September/October 2009

Its been a busy fall for NLP already.

Our new exhibit for the International Spy Museum, WEAPONS OF MASS DISRUPTION, about the evolving threat of cyber attack and the landscape of "cyber warfare," is opening this Friday, Oct. 2 in Washington, D.C.

Here's a preview of the opening:

(Taken from About.com: Washington DC)
International Spy Museum Opens New Exhibit "Weapons of Mass Disruption"

On October 2, 2009, the International Spy Museum will unveil "Weapons of Mass Disruption," a new gallery showing how a team of cyber spies, terrorists, or criminals, armed with weapons no more sophisticated than common laptops, can turn power lines into battle lines. The exhibit serves as a wake-up call about the importance of improving cyber security to protect America from a cyber attack.

The opening of "Weapons of Mass Disruption" which coincides with the beginning of the Department of Homeland Security's Cyber Security Awareness Month, depicts attacks that have taken place across the globe including in Australia, Korea, and Estonia, providing a glimpse into the vulnerabilities of international networks. Through the use of multi-media, the new exhibit imagines the potential devastating impact of a coordinated attack - blackouts, the breakdown of water and sewage treatment capabilities, the crippling of transport and communications systems (including those of the military), the uncontrollable spread of epidemic diseases, the near-total cessation of economic activity, and widespread civil unrest bordering on chaos.

We sure are intrigued by crime and devastation in this country. The International Spy Museum is one of the most popular attractions in Washington, DC. See Photos of the International Spy Museum.

Photo © International Spy Museum

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***UPCOMING DOCUMENTARY SCREENINGS

Below you will find details on upcoming screenings for "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison," "Killer Poet: The Double Life of Norman Porter" and "Scarred Justice." For more updates on what's happening at Northern Light Productions, be sure to become our friend on Facebook.


Killer Poet: The Double Life of Norman Porter

A free screening will be held by the Lowell Film Collaborative

Tuesday, Oct 6th @ 7:00pm
Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center, 246 Market St.

Q&A w/ Special Guests: Director Susan Gray and characters from the film





Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison

The Focal-nominated documentary will be traveling internationally this Fall as it screens at more festivals in the US, Canada and Europe. The film also just sold to BBC4!

Recent Screenings:

Sept. 2-6, 2009 - Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA

Sept. 23, 2009 @ 7:10 p.m. - Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Sept. 27, 2009 @ 7:30 p.m. - Newburyport Documentary Film Festival in Newburyport, MA


Coming Up:

Oct. 16, 2009 - Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival in Starkville, MS

Oct. 23-24, 2009 - The 8th SF Doc Fest in San Fransisco, CA

Oct. 29-Nov. 8, 2009 - In-Edit International Music Documentary Film Festival in Barcelona, Spain

Nov. 7, 2009 - Memorimage Festival in Reus, Spain

Nov. 11-15, 2009 - Rokumentti Rock Film Festival in Joensuu, Finland


Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968

This 60-min documentary brings to light one of the bloodiest tragedies of the Civil Rights era after four decades of deliberate denial. Since our last post in June, Scarred Justice screened in Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Birmingham, Boston and at the 100th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF THE NAACP in New York City! Coming up next:

Indie Memphis Film Festival
Saturday, Oct. 10 @ 11:30 a.m.
Screened w/ "I Am A Man: From Memphis, A Lesson In Life" by Jonathan Epstein and "The Veiled Commodity" by Vinh Chung, Dickson Chow.

Harlem Stage on Screen
Friday, Oct. 16 @ 12
Post-screening conversation w/filmmaker Judy Richardson

June

NLP in Central America

Northern Light Productions traveled to El Salvador and Guatemala recently to profile two programs addressing the debilitating aftereffects of war.

In Guatemala, NLP filmed Mayan leader Ana Caba as she ran workshops that help local communities better understand the legacy of war and extreme poverty, as well as the rights of indigenous citizens. More than 200,000 civilians were killed in Guatemala’s 36-year civil war; most were from indigenous Mayan communities.

In El Salvador, we followed Helia Rivera as she and other community members visited the site of her brother’s hidden grave on a remote mountainside, where he was killed during the civil war. The group, organized by El Centro Bartolomé de las Casas, will conduct an exhumation as part of a program that acknowledges massacre sites and collects survivors’ testimonies.



The footage will be used to produce a short film for the Martín-Baró Fund. The Fund honors the work of Ignacio Martín-Baró, a renowned social psychologist who focused on the effects of war. Martín-Baró, along with five other Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her teenage daughter, were killed in 1989 by a military death squad in El Salvador.

May

NLP @ "His Majesty's Fort"



The ruins of Fort St. Frederic, "His Majesty's Fort of Crown Point," and surrounding lands were acquired by the State of New York in 1910. Guests can see the ruins of the original 18th-century structures and in the Visitor Center, view exhibits that interpret the French, British, and American chapters of Crown Point's history.

Norhtern Light Productions just completed an 8-minute program on Crown Point, NY, and its importance in the development of the key territories that surround the area. The film chronicles the events prior to and during the French and Indian War, beginning with Samuel de Champlain’s voyage to Canada and his relationship with the Native Americans there, leading into the eventual war between the French, British, and the Indians who inhabited the northeastern part of America at that time. The French and British, along with their Indian allies, fought extensively at the Fort at Crown Point in an attempt to gain it’s control.

