifesting is exciting. I was recently reminded of some brilliant films like Harlan County and Primary,there is something very special in capturing moments that are of historical significance, even more so participating in them.
And the latest inspiration is Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin’s experiment Chronique d’un été (Chronicle of A Summer). One of first introductions to Cinéma Vérité, it illustrates the problems of film reality, how it’s depicted, portrayed and relayed to the audience. The film poses questions “Are you happy?” and “How do you live?” in an attempt to comment on the state of affairs in 1960 Paris. What I was most impressed by is the concept itself; the idea of approaching a theme/situation/topic from the point of view of social engagement and conversation, a study, a research in real time “authenticity of life as it is lived”. The film’s outcome was not what the parties had anticipated but rather it was a revelation of the many layers of representation…the subjects assuming a role on the camera, their awareness of assuming the role, the creation of a “socio-drama to permit each person to play out his life role before the camera.”
(read : “Chronicle of a Film,” by Edgar Morin in Ciné-Ethnography: Jean Rouch ed. by Steven Feld)

I V A A S K S

Posted on Monday March 26^th 2012 at 07:39pm. Its tags are listed below.

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Toward the end of last year ::: http://vimeo.com/39156555

My partner in crime Martyna and I filmed, quite a few actions that extended form the Occupy Wall Street movement, namely the student protests and teach-ins.
One of these was organized by Students United For A Free Cuny in which Louis Reyes Rivera, (poet, lecturer, activist, educator, freedom fighter among other things) passed on some of his wisdom from the 1969 Student Take Over of City College to a new generation of young activists.

Rivera has since passed, earlier this month…this film is dedicated to his memory.
Perhaps his words will resonate with you.
Enjoy.

On a filmic note :::
I just watched Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Distant - apparently available in its entirety on youtube though i don’t recommend you watch it this way.
The cinematography is mesmerizing (and youtube degrades it).
In watching, in its meditative pace, the viewer feels sucked in - enters another’s life completely.

But…
What I was really inspired by this week was a film by Srdjan Keca, whom I met at the Berlinale Talent Campus last month. His A Letter To Dad is premiering at Full Frame next month. Brilliantly and sensitively crafted… transformative.

Catch it, somewhere.