2022 Sundance Film Festival: Latest Additions Announced

Two World-Premiere Documentaries Added to Festival Lineup; Individual Tickets On Sale Now The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the addition of two world premiere feature films for the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The Festival will  take place online at Festival.Sundance.org; on The Spaceship, a bespoke immersive platform; and in person at seven Satellite Screens venues around the country during the Festival’s second weekend. The Festival takes … Continue reading 2022 Sundance Film Festival: Latest Additions Announced

Review of Days of Rage:Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol | Visual Investigations

Rarely does a k-12 Social Studies certificated education professional dual-credentialled ( in-progress) in Special Education have the honor of reviewing  a documentary that has a current mainstream narrative. I am grateful that the stars aligned– Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol | Visual Investigations is the documentary; I am the teacher. Based upon a six-month-long investigative process which yielded never-before-seen footage, … Continue reading Review of Days of Rage:Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol | Visual Investigations

Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents

Exhibition Dates: April 11–July 31, 2022Member Previews:  April 5 & 7–10, 2022Exhibition Location: The Met Fifth Avenue, The Tisch Galleries, Gallery 899, Floor 2 Renowned for his powerful paintings of American life and scenery, Winslow Homer (1836–1910) remains a beloved and consequential figure whose art continues to appeal to broad audiences. Opening April 11, 2022, Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents will reconsider the artist’s work through the lens of … Continue reading Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents

Growing The Three Sisters Garden

Jannie Vaught Who are the three sisters? For many Native American communities, three seeds-corn, beans, and squash represent the most important crops. They complement each other in the garden as well as nutritionally. How the three work together. Corn provides the tall stalks for the beans to climb, beans provide nitrogen to fertilize the spoil while stabilizing the tall corn during heavy winds, and large … Continue reading Growing The Three Sisters Garden

A Simple Indie Film Filled with Tears, Drama and Silence in “Lotawana”

By Mike Szymanski Sometimes a true “Film” is about filmmaking, not the dialogue. A lot of silence permeates this moody, picturesque film that’s an impressive first feature by Trevor Hawkins. Every scene, every camera shot, every moment is a piece of art, framed in nature and natural surroundings as we follow this couple who live on a sailboat, and take life where the wind send … Continue reading A Simple Indie Film Filled with Tears, Drama and Silence in “Lotawana”

Digital and Analog Photography 101

By Stephen Pisko The digital camera is a “reproduction of nature” A duplication of subject and object. An analog film camera is a “direct reflection of nature” It records what is before the lens within an actuality an “original image generation”. Be “pure as possible”! Eliminate a copied prostitution! Digital portrays the visual more untrue with an added instant quality realized within captivation the digital … Continue reading Digital and Analog Photography 101

Inheritance Italian Style

By Mike Szymanski Think of “Inheritance Italian Style” as like a dark comedy melodrama with wacky characters, over-the-top acting, and unpredictable liaisons all set in a beautiful countryside estate. It’s enjoyable, heart-felt, ridiculous, sad, and funny. Five sisters come together to discuss the dividing up of the family furniture well before their parents are gone in a large villa in Sicily. The countryside and the … Continue reading Inheritance Italian Style

When Life Gives You Lemons- My Survival Story

By Sherletta Germain 2018 started off so perfect, which was cool because 2017 was a doozie. Have you ever felt like that? Like you wish the year would just “end” already because you are just over it? 2017 left me wanting to leave it right where it was-behind. The year before, I had lots of hard decisions and welcomed the smooth transition into a new … Continue reading When Life Gives You Lemons- My Survival Story

The Best Berries I Have Ever Grown

By Jannie Vaught Last year I purchased 4, 2-year-old Arkansas Thornless blackberry plants. I prepared the bed and placed them in a fence line to use as a trellis. They arrived within 4 days and were fresh and undamaged. I planted them and placed a low fence around them to keep the chickens out when they free range. They are possibly the best berries I … Continue reading The Best Berries I Have Ever Grown

