http://www.thedoctalkshow.com

Short films about growing up Muslim in Chicagoland, surviving sex slavery in Ecuador, struggling to learn in a Singapore elementary school, fighting for immigrants rights and your father’s respect, creating safe outdoor spaces on the south side, transitioning from daughter to son. Singing, storytelling, schmoozing and special guests.

Produced & hosted by Jeff Spitz

For info and tickets see www.thedoctalkshow.com

Films/FILMMAKERS

Urooj Yazdani/A DESTRUCTION (excerpt only)

Marriage is a destruction says an 11 year old girl in a remote Pakistani village who wishes to become a doctor instead of a child bride.

Halonah Abraham Paiss/STANGIRL (10 mins)

When a high school fangirl’s crush spirals out of control she goes viral and then criminal.

Kyra Jones & Juli Del Prete/THE RIGHT SWIPE (webseries trailer 2:38)

Two hot and enterprising young women start their own consulting business to “help” boys who want to score with the ladies on dating apps like Tindr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABu3DSWqWXE

INTERMISSION

Cecelia Condit/WE WERE HARDLY MORE THAN CHILDREN (8:52)

With exquisite fine art, song and illusion a remarkable video artist remembers the illegal abortion in the 1960s that nearly killed her best friend, a friend who still cannot recall any of the details decades later.

Laura Fallsgraff/NO SMALL MATTER (8:16 excerpt)

A powerful expose about America’s failure to support a decent standard of child care similar to other nations.

SPECIAL GUESTS

Erika Wozniak/THE GIRL TALK (:55 seconds promo)

https://vimeo.com/thedocunit/review/326970894/d8fc52ce1e

Lindsey Slator/MY MOTHER SAID (3:23 music video)

An a cappella singer from Mississippi appears at The Doc Talk Show and leads listeners on a life journey that blends singing, photography and video.

https://vimeo.com/320978614

Reserve seat: https://tinyurl.com/y4esglyd

Ryan Stemple/COLORIST REEL

Alex White/MY KIND OF ART

Phil Ranstrom/PIEROGI BLUES

Halonah Abraham Paiss/STANGIRL

David Weathersby/THE COLOR OF ART

Dan Andries/MAKING A NEW AMERICAN NUTCRACKER

Leslie Buchbinder/HAIRY WHO &THE CHICAGO IMAGISTS

Esau Melendez/MY NEIGHBORHOOD-HECTOR DUARTE

The Doc Talk Show #21: Give a Sh*t

Tickets: https://tinyurl.com/ybekytyf

Joe Winston/PUNCH 9: HAROLD WASHINGTON

Justin Casselle/ELDERLY ALDERMAN 

Arlen Parsa & Tristan Hanson/BLUEPRINT FOR BRONZEVILLE

Manny Camacho/LINKED-IN

Jaden Knox/COMMERCIAL

Mallory Sohmer/THE LIVING DOCUMENTS

Elsie Lejano/PERMAN HARDY: ALABAMA VOTING STORY

Vincent Martell/DAMAGED GOODS – invitation to #21: ART

A partnership with Chicago Votes, a non-partisan voter education organization focusing on engaging and registering next generation voters.

In preparation for the 20^th Doc Talk show, “Music, Movies, Magic”, Jeff Spitz sat down with the show’s Associate Producer Sarah Schreib to discuss this month’s lineup, the Doc Talk community, and the magic of documentary.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
 
Sarah Schreib: First, how did you narrow in on the concept of “Music, Movies, Magic” for this show?
Jeff Spitz: Every month I’m looking for work that is timely but timeless. I’m looking for things that resonate widely, starting with my own reaction.
Music is in most documentaries now. If you don’t have a documentary with some kind of music or magic, you have a boring film. I think filmmakers in documentary now are aiming to create a magical experience, even with reality. And they use music to persuade and to soothe and to drive juxtapositions.
Music is essential in storytelling on the screen. It has been for a long time, but it predates the movie invention and it, like magic, is essentially a human and fundamental talent. Doing a show with just that theme – “Music, Movies, Magic” – gives filmmakers a chance to talk about that interplay, and I think that interplay is just what everyone is looking for in their work, and it pulls people together into community.
 
SS: Do you see a difference in the use of music in nonfiction films versus fiction films?
JS: Usually the music in a fiction film would be much more over the top. And in documentary it will have to be pulled back and be less insistent. I love the fact that documentaries are often times about music and musicians, but even ones that are investigative journalism know that music is going to help move the pace of the story, and emphasize certain characters, themes, and locations, and, most importantly, the tone.
I know that musicians, when they work with documentary filmmakers, they aren’t aiming low, they’re aiming high. They want their themes to resonate, and they have to be tied to something. They’re usually tied to the largest theme of the film, but also to emotional moments in the film, and they help underscore both.
 
SS: Was there a documentary that you came to first when curating this show?
JS: The first thing that I wanted to do was call Arlen Parsa, who was a fantastic student at Columbia College and has become an amazing talent in documentary, web design, and even civic engagement with his monthly investigative reports.
 

 
Arlen’s an amazingly talented guy but he showed that beyond a shadow of a doubt by excavating his grandpa’s lost opera and then deciding, ‘Hey what should I do with this? I don’t know anything about opera but it would be cool to hear it!’ So Arlen was first. Thinking about The Way to Andina, and what he went through to make that film, was the first thing that attracted me about this topic.
 
SS: Is this typically how you approach curating a show?
JS: I have to know that something is already there that I can work with. Because I’ve been doing this now – this is show twenty – a lot of people have sent me stuff or told me about stuff. I’ve been able to see a lot of different things and figure out how to organize around them and then ask for similar but different, only linked loosely by themes. I don’t want two of the same. I want four to six, sometimes up to eight, very unusual, different points of view.
 
SS: Focusing on the magic aspect of the show, A Magical Vision is the only film that focuses explicitly on magic. It also brings a very human, very high stakes discussion to the world of magic and awe and transformation – “Is a life without mystery worth living?” Why was it important for you to include this film in the lineup?
JS: I saw Michael’s work in magic – Michael Caplan is a colleague of mine at Columbia College – he made this unusual film about a magician and magic and spirituality and intellect and I was not able to see the whole thing. I’ve only seen the trailer. I thought it was really intriguing that he’s attempting a different way into the topic.
 

 
Michael chose this person [Eugene Burger, the subject of the film] who he’s very close to, and was interested in things that people don’t usually talk about when they’re making a film about magic. Usually its spectacle, tricks, biography. This is a really interesting exploration of a mystical and spiritual and intellectual aspect that predates the medium, and goes back to the roots of human kind. I thought that even if there is only one film this session about magic, it needs to be this one.
 
SS: Where else do you see magic in the other films?
JS: I guess I see magic in each one of these movies, and it’s partly through the music. In David Weathersby’s films, there’s a kind of magic in the secrecy of the Debauchery Ball. There’s something to the history, the secrecy, the BDSM elements, the house music, that creates a sort of magic space. I think that’s his skill, that’s a filmmaker’s passion for that environment, and the people, and that music. And he created a magical trailer that castes a spell on you and makes you say, ‘Damn I would really like to be in that room.’
 

 
In Cam Be’s film, Where Flowers Bloom, it’s about “black girl magic.” The subject is an African American female rapper. She’s surrounded by men and she is very unusual, so the magic is in collaboration and in the way Cam Be uses black and white cinematography to create a mood.
Arlen’s film I’ve already discussed but I think what he’s done is really kind of magical. He’s conjured his grandpa’s voice, but also a whole history of immigration.
The film about festivals, it’s called Festival: The Documentary. I think the magic in that is that they are attracting tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people to spend hundreds of dollars and immerse themselves in a total weekend experience with as many strangers as they can rub up against and as much music as they can digest and all the other things that come with that strange and adventurous journey.
I guess what’s magical about that is there are people who are investing a lot of themselves in the hope of a transformative experience. And the film raises questions about that: Is this just sort of a form of exploitation by business men figuring that young people need a safe environment for the weekend because they’re homebound the rest of the time playing video games in a violent world where you can’t trust strangers? Here’s the one time when it seems like you can be safe and trust strangers, take a chance, get high without getting arrested…They are trying to create magical environments for money. And they’re good at it.
Mallory’s: Walk All Night is about the bucket boys in Chicago going to Africa. I think what’s magical about that film is that these kids tend to appear on our street corners, they tend to appear after big events, anywhere there’s a big crowd. We don’t know who they are, they just bang out the rhythm on these white buckets and we look at them and maybe throw a buck in the bucket. But they have a journey in this film that is truly incredible.
 

 
The magic here is that they take Chicago with them and they come back with an African point of view: an African philosophy, African understandings, that they had no idea existed. And it will enrich their identities and their music for the rest of their lives. I think the vision to do something like that is kind of magical, the ability to make a film and follow along and make relationships with people so that they are open and vulnerable with you is always kind of a magical part of documentary.
 
SS: Another film that really stands out is the La La Land One Take cover video – it has music but doesn’t follow what you think of as traditional elements for a nonfiction film. Why did you choose to include it in this lineup?
JS: La La Land One Take is a must see for anyone who loves music and documentary and believes that magic is possible in our field. This is a Chinese student’s summer project where he’s decided to take the opening number from La La Land and rewrite the lyrics so that it’s relevant to his old high school friends in China. And you have to see this because what he’s created is a kind of magic.
 

 
These are people who are creatively treating actuality. It’s filmed in their high school, and one of the biggest things that high schoolers around the world dread is the big test, and in China I’m sure the stakes are even higher than in other places. So that’s the starting point, and where it goes is remarkable, but it comes back to that reality of the standardized test.
It’s completely creative, but you can’t look at that and say that it’s not real. You can’t look at it and say, ‘oh those are just actors.’ It is a kind of documentary musical. And afterwards the credits are all laid in over pictures of the making of this one take version of La La Land. So they’re very aware of the documentary nature of this endeavor while they’re making it, and they want people to know: ‘We really did this in our high school with real kids’.
 
SS: A lot of the films focus on the stories of musicians and performers and spectacle, but also on social issues — race, gender, sexuality. What do you think about Chicago as a city lending itself to not only being the setting for these types of stories, but also producing people who want to tell these stories?
JS: Chicago’s role in the Doc Talk Show is palpable, its ubiquitous, and its rooted in the reason we’re all getting together every month. We know our city is conducive, more than conducive, it nurtures documentary because of the rampant segregation and the raw nature of it here. We can stand downtown any day of the week and see black folks going south and mostly white folks going north and I think that wears on people, along with the violence.
Underneath the excitement of Chicago being of vibrant place is a pain that you’re here and you’re part of the problem and potentially part of the solution. And I think you’re always sort of aware of that difference. So I think it lends itself to films that are about reality. I think people who live here know that these problems that we all face are actual, you can’t hide from them.
 

 
SS: Are there any audience reactions or Q&As that you are really looking forward to?
JS: I’m interested to hear Mallory talk about how she worked with the kids in the bucket boys. She’s a female filmmaker. She’s based here in Chicago. She’s white. She’s talked about bringing these kids overseas and filming them in Africa, and following them into some places that are extremely painful in the history of the African diaspora. I’m curious to hear how Mallory talks about her experience and what she learned from this and how she feels about being a white filmmaker in that position.
I’m also interested in hearing from David Weathersby about the Debauchery Ball and how he got access, permission. He’s filming people who seem like they are in their bliss, but that’s a secret location and this is a BDSM themed party. He didn’t seem to have to blur out anyone’s faces. The music is great, it looks like its accessible and that almost anyone would love this, but its black Chicago and I want to hear from a black filmmaker how he got access to that world and what he intends to do with this film.
Another one that I’m particularly curious about is Festival. I want to find out why this filmmaker wanted to look into the business of festivals and the personal stories of the people who attend these festivals. It does seem like they are diametrically opposed, it does seem like one will undercut the other. I want to watch the whole film and get the whole vibe that he’s going for.
 

 
I always love hearing audience’s reactions to Arlen’s film because they laugh. I love hearing the laughter. I laughed my ass off at his film but I also really felt moved by the deep dive that he was doing into his grandpa’s immigrant history and by the degree of difficulty in that film. He didn’t just make a film he made an opera too. I just could not have more respect for a filmmaker than I have for him. I’m always interested to hear his dialogue with audiences, especially when it starts with laughter. Arlen knew absolutely nothing about making an opera. Putting yourself on the line and in a movie is a high wire act.
 
