(Hate) Machine, Bush for Peace, The News Is What We Make It

SUBJECT: MEDIA AND MANIPULATION

(Hate) Machine
Canada, 2005, 4:45 min  
director/producer: Phil Caron

More about (Hate) Machine from director Phil Caron:
"The concept for (Hate) Machine came out of the distortions/biases that I saw in post-911 media. Of course these distortions had always been there, but suddenly they became very blatant, and most media presented their material with a pro-war stance. As a Canadian who is regularly exposed to American, British and Canadian news, it was shocking to see such differences in storytelling, and to see how the same raw material could be twisted and personalized. (Hate) Machine is my response to the concept of media truth and is meant to provoke a closer inspection of the words and images that we rely on to interpret our world.
(Hate) Machine was shot entirely in Ottawa with local actors and crew, and with the support of the Ontario Arts Council and SAW video co-op."
Phil Caron is an Ottawa-based filmmaker and writer. His films/videos have been shown nationally and internationally, and he has written for the Globe & Mail, CBC Radio 1 and CanWest Media. He studied film in Montreal, Quebec where he received a BFA from Concordia University.

Bush for Peace
USA, 2004, 1:56 min 
Co-Director/Co-Producer/Editor: Sarah Christman 
Co-Director/Co-Producer/Writer: Jen Simmons

One night when co-directors Sarah Christman and Jen Simmons were sitting around "being upset with Bush" they decided that they wanted to do something about it. Calling upon their numerous filmmaking and sound design talents they came up with the idea of using Bush's own words to create a picture of what could be if our president had a different agenda. Using public domain footage of Bush's address to Americans on the eve of war on Iraq, Jen and Sarah rescripted the speech to call for demilitarization and peaceful collaboration between nations. http://www.bushforpeace.us
Sarah Christman is a Philadelphia-based independent media producer. Using film, video, and the web, she explores the personal and cultural impact of media in every-day life. Sarah was the media designer for a theatrical production of Brecht's Antigone at the Riverside Church Theater in Manhattan in March 2003. In October 2002, she participated in the group show/installation Living Room, as part of the DUMBO Arts Under the Bridge Festival in Brooklyn, NY. Sarah has worked as a video editor and instructor, and for WNET in New York. She is currently pursuing an MFA at Temple University's Department of Film & Media Arts. View her work at http://www.fairuseproductions.com
Jen Simmons is a writer, director and designer, whose career multitasks between the genres of film, new media and live performance. She has designed projection, lighting, scenic and sound for performing artists including Peggy Shaw, Sharon Bridgforth, Lourdes Perez, Daniel Alexander Jones, Gloria Anzaldua, Beto Araiza, Sandra Cisneros, Paul Bonin-Rodriguez, and Cherrie Moraga, and for theaters including PS122, Gloucester Stage Company, Highways Performance Space, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, Jump-Start Performance Co., and the Vortex Theater. For eight years, she was a critical force at the Esperanza Center in San Antonio Tejas, an innovative multidisciplinary community-based center for arts and activism, promoting the voices of people-of-color, women, lesbians and gay men. View her work at http://www.jensimmons.com/.

The News Is What We Make It
USA, 2005, 8:21 min
director/producer Nickey Robare

More about the News Is What We Make It from director Nickey Robare:
"As a second-year student at Hampshire College, I applied for the Hampshire film alumni internship program and was placed at a small animation studio in Portland, OR. I returned to intern there for two summers, during which time I fell in love with the medium. �I wasn't very familiar with animation before my first summer, and was very disheartened to learn that commercial work is the most likely way to make a living at animation. Given my longheld progressive political beliefs, the idea of spending the rest of my life making advertisements upset me.
All students at Hampshire must complete a yearlong thesis project, called a Division III project, during their final year. I had developed a passion for issues of media democracy, and realized that a film about the subject would make a perfect Div III project. I spent more than eight months writing, recording the soundtrack, building sets and characters, animating, and editing - working almost entirely by myself, with the support of my advisor, video artist Joan Braderman and my second committee member, experimental filmmaker Bill Brand.
Since I completed this project, it has been screened at festivals large and small, in church basements and punk house living rooms. My intention was to make media issues accessible and understandable to all people of all ages and backgrounds. I feel I accomplished this goal, and I hope the film can continue to be shown widely and reach as many people as possible."
Nickey Robare made her first stop-motion film, Magical Dishes, at age twelve and has been involved in film production ever since. In high school she studied writing and communication arts at The Chicago Academy for the Arts, cementing these interests. While studying film and popular culture at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, Nickey fell in love with animation (during two summer stints at Bent Image Lab in Portland, OR) and developed a passionate interest in issues of media ownership. These dual interests culminated in the production of The News is What We Make It, which she produced under the guidance of advisor Joan Braderman and committee member Bill Brand as her senior project at Hampshire. Nickey describes making the film as a "great and arduous experience," which most recently culminated in the film winning Best Socially Conscious Animation in the Portland Indy Animation Festival and being accepted for screening at several upcoming festivals. Nickey now resides in Portland, OR, where she produces a cable access political dance party extravaganza called, "The Politics of Dancing" and recently helped edit the feature length documentary $100 and a T-Shirt, about zines in the Northwest. She continues to make films, dance, write zines, and volunteer for various organizations. She hopes to eventually make a career of community media education.