Oscar Buzz

Friday , February 15th-Saturday, February 16th, 7:30pm

Oscar Buzz

(Oscar winning documentaries, nominees and shortlisted films.)

Detropia

Officially shortlisted for the 2013 Best Documentary Oscar**

Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, 2012, 91 min.

Detroit's story has encapsulated the iconic narrative of America over the last century— the Great Migration of African Americans escaping Jim Crow; the rise of manufacturing and the middle class; the love affair with automobiles; the flowering of the American dream; and now . . . the collapse of the economy and the fading American mythos. With its vivid, painterly palette and haunting score, Detropia sculpts a dreamlike collage of a grand city teetering on the brink of dissolution. As houses are demolished by the thousands, automobile-company wages plummet, institutions crumble, and tourists gawk at the "charming decay," the film's vibrant, gutsy characters glow and erupt like flames from the ashes. These soulful pragmatists and stalwart philosophers strive to make ends meet and make sense of it all, refusing to abandon hope or resistance. Their grit and pluck embody the spirit of the Motor City as it struggles to survive postindustrial America and begins to envision a radically different future. From the directors that brought us the Academy award nominated Jesus Camp.  

There will be a Q&A with director Heidi Ewing following Saturday’s

screening.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF4164GXCro

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/321000

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/150815118404430/

Oscar Buzz

Thursday, February 14th, 7:30pm

Oscar Buzz

(Oscar winning documentaries, nominees and shortlisted films.)

How To Survive a Plague

**Nominated for the 2013 Best Documentary Oscar**

David France, 2012, 120 min.

In the dark days of 1987, the country was six years into the AIDS epidemic, a crisis that was still largely being ignored both by government officials and health organizations -until the sudden emergence of the activist group ACT UP in Greenwich Village, largely made up of HIV-positive participants who refused to die without a fight. Emboldened by the power of rebellion, they took on the challenges that public officials had ignored, raising awareness of the disease through a series of dramatic protests. More remarkably, they became recognized experts in virology, biology, and pharmaceutical chemistry. Their efforts would see them seize the reins of federal policy from the FDA and NIH, force the AIDS conversation into the 1992 presidential election, and guide the way to the discovery of effective AIDS drugs that stopped an HIV diagnosis from being an automatic death sentence - and allowed them to live long lives.

http://www.facebook.com/events/449912108415837/

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l055xJpfJC8

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/331588

Oscar Buzz

Tuesday, February 12th-Wednesday, Feburary 13th, 7:30pm

Oscar Buzz

(Oscar winning documentaries, nominees and shortlisted films.)

The House I Live In

**Officially shortlisted for the 2013 Best Documentary Oscar**

Dir. Eugene Jarecki, 2012, 108 min.

As America remains embroiled in conflict overseas, a less visible war is taking place at home, costing countless lives, destroying families, and inflicting untold damage on future generations of Americans. Over forty years, the War on Drugs has accounted for more than 45 million arrests, made America the world's largest jailer, and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet for all that, drugs are cheaper, purer, and more available today than ever before. With Michelle Alexander (Author,"The New Jim Crow"), Shanequa Benitez, Mark Bennett, Charles Bowden, Mike Carpenter and David Simon (Creator, The Wire). Directed by Eugene Jarecki (The Trials of Henry Kissinger, Why We Fight, Freakonomics and Reagan).

http://www.facebook.com/events/368883266543389/

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/331595

The House I Live In Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5W9idE5hqk

Oscar Buzz

Sunday, February 10th-Monday, February 11th, 7:30pm

Oscar Buzz

(Oscar winning documentaries, nominees and shortlisted films.)

Chasing Ice

**Nominated for Best Original Song (“Before My Time” by J. Ralph featuring Scarlett Johansson & Joshua Bell) and officially shortlisted for the 2013 Best Documentary Oscar**

Jeff Orlowski, 2012, 76 min.