SS: Do you also consider potential interactions between the different filmmakers?
JS: The mix and match of people is really exciting here in the Doc Talk Show and those filmmakers who are coming up to share a clip and something from their lives are my cast for the show. I want people who want to be there, have a lot to share, and love people, and really can speak from the heart. That’s all there is to it. So when I meet these different people and think about them coming into the same room, that’s electrifying. The anticipation is thrilling, and I’m on my 20^th show because I enjoy it so much.
For this show I’m excited to think about the possibilities, let’s say, of the person who made Festival [Brent Kado] and David Weathersby, who filmed this secret venue where black people are dancing to house music dressed in BDSM culture, and they don’t want the place to be known. I’m interested in how those two filmmakers will interact with each other.
I’m interested to see how Arlen and his journey will vibe with Mallory and her journey. Arlen’s is so personal and hers is so self-abnegating. She has to be extremely low-key — yet assertive – to make a film like this. It’s not about her but she’s involved with a major journey.
I’m also interested to see how Cam Be relates to Mallory and her journey. He’s also worked in Rwanda. I don’t think they know each other but I think there’s synergy there.
 

 
SS: Is there anything else that you hope the filmmakers and the audience keep in mind going into the show, or anything that you hope they take away from it?
JS: The other thing that prompted the theme this month is that this has been a tense period of time going into the election cycle and now coming out of it. I think we’re ready for a more celebratory, fun, lighter themed experience where we can look forward to music and magic and movies. These are things we all love and they do happen in a room. And all three of them independently are happening all the time, but we never get to think much about how they’re all woven together in a real space called community.
This is a real space in a real community where we get to enjoy all three things. So I’m hoping that it has a magical effect and attracts more people who haven’t gotten out and experienced the Doc Talk Show before.
 

The Doc Talk Show #20:

Music, Movies, Magic

 

Curated and Hosted by Jeff Spitz 

 

November 29, 7:30pm – 9:30pm 

 
 

 

 

Filmmakers/FILMS

David Weathersby/CITY VANGUARD (music from the South Side)

Mallory Sohmer/WALK ALL NIGHT (African griots meet bucket boys)

Arlen Parsa/THE WAY TO ANDINA (an unlikely musical odyssey)

Cam Be/WHERE FLOWERS BLOOM (a female rapper’s journey)

Michael Caplan/A MAGICAL VISION (what is magic?)

Ben Hollis/WILD CHICAGO: JOHN VIETNAM (a cross cultural hero)

Brent Kado/FESTIVAL THE DOCUMENTARY (inside music festivals)

Rio Jiang/LA LA LAND-ONE TAKE  (a high school in China)

 
 

Seating is limited

Reserve Your Seat

 

Admission for students is always free

 

Suggested donation: $20

Donate Here

 

Q&A with Jeff Spitz, Groundswell Films Co-Founder & Executive Director

 

 

 

About The Doc Talk Show

Every month Jeff Spitz, Sundance Film Festival honoree and Columbia College Chicago documentary professor, curates a fresh lineup of remarkable filmmakers showing eye-opening clips. The classic definition of documentary is “the creative treatment of actuality”. It speaks to the unlimited possibilities for non-fiction filmmakers to pick up new technologies and use them to invent new modes of storytelling. Jeff organizes each show around a theme and facilitates Q&As. Each filmmaker takes the mic and speaks directly to the audience. Screenings include works-in-progress, finished shorts, as well as teasers, trailers and music videos. Expect craft beer, delicious local food, a variety of short films and the lively art of conversation in a cozy room with just 50 seats.
Each show is filmed and edited by documentary film students from Columbia College Chicago’s The Doc Unit.
For more information contact jeff@groundswellfilms.org

Presented by Groundswell Films

X 

Curated and Hosted by Jeff Spitz 

 

October 25,  7:30pm – 9:30pm 

 

The Doc Talk Show #19: Women Drivers features an array of non-fiction stories by and about powerful women.

• Hilary Bachelder/REPRESENT (first time female candidates)
• Shamerea/THE SCOOP WITH SHAMEREA (unsung sheroes)
• Myra Rivera/JUVENILE EXPUNGEMENT (a myth buster)
• Nick Nummerdor/SKATEPARK (one mom’s unique roll)
• Maria Finitzo/THE DILEMMA OF DESIRE (female sexuality)
• Lilly Warren & Susan Kerns/UNCOILED (one bride’s living nightmare)

Seating is limited. Admission is free. Suggested donation: $20.

Reserve your seat

Every month Jeff Spitz, Sundance Film Festival honoree and Columbia College Chicago documentary professor, curates a fresh lineup of remarkable short docs and indie videos. It’s a fun, friendly event with food, drink, film clips, filmmakers and real face to face convos.The classic definition of documentary–“the creative treatment of actuality”– is open ended. It reflects the creativity of non-fiction filmmakers who utilize new technologies to invent new modes of storytelling.  Jeff facilitates Q&As. Each filmmaker takes the mic and speaks directly to the audience. Screenings include works-in-progress, finished shorts, as well as teasers, trailers and music videos.
The show will be filmed and edited by Columbia College Chicago students.
Support The Doc Talk Show with your donation to Groundswell Educational Films (501c3 not-for-profit) here.
For information contact jeff@groundswellfilms.org
This project is partially supported by a Faculty Development Grant from Columbia College Chicago.
 

The Doc Talk Show is proud to present a sneak preview in partnership with the 5th annual (in)Justice For All Film Festival.
Born in a south side church on 95th street (Trinity United), this innovative film festival embeds into audiences at institutions and untraditional venues all over the Chicago metro area including Lake County. What started with one small prison ministry and a single film now extends in every direction, embracing a wide range of films and audiences for social justice.

Meet filmmakers, festival organizers and brilliant activists.
Come for dinner, drinks, docs and, as always, great discussions. Admission is free.
Reservation required. The Doc Talk Show happens on the last Thursday of the month at Uncommon Ground, 3800 N. Clark.
Reserve your seat for Thursday, September 27th, 6:30pm – 9:30pm here: https://tinyurl.com/y74fc9kg
See www.groundswellfilms.org/news  for highlights videos of previous shows and updates.

 

The Doc Talk Show team is on a break. August is it.
Our next show is September 27th.
So, filmmakers now is the perfect time to send in your clip to jeff@groundswellfilms.org
It’s that easy to have your clip or short film considered.
We are eager to see new work and consider it for future shows. Our monthly themes evolve from your work. We accept trailers, clips from fully realized short docs, and clips from longer works-in-progress. 15 minutes is the limit, but let us know if you have one slightly longer. We make exceptions for exceptional films.
Jeff Spitz, Sundance Film Festival Alum and Columbia College Chicago professor curates and hosts the shows.
Columbia students film every show and create a recap video that promotes the filmmakers, films and The Doc Talk Show.
Here are two tasty samples edited and co-produced by Ian Roozrokh, a talented senior at Columbia College Chicago.


The Doc Talk Show is partially sponsored by a Faculty Development Grant from Columbia College Chicago.
Thanks to Uncommon Ground for making every last Thursday of the month possible 17 times since December 2016.
The Doc Talk Show is a free public program of Groundswell Educational Films (a Chicago-based 501c3 not-for-profit group). Donations are tax deductible. Please make your donation here.

The Doc Talk Show #17: LGBTQ POV
Curated and Hosted by Jeff Spitz 
July 26th,  6:30pm – 7:30pm (NETWORKING) 7:30 – 9pm (showtime)
Every last Thursday at…
Uncommon Ground, 3800 North Clark Street, Chicago
CLICK HERE FOR RESERVATIONS

Every month Jeff Spitz, Sundance Film Festival honoree and Columbia College Chicago documentary professor, curates a fresh new lineup of remarkable short docs and indie videos. It’s a fun, friendly event with food, drink, film clips, filmmakers and real face to face convos.The standard definition of documentary–“the creative treatment of actuality”– is intentionally provocative. It inspires non-fiction filmmakers to try new techniques and innovative modes of storytelling. Doc Talk Show includes new talent and veteran filmmakers. Some follow traditions of broadcast journalism while others experiment with cinema, poetry or performance. You may see works that use re-enactments with actors or that intentionally blur the line between fact & fiction. Jeff facilitates the Q&A with the audience. Questions about each short film, the issues that surface and the filmmaker’s journey spark rich conversation. Screenings include works-in-progress, finished shorts, as well as teasers, trailers and music videos with strong social commentary.
The line up is organized around a theme.
The theme for Show #17: LGBTQ POV is inspired by Chicago’s amazing LGBTQ community, our commitment to diverse voices and our growing concerns about the direction of our country.
Admission is FREE with a suggested donation of $20.
Space is limited. Please reserve your seat in advance!
The Doc Talk Show #17: LGBTQ POV

• Dorian Electra via Skype/2000 YEARS OF DRAG; CAREER BOY
• Greg Stephen Reigh of VAM Studios/VARIOUS, SHEA COULEE
• Connor O’Keefe/WE’RE HERE WE’RE QUEER
• AJ Spitz & Josh Jones/IS THIS ENOUGH?
• Sarah Oberholtzer/REIMAGINING TOMORROW

Show will be filmed and edited by Columbia College Chicago students.
Check out highlights from the April Doc Talk Show
Anyone can submit a film for consideration to jeff@groundswellfilms.org.
This project is partially supported by a Faculty Development Grant from Columbia College Chicago.
For information: jeff@groundswellfilms.org (Feel free to send Jeff a link to your film clip. )

The Doc Talk Show #16: cutting remarks
Curated and Hosted by Jeff Spitz 
June 28th,  6:30pm – 7:30pm (NETWORKING) 7:30 – 9pm (showtime)
Every last Thursday at…
Uncommon Ground, 3800 North Clark Street, Chicago
CLICK HERE FOR RESERVATIONS

Join us for an evening of short documentaries and conversation with the filmmakers. Each month Jeff Spitz curates a fresh new lineup of inspiring documentaries organized around a theme. The evening includes new talent and veteran filmmakers who have the opportunity to interact with live audiences about their films, the issues they raise, and using media to create social change. Screenings include works-in-progress, finished shorts, as well as teasers and trailers for longer documentaries. Show #16: cutting remarks features two remarkable, award-winning editors, Leslie Simmer (Kartemquin) and Aaron Wickenden (Won’t You Be My Neighbor; Almost There; The Trials of Muhammad Ali; The Interrupters.)
An intimate evening of food, drink, non-fiction films, filmmakers and real face to face convos.
Admission is FREE with a suggested donation of $20.
Space is limited. Please reserve your seat in advance!
The Doc Talk Show #16:  cutting remarks w/editors

• Leslie Simmer (scenes from Kartemquin’s upcoming docu-series and more)
• Aaron Wickenden (scenes from Won’t You Be My Neighbor and more)

No video recording allowed for this show.
Check out some highlights from the April Doc Talk Show:

This project is partially supported by a Faculty Development Grant from Columbia College Chicago.
For information: jeff@groundswellfilms.org

Doc Talk Show #15: Chicago Footwork
Curated and Hosted by Jeff Spitz 
May 31st,  7PM – 9:30PM
Uncommon Ground, 3800 N. Clark St., Chicago
CLICK HERE FOR RESERVATIONS

Join us for an evening of short documentaries and conversation with the filmmakers. Each month Jeff Spitz curates a fresh new lineup of inspiring documentaries organized around a theme. The evening includes new talent and veteran filmmakers who have the opportunity to interact with live audiences about their films, the issues they raise, and using media to create social change. Screenings include works-in-progress, finished shorts, as well as teasers and trailers for longer documentaries. Show #15: Chicago Footwork celebrates artists who are taking daring steps to bridge the divisions in our town through poetry, dance and documentary.
An intimate evening of food, drink, non-fiction films, filmmakers and real face to face convos.
Admission is FREE with a suggested donation of $20.
Space is limited. Please reserve your seat in advance!
Doc Talk #15:  Chicago Footwork – featured artists/FILMS

• Alex Myung & Kevin Coval: ODE TO FOOTWORK
• Morgan Elise Johnson: ANOTHER LIFE
• Sam Spitz & Teddy Williams: THE GREENS
• Kristin Pichaske & Sierra Council: PULLING THE THREAD
• Eleva Singleton: SHINEMEN

Check out some highlights from April Doc Talk Show:

This project is partially supported by a Faculty Development Grant from Columbia College Chicago.
For information: jeff@groundswellfilms.org

Doc Talk Show #14: Mental Health Breaks
Curated and Hosted by Jeff Spitz 
April 26th,  7PM – 9:30PM
Uncommon Ground, 3800 N. Clark St., Chicago
CLICK HERE FOR RESERVATIONS

Join us for an evening of short documentaries and conversation with the filmmakers. Each month Jeff Spitz curates a fresh new lineup of inspiring docs organized around a theme. The evening includes new talent and veteran filmmakers who have the opportunity to interact with live audiences about their films, the issues they raise, and using media to create social change. Screenings include works in progress, finished shorts, as well as teasers and trailers for longer documentaries. Show #14: Mental Health Breaks explores liberal and conservative conspiracy theories; family leave; two cases from Cook County’s mental health court; one man’s personal treasures, and one woman’s haunting memories of a crime.
An intimate evening of food, drink, non-fiction films, filmmakers and real face to face conversation.
Admission is FREE with a suggested donation of $20.
Space is limited. Please reserve your seat in advance!
Doc Talk #14:  Mental Health Breaks – featured artists/FILMS

• Kristin Pichaske/Kindling Group: PULLING THE THREAD
• Ky Dickens: ZERO WEEKS
• Margaret Byrne: ANY GIVEN DAY
• Julian Dalyrimple: I WAS HERE
• Debra Kahn Tolchinsky: TRUE MEMORIES AND OTHER FALSEHOODS

This project is partially supported by a Faculty Development Grant from Columbia College Chicago.

