“The act of playing music with people of different cultures, religions, economics and politics is a powerful statement. It shows that we can find ways of working together and sharing our experiences with one another in a positive way. Music has the power to break down the walls between cultures, to raise the level of human understanding.” ~ Mark Johnson, founder, Playing for Change
My daughter and I sat down and watched the Playing for Change. I was impressed at how Mark Johnson and his crew were able to mix all the performers from all over the world. My daughter sat through all the songs reading off each country the performers were singing or playing instruments. Playing for Change starts in Santa Monica, California and goes to Israel, Africa, Nepal, South America and it’s never ending, seamlessly. The singer Bono joins in on the song called War/No More Trouble, which I believe, is the late Bob Marley song whose live performance is edited into the piece.
Screenhead has an extra Playing for Change CD/DVD package to giveaway. Please post your name and we will pick the winner Saturday, May 23, 2009.
I am very excited to report that Earth Day’s opening of Disneynature’s Earth was the best opening-day gross ever for a documentary (apart from concert films) in making $4 million at 1,804 theaters.
Interestingly, when I attended the early matinee showing on Earth Day the concessions person told me that 4 school bus loads pulled up for the special 10:00 AM showing. Concessions were overrun with an order of 60 kid’s treat packages.
It looks like Disney promoted quite heavily to schools and families to attend the Earth Day opening, a smart move on their part, of course.
Earth is the first release from Disneynature, the company label was established about a year ago to get Disney in the groove again of producing nature films. Disney’s Oceans is the next nature film to open on Earth Day 2010. Below is the trailer.
I just saw the new Disney movie Earth that features lots of animals, as Time Magazine put it “none of them cartoons.” The film follows a year in the life of the planet, beginning in the dead of winter, January, at the Arctic and ending a year later in the Antarctica at the end of a short summer. We meet a mother polar bear and two cubs as their snouts peek out from their winter den. The movie follows several other animals but bonding with three animals to tell the story of Earth: the polar bears, African elephants and humpback whales.
Disney put in place a new film unit called Disneynature. Earth is the company’s inaugural grand reboot to the big-screen nature documentary genre mirrored after Disney’s 1950s True Life Adventures wildlife series.
Being Earth Day, I thought, I’d take my daughter and her friends to view a fresh copy of Earth. It was spectacular, to say the least, an epic film giving due attention this vulnerable planet deserves. After the documentary, I reflected on the need to change our living habits to keep Earth intact for many generations to come.
According to Time Magazine, Earth will be opening in more than 1,800 screens around the country today, and Disney has high hopes for it because most likely it’s the biggest release of a nature film in history.
Five talented young basketball players from Akron, Ohio star in this remarkable true-life coming of age story about friendship and loyalty in the face of great adversity. Coached by a charismatic but inexperienced player’s father, and led by future NBA superstar LeBron James, the “Fab Five’s” improbable seven-year journey leads them from a decrepit inner-city gym to the doorstep of a national high school championship. Along the way, the close-knit team is repeatedly tested-both on and off the court-as James’ exploding worldwide celebrity threatens to destroy everything they’ve set out to achieve together. More Than A Game combines a series of unforgettable one-on-one interviews with rare news footage, never-before-seen home videos, and personal family photographs to bring this heart-wrenching and wholly American story to life.
More Than a Game opens in movie theaters October 2, 2009.
The TV premiere of FLOW is part of Sundance Channel’s 3rd season of The Green with programming kicking off on Tuesday, April 21st in celebration of Earth Day and continuing to air weekly throughout 2009. This season, every Tuesday will feature new episodes from two series, Eco Trip: The Real Cost of Living and Carbon Cops, followed by a documentary film.
On behalf of Lionsgate and Screenhead, we are pleased to present theposter for More Than a Game, a remarkable true-life coming of age story about friendship and loyalty in the face of great adversity. This moving documentary follows NBA superstar LeBron James and four of his talented teammates through the trials and tribulations of high school basketball in Ohio and James’ journey to fame.
The teaser poster says it all about the game.
More Than a Game will be released in theaters October 2nd!
Xlantic has announced the worldwide premier of “How Will We Love” a documentary based on love and relationships with top experts from the field. The film is streaming online for free, indefinitely, online at YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqAEfBMlJoc) and at www.HowWillWeLove.com.
YouTube is making “How Will We Love?” one of the first independent films to be streamed in full HD and subtitled in over 100 languages. As part of an initiative to offer more meaningful long-form content, the site started streaming the film on Saturday, April 11, 2009, which resulted in more than 200,000 viewers for the film’s first weekend online.
Brickler says, “This is an amazing time in history for independent filmmakers. To be able to reach this size of a global audience by streaming the film online would be equivalent to packing roughly 500 theaters.”
The film is based on Brickler’s previous incarnation of the project, “Song of Songs,” the first-ever Emmy-nominated Internet series on love and relationships. The “How Will We Love?” DVD will be available on Tuesday, July 16, 2009, via the film’s website. Pre-orders are available for $9.95.
Sometimes you find the weirdest things when you look around places like YouTube--seriously, sometime, just go and search for any old random thing. Try it–you’ll be AMAZED. Anyway, what I found today was a little nugget called The Unemployed Guy Show.
Featuring an unemployed guy who, by his own admission had a high-paying job five months ago, but was laid off. Instead of “flipping burgers to survive”, which he steadfastly and publicly refuses to do, he’s instead making a line of internet videos that go by the name of The Unemployed Guy Show. There’s not a whole lot of point–in the first episode, he introduces himself, does a cheesy magic trick about interlocking finger rings, and bellows his hate for female comedians.
It’s not so much interesting now as it is interesting possibly later. Who knows what an unemployed guy will do when armed with a webcam? This could be the start of something big and horrifying, and frankly, I want to be around for this guy’s big finish.
I saw this trailer in the movie theater and fell in love with this documentary. Disney’s ‘Earth’ opens April 22, 2009, Earth Day. I recommend everyone go and see it, even take your kid’s entire class, too.
