“Soma Girls” World Premiere

My most recent film, “Soma Girls,” received a New York State Council on the Arts grant, and was selected to have it’s World Premiere at the 2009 Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival. Please check out the trailer for the film: HERE.

UPDATE!

Long overdue update about current CLF projects….

“Soma Girls“ is going well. We finished editing in August in NYC and have submitted to a bunch of festivals and broadcast outlets. Now we wait. We did get a grant, though, from the New York State Council on the Arts which helps tremendously!

“The Dirty Truth About Coal” I’m currently scheduling interviews in Chicago for a trip I’ll make there later this month (Oct.). I’ll be chatting with residents of a neighborhood right next to one of the two large coal-fired power plants in the city, as well as a few activists who are trying to get the plants shut down. I’ve also contacted a scientist about atmospheric brown clouds. These are awful masses of pollution that float above continents, traveling thousands of miles affecting air quality. I’d love to include a small discussion of them in the film.

“Discovering: Shuktara”

I recently finished editing and co-producing “Discovering: Shuktara.” The 30-minute film profiles a home in Kolkata, India for deaf and disabled boys and girls. The directors of the film, Christy Smith and David Justice, were on a trip around the world to film deaf communities, and were told about Shuktara from a mutual friend.

In 2007 I visited Kolkata for the first time and did a ton of filming for a humanitarian aid organization called “Shadhika.” Shadhika funds NGOs and projects that focus on the rights of women and children. I filmed five of their projects over the course of ten days. You can see the results here:

http://vimeo.com/channel8283

I met Alison Saracena, the director and co-founder of Uddami Computer Center during that 2007 trip and we became fast friends. We kept in touch over the course of the next year, and so when the chance for me to go back to do a film of my own in Jan. 2008, I went and stayed with Alison.

Christy & Dave had been “discovered” by Alison, as she is good friends with the mane who founded Shuktara (are you terribly confused yet…????). She told them about him and about the home and when they came to Kolkata, they fell in love with the kids in the home and filmed them over five weeks. “Discovering: Shuktara” is the result of that discovery.

I’m very proud of this film, and what it can do, so when it’s available I hope you all will check it out.

To borrow a phrase from Christy, thanks for doing what you do – and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

-Alexia

Patting My Head and Rubbing My HD

I know… that sounds odd. “Rubbing my HD,” but fi you’re having the day I’m having, you’ll be understanding what I’m saying…

I’ve been fighting with various forms of HDV and HD video for a while now and JUST found out, via a wonderful free tutorial online, that “all HDV is HD, but not all HD is HDV.” If you’re a videographer or an editor, and I’m both, this is revolutionary information…

So, the first tests have gone well. The bad news is that I have to export all of teh footage piecemeal because my storage isn’t broad enough. Oh well. At aleast I don’t have to re-digitize. That, for the un-initiated, SUCKS.

Debuting Tag “What’s Green?”

I’m debuting a tab today that I’m calling “What’s Green?” This tab will showcase stories and links that I feel are green issues even though they don’t look like it on the surface. The idea is that everything is a green issue. Society, politics, psychology, education as well as materials are green issues because my concept of “green” is whatever affects any living organisms.

This story is a perfect example: “Sales Of Spam Rise As Consumers Trim Food Costs”

What’s green about this? It shows the need for better education of the public. We don’t want people eating CRAP (read: Spam), we want them eating clean, healthy food. But that food needs to be inexpensive enough for low-income folks to buy it so a mutually-beneficial critical mass can be achieved. In other words, we need to go back to supporting our local vendors: farmers and shop owners. The more we each support our community, the more they will support us. A cool initiative could be that every week there’s a half-price, “Day Old” shopping day at the Farmer’s Market. This would be a way for Farmers to get rid of ALL of their crop while educating low-income buyers about the benefits of organics and local.

The Revolution Has Begun. Get On The Train.

Sapphire Energy’s “algae” Biofuel

While I applaud any company that’s trying to clean up the environmental mess we’ve all created, Sapphire Energy’s solution to fuels isn’t my cup of green tea… The company has managed to manufacture a biofuel from algae, and while that might sound innovative, it’s going in the wrong direction. We need to leave nature alone, not find new ways to steal from her. Rather, we should be spending our time and money in researching using our own watse–organic and inorganic–for energy sources, insulation, and crop production.

Constitution

I think the new conversation in this country will be about updating the Constitution. It feels like the green movement is chugging along quite nicely and will only grow at a steady pace, given all the wonderful activists working so hard to help the rest of us come to our senses

I think, therefore, that the way is being cleared for Americans to see that legislative change is necessary on a national level, and, moreover, that it can actually happen. It takes time for most folks–like me–to be able to conceptualize certain things. 20 years ago no one thought EVERYONE would be on the internet, now it’s inconceivable that you’re not. Similarly, the door has opened for consideration of ratification of some of our basic legislative processes. I haven’t wrapped my mind completely around what I mean, but something clicked when I read Tom Friedman’s recent Op-Ed about the proposed gas tax. He hit the nail on the head about us being so stupid as a society that two of our best and brightest are proposing something that could hasten our deaths. A vacation incentive? Rather, assure me that I won’t run out of water. Lack of oil I can handle; lack of certain foods I can handle; lack of water…???

So I got to thinking… if Clinton and Obama are seriously considering such bad decisions then it’s time to take the gavel out of their hands. It’s time to go back to Jefferson and rethink our systems.

Just a thought. But I like it…

Welcome To The Blog!

Welcome to the Closed Loop Films blog.

I intend for this blog to be a resource for those interested in sustainability. I go to a lot of conferences geared toward issues of sustainability and social justice, regularly chat with a lot of very cool folks in both movements, and have a lot of ideas myself about what can be done, what should be done, and what I see being done.

I chose the “Fleur de Lis” theme for the blog’s design to honor New Orleans. I’ve been to The Big Easy three times and haven’t forgotten one moment from any of those trips. What happened to the town during Katrina was devastating in every way and they need our help. Above all, they need us not to forget them. So, if you have the chance, I heartily encourage you to go and visit! Have some oysters at ACME, take the Voodoo tour through the French Quarter, and for goodness sakes listen to the music. It’s what New Orleans is all about…

As for the blog: have fun, post comments, and ask questions. We’re all in this together and will only find solutions by sharing.

Cheers,

Alexia

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!