Doc Talk Show #13: Diverse Voices In Documentary –
A partnership with Kartemquin Films & Community Film Workshop
Curated and Co-Hosted by Jeff Spitz & Anu Rana, Program Coordinator, DVID
March 29th,  7PM – 9:30PM
Uncommon Ground, 3800 N. Clark St., Chicago
CLICK HERE FOR RESERVATIONS

Join us for an evening of short documentaries and conversation with the filmmakers. Each month Jeff Spitz curates a fresh new lineup of inspiring docs organized around a theme. The evening includes new talent and veteran filmmakers who have the opportunity to interact with live audiences about their films, the issues they raise, and using media to create social change. Screenings include works in progress, finished shorts, and teasers and trailers for longer documentaries.
An intimate evening of food, drink, non-fiction films, filmmakers and real face to face conversation.
Admission is FREE with a suggested donation of $20.
Space is limited. Please reserve your seat in advance!
Doc Talk #13:  Diverse Voices In Documentary – featured artists/FILMS
Anu Rana, Program Director for Diverse Voices In Documentary.

• Dani Jackson: BACKSIDE STORIES
• Reveca Torres: DOS FRIDAS
• Colette Ghunim: TRACES OF HOME
• Erika Valenciana: LA MITAD DEL MUNDO
• Urooj Yazdani: A DESTRUCTION

 

Doc Talk Show #12: Lost & Found
Curated and Hosted by Jeff Spitz
February 22,  7PM – 9:30PM
Uncommon Ground, 3800 N. Clark St., Chicago
CLICK HERE FOR RESERVATIONS
Join us for an evening of short documentaries and conversation with the filmmakers. Each month Jeff Spitz curates a fresh new lineup of inspiring docs organized around a theme. The evening includes new talent and veteran filmmakers who have the opportunity to interact with live audiences about their films, the issues they raise, and using media to create social change. Screenings include works in progress, finished shorts, and teasers and trailers for longer documentaries.
An intimate evening of food, drink, non-fiction films, filmmakers and real face to face conversation.
Admission is FREE with a suggested donation of $20.
Space is limited. Please reserve your seat in advance!
Doc Talk #12:  “Lost & Found” featured artists/films

• Esau Melendez: JUMPING BEAN CAFÉ
• Devon Gulati: STARGARDT’S DISEASE
• Peter Kuttner: THE END OF THE NIGHTSTICK
• Sharon Zurek: DYKE DELICIOUS
• Ana Garcia Doyle: ONE EARTH FILM FESTIVAL
• Brian Ashby & Scrappers: THE AREA
• Andrew Morgan & Nick Nummerdor: NORTH BRANCH

Groundswell Presents

The Doc Talk Show #9: Life Lessons

A Monthly Non-Fiction Film Showcase

Q&A with Filmmakers

November 30th, 7PM at Uncommon Ground

 

Chicago, IL––November 10, 2017 — The Doc Talk Show is a monthly live showcase of non-fiction films by diverse Chicago filmmakers curated by Jeff Spitz, Sundance Film Festival honoree and Columbia College Chicago Associate Professor. Every month Spitz chooses a theme, curates the shorts, casts the filmmakers and facilitates dialogues between audiences and non-fiction storytellers.

Spitz started The Doc Talk Show to celebrate a new generation of non-fiction filmmakers and to establish a friendly space for diverse stories in a city known for its racial and economic segregation. “We all know that Chicago is terribly divided and yet there is no other place I know with more creative people striving to bridge the divisions,” says Spitz who teaches documentary filmmaking and civic engagement. “The Doc Talk Show draws people into a cozy dining room, allowing all kinds of characters to break bread, socialize, discuss films and build new relationships through shared stories.”
When: November 30th, 7PM Uncommon Ground Restaurant 3800 N. Clark Street (and the last Thursday of every month)
What: The Doc Talk Show #9: Life Lessons 
Who: Features the following filmmakers and FILMS:

• Nabeela Rasheed–THE STREETS ARE OURS, a gay muslim actress in Pakistan;
• Elio Leturia–TITA TURNS 100, a bi-lingual life story of a double immigrant;
• Bob Hercules–AB MIKVA, the leadership and legacy of a local hero (teaser);
• Cam Be–BUILDING HOPE, two women connect in Rwanda and Chicago (teaser);
• Edgar Barens–PRISON TERMINAL, does anybody care about a terminally ill  murderer behind bars? (nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Shorts).

The Doc Talk Show is filmed and photographed by The Doc Unit of Columbia College Chicago.
Suggested donation: $20. The room capacity is 50 people and seats run out fast. In order to secure a seat you must register through Eventbrite.
A production of Groundswell Educational Films – a Chicago-based non-profit documentary and public engagement team. For more information: jeff@groundswellfilms.org

Groundswell Presents

 

The Doc Talk Show#8: Fight or Flight

 

A Monthly Live Showcase of Non-Fiction Films

 

Followed by Q&A with Filmmakers

October 26, 7PM at Uncommon Ground

Chicago, IL––October 16, 2017 — The Doc Talk Show is a monthly live showcase of non-fiction films by diverse Chicago filmmakers curated by Jeff Spitz, Sundance Film Festival honoree and Columbia College Chicago Associate Professor. Each month Spitz chooses a theme, curates the shorts, casts the filmmakers and facilitates audience engagement with the filmmakers in provocative and timely discussions about the craft of documentary storytelling.
Spitz started The Doc Talk Show to celebrate a new generation of non-fiction filmmakers and to create a friendly space for diverse stories in a city known for stark racial and economic segregation. “Cyberspace separates people into distinct echo chambers and increases our feelings of isolation, fear and anger,” says Spitz who teaches courses in documentary filmmaking and civic engagement. “The Doc Talk Show brings people together in a room, allowing all kinds of characters to break bread and to build new relationships with filmmakers through shared stories and media.”
When & Where: Oct. 26, 7PM Uncommon Ground Restaurant 3800 N. Clark Street (and the last Thursday of every month)
What & Who: The Doc Talk Show#8: Fight or Flight presents the following filmmakers — films:

• Gordon Quinn, Rachel Dickson, Tracye Matthews, Kartemquin Films’ new release, ’63 Boycott, about Chicagoans fighting school segregation in the ’60s and the recent school closings;
• Liz Kaar––”Stranded By The State” exposes big banks and their toxic swaps in Illinois;
• Kevin Dean–“Pura Vida” about parents who leave the country of Trump and their daughter;
• Jessica Disu––”This Is Not a Drill”about a peace activist who advocates abolishing the police;
• Alana Saad––”Si Se Puede” about Dolores Huerta and memorializing the united farmworkers;
• Ted Hardin––”Summer Dok” about American college students making films in Germany;
• Jeff Spitz–“The Return of Navajo Boy-webisode” about a Navajo quest for environmental justice.

The Doc Talk Show will be livestreamed on Facebook starting at 7pm on October 26th, 2017.
Admission is free with a suggested donation of $20. The venue’s capacity is 50 people and seats run out fast. In order to secure a seat guests must register through Eventbrite.
A production of Groundswell Educational Films – a Chicago-based documentary and public engagement team.
For information contact: Jeff Spitz (jeff@groundswellfilms.org)

 

Groundswell Presents

 

The Doc Talk Show #7: Women!

 

A Monthly Live Showcase of Themed Non-Fiction Films

 

Followed by Q&A with Filmmakers

 

Sept. 28, 7PM at UnCommon Ground

 
Chicago, IL––September 21, 2017 — The Doc Talk Show is a monthly live showcase of non-fiction films by diverse Chicago filmmakers curated by Jeff Spitz, Sundance Film Festival honoree and Columbia College Chicago Associate Professor. Each month Spitz chooses a theme, curates the shorts, casts the filmmakers and facilitates audience engagement with the filmmakers in provocative and timely discussions about the craft of documentary storytelling.
Spitz started The Doc Talk Show to celebrate a new generation of non-fiction filmmakers and to create a friendly space for diverse stories in a city known for stark racial and economic segregation. “Cyberspace separates people into distinct echo chambers and increases our feelings of isolation, fear and anger,” says Spitz who teaches courses in documentary filmmaking and civic engagement. “The Doc Talk Show brings people together in a room, allowing all kinds of characters to break bread and to build new relationships with filmmakers through shared stories and media.”
When: Sept. 28, 7PM UnCommon Ground Restaurant 3800 N. Clark Street (and the last Thursday of every month)
Who: The Doc Talk Show #7: Women! Features the following filmmakers and films:

• Ruth Leitman, a Columbia College Chicago professor and Kartemquin filmmaker who will be showing excerpts from her film-in-progress “Lady Parts Justice in the New World Order” about a female comedy writer’s campaign for reproductive rights.
• Kelly Richmond Pope––”All the Queen’s Horses” about a corrupt female comptroller in Dixon, Illinois;
• Rachel Pikelny––”Grace” about a breast cancer survivor who reclaims her body with an elaborate mastectomy tattoo
• Elizabeth Coffman––”Flannery O’Connor: Acts of Redemption” about the reclusive southern writer
• Anu Rana––”Language of Opportunity” about the role language plays in the hopes and dreams of a new generation of Indians
• Anna Boisseau & Brendan Hickey––”The Inexplicable Peter Smith;” about gender fluidity coming to life on camera.
• Barbara Allen– “The Experience with Dedry Jones” about musicians and conversations

For the first time The Doc Talk Show will be livestreamed on Facebook starting at 7pm on September 28th, 2017.
Admission is free with a suggested donation of $20. The venue’s capacity is 50 people and seats run out fast. In order to secure a seat guests must register through Eventbrite.
A production of Groundswell Educational Films – a Chicago-based documentary and public engagement team.