Announcing the Jury Members of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

he nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the members of the six juries awarding prizes for artistic and cinematic achievement at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Also announced was the jury for the Alfred P. Sloan Film Prize.The Festival takes place January 20-30 via our enhanced online platform at Festival.Sundance.org and in person at seven Satellite Screens venues around the country during the Festival’s second weekend. Sixteen celebrated … Continue reading Announcing the Jury Members of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

“Kung Food” Is A Pitch Perfect Engaging Family Action Adventure

By Vernon Nickerson “Kung Food”, from Director Haipeng Sun and the writing team of  Jinglei Lin, Hua Ma, and Haipeng Sun is a veritable feast of animated food fantasy. Engaging performances by its three principal actors: Zhengjian Guo, Yu Meng. and Puzhao Yangguang allow the audience a full immersion experience in state-of-the-art animation. I look forward to someday watching this fine adventure/comedy unfold on the … Continue reading “Kung Food” Is A Pitch Perfect Engaging Family Action Adventure

Identical Influence

By Stephen Pisko Artists’ especially have a frustrating psychological artistic encounter warding off “identical influence” trying to stay “true to the statement” That retains a unique honest genuine personality and character not sliding into a “conditioned creative mode” That is a “mass moulding” minds’ like rather than an “influenced artist’s focus” That inspires the viewer to new heights’ of captured visuality and not within the … Continue reading Identical Influence

Slamdance Film Festival Online Festival Dates

The Slamdance Film Festival will present its 28th edition in a virtual format running from 27 January to 6 February 2022. Click the “Buy Passes” tab to get your festival passes to this year’s festival! Dedicated to fostering a community for independent emerging artists, the feature competition lineup boasts 23 premieres, including 13 World, 6 North American, and 4 U.S. debuts. Chosen from over 1,124 submissions, … Continue reading Slamdance Film Festival Online Festival Dates

Minimalism

By Stephan Pisko Within these times’ and environments’ the human being favors “minimalist artistic expression” than a “clogged creative conglomeration” ….. The world visual is so intensely packed with no “relaxed state of being” mind is searching for a “temporary expressive ease”….. If an artist can create this type of “relative relief” it may show some signs’ of repeated recognition. Minimalism is less to perceive … Continue reading Minimalism

2022 Sundance Film Festival: Update

As a nonprofit arts organization, the Sundance Institute has held the Sundance Film Festival for close to forty years to support artists and introduce their work to audiences, creating a community around independent storytelling.  We have been looking forward to our first fully hybrid Sundance Film Festival and our teams have spent a year planning a festival like no other. But despite the most ambitious … Continue reading 2022 Sundance Film Festival: Update

We Are Into Some Frosty Weather

By Jannie Vaught We had been unseasonably warm through November and December. We entered winter, but it felt like T-shirt weather. For this gardener, this puts me in a constant weather alert position. As I watched what was happening to the north of us it became very concerning that we may have another “Killer” freeze. We have been preparing all summer and repairing the old … Continue reading We Are Into Some Frosty Weather

Piece of Eternity

By Stephan Pisko Human beings’ identity all wish to “be somebody”……. They enter this existing activity programmed pressured into “becoming someone” but humans’ are something long before physicality inclusion identities’ all contain a “piece of eternity” the unseen energy within bodily mass is timeless without age eternal isn’t that something somebody? Physical identity doesn’t think so! It’s an unknown metaphysical factor mind cannot calculate such … Continue reading Piece of Eternity

The 2022 Slamdance Film Festival Film Lineup

 Slamdance Film Festival, the premiere film festival and organization “by filmmakers, for filmmakers,” today announced the full lineup for its 28th edition online festival. Known for challenging the status quo, Slamdance and its artist-led community have long held a reputation for discovering talent, often overlooked by the mainstream, that go on to change the entertainment industry. We are anti-algorithm. That’s always been true, but it’s … Continue reading The 2022 Slamdance Film Festival Film Lineup

Happy New Year

It is time to get into the New Year spirit… With Family Good Friends Wonderful food Lively celebration And being grateful for all that we have and the past year….” Let’s celebrate! The end of the year is a time of year for remembrance. To take stock of where we have come from in the past year, and have a moment to think about where … Continue reading Happy New Year