April

Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison BOSTON PREMIERE
Fri Apr, 24th - Somerville Theater - 7:15pm



Independent Film Festival Boston 2009

In 1968, after he bottomed out on drugs and left his career in shambles, Johnny Cash’s idea to record a live album in a California penitentiary hardly seemed like a foolproof comeback plan. Nobody––save perhaps Cash himself––could have guessed that the resulting LP would become the crowning achievement of his career, a landmark testament that still reverberates 40 years later, brimming over with rebellion, gallows humor, and heartfelt empathy. Bestor Cram’s documentary digs deep into the Folsom Prison mythos, the Man in Black’s put-on persona, and all the troubles and travails that informed that legendary recording.

Interviewing inmates, bandmates, and longtime companions, Cram scores some surprising revelations, including an admission by one of the Tennessee Three that Cash’s signature song, “Folsom Prison Blues,” owes more than a little inspiration to a forgotten tunesmith named Gordon Jenkins. Most moving is the tale of Glenn Sherley, a gifted singer/songwriter/convict with whom Cash struck up a friendship, and whom he attempted to help battle the demons he knew so well. Sadly, there is no filmed footage of the seminal performance, but Cram allows the songs to play through regardless, using innovative computer manipulations of photographer Jim Marshall’s stark images and symbolism-freighted animated sequences. The portrait that emerges is like any Johnny Cash record: honest and unblinking, chronicling the tribulations of a deeply flawed man fumbling toward redemption and grace.

March

SCARRED JUSTICE @ THE HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE



SCARRED JUSTICE: THE ORANGEBURG MASSACRE 1968

FREE SCREENING AT THE HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE IN CAMBRIDGE, MA SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2009, AT 3PM
(Q&A TO FOLLOW)

On February 8, 1968, eight seconds of police gunfire left three young men dying and at least 27 wounded on the campus of South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, S.C. All of the police were white, all of the students African-American. Almost all of the victims were shot from behind as they fled the gunfire that erupted without warning.

The Massacre happened after four days of student protests to desegregate the city's only bowling alley. It was the first time ever police opened fire on students on a U.S. campus. Two years later Kent State would shock the nation.

This powerful yet disturbing documentary film explores the eye-witness accounts of student protesters and police officer participants. Interviews with former Governor Robert McNair, the prize-winning journalists who covered the story, and many others, provide a compelling account of the price paid in America's struggle for racial justice. It raises questions about an event that has yet to be resolved.

Presented by Northern Light Productions In Association With
Color of Film Collaborative, INC and the Filmmakers Collaborative

WINNER

Carolina Film and Video Festival (Best Documentary)
Pan African Film Festival (Best Documentary, Short)

Producer/Director Bios



Bestor Cram is a director/producer/cinematographer. Following a tour of duty as a U.S. Marine Officer in Vietnam, he founded Northern Light Productions in 1982 and produced How Far Home, portraying the lives of Vietnam Veterans attending the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC. His TV and museum work focuses on issues of social justice and history. Among his many festival awards, his documentary Unfinished Symphony: Democracy and Dissent screened at Sundance Film
Festival and his Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison was just broadcast on PBS and released as a boxed CD/DVD set from SONY.

Judy Richardson began her film work with the Academy Award-nominated, 14-hour PBS series, Eyes on the Prize. As a Senior Producer with Northern Light Productions she produces African American historical documentaries for TV and museums. Recent productions include the 2-hour History Channel film, Slave Catchers, Slave Resisters and the National Park Service's Little Rock Nine Visitor Center. She was a staff worker with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the South
in the early 1960's and lectures and conducts teacher workshops on the relevance of the Civil Rights Movement.

Imaginaries Award



Congratulations to Bestor Cram, who was person­ally recognized at the annual Imagine Magazines’ New Years Gala. Imagine serves the motion pic­ture community in the sixth state New England region of the USA.

The Award was presented for Creative Vision, Generosity & Commitment to Excellence.
Bestor was one of four recipients.

Bestor’s acceptance poem is reprinted below

“...But this is a year like none other. That’s why I like this gathering so much. It’s about renewal and new beginnings. So I’d like to conclude with a brief poem created for this occasion.
It’s called On Track With Barack.”

Tonight we gather for sharing. Oh, what a gala.
Knowing that our work often thrives on others drama.
But there’s hope now in this-- our state of the Brahma.
We have changed the law when it comes to marijuana.

My movie world began in a time of Cinerama.
When the screen was truly a magnificent panorama.
Today I shoot pictures with the rays of gamma.
Seen as easily here as in Yokahama.

Yet our work hasn’t really changed; it’s still about our Karma.
Telling a good story fused with empathy and drama.
Sure, we make pretty pictures of flora and fauna.
But the tension comes from the choices facing Pollyanna.

As documentarians, we still answer to our Mama.
Tell the truth, like there ain’t no manana.
But know that the truth is an elusive mantra
Scarred by stigma, it can be blinding to the retina.

I believe a new time has come to be what we wanna
To liberate the dogma, and embrace the new plasma
There is change in the air, the end of Kafka.
So I say Happy New Year, it’s the era of Obama.