City of Ghosts
Review by Jeff Spitz
Brace yourself. City of Ghosts by Matthew Heineman is opening in select theaters this week.
I saw a sneak preview presented by Chicago Media Project which included a Q&A afterwards with one of the filmmakers and a key participant in the film who remains in hiding. He is in hiding because there are death threats against him and everyone in this film. Isis has already killed several members of the group and their relatives in Raqqa.
This is a suspenseful, harrowing film about courageous young men who allow a filmmaker to document their clandestine organization even while acknowledging that doing so could help their enemies track them down and kill them. The film shows why these people have wittingly accepted the risk. They take every precaution. Time will tell.
These are heroic friends who risk their lives every day to maintain an underground journalistic organization called Raqqa is Being Slaughtered in Silence (aka RBSS). This is an ensemble story with a cast of young Muslim men who live outside of Syria in safe houses in Germany and other countries.
This is an action film within a film. You will discover that when Isis rolled into their hometown, instead of taking up arms to fight them, these young men took up cameras to expose them. They also took up smartphones, laptops, software, social media, clever encription methods and a brilliant international strategy to obtain and transmit images from their fellow residents. They capture incredible footage from ordinary people who are risking their lives to feed the mainstream media horrible truths about Isis.
Wait right here.
Don’t we already know that Isis is horrible? Didn’t Isis become famous by using its own media to flaunt its horrific acts? Yep. They figured out this game and raised the stakes by using slick media productions to recruit internationally. And that fact is a crucial visual aspect of this story.
The fact that people in hiding agreed to be in a new movie that would ultimately expose themselves and their murderous enemy is by no means taken for granted here. Matthew Heineman is risking his life to show the evolution of RBSS starting back in peaceful times in Raqqa, a “paradise on the Euphrates”. Heineman’s film goes behind the scenes to unfold an incredible transformation on screen. We see a friendly paradise turn into a “city of ghosts”. He weaves authentic footage shot by RBSS cameramen into a stunning new movie about this group and the importance of citizen journalism for the future of the free world.
City of Ghosts put a human face on an unseen history and does it from the inside out. The film opens cinematically with a symbolic bookend sequence. We see RBSS members dressed up in suits and ties at a fancy awards ceremony. Admirers from the comfortable world of human rights organizations applaud their courage. They receive a presitgious award. An event photographer tries to coax a smile out of one of the guys. The photographer jokes but the haunted face staring back at his lens does not change. What follows is a deeply complicated relationship with cameras and image making. Any acclaim that this movie receives cuts two ways. Isis wants to track the cast and kill them but these are tough targets that want even more media exposure to show why they must continue their dangerous work. This is a deeply disturbing and evolving story. You can feel the stakes rising as you become more familiar with the good people in this film. They are playing a deadly game of one upsmanship.
The title tells you that you are going to a dark place.
In one of the most horrible moments that I have ever seen a member of RBSS is shown watching color footage on his laptop from an Isis website. We see the look in his eyes as he watches an exquisitely choreographed execution of a man tied to a pole. This man is his father. Isis staged the execution for maximum impact. They are infamous for using such scenes in glossy recruiting films. Heineman’s film shows you how their productions have improved over the years. This media arms race was more than I could stomach.
So this whole story forces one to ask painful questions about media. At what point do you stop documenting, put the camera away and run for your life? In this story a smart phone can get you killed. Could it help bring justice or at least some relief to Raqqa? I sure hope so.
Without Heineman’s film I don’t think we would be able to feel the impact of what happened to Raqqa. But now I sit here asking myself, did I really need this movie to tell me that Isis is barbaric and that they are destroying peoples’ lives and homes? Nope. Did I need this movie to show me why millions of people have fled Syria and risked their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea? Did I need it to show me that there are good Syrians who deserve our compassion and support? No. I was already aware. In fact I am overwhelmed. I feel anxious about the rising level of violence in my own country. And I am losing sleep over it. So what did I get out of this movie?
It’s complicated. And that’s what I appreciate most here. There is no simple way out. Even the damn camera is implicated. And so is the viewer.
This is a story of courage, solidarity and media activism that I will never forget. It comes with a thread of hope. The level of friendship and trust among the cast and with this filmmaker is truly inspiring. Witnessing the determination and love that inspired these guys to make this daring film inspires me to do more with my life. When you see how they are living with daily threats from Isis stating flatly that their “fate is a sharp knife or a bullet in the head” you realize that they are safe nowhere. And yet somehow being with these people strengthens you. I feel motivated to do more. I do not come away feeling more afraid. But then Heineman uses news footage of Isis related suicide attacks in Paris, Germany and the USA. These horrifying attacks killed innocent people far removed from Raqqa. And that point will hit home everywhere. Don’t just pity Raqqa, protect the freedom of expression and watch your back.
I confess that I am not sure how to respond to this movie. Does anyone really know what to do? Certainly I want to help RBSS directly through their website. That’s the least one can do. But then what? Europe and the US are both tearing apart internally as citizens divide into angry camps arguing about building a wall or welcoming refugees. That’s where we are today. Could my city become a city of ghosts like Raqqa?
If you saw Mathew Heineman’s previous film, Cartel Land, you know that he is willing to risk his life in the pursuit of a powerful story. And that he is concerned about ordinary people and human rights. He ups the ante here. You will be stunned by the way he seamlessly weaves his camera into the lives of his subjects. And the sickening implication of this act. He deliberately exposes you to an incredibly disturbing moral question about his role here. His subjects address it. They explicitly state the fact that his brand of filmmaking and the resulting media attention could lead to their assassinations. How does that sit with you? As a viewer in a dark theater I wondered could the release of this film provoke an Isis attack on a movie audience? I hope that doesn’t happen. The filmmaker and his collaborators have concluded that their truth must get out no matter what. I respect that. I am glad I saw a sneak preview.
There are advocacy groups standing by to help audiences channel their compassion into tangible forms of support for RBSS and the people trapped in Raqqa.
While I recommend City of Ghosts to adults and mature teenagers I also recommend that theaters provide maximum security.

Myra Rivera (Expungement)

March 23rd, 7 pm – 9 pm, Uncommon Ground-Lakeview (3800 N. Clark)

An eye-opening variety of micro-documentaries with filmmakers, Q&A and discussion on the art and craft of storytelling.  Curated and hosted by Jeff Spitz (Sundance Film Festival honoree and professor of documentary film at Columbia College Chicago), The Doc Talk Show #4: Acts of Courage introduces Chicago filmmakers with new works about unapologetic black female activists; the myth of juvenile records expungement in Illinois; racism in porn; coming out as a lesbian in a catholic high school; a new family history from an old opera; homelessness; a white college student’s surprising encounter with the last residents of Cabrini Green.

Event filmed by Josh Jones and photographed by Kevin Tiongsin from The Doc Unit at Columbia College.

Doc Talk Show #4 features filmmakers:  Liz Kaar (Stranded by the State/Homelessness), Arlen Parsa (The Way to Andina), Myra Rivera (Expungement), Ashley Oshay (Unaplogetic), Jizzell Reyna (Cece’s First), Sharon King (The Skin Game) and Sam Spitz (The Greens).

February 23rd, 7 pm – 9 pm, Uncommon Ground-Lakeview (3800 N. Clark)

An eye-opening variety of micro-documentaries with filmmakers, Q&A and discussion on the art and craft of storytelling.  Curated and hosted by Jeff Spitz (Sundance Film Festival honoree and professor of documentary film at Columbia College Chicago), The Doc Talk Show #3: Acts of Love introduces Chicago filmmakers with new works exploring long distance relationships; child care; fridge families from Viet Nam; Iranian home movies; an Egyptian girl’s blue bra; student filmmakers on the loose in Germany, the legacy of a documentary film teacher and a hometown love letter to Obama.

Doc Talk Show #3 features filmmakers:  Liz Kaar, Ayesha Abouelazm, Ted Hardin, Seth Meyer, Cyrus Stowe, Roberto Espinosa and Tanikia Carpenter.

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT
The Doc Talk Show is a new (FREE) monthly showcase featuring a stunning variety of micro-documentaries with Q&A on the art and craft of storytelling featuring fearless Chicago filmmakers. Events are held the last Thursday of each month.
See the best in creative non-fiction:  2,000 Years of Drag by Dorian Electra.
Sponsored by Groundswell Films and Uncommon Ground.
For information contact: Jeff Spitz (jeff@groundswellfilms.org)
www.groundswellfilms.org
The event is free. Space is limited. Reserve here. The event is adjacent to Uncommon Ground’s organic Green Star Brewery. Order beer, cocktails and from a delicious menu of sustainably raised and organic dishes from your table.

The data pointing to the hazards of our current food system can be alarming, and the stories about it overwhelming. That’s why we took a different approach to storytelling when we created Food Patriots documentary film and Social Impact campaign. We believe that consumer pressure will fix the food system a lot faster than the federal government. So to grow consumer demand for fresh, local, sustainably raised and organic foods, we need to get new people into the conversation about where their food comes from. 

The chart on the left tracks the growth in organic foods measured in billions of dollars spent by consumers. On the right is the growth in the number of people who said that they buy organic food. (While Food Patriots takes a larger view of Good Food, the organic data available from USDA is emblematic of the overall national trend.) So If we are going to really move the needle, we need to get more people thinking about where their food comes from. We need to focus on growing the chart on the right.
Back in 2012, when we started working on Food Patriots, most of the Food Films and articles about the food system scared the bejeezus out of me. This approach worked for me, and obviously about 40 million other people, but what about everyone else?
I don’t know about you, but when I tell my friends and family all the scary things I know about our food, and what I think they should eat, they usually roll their eyes and get really annoyed with me. I was living this struggle every day with my husband and teenage sons.
That’s why we needed a different approach. Instead of the hard core exposé, Food Patriots uses a personal approach, a sense of humor and tells a conversion story that people can relate to.
We have developed what we call The Groundswell Model to engage the public in a story. We have used this model successfully with several other films. It works. The key is to engage other stakeholders, reach people in places where they are, connect them to a movement, and involve them in moving the needle. Here’s what the Groundswell Model looks like.

We released Food Patriots in February 2014. We have presented over 400 live screening events, earned dozens of media stories and tens of millions of media impressions. We’ve partnered with brands and advocacy organizations, schools, faith organizations, libraries, health departments, corporate wellness programs, farmers’ markets and retailers. The result is that consumer demand is increasing AND industry is changing.
Last summer I met Kora Lazarski from SPINS. They are a data company that tracks Natural, Specialty, Wellness, and Conventional products across all US.  With SPINS data we can see the impact that stories have on consumer behavior. For example, in October 2015, the World Health Organization came out with a widely publicized study that showed the eating bacon increases the risk of cancer. Data shows a precipitous drop in bacon sales the week the story hit, and for a few weeks hence. But when the story faded from the news, bacon habits resumed. Persistence is important!
With businesses tuned into consumer trends, we have seen giants like Campbell’s, ConAgra, General Mills, Mars and Kellogg’s choose to voluntarily label GMOs. Restaurants are increasingly advertising meat raised without antibiotics, and producers are adjusting to fulfill increased demand.
The pressure is finally being felt at the top. In a letter, investors representing over $1 Trillion in assets urged fast food chains in the US and Great Britain to act to reduce farm antibiotics. The letter said,

“As stewards of these food companies and responsible investors, we want to protect both human health and shareholder value.”

Jeremy Coller of Coller Capital who instigated the letter told The Guardian.“The world is changing, regulation on antibiotic use is set to tighten, and consumer preferences are shifting away from factory-farmed food.”
Are Food Patriots winning? Not yet. But we’ve definitely made some big gains. We need to keep up the work and each do our part to keep the conversation going.
If you would like to book a screening or speaker for an event at your school, workplace, faith group, college or community group, please fill out the form here and we will get in touch.

Food Patriots is a project of Groundswell Educational Films. We are a non-profit organization that is sustained by generous donations, mostly from individuals. All donations are 100% tax deductible.

Food Patriots

 
 
 

November 24th – 30th, 2014

At Groundswell Films we create powerful art, in-person experiences, well-told stories and amplify it all through digital and social media. We’re funny at times, but we are persistent, and engage deeply in the advocacy around our films.
If you believe in the power of art to transform lives and propel social change, then join us in building Groundswell! Here’s how we measure our impact.

A groundbreaking billion dollar result

Our film, The Return of Navajo Boy, empowered a Navajo-led legal campaign to catch a corporate contaminator responsible for 50 abandoned uranium mines on Navajo lands. The Navajo Nation won the largest environmental legal settlement in history – a billion dollar payout from Kerr McGee. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now used our film to illustrate the Navajo situation on her show titled A Slow Motion Genocide.
A powerful response to our new film, Food Patriots
After opening the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 3 to rave reviews, our new project, Food Patriots (see trailer) is sparking groundswells and changing lives. Through humor and humility Food Patriots inspires audiences to change by 10% the way they eat, buy and educate the next generation about food. See what people are saying! “The movie was a perfect balance of comedy, story, and critique. We particularly appreciated the positive spin on it all,” Sara Stewart RN MSN, Executive Director Unity Gardens Inc., South Bend, IN
CNN Headlines for The Greens

Headlines again! CNN sought more authentic Chicago stories for it’s new Chicagoland website. CNN selected Groundswell Associate Producer Sam Spitz’s new short film, The Greens. Here are two stories about the participants in The Greens, revealing real people behind stereotypes of gangs and violence.
Join us in creating art and media that transforms lives.

Your donation will help our artists create more films, reach underserved communities with events, and train people there to tell stories in ways that make a difference. Groundswell is a non-profit organization and all donations are tax deductible.
Thanks for helping Groundswell produce films and results.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Amdur Spitz and Jeff Spitz
Co-Founders, Groundswell Educational Films

At Groundswell Films we create powerful art, in-person experiences, well-told stories and amplify it all through digital and social media. We’re funny at times, but we are persistent, and engage deeply in the advocacy around our films.
If you believe in the power of art to transform lives and propel social change, then join us in building Groundswell! Here’s how we measure our impact.

A groundbreaking billion dollar result

Our film, The Return of Navajo Boy, empowered a Navajo-led legal campaign to catch a corporate contaminator responsible for 50 abandoned uranium mines on Navajo lands. The Navajo Nation won the largest environmental legal settlement in history – a billion dollar payout from Kerr McGee. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now used our film to illustrate the Navajo situation on her show titled A Slow Motion Genocide.
A powerful response to our new film, Food Patriots
After opening the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 3 to rave reviews, our new project, Food Patriots (see trailer) is sparking groundswells and changing lives. Through humor and humility Food Patriots inspires audiences to change by 10% the way they eat, buy and educate the next generation about food. See what people are saying! “The movie was a perfect balance of comedy, story, and critique. We particularly appreciated the positive spin on it all,” Sara Stewart RN MSN, Executive Director Unity Gardens Inc., South Bend, IN
CNN Headlines for The Greens

Headlines again! CNN sought more authentic Chicago stories for it’s new Chicagoland website. CNN selected Groundswell Associate Producer Sam Spitz’s new short film, The Greens. Here are two stories about the participants in The Greens, revealing real people behind stereotypes of gangs and violence.
Join us in creating art and media that transforms lives.

Your donation will help our artists create more films, reach underserved communities with events, and train people there to tell stories in ways that make a difference. Groundswell is a non-profit organization and all donations are tax deductible.
Thanks for helping Groundswell produce films and results.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Amdur Spitz and Jeff Spitz
Co-Founders, Groundswell Educational Films

Sydney Levine at Indiewire.com turns to Democracy Now and Amy Goodman’s story “A Slow Genocide” and asks the question, “When are films political?”