In the spring of 2005, acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment for National Geographic: to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate. Even with a scientific upbringing, Balog had been a skeptic about climate change. But that first trip north opened his eyes to the biggest story in human history and sparked a challenge within him that would put his career and his very well-being at risk.

Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers.

As the debate polarizes America and the intensity of natural disasters ramps up globally, Balog finds himself at the end of his tether. Battling untested technology in subzero conditions, he comes face to face with his own mortality. It takes years for Balog to see the fruits of his labor. His hauntingly beautiful videos compress years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they disappear at a breathtaking rate. Chasing Ice depicts a photographer trying to deliver evidence and hope to our carbon-powered planet.

Sunday’s screening will be followed by a Q&A with Director Jeff Orlowski

Chasing Ice Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIZTMVNBjc4

FB: http://www.facebook.com/events/324745080979753/

BBT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/331023

This Is Not A Film

Wednesday, January 30th and Thursday, January 31st, 7:30pm

Oscar Buzz

(Oscar winning documentaries, nominees and shortlisted films.)

This Is Not A Film

Jafar Panahi, 2012, 75 min.

This clandestinely made documentary, shot partially on an iPhone and smuggled into France in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes, depicts the day-to-day life of acclaimed director Jafar Panahi (Offsite, The Circle). While appealing his sentence – six years in prison and a 20-year ban from filmmaking – fellow director Mojtaba Mirtahmasb (Lady of the Roses) visits Mr. Panahi at his Tehran apartment and films him talking to his family and lawyer on the phone, reflecting on the art of filmmaking, meeting some of his neighbors and even interacting with an inquisitive iguana.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajOgE_BPLVU

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/592603137422837/?fref=ts

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/322273

How To Survive a Plague

Thursday, January 24th-Saturday, January 26th, 7:30pm

Oscar Buzz

(Oscar winning documentaries, nominees and shortlisted films.)

How To Survive a Plague

**Nominated for the 2013 Best Documentary Oscar**

David France, 2012, 120 min.

In the dark days of 1987, the country was six years into the AIDS epidemic, a crisis that was still largely being ignored both by government officials and health organizations -until the sudden emergence of the activist group ACT UP in Greenwich Village, largely made up of HIV-positive participants who refused to die without a fight. Emboldened by the power of rebellion, they took on the challenges that public officials had ignored, raising awareness of the disease through a series of dramatic protests. More remarkably, they became recognized experts in virology, biology, and pharmaceutical chemistry. Their efforts would see them seize the reins of federal policy from the FDA and NIH, force the AIDS conversation into the 1992 presidential election, and guide the way to the discovery of effective AIDS drugs that stopped an HIV diagnosis from being an automatic death sentence - and allowed them to live long lives.

There will be a Q&A with director David France following Thursday's screening.

There will be a Q&A with the composers of the film’s score, Stuart Bogie and Luke O’Malley, following Saturday’s screening.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l055xJpfJC8

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/467119533352707/

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/320484

Al Weiwei: Never Sorry

Monday, January 21st and Tuesday, January 22nd, 7:30pm

Oscar Buzz

(Oscar winning documentaries, nominees and shortlisted films.)

Al Weiwei: Never Sorry

Alison Klayman, 2012, 91 min.

Ai Weiwei is China's most famous international artist, and its most outspoken domestic critic. Against a backdrop of strict censorship and an unresponsive legal system, Ai expresses himself and organizes people through art and social media. In response, Chinese authorities have shut down his blog, beat him up, bulldozed his newly built studio, and held him in secret detention. Al Weiwei: Never Sorry is the inside story of a dissident for the digital age who inspires global audiences and blurs the boundaries of art and politics. First-time director Alison Klayman gained unprecedented access to Ai while working as a journalist in China. Her detailed portrait provides a nuanced exploration of contemporary China and one of its most compelling public figures.

There will be a Q&A with director Alison Klayman following Monday's screening.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoVRetUMub0

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/321621511277541/

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/317834