Ryan Hill is the co-founder of Still Life Projects, a film production company in Washington, D.C. that creates “new media for social good.” His growing team of cinematographers, photographers, producers and editors has produced work for clients like National Geographic, HBO and The New York Times. Hill said he got the idea to start his [...]
Tag Archives: documentary
Media That Matters: Meredith Blake on “This Emotional Life” Documentary Series
Benevolent Media was a proud partner of Media That Matters 2012: Change for Good. Follow the conversation on Twitter: #MTMDC. This year’s Media That Matters conference, “Change for Good,” hosted by American University’s Center for Social Media, featured conversations about how independent social change filmmakers can execute integrated campaigns that are strategic, action-oriented, and have [...]
Upcoming Event: Media That Matters 2012
The Media That Matters conference is a two-day festival that brings together professionals, artists and students interested in making an impact through media. As a joint project of the Center for Social Media and Arts Engine, Inc., the conference provides a platform to showcase a year’s accomplishments in using media for social good, and it also encourages conversation and experience sharing to make things even better. [...]
Hip-Hop as Transnational Protest in “Furious Force of Rhymes”
Hip-hop has always been breaking down barriers. American hip-hop artists were among the first to have videos shown on MTV, with shows like Yo! MTV Raps, which brought them national notoriety, intertwining their music with the dawn of a new global era in music. The evolution of hip-hop has not been confined to [...]
Q&A with Greg Jacobs: Louder Than a Bomb
The uplifting and inspiring documentary film Louder Than a Bomb follows four Chicago high school teams in their journey to compete in the world’s largest teen poetry slam, created by local nonprofit Young Chicago Authors that empowers youth through writing, publication and performance education. The feature film begins at the start of the school year, six months prior [...]
Can Documentaries Change the World?
“It’s one thing to make a film; it’s another to make a film matter,” said Nina Seavey, director of the Documentary Center at George Washington University, at last night’s International Documentary Association’s Seminar Series at the West End Cinema in Washington, D.C. Seavey moderated a panel of filmmakers, changemakers and communication experts, who discussed [...]
Making Soup With Stones: Filmmaking for a Cause
Highlights from the 2011 Benevolent Media Festival: On Monday, November 7, Benevolent Media and the World Resources Institute hosted a Nonprofit Storytelling Filmmaking Workshop, led by Stone Soup Films, a nonprofit cooperative that produces and donates promotional films to worthy organizations. “A lot of organizations are so close to their programs that they forget [...]
“The Rights of Butterflies” Takes Flight with Youth Media Organizers
Highlights from the 2011 Benevolent Media Festival: On Sunday, November 6, Benevolent Media organized a screening and panel discussion with youth media organizers from Gandhi Brigade, a nonprofit organization established in 2005 that trains young people on media production and leadership skills. Last Sunday afternoon, at Gold Leaf Studio in Chinatown, Gandhi Brigade screened [...]
Finding the Female Voice in Media
Highlights from the 2011 Benevolent Media Festival: On Sunday, November 6, Benevolent Media and BloomBars hosted a screening of Miss Representation, a documentary film that explores media’s limited portrayal of women and girls. One audience member, fashion writer Claire Sevigny, reacts to the film. Women make up 51 percent of the population in the United [...]
Sharing Positive Stories to End Violence
Highlights from the 2011 Benevolent Media Festival: On Saturday, November 5, Benevolent Media and American University’s Center for Social Media hosted a screening of The Interrupters, a documentary film examining street violence in Chicago. The screening was followed by a panel discussion with Washington, D.C. peace activists and members of the Free Minds Book Club and Writing [...]
“Miss Representation” Flips the Script to Empower Women
The trailer for this new documentary film has been making the rounds online, especially among my strong, empowered, independent female friends. Gentlemen: Help us spread the word, too! “Miss Representation exposes how American youth are being sold the concept that women and girls’ value lies in their youth, beauty and sexuality,” the official website explains. “It’s [...]
Interrupting the Cycle of Violence
I watched The Interrupters on Sunday at E Street Cinema in Washington, D.C. and was blown away by the story it told. It’s a must-see film that will floor you, enrage you, break your heart, and inspire you to action. The documentary film tells the story of three community activists–Ameena, Cobe and Eddie–that “interrupt” the cycle [...]
Ideas for Three-Minute Films on Innovation
The New York Times “Media Decoder” blog recently reported that General Electric is partnering with Cinelan, a non-fiction video publisher, to produce 30 three-minute films about world-changing innovation. The documentary filmmakers tapped for the yet-to-be-named project include Morgan Spurlock (“POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”), Joe Berlinger (“Crude”), Barbara Kopple (“Shut Up [...]
Film Contests, Festivals and Grants to Change the World
Winners of the 4th Annual DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards. As the saying goes, if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth ten thousand. Here are four online contests, awards and festivals that promote social change through film. The Global Social Change Film Festival and Institute (GSCFFI) “GSCFFI features four days of [...]