Recently, Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman published this story about the controversy over re-opening uranium mines on Navajo lands. The documentary, The Return of Navajo Boy, has been credited with bringing the issue of uranium contamination from post WWII mining into the public eye.

Read more here…

Amy Goodman reports on Uranium Mining with The Return of Navajo Boy as a resource:

Let’s turn to another clip from the film, The Return of Navajo Boy, the award-winning documentary produced by Jeff Spitz and Bennie Klain about the Cly family, Navajo who have suffered health problems due to environmental contamination. Here, we hear more about the impact of uranium mining on the Navajo community, on the Diné people.

To listen to the interview or to read the transcript…

Free screening: Tuesday, April 15, 2014, 6PM

Dine College, Tsaile, AZ
Sub-Activity Room

Guest Speakers:
Elsie M. Begay John W. Cly

An official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and PBS, “The Return of Navajo Boy” introduces audiences to Navajo culture, Hollywood stereotypes, and one Navajo grandmother’s incredible struggle for justice.
A Q&A with Elsie, John and Perry Charley will take place after the film.

For questions about this event, contact Perry Charley: phcharley@dinecollege.edu

Sponsored by:
Tsaile Campus Math & Science
AISES Club
Shiprock Campus
Diné Environmental Institute

Watch trailer: www.navajoboy.com

The Uranium Film Festival will screen The Return of Navajo Boy on February 18th at 3:30PM at The Pavilion Theater. See below for more details:

FEBRUARY 18TH, 3:30PM AT
The Pavilion Theater

188 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Movie Hotline: 718-369-0838

For more information, visit the festival’s website.

“The Return of Navajo Boy” will be featured at the Center for Process Studies’ event, Indigenous Wisdom: Grace and Survival Under Fire on February 14, 2014.

The event will feature guest speaker John Wayne Cly from the film, who will discuss the experience with audience members and answer questions.

More details on the time and place of this screening will be forthcoming.

The University of Connecticut screened The Return of Navajo Boy on campus for students on November 14th. The student newspaper, The Daily Campus reported:

A family of Navajo people from Monument Valley was filmed a few decades ago as part of a movie titled “The Navajo Boy.” Since then the family has lived through separation from a baby son, the dangers of uranium mines, and abandonment from a government that has taken so much away from them. Last night the Native American Cultural Society held a screening of the documentary “The Return of Navajo Boy” at the Dodd’s center.

The story returns to the Navajo family of “The Navajo Boy,” the Clys. As they explained the movie and the events that occurred during it, the film presents the tribulations the Navajo people have experienced in recent years. They have been exploited through the decades by their presentations in Western films and their uncompensated work in uranium mines within Monument Valley. On a positive note, thanks to the second film and screenings of “The Navajo Boy” the missing son of the Cly family was able to find them almost 40 years later. This is chronicled in the latter half of the “The Return of Navajo Boy,” which continues to show the exploitation and poor treatment of the Cly family and all Navajo people in the area.

The Return of Navajo Boy will be screened at the University of Connecticut on November 14th, 2013. See their event poster below for more information:

Al Jazeera reports:

The vast reserves of uranium under Navajo Land have shaped the experiences of generations of Navajo, from the miners who were first employed to extract and refine the yellow ore to the families who still live with radioactive waste sites in their backyards. Approximately four million tons of uranium ore were extracted on Navajo Land between 1944 and 1986, and the Navajo people are still paying a steep price.

Read more.

The Return of Navajo Boy will screen at the Munich version of the Uranium Film Festival this September.

For more information about the Sept 26-29 screenings, visit the UFF website.

The Return of Navajo Boy will screen at the First annual Equus Film Festival in St Charles, Illinois on August 16, 2013. For more information visit the film festival’s website.

The Return of Navajo Boy will be screened from May 16th through 26th at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The screenings are part of the international Uranium Film Festival, which travels the world showcasing the best films dealing with nuclear issues. To learn more about the Uranium Film Festival, visit their website.

The Native American Rights Fund will be holding a screening of The Return of Navajo Boy at the Niwot Native American Film festival May 3rd, 2013 in Niwot, Colorado.

NIWOT NATIVE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
First Friday, May 3 – 7:30 PM – Return of Navajo Boy

Located at Elysian Fields Auctions 6924 79th Street, Niwot, Colorado (Look for the signs!) Screenings are FREE with a suggested donation. Ava Hamilton, Film Festival Curator/ Director will introduce the documentaries and films.

For more information, read the press release.

The Return of Navajo Boy will screen Friday, April 26th at the brand new Atomic Ciné Film Festival in Helsinki, Finland. For more information, visit the Atomic Ciné Facebook page. From their press release:

A new documentary film festival Atomic Ciné kicks off on Chernobyl day, the 26th of April. The festival focuses on nuclear power and uranium industry with award-winning films from Japan, USA, Niger, France, UK, Germany and Sweden, many of which have not been screened in Finland. The three-day festival is patroned by the film director Aki Kaurismäki.

The festival’s strong carrying themes are Japan before and after Fukushima, indigenous people and uranium mining, nuclear waste, nuclear weapons, and local initiatives towards self-sufficiency and sustainable energy production.

Below is a press release issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency. It follows the 2011 clean up of the abandoned mine in Elsie Mae Begay’s backyard.

Release Date: 09/18/2012
Contact Information: Rusty Harris-Bishop, harris-bishop.rusty@epa.gov

SAN FRANCISCO – This month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is beginning three uranium mine clean up actions on the Navajo Nation. The work, expected to cost $7.15 million, is part of the EPA’s five year plan to address uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation and is being done in partnership with the Navajo Nation’s Environmental Protection Agency. Funding for all three actions is from responsible parties, rather than the Superfund trust fund. The three cleanups will take place in Cove, Arizona; Casamero Lake, New Mexico; and near Church Rock, New Mexico. The EPA expects to complete the cleanups by November.

The first cleanup in the Cove area is expected to cost $1.5 million and take four to six weeks. Uranium mining in Cove Chapter, which lasted from the 1940s to the 1980s, included two transfer stations where uranium-bearing ore from the mines was stockpiled before trucks took the ore to the Shiprock Mill for processing. The transfer stations still contain some leftover uranium-tainted ore. Because this residual ore is hazardous, the public should avoid these areas until the cleanup is complete. EPA will remove the contaminated soil at Cove from one transfer station to another, where it will be sealed and stabilized. The area will be fenced and warning signs will be posted until a permanent disposal site can be selected. During the cleanup process, EPA will conduct air quality monitoring to ensure that residents in the immediate area — including the students at Cove Day School — are protected from any dust from the excavation.

Near Casamero Lake, New Mex., EPA will clean up contaminated soil left by the Section 32 Mine. That cleanup will cost an estimated $1.65 million and will include consolidating scattered contaminated soils on the main mine waste pile. Once that process is completed, the contaminated soils will be secured using a soil sealant, or temporary clean soil cover. The site will also be fenced until a final disposal decision is reached.

North of Church Rock, EPA will oversee work by General Electric/United Nuclear Corporation and Rio Algom Mining to clean up soils and a road located near the Northeast Church Rock Mine, the largest underground uranium mine in the U.S, and the Quivira mine which is located approximately 1/4 mile to the northeast. The UNC mine was operated from 1967 to 1984 and produced approximately 9.8 million pounds of uranium. The Quivira Mine was operated between 1976 and 1985 and produced 3.1 million pounds of uranium. This fall’s $4 million dollar work at the two areas near the Northeast Church Rock and Quivira mines precedes a larger $44 million cleanup of the Northeast Church Rock Mine expected to begin in 2016, contingent upon federal agency approvals.

For further information please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region9/superfund/navajo-nation/

###

Read more at the US EPA.

“The Return of Navajo Boy” (2000), an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and PBS, is an internationally acclaimed documentary, directed by Jeff Spitz (Groundswell Educational Films), which reunited a Navajo family and triggered a federal investigation into uranium contamination. A stunning, 57-minute film, it tells the story of a long lost brother’s return to his extended Navajo family led by Elsie Mae Cly Begay, whose history in pictures reveals an ongoing struggle for environmental justice. A new 13-minute epilogue (produced in 2008) shows how the film and Groundswell Educational Films’ outreach campaign created news and rallied supporters, resulting in a Congressional mandate for an Environmental Protection Agency clean-up of uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation, including (eventually) Ms. Begay’s backyard.

Thursday, October 25 at 4:30 P.M.
“Navajo Lives” –
Mary Begay of the Navajo Nation
Persson hall Auditorium

Friday, October 26 at 12:15 P.M.
“’The Return of Navajo Boy’:
Its Environmental impact” –
Jeff Spitz, director
ALANA Cultural center

Friday, October 26 at 7 P.M.
“The Return of Navajo Boy” The Film
Golden Auditorium, Little Hall

Co-sponsored by the Colgate Arts Council, the Native American Studies Program,
the Environmental Studies Program, the Film and Media Studies Program,
and the Department of Geography

The Return of Navajo Boy will premiere in Berlin on October 7, 2012 at the Uranium Film Festival.

The Uranium Film Festival from Rio de Janeiro is travelling now to Berlin. Next October (Oct. 4th to 12th) the Festival will screen more than 50 “nuclear” documentaries and movies in the two cinemas Eiszeit and Moviemento in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Most of the films from all continents about nuclear power, uranium mining, atomic bombs, radioactive and nuclear accidents or about depleted uranium weapons will be in English, in German or with German subtitles.

Click here to download the official program.

Elsie Mae Begay and Mary Helen Begay, both from The Return of Navajo Boy film, appeared at the Monument Valley Health Clinic on July 25th to answer questions from residents at a screening of the film. The screening was sponsored by the Indian Health Service.

Food Patriots attended Green Fest at Navy Pier in Chicago from May 5th through 6th, handing out buttons and flyers to attendees.

Food Patriots attended the University of Chicago’s Earth Fest on 4/27/2012, passing out flyers and buttons to students.

Groundswell held a Food Patriots feedback screening at UW Madison sponsored by the Tales from Planet Earth film festival on 4/19/2012.

Below is a list of all the places Elsie has traveled to to show the film since 2000:

2000
Sundance Film Festival, Park City, UT
Navajo Nation Museum, Window Rock, AZ
Arizona International Film Festival, Tucscon, AZ
American Indian Center, Chicago IL
Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, IL
Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL
NAES College, Chicago, IL
Durango Film Festival, Durango, CO
Smithsonian’s Native American Film Festival, New York City
Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC
US Geological Survey, Reston, VA

2001
Manchester, England
California State University, Fullerton, CA
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Albuquerque Public Library, NM
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
Mesa Verde National Park, CO
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL
Living Treasures Awards Ceremony, Chicago, IL

2003
Crow Canyon Archaeology Center, Cortez, CO
Sedgwick Cultural Center, Philadelphia, PA

2004
Finger Lakes Film Festival, Ithaca, NY
Arizona State Museum, Tucson, AZ

2006
Galleria Mistica, Tucson, AZ
Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA

2008
Congress of the United States, Washington DC

2010
Rough Rock Trading Post, AZ
Salt Lake City Public Library, UT

2011
University of Idaho
American Society for Environmental HIstory, Phoenix, AZ
Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Phil Thomas Performing Arts Center, Shiprock, NM
Farmington Public Library, NM

The New York Times reports on the hundreds of abandoned uranium mines still contaminating the Navajo Nation:

The abandoned mine here, about 60 miles east of the Grand Canyon, joins the list of hundreds of such sites identified across the 27,000 square miles of Navajo territory in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico that are the legacy of shoddy mining practices and federal neglect. From the 1940s through the 1980s, the mines supplied critical materials to the nation’s nuclear weapons program.

For years, unsuspecting Navajos inhaled radioactive dust and drank contaminated well water. Many of them became sick with cancer and other diseases.

The radioactivity at the former mine is said to measure one million counts per minute, translating to a human dose that scientists say can lead directly to malignant tumors and other serious health damage, according to Lee Greer, a biologist at La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif. Two days of exposure at the Cameron site would expose a person to more external radiation than the Nuclear Regulatory Commission considers safe for an entire year.

Read the full article to learn more.

The Grand Junction Free Press published an article on an upcoming screening of The Return of Navajo Boy in Colorado.

The 27,000 square mile Navajo Nation, encompassing parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, contain the largest uranium deposits in the United States, and more than 500 abandoned Cold War era uranium mines, according to the EPA.

The internationally acclaimed film demonstrates environmental racism and the struggle a Navajo grandmother goes through to attain justice.

Perry Charley, director of the Uranium Education Program at Dine’ College in Shiprock, New Mexico, will present the film and lead a discussion of the lasting impact of mining on Indian lands.

Read the full article here.

Although we have plenty of criticism of  Kony 2012 video,  it offers important lessons about HOW documentary can contribute to social change.  As storytellers, we know the power of the specific to illuminate a larger social problem, and the power of one voice to make a difference. Groundswell works collaboratively and uses film as a vehicle for people to tell their own stories across cultures.  We’ve had a lot of success in moving policymakers and people to take action — see www.navajoboy.com. But with Kony 2012, the voice of the ‘other’ is silent. They never speak.  Everything about Kony 2012 is from the outside in. Looking beyond the controversy,  I want to learn from the success of the campaign  and try to understand what makes it work.
First,  they made the issue super simple (deceptively simple?).  In this instance, it seems irresponsible, but in general, simpler messages work best. In our Return of Navajo Boy campaign, when we spoke of Elsie’s house made of Uranium rock, it brought tons of media and a federal response.  The Uranium house opened the door to a much larger and deeper examination of the issues of uranium contamination on the Navajo Reservation.  A deeper look into the LRA is probably not the intent of Kony 2012, and neither the film or the campaign are attracting those who might be so inclined. Get the bad guy is a pretty simple concept, and it appeals to millions.
Another observation is that the filmmakers broke the fourth wall. The filmmakers are visible, they tell their story from their own perspective, and their objective is clear from the outset.  This seems important.  We are experimenting with this transparency in our newest film, Food Patriots (www.foodpatriots.com), and I have to admit, being in the film feels mighty uncomfortable. We didn’t put ourselves much in www.RobbinIslandSingers.com, and people were confused about Groundswell’s role. They seldom understood that the Singing group and education project were our doing, and could understand even less our motivation for doing it.  The manner that Russell expresses his point of view is repulsive to some, but the folks he’s trying to reach identify with his western perspective and his motive, so in that regard, he’s right on his target.
Another observation is that we see ourselves in this film and we like our reflection. “We” are the privileged, the tech-savvy, and the social media using audience. We have the power to be a savior, to wear the white hat, and to get instant recognition among our friends.  The film is not about Kony, the LRA , the generations of child soldiers, ,orphans, or even Jacob. Its about us;  the power we can wield with a click of a finger, and the power we can influence if we all click together.
Kony 2012 emboldens my belief in Groundswell’s mission, and in the possibilities for documentary to truly influence social change.  There are so many incredible filmmakers out there making media that can make a difference — Kartemquin Films,  Siskel/Jacobs Productions, and even veterans like Michael Moore. Kony 2012 gives us all lessons we can use to re-activate the films we have made, and to borrow from elements that spawned success here to make our future work even more effective at moving audiences to take action.

The Return of Navajo Boy will be presented on Wednesday, March 28, 2012 at the KAFM Radio Room in Grand Junction, Colorado. The event is free but a $5 donation is encouraged.

The event, which starts at 7PM and lasts two hours, will also feature a Q&A session and presentation by Perry Charley, who is featured in the film’s epilogue. Charley is also the director of the Uranium Education Program at Diné College.

The KAFM Radio Room is located at 1310 Ute Ave, Grand Junction, Colorado. For more information, visit their official website.

Additionally, Charley will visit a series of Mesa University classes on the 27th and the 28th to make presentations about the uranium contamination on Navajo Nation.

Groundswell is teaming up with Northwestern University Chemistry Department and the Bluhm Legal Clinic to help DePue residents get a comprehensive clean up of industrial waste in their small town of 1,800.
See below for photographs of Northwestern interns organizing vast amounts of data provided by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

The Oxford Journal of Environmental History ran a cover story on uranium mining in the Navajo Nation, using The Return of Navajo Boy as a major source. Marsha Weisiger of New Mexico State University writes in her article:

The camera pans across the vermillion mesas and buttes of Monument Valley that John Ford and John Wayne made mythic. Here, near the border between Utah and Arizona, lives the most famous family you have never heard of, the family of Happy Cly, pictured again and again in Arizona Highways, the portfolios of photographers Josef Muench and Ray Manley, and postcards sold at Goulding’s tourist lodge. Dissolve. The next scenes introduce Cly’s great-grandson, Lorenzo Begay. He leafs through old black-and-white pictures of his family, stills from a movie he has never seen: a smiling girl in a velvet- een blouse studded with silver conchos, a grinning boy with a bandana tied across his forehead. “I never thought that pictures would change anyone’s life,” Begay narrates. “But that was before the return of the Navajo boy.”

To read the full article, visit the Oxford Journals website.

Dear Friends of Groundswell,
We live in a time of smart phones, 24/7 screen culture and increasing inequality between haves and have nots. As documentary filmmakers we have the ability to make a difference. Groundswell catalyzes and communicates that difference.
Our Groundswell model for social change is now recognized by tribal officials, federal agencies, law schools, environmental organizations, media critics, philanthropists, educators and students. What does Groundswell do?
Our Groundswell team transfers skills to disadvantaged communities. We create films, websites, social media, curriculum and live events featuring stories from marginalized communities. We amplify remarkable but unheard-of voices. We inform mainstream media. We put pressure on responsible parties. In the Navajo Nation we give voice to the voiceless and help the tribe advocate for the clean up of Cold War uranium contamination.
We are very pleased to announce two new projects currently in production:
Groundswell is working with residents and the Mayor in the Village of DePue, Illinois. Home to a now shuttered zinc mill and it’s vast mound of contaminated waste, this tiny hamlet of 1,800 mostly minorities has been declared a Superfund site. The long promised cleanup, delayed for more than a decade, remains a pipe dream. Contaminants from the waste permeate groundwater and seep into Lake DePue, a precious natural resource.
The Village, local schools, and Northwestern University’s environmental law and chemistry programs invited Groundswell to lead a new media campaign that will give voice to residents and put pressure on the responsible parties, Exxon and CBS/Viacom.
Are you hungry for change? Food Patriots is a new documentary film in progress about trying to raise chickens in our own backyard while seeking stories of people who are changing the way Americans eat, buy and think about food. Have you got a good food story?
Your donation helps Groundswell give voice to the voiceless and bring people together across all the boundaries that typically divide. We appreciate your continued support.
Wishing you peace, good health and fresh eggs in the New Year.
Sincerely,
   — Jeff & Jennifer
  Groundswell Co-Founders

The Return oF Navajo Boy will be screened at the Oak Park Main Library on Sunday, January 29, 2012.

The screening, which will be followed by a Q&A with director Jeff Spitz, is free and open to the public. It begins at 2PM and is sponsored by the Oak Park Coalition for Truth & Justice.

The Oak Park Main Library address is 834 Lake Street, Oak Park, IL.

The LaSalle News Tribune published an article about Groundswell’s upcoming collaboration with Northwestern University and the town of DePue, Illinois. DePue has been a Superfund site since 1995 and remains contaminated by what is left of a shuttered zinc smelting plant and the remains of a diammonium phosphate fertilizer plant. Stay tuned for more updates on our new project soon.

On November 16, 2011 Groundswell co-founders Jeff Spitz and Jennifer Amdur Spitz will join Navajo activist Mary Helen Begay in Washington DC to give a presentation to the US EPA central office to mark Native American Heritage Month.

The trio will show the film, which will be simulcast to all EPA regional offices via EPA-TV, and explain their methodology for creating environmental justice. For more information, see Groundswell’s press release here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Navajo Boy Film and Media Campaign Guides EPA to Environmental Justice

Navajo Activist and Filmmaker Present their Story Today at EPA Headquarters

      WASHINGTON DC — A documentary film and decade long media campaign by Groundswell Educational Films and a Navajo family opened eyes in Congress and paved the way this summer for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) first ever cleanup of a Cold War uranium mine on Native American land.

     A Sundance Film Festival and PBS selection The Return of Navajo Boy film, and the Navajo family in it, triggered a federal investigation of uranium houses. After ten years of activism — screenings, public events, media coverage and online advocacy — the innovative media campaign and strong Navajo community voices led to the EPA’s $7.5 million cleanup of the abandoned uranium mine adjacent to the homesite of the family in The Return of Navajo Boy film in Monument Valley UT. Skyline Mine is one of more than 500 abandoned uranium mines listed in the EPA’s 5 year plan to cleanup Cold War uranium contamination in the Navajo Nation. In 2007 Congressman Henry Waxman (D-California) introduced a congressional investigation by describing the situation as “a forty year history of bipartisan failure and a modern American tragedy”.

     To commemorate Native American Heritage Month the EPA is sponsoring a presentation today by Groundswell co-founder, Jeff Spitz, director of the film and Navajo environmental activist Mary Begay, whose family is featured in the film. Spitz, an Associate Professor of documentary film at Columbia College Chicago and Begay, an elementary school teacher in the Navajo Nation, will present film clips, websites, webisodes, science curriculum and social media that chronicle their campaign and the unfolding federal response. The presentation begins at 11:00AM, Nov. 16 in Rachel L. Carson Great Hall, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.

     “Our work with Groundswell points to the urgent need for more education in impacted Navajo communities where radioactive waste contaminates houses, water, soil and livestock,” said Mary Begay.

     “While the media flocked to Japan’s radiation crisis, the Navajo Nation struggles to secure a federal clean up of Cold War uranium contamination,” says director Jeff Spitz. “Stories and film are powerful tools to create empathy and communicate across cultures. Groundswell uses new media tools to give voice, public engagement strategies to advocate for environmental justice, and mainstream media to amplify stories.”

     Groundswell Educational Films, based in Chicago, has been actively booking screenings and presentations for 10 years, leveraging media coverage for the issue and creating a platform for the Navajo community to advocate for EPA cleanup. “Transferring media skills to community members continues to be a key to the success of this project,” said Spitz. Accomplishments include triggering the investigation of uranium houses; gaining compensation for ailing former uranium miners and helping the Navajo Nation to move Congress to authorize the five agencies–Nuclear Regulatory Agency, Dept of Energy, Indian Health Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and EPA to work together to cleanup the contamination.

BACKGROUND

The 27,000 square miles of the Navajo Nation contain the largest uranium deposits in the US and more than 500 abandoned Cold War era uranium mines according to the US EPA, which continue to contaminate land, water and homes and impact the health of residents.

• 1950s-1970s: The US government failed to warn Navajos about the dangers of uranium mining and radioactive waste despite the fact that the United States government was the sole purchaser of all the uranium.
• In 1990 Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). RECA represents an official government apology to victims of America’s Cold War nuclear program. RECA expressly acknowledges the United States’ failure to warn three groups of victims: uranium miners, on-site atomic test victims and downwind communities exposed to fallout from the atomic bomb tests.
• In 2000 The Return of Navajo Boy premieres at the Sundance Film Festival, raising awareness of “uranium houses”. Later that year, the EPA removed these structures from Navajo lands.
• In 2005 the Navajo Nation became the first indigenous government to ban uranium mining and exploration on its lands.
• In 2006 and 2007 Congress, led by Henry Waxman (D-California, Chair of the Budget and Government Oversight Committee) sought direct testimony from Navajo officials and demanded a plan of action from the five federal agencies responsible for what Waxman described as a “40 year history of bipartisan failure and a modern American tragedy”.
• In 2008 Groundswell and Navajo family members screened the film and a new epilogue on Capitol Hill.
• In 2008, Congress authorized a comprehensive 5-year plan to coordinate the clean up of contaminated structures, soil and water in the Navajo Nation.
• In April 2011 US EPA began its clean up operation in Monument Valley at the abandoned Skyline Mine which contaminated the homesite of the Navajo family featured in The Return of Navajo Boy.

About Groundswell Educational Films: Groundswell is a non-profit organization with a mission to collaborate cross-culturally in all facets of documentary filmmaking, transfer media skills into disadvantaged communities, and partner with stakeholders to stimulate local actions that address social justice issues raised in our films. Groundswell engages audiences through film, live performances and multi-arts programming and amplifies marginalized voices through new and traditional media.

Dear Friends of Navajo Boy, Groundswell is celebrating a few milestones with its Return of Navajo Boy project. EPA has completed the long awaited $7.5 million uranium cleanup in the community of Elsie Mae Begay, the matriarch in our film, The Return of Navajo Boy. Groundswell Makes Headlines
Our media outreach team prompted dozens of recent news stories about the uranium problems in Navajo lands, including two national feature stories published by the Associated Press: Navajo Woman Helps Prompt Uranium Mine Cleanup and EPA Wraps Up Uranium Mine Cleanup on Navajo Nation. Groundswell Keynotes EPA Event in DC The EPA has invited Groundswell and Navajo webisode correspondent Mary Begay, to present our model for documentary film, news making and advocacy in Washington DC on November 16th for Native American Heritage Month. Our presentation will be broadcast on EPA-TV. New DVD Edition
Groundswell is proud to announce the release of our new 15th Anniversary edition of The Return of Navajo Boy DVD. This edition includes features such as: webisodes, slideshow about Groundswell’s methods, behind-the-scenes photo gallery, 2011 epilogue and the original 1950s film Navaho Boy: The Monument Valley Story. Next up: We are raising funds to develop curricula and an education program with our Navajo partners. The project, led by Mary Begay, will empower other communities on the reservation with knowledge, tools, and skills to advocate for clean up of uranium contamination. We welcome all donations to this effort.
Groundswell turns unheard-of stories into social change. What’s your story?    – Jeff & Jennifer   Groundswell Co-Founders

On November 11, 2011 Sarah Lawrence College will host a special screening of The Return of Navajo Boy featuring a Q&A session with director Jeff Spitz and Navajo activist Mary Helen Begay. As part of the Sarah Lawrence Indigeneity Symposium, the film will screen at 7PM at the Pillow Room in the library at 1 Mead Way, Bronxville NY with a Q&A session directly following.

