Saturday, July 19, 2008

Current TV Project Updates







Dear friends,
Hope you’re all having a spectacular summer! Here are a couple updates about my Current TV projects:

1. FOOD FIGHT SPECIAL now airing
2. LITTER INTO LITERATURE bought by Current
3. OUR GENERATION’S WAR segment in production
4. I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU TRENT AND GREG
screening at SIE Film Fest
________________________

1. FOOD FIGHT SPECIAL now airing
GOT RICE?, a pod I produced about the rice shortages in LA, is now airing on Current. The piece is part of FOOD FIGHT, an hour-long Vanguard and Collective Journalism special that investigates the promise and peril of using food for fuel, and the far-reaching consequences of the global fight for resources.

To find interview subjects for this pod, I visited over 20 rice-serving restaurants in Alhambra and Monterey Park. Thank you to Xiao Qi Liang, owner of ACC Chinese Fast Food, for agreeing to speak with me, and to Jerome Jiang, one of her customers, for serving as our interpreter. Thanks too to Kimpo Ngoi for sharing his family’s reaction to the rice shortage with me.

The segment that I produced runs from 31:20 – 33:20.
You can watch it below:


2. LITTER INTO LITERATURE bought by Current

I have finished editing LITTER INTO LITERATURE, the short documentary I co-produced in Buenos Aires with CJ Contributor Sarah Gilbert. The film is about the cartoneros, Buenos Aires’ unofficial recyclers, and Eloisa Cartonera, an independent book publisher where cartoneros can get a good deal on cardboard and contribute to great art as well. Current bought the doc and will be airing it soon. Thanks to Henry Goldman for bringing it in.

3. OUR GENERATION’S WAR segment in production
Current contributor Alex Paris and I have also begun work on a segment for another Current special called OUR GENERATION’S WAR. This piece examines the sacrifices that our country’s service people have made in the War on Terror. The piece attempts to document the entire cycle of service: from recruitment to extensions of service commitments, to what our service people find when they return home and the families they leave behind. For my segment, I will be profiling a service person who has been stop-lossed. If all goes well, we intend to shoot the piece next weekend.

4. I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU TRENT AND GREG screening at SIE Film Fest
My first Current pod, I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU TRENT AND GREG, will be screening at the Stanford in Entertainment Film Festival next weekend. This is the film festival’s 10th anniversary, so the group is planning a jam-packed afternoon of screenings at Cinespace, followed by a reception. My film will screen with the other shorts from
3pm – 4:30pm, but I plan to stay for the whole event. Come check out TRENT AND GREG on the big screen—I’d love to see you there!

Date: Saturday, July 26
Time:
3pm – 4:30pm screening of short films (including mine) / 5pm – 7pm feature screening / 7pm - 8pm reception with appetizers and cash bar
Place: Cinespace / 6356 Hollywood Blvd. (corner of Ivar and Hollywood) / Los Angeles
Price: Free for members plus a guest; $15 for non-members

RSVP to
Amy Taylor, ’98 at amytaylor1@verizon.net

Hope to see you next Saturday!

Sincerely,
Steven

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Call for Stop-Lossed Soldiers

To Whom It May Concern:

I am a video journalist looking for a stop-lossed soldier who is interested in sharing his or her story. I work for Current TV, a cable news channel and website for the 18-34 year old demographic.

For our parents, it was Vietnam; for our grandparents, World War II—-the War on Terror launched after September 11th is OUR GENERATION’S WAR. With previous wars of this magnitude, our country as a whole was asked to sacrifice either through rationing or drafting of their service. The War on Terror—-funded mostly on debt—-has not asked much of our society as a whole, but it has demanded a tremendous sacrifice from those who entered the service before Sept. 11th and those who have joined up since. What exactly does this burden look and feel like?

Rather than focusing on stories of direct combat, we’re focusing our attention on the home front. I am working with Current journalists from around the country, attempting to document the entire cycle of service: from recruitment to extensions of service commitments to what our service people find when they return home and the families they leave behind.

In particular, I am looking for a soldier who is being stop-lossed or was stop-lossed in the past. I would like to spend a day with this person, first conducting a filmed interview, then shadowing this person to see what a “day in the life” is like.

If you would be willing to speak with me, or if you know any stop-lossed soldiers who would like to be interviewed for this project, please send me an email. If anonymity is an issue, I would be able to blur faces, etc. The deadline for submitting pieces for this Collective Work is July 23, so I would like to film as early as next weekend, July 19-20.

Thank you for your help, and for your sacrifice.

Sincerely,
Steven

P.S. Here are links to similar short documentaries I have done for Current in the past few months:
http://current.com/items/88807958_trent_loves_greg
http://current.com/items/88817993_the_volunteers
http://current.com/items/88927129_litter_into_literature