Community Cinema Series Kickoff Features "Copyright Criminals"

Join Clyde Stubblefield and DJ Vinnie Toma at Madison's Central Library September 18 at 1 p.m.

Madison Public Library is joining with The Independent Television Service (ITVS), the leader in independent public media, to present its popular Community Cinema program, which begins in September 2010. The largest public interest outreach program in public or commercial television, Community Cinema features a sneak peek of nine documentaries set to broadcast on the award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. Madison Public Library will screen Community Cinema films monthly from September through June at the Central Library on the third Saturday of each month. After the screenings, Madison Public Library and Community Cinema will feature panel discussions with leading community based organizations, special guest speakers, information, resources, and other programming designed to help people learn more and get involved. "Community Cinema has been a success because it heightens and raises the public's attention to issues that affect our local and global communities through film," said ITVS President Sally Jo Fifer. "But the most important element of the screening series is the engagement component, which provides the space for audiences to come together, have dialogue, and get connected to resources in their backyard to make a difference." To launch the 2010-2011 series, on Saturday, September 18 at 1:00 p.m., Madison Public Library will present Copyright Criminals, a film that examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law and money. The film showcases many of hip-hop music's founding figures like Public Enemy, De La Soul and Digital Underground, as well as emerging artists such as audiovisual remixers Eclectic Method. It also provides first-person interviews with artists who have been sampled, such as Clyde Stubblefield - James Brown's drummer and the world's most sampled musician - and commentary by another highly sampled musician, funk legend George Clinton. Clyde Stubblefield and DJ Vinnie Toma will join us to lead the panel discussion and answer questions about the film. The second film in the series, Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian, will be presented on October 16 at 1:00 p.m. Reel Injun offers an amusing, provocative history of Native Americans in cinema, from the silent era to today, from Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond. Highlights from the 2010-2011 Community Cinema screening series include: Danny Alpert's The Calling presents the journeys of a group of extraordinary young Americans from different faith traditions - Catholic, Muslim, Evangelical Christian, and Jewish- who have decided to enter the clergy. The Calling traces their journeys through studying and training, exhilaration and exhaustion, determination and doubt, through ordination and their first steps as leaders of their faith. The remainder of the Community Cinema series includes portraits of three extraordinary women - Duane Baughman's Bhutto, Beth Davenport and Elizabeth Mandel's Pushing the Elephant, and Me Facing Life: Cyntoia's Story by Daniel Birman. As the first woman to lead an Islamic nation, Benazir Bhutto led a life of Shakespearean dimensions. When assassins struck down the former prime minister of Pakistan in December 2007, her untimely death sent shock waves throughout the world, transforming Bhutto from political messiah to a martyr in the hearts of her people. Pushing the Elephant tells the courageous story of Rose Mapendo, who escaped from the ethnic violence of the Democratic Republic of Congo to become a vital voice in the mending of her divided country. Me Facing Life: Cyntoia's Story takes a hard look at some of the complex social issues concerning a 16-year-old girl who is serving a life sentence for murder. This documentary pushes aside assumptions about what we think about violence and takes a glance into a startling social mirror that reveals a strong connection between violence in her maternal line and a predestined childhood filled with bad decisions. About Community Cinema ITVS Community is the national community engagement program of the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and the Emmy® Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. Through Community Engagement Campaigns in support of groundbreaking, independent films, our innovative educational product ITVS Community Classroom and our flagship community outreach program Community Cinema, ITVS Community works to bring communities together and connect them with information, resources, and opportunities for education, engagement, and positive change. ITVS Community builds on our 15-year legacy of community engagement activities and makes public broadcasting into a powerful resource for individuals, communities, and organizations working on key social issues around the country. For more information about the Community Cinema series visit: http://communitycinema.org/ About Madison Public Library Madison Public Library's tradition of promoting education, literacy and community involvement has enriched the City of Madison for more than 135 years. Our nine locations throughout the City of Madison are open six days per week and welcome over 2.35 million visits each year. For a complete lineup of film showings at Madison Public Library visit: www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/calendar.

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