Below is an article published by the Farmington Daily Times:

Below is an article from the Farmington Daily Times, published on October 20, 2011:

October 20 2011 Farmington Daily Times

The Associated Press reported on the clean up of Skyline Mine, which sits near Elsie Mae Begay’s residence in Monument Valley:

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — For decades, Elsie Begay and her family tied sickness and death to the contaminated uranium waste that sat at the foot of a mesa on the Arizona-Utah border and was scattered throughout an arroyo near their homes.

Now it’s gone, along with the threat of continued radiation exposure for the handful of families living on the valley floor. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wrapped up the $7.5 million cleanup project at Oljato Mesa this week, marking the first significant remediation of a mine site on the Navajo Nation.

“Our big concern was people going right up to the piles and being exposed to gamma radiation, and we’ve mitigated that threat,” said Jason Musante, who oversaw the cleanup of Skyline Mine for the EPA.

The SLT reports on a new health study to measure the impacts of cold war uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation:

Just as crews complete the cleanup of the Skyline Mine, a group of health scientists is preparing to launch a sweeping study of how the uranium legacy continues to affect the health of the youngest Navajos.

Toxicologist Johnnye Lewis said no other health study of its kind has taken place on the Navajo Reservation.

“It probably would have been nice to do this 10 years ago,” the University of New Mexico researcher said.

But it was only in 2008 that Congress held a hearing about the lingering problems of uranium on the reservation and adopted plans to deal with them.

Salt Lake Tribune reporter Judy Fahys delivers a new update about the work in Monument Valley to clean up the Skyline Mine near Elsie Mae Begay’s home:

In some people’s minds, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleanup this summer signaled the federal government has at long last started owning up to its obligations to the Navajos. Next week dump trucks and dozers will be done stuffing the evil back into the redrock.

And the unseen demons will be vanquished from the mythic landscape.

Mary Holiday is happy the uranium has been returned to Oljato Mesa, out of sight from the cluster of family homes below Skyline.

“It’s better,” she said, her daughter Daisy translating from Navajo, “that it’s been taken back where it came from instead of putting it back in another place where it is a danger.”

Read the full article.

The Salt Lake Tribune published a front page article on October 10, 2011 about the clean up in Monument Valley. Read it below:

The Oregon Daily Emerald, the student newspaper at the University of Oregon, published a wrap-up of their recent campus screening:

The award-winning expose “The Return of Navajo Boy,” a documentary on uranium contamination of the Navajo Nation, was presented at the EMU Thursday night as part of a state-wide tour to broaden public discussion of indigenous rights.

“It made me more aware,” said Joanne Gasca, a University senior studying psychology. “I didn’t know this was going on, the uranium stuff. I had no idea. We have to do something about this.”

The film, produced by Groundswell Educational Films, was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival and was widely promoted by PBS. Filmmaker Jeff Spitz and tribal elder and film subject Elsie Mae Begay have traveled nationwide promoting the film’s message, including a visit to Capitol Hill.

As the EPA’s clean up of uranium contamination in Monument Valley continues, Groundswell presents a new webisode documenting Navajo reactions. Groundswell correspondent Mary Helen Begay talks with neighbors and EPA site-coordinator Jason Musante about moving 17,000 cubic yards of radioactive soil. Where is the EPA moving it? Now you can see for yourself. And you can watch more than a dozen webisodes to follow this ongoing groundswell for environmental justice. The webisodes start in 2000 when Groundswell first exposed the existence of a house made out of uranium.

Groundswell’s media outreach team continues to amplify Navajo voices in this new Associated Press article which has appeared in over 150 news outlets nationwide. This month Navajo activist and grandmother Elsie Mae Begay, Navajo nuclear scientist Perry Charley, and Groundswell Co-founder, Jeff Spitz, travel to Oregon for a tour of three universities sponsored by the Tokyo Foundation. For more information about our upcoming events or to book a screening/discussion in your community visit us at www.navajoboy.com. Thank you for your continued support.    – Jeff & Jennifer   Groundswell Co-Founders

Southern Oregon Unversity Ashland, Oregon      University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon      Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon      Phil L Thomas Arts Center Shiprock, New Mexico      Farmington Public Library Farmington, New Mexico

An official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and PBS, The Return of Navajo Boy exposed widespread uranium contamination in Navajo Nation – including whole houses made out of uranium slabs – and reunited a Navajo family torn apart by missionaries. Since then, Spitz and Navajo activists Mary and Elsie Begay have triggered an investigation into uranium contamination in Navajo Nation and worked with attorney John Hueston, a former lead prosecutor in the Enron trial, to win a multi-million dollar EPA cleanup.

When: The film will be shown on Friday, October 21, 2011 from 6:00-9:00 p.m.

Where: Farmington Public Library, 2101 Farmington Ave, Farmington, NM

Elsie Mae Begay and John Wayne Cly, Navajo activists and community members featured in the film, and director Jeff Spitz will discuss how they use media, live events, advocacy and persistence to leverage real change in public policy. There will be a reception before the screening and discussion.

For information contact film director Jeff Spitz at 773-771-7697 or jeff@groundswellfilms.org.

An official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and PBS, The Return of Navajo Boy exposed widespread uranium contamination in Navajo Nation – including whole houses made out of uranium slabs – and reunited a Navajo family torn apart by missionaries. Since then, Spitz and Navajo activists Mary and Elsie Begay have triggered an investigation into uranium contamination in Navajo Nation and worked with attorney John Hueston, a former lead prosecutor in the Enron trial, to win a multi-million dollar EPA cleanup.

When: The film will be shown on Thursday, October 20, 2011 from 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Where: Phil L. Thomas Performing Arts Center in Shiprock, New Mexico.

Elsie Mae Begay and John Wayne Cly, Navajo activists and community members featured in the film and director Jeff Spitz will discuss how they use media, live events, advocacy and persistence to leverage real change in public policy.

For information contact film director Jeff Spitz at 773-771-7697 or jeff@groundswellfilms.org.

 

Elsie Mae Begay, Navajo activist and community member featured in the film, Navajo nuclear scientist Perry Charley and director Jeff Spitz will hold a post-show discussion on the progress of the EPA clean-up currently removing thousands of tons of radioactive waste from Begay’s backyard.

This event is part of an Oregon college tour organized by Linda Richards, a Sylff fellow enrolled in the History of Science PhD program at Oregon State University. For more information, please see Richards’ recent article on Return of Navajo Boy.

When: Friday, October 7 from 5:15PM-7:15PM with discussion to follow.

 

Where: Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331. La Sells Stewart Center, Construction and Engineering Hall.

 

Elsie Mae Begay, Navajo activist and community member featured in the film, Navajo nuclear scientist Perry Charley and director Jeff Spitz will hold a post-show discussion on the progress of the EPA clean-up currently removing thousands of tons of radioactive waste from Begay’s backyard.

This event is part of an Oregon college tour organized by Linda Richards, a Sylff fellow enrolled in the History of Science PhD program at Oregon State University. For more information, please see Richards’ recent article on Return of Navajo Boy.

 

When: Thursday, October 6.

6:30PM- 8:30PM with reception to follow.

 

Where: University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403. Erb Memorial Union, Fir Room.

 

 

Elsie Mae Begay, Navajo activist and community member featured in the film, Navajo nuclear scientist Perry Charley and director Jeff Spitz will hold a post-show discussion on the progress of the EPA clean-up currently removing thousands of tons of radioactive waste from Begay’s backyard.

This event is part of an Oregon college tour organized by Linda Richards, a Sylff fellow enrolled in the History of Science PhD program at Oregon State University. For more information, please see Richards’ recent article on Return of Navajo Boy.

When:

Wednesday, October 5

12PM: Potluck Kickoff

3PM: The Return of Navajo Boy Screening

4:15PM: Post-screening discussion

6PM: Indigenous rights panel discussion

9PM: Second screening of The Return of Navajo Boy

Where: Southern Oregon University, 1250 Siskiyou Boulevard Ashland, OR 97520. Rogue River Room, Ashland Campus.

 

The Indian Health Service will present a special screening of The Return of Navajo Boy with Elsie Mae Begay in attendance to take questions this Wednesday at the Kayenta Chapter House in Arizona.

In addition to the Navajo grandmother from the film, Navajo nuclear scientist Perry Charley will also give a talk about the history of uranium mining on the Navajo nation. Free health screenings will also be available. See the flyer below for more details.

An official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and PBS, The Return of Navajo Boy exposed widespread uranium contamination in Navajo Nation – including whole houses made out of uranium slabs – and reunited a Navajo family torn apart by missionaries. Since then, Spitz and Navajo activists Mary and Elsie Begay have triggered an investigation into uranium contamination in Navajo Nation and worked with attorney John Hueston, a former lead prosecutor in the Enron trial, to win a multi-million dollar EPA cleanup.

When: The film will be shown at the 5^th Annual Monument Valley Film, Blues and Arts Festival on Saturday and Sunday, September 10 & 11 at 4:30PM each day.

Where: Monument Valley High School, North US Highway 163, Mustang Boulevard, Kayenta AZ, 86033 in the Student Activity Center.

The Monument Valley Film, Blues and Arts Festival is the first and only Native American festival of its kind to be held on the Navajo Nation. The goal of the film festival is to bring Native made films to the people of the Navajo Nation who otherwise would not have the opportunity or means to see these films. It is also an opportunity for emerging and seasoned film makers to present their work to a primarily all Native audience.

The Monument Valley Film, Blues and Arts Festival is a free event held every year in Kayenta, Arizona, the heart of the Navajo Nation. The event began as a simple small film festival financed and organized by local film makers Shonie and Andee De La Rosa of Sheephead Films.

More information at: http://sheepheadfilms.com/mvff/

 

The Associated Press recently reported on Elsie’s work to ensure that the abandoned uranium mine near her home is cleaned up:

MONUMENT VALLEY, Utah (AP) — The stretch of high desert on the Arizona-Utah border gives way to towering rock formations that resemble huge mittens, chimney spires and castles. But to the west of Monument Valley lies a reminder of what has been blamed for much heartache and tragedy in Elsie Mae Begay’s family: A mesa stained with a gray streak where uranium was mined decades ago.

Read the full article on the Houston Chronicle’s website.

Dear Friends of Navajo Boy,

Three recent articles help Groundswell leverage more pressure to clean up radioactive uranium hazards on Navajo lands. “Let’s call attention to all the other Navajo communities that don’t have a film and a media campaign,” says Groundswell’s Navajo Community educator Mary Begay. Today, a multi-million dollar EPA cleanup is happening at Skyline mine, in the family compound of Elsie Mae Begay, featured in the film The Return of Navajo Boy. Groundswell is making plans to educate, train and organize other Navajo families to advocate too. Thank you for your support and contributions.

           – Jeff & Jennifer
          Groundswell Co-Founders

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jennifer Amdur Spitz (773) 771-7696 jennifer@groundswellfilms.org

Filmmaker and Navajo activist invited to teach tribal environmental leaders how to build new groundswells for action

GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN — An internationally acclaimed documentary film, The Return of Navajo Boy tells a Navajo family history involving Hollywood, houses made out of uranium, and a long lost boy. The film and public engagement campaign are credited with triggering a federal investigation into uranium poisoning, pressuring changes in federal legislation, and after a decade of persistence, inspiring the EPA to clean up uranium contamination at Elsie Begay’s home. Now, the Navajo activists and filmmakers are bringing their media justice experience to other tribal environmental activists at the Tribal Lands and Environment Forum in Green Bay, WI.

“While everyone is talking about Japan’s radiation crisis, the Navajo Nation is struggling to secure a federal clean up of Cold War uranium contamination,” says Spitz. “Navajos are dying of cancer at high rates, and we’re working with new media tools to fight for environmental justice.”

Since the film’s premier at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, filmmaker Jeff Spitz and Navajo grandmother and activist Elsie May Begay have criss-crossed the nation showing the film and telling the story. Spitz raises awareness through the media, websites, and live events by working through Groundswell Educational Films, the Chicago-based nonprofit he co-founded. Groundswell enables Navajo activists to film the clean up with video cameras and travel around the reservation educating peers on health issues surrounding uranium.

Sparked by the success of this advocacy effort, tribal leaders invited Groundswell Films and Navajo activist Mary Begay to present the keynote at the 2011 Tribal Lands and Environment Forum on August 23rd in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This special presentation of The Return of Navajo Boy, an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and PBS will include a ‘webisode’ about the clean up taking place at this time in Monument Valley.

Navajo activist Mary Begay will introduce the film, its recent epilogue and new webisodes which she filmed. Groundswell co-founder Jennifer Amdur Spitz will share Groundswell’s methodology for media and social change. In addition, Groundswell is bringing attorney John Hueston, formerly the lead prosecutor in the Enron trials to discuss “Potentially Responsible Party” lawsuits involving major corporations and their environmental legacies. On behalf of the Navajo Nation Hueston successfully negotiated with GE and then pursued Kerr-McGee resulting in more than $20 million in new funds targeted for cleaning up Cold War-era uranium contamination in the Navajo Nation. Over 500 more abandoned uranium mines remain on the Navajo Reservation.

“Members of our tribal steering committee had seen this documentary at other venues and believed showing it at our forum would make a wonderful addition to breakout sessions and trainings,” said Todd Barnell, Program Coordinator at the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals. “They believed that showing a local issue that highlights community-level involvement would be exciting and thought-provoking for our attendees.” The Tribal Lands and Environment Forum brings together tribal and federal employees working in solid waste, brownfields, Superfund sites, underground storage tanks, and emergency response. The Forum convenes at the Oneida Tribe’s Radisson Hotel and Conference Center in Green Bay, from August 23rd – 25th.

BACKGROUND

The 27,000 square miles of the Navajo Nation contain the largest uranium deposits in the US and more than 500 abandoned Cold War era uranium mines according to the US EPA, which continue to contaminate land, water and homes and impact the health of residents.

• 1950s-1970s: The US government failed to warn Navajos about the dangers of uranium mining and radioactive waste despite the fact that the United States government was the sole purchaser of all the uranium.
• In 1990 Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). RECA represents an official government apology to victims of America’s Cold War nuclear program. RECA expressly acknowledges the United States’ failure to warn three groups of victims: uranium miners, on-site atomic test victims and downwind communities exposed to fallout from the atomic bomb tests.
• In 2005 the Navajo Nation became the first indigenous government to ban uranium mining and exploration on its lands.
• In 2006 and 2007 Congress, led by Henry Waxman (D-California, Chair of the Budget and Government Oversight Committee) sought direct testimony from Navajo officials and demanded a plan of action from the five federal agencies responsible for what Waxman described as a “40 year history of bipartisan failure and a modern American tragedy”.
• In 2008 Congress authorized a comprehensive 5-year plan to coordinate the clean up of contaminated structures, soil and water in the Navajo Nation. This summer marks the fourth year of the EPA’s comprehensive clean up plan.
• In April 2011 US EPA began its clean up operation in Monument Valley at the abandoned Skyline Mine which contaminated the homesite of the Navajo family featured in The Return of Navajo Boy.

About Groundswell: Groundswell Educational Films is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization with a mission to collaborate across cultures in the art of documentary filmmaking, transfer media skills into disadvantaged communities and partner with stakeholders to engage audiences in social justice stories.

About 2011 Tribal Lands Forum: Tribal Lands and Environment: A National Forum on Solid Waste, Emergency Response, Contaminated Sites, and USTS is hosted by The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, National Tribal Waste and Response Assistance Program (TWRAP) Steering Committee and USEPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER).

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Check out our latest Navajo video dispatch from Monument Valley. It shows the US EPA’s cleanup in full swing. Groundswell correspondent Mary Begay follows US EPA project manager Jason Musante behind the scenes.

“This example and this project show that someone in Congress learned of the problem here and said go do that,” Musante says. “Now what’s been a really good way to bring that message forward is the documentary Navajo Boy.”

Groundswell continues to publicize the story through:

• Webisodes, shot on flip cameras by Navajo participants and edited by Groundswell — view the whole series at navajoboy.com/webisodes
• Generating media coverage for the issue (see headlines below)
• And creating opportunities to screen the film and for Navajos to tell their story.

In August, Mary Begay, who shot this webisode, and Jeff Spitz, producer of The Return of Navajo Boy will keynote The Tribal Lands Forum, a national conference for tribal environmental professionals. Their keynote will focus on cross-cultural media, advocacy and environmental justice. Check our website for a listing of other presentations or to book a screening of your own.

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On May 17, 2011 Kathy Helms of the Gallup Independent delves into details about the US EPA’s clean up of Elsie Mae Begay’s backyard and the former Skyline Mine in Oljato Messa, as seen in The Return of Navajo Boy.

Gallup Independent May 17 2011

Kathy Helms of the Gallup Independent reported on May 16, 2011 about the US Environmental Protection Agency’s ongoing clean up in Monument Valley. Read the full article below.

Gallup Independent May 16 2011

Brazil’s Uranium Film Festival sent out this press release highlighting The Return of Navajo Boy’s screening in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and all across Brazil on a traveling tour this summer.

Urânio em Movi(e)mento – The 1st International Festival of Films on Nuclear Energy, Rio de Janeiro May 16th to 28th, 2011

The Movie “The Return of Navajo Boy” USA, 2008, 57 min, by Director Jeff Spitz is one of eight best films of the 1st International Festival of Films on Nuclear Energy in Rio de Janeiro.

The entire world knows John Ford and John Wayne and their legendary films of the Wild West. The documentary of Jeff Spitz connects these important stars of Hollywood with the suffer of the indigenes people of the southwest of USA, the Navajo (Diné), who suffers until today because of uranium mining, which took place in their territory and used miss-informed Navajo people as cheap uranium miners to create the first atomic bombs!

A jury composed of scientists, journalists, producers and film experts has selected “The Return of Navajo Boy” together with seven other documentaries and movies among 34 for the official screenings selected films to compete in the awards for the best short and the best feature film of the festival.

The other selected films are:

Into Eternity, Denmark, 2009, 75 min. by Director Michael Madsen. The film questions whether a safe deposit of radioactive waste from nuclear plants is possible or not? Who will protect the extremely radioactive waste for at least a hundred thousand years?

Beating the Bomb, United Kingdom, 2010, 71 min, by Director Wolfgang Matt and Meera Patel. It is an intelligent, very good produced film about the peace movement in Britain against the atomic bomb.

Chernobyl, une histoire naturelle? (Chernobyl, a natural history?), France, 2010, 90 min, by Director Luc Riolon. The film shows the nuclear accident of April 26, 1986 in the Ukraine and what happened with nature until today. Zoologists and radioecologists are making surprising discoveries.

Om bergen faller sönder (Under the surface), Sweden, 2010, 35 min, by Director Klara Sager. It is a simple, but clear film about a local community and indigenous population in northern Sweden and an international mining company prospecting for Uranium. The local people are afraid and against uranium prospecting and against uranium mining, because they depend on the local natural resources like the Reindeers.

Climate of Hope, Australia, 2007, 30 min, by Directors’ Scott Ludlam and Jose Garcia. This film shows the whole nuclear energy cycle, from mining uranium to the nuclear plant and its relation to the greenhouse effect. It is a very interesting film perfect for schools and universities. It says: Nuclear energy is producing a lot of CO2 and for that will not save the world against global warming!

A film, which became even more important during the last 4 weeks is a documentary made by the Costa Rican filmmaker Pablo Ortega. Uranium 238: La Bomba del Pentagon Sucia (The Dirty Bomb the Pentagon), 2009, 28 min. The film talks about a nuclear issue that is little known in the world: rockets and bombs with depleted uranium that are radioactive and used by the USA in international wars like Iraq and very likely during the current war in Libya. The consequences of the use of these bombs are terrible for the local population and the soldiers themselves who make use of them. Worth mentioning that last April, the government of Costa Rica became the second government of the world to ban this type of ammunition. Uranium 238 is a Brazilian premiere.

A short documentary made 2003 in Brazil by Director Luiz Eduardo Jorge is the last finalist: Césio 137 – O brilho da morte (Cesium – The brightness of death): “It is a striking film”, says Professor João Luiz Leocádio. This film about the Chernobyl of Brazil, a nuclear accident that happened 1987 in the city of Goiânia, questions the competence of the national Brazilian authorities on nuclear safety. “The film reveals that beyond the question of nuclear power plants like Angra 1 and 2, Brazil and the world must also discuss the question of the nuclear waste from hospitals and radiology centres. Everybody could be affected!” says environmental journalist Norbert G. Suchanek and General Director of the Uranium Film Festival.

The judges are: John Louis Leocádio, Professor of Film & Video, University Federal Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro), Dawid Bartelt, Director of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Brazil Office; Angelo Antonio Duarte, journalist and professor of Film and Audio of the Technical School Adolpho Bloch – FAETEC, Marco Fadiga, Producer of Caju Filmes and Technical Director of the 1st Uranium Film Festival, Norbert G. Suchanek, environmental and human rights Journalist, Filmmaker and General Director 1st Uranium Film Festival.

After thirteen years of film screenings, events, conferences, and relentless advocacy, clean up of Skyline Mine begins in Monument Valley Utah. The family living below the mine is the subject of Return of Navajo Boy, the streak on the mesa behind their family home piqued filmmaker Jeff Spitz’s interest to find out more about the old abandoned uranium mine overhead.

Click through to read yesterday’s front page article in the Salt Lake Tribune.

“The Return of Navajo Boy” was screened at the 2011 American Society for Environmental History conference in April. With support from Sylff, Linda Richards of Oregon State University and Shangrila Wynn from the University of Oregon presented the film. Filmmaker Jeff Spitz and Navajo participant Elsie Mae Begay were in attendance, along with Perry Charley, a Navajo nuclear scientist from Diné College.

From left to right: Perry Charley, Elsie Mae Begay, Jeff Spitz and Linda Richards.

Conference attendees enjoy lunch after discussing the situation on the Navajo Nation.

Kathy Helms of the Gallup Independent reported on Groundswell’s screening at the Department of Energy’s State of Environmental Justice Conference today. Read her article below:

‘Navajo Boy’ to be shown at environmental justice conference

April 28, 2011

By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – The award-winning film, “The Return of Navajo Boy” will be shown Thursday afternoon at the fifth annual State of Environmental Justice in America Conference in Washington.

Directed by Jeff Spitz of Chicago, the internationally acclaimed documentary that reunited a Navajo family and triggered a federal investigation into uranium contamination is a reminder of the legacy of Cold War uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began cleanup March 30 of the Skyline Mine on Oljato Mesa in Monument Valley and radioactive waste in Elsie Begay’s back yard. Begay, who lost two children to radiation-related cancers, is featured in the Groundswell film which introduces audiences to Native American culture, environmental racism and one Navajo grandmother’s struggle for justice.

“Groundswell along with Elsie and other Navajo family members have worked tirelessly over the last 11 years for this outcome,” Spitz said. “The U.S. Department of Energy under the present administration is proud of this environmental justice story.”

DOE invited Groundswell to come to Washington to present the film and epilogue. Friday morning, on the second day of the conference, Spitz and Navajo participants will discuss how they use media, live events, advocacy and persistence to leverage change in public policy.

But while they celebrate the victory for Begay’s family, Spitz said, many other Navajo families are dealing with radioactive contamination and grief that simply cannot be contained.

One of the premier authorities on uranium issues in Navajo Indian Country, Perry Charley of Dine College’s Environmental Institute and a panelist on environmental health issues in Indian Country at the 2010 conference, had hoped to attend this year’s event. However, Spitz said, “His doctors will not allow the travel. He has cancer.”

Instead, Charley wrote a statement about the “real state of environmental justice in Navajo lands” for Spitz to share with the audience. “Sorry I can’t be there, but tell the crowd I wish them well. And the federal government has waited too long to fund many remedial projects, education and research studies,” he said.

Among the points Charley highlights is the Navajo Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Department – which has so diligently monitored and performed remediation of abandoned uranium mines and mill sites on the Navajo Nation – is proposed to have its funding cut completely by the Obama administration, he said. “The program is desperately needed to perform continued surveillance and maintain reclaimed uranium mines and mills, some of which show signs of deterioration and exposing radioactive waste to nearby communities.”

Charley also expects a hard battle in Congress over passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2011, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico and a bipartisan group of senators. “Many of our Navajo miners and families face challenges in getting compensation due to the heavy documentation requirement of the process. The federal government still does not understand the implications of traditional and cultural sensitivity,” he said.

And while there is now a five-year plan for cleanup of legacy waste, there is “no funding to perform many of the issues we face” from past Manhattan Engineer District and Atomic Energy Commission activities.

Charley said he personally has been sampling and conducting studies of the impacts to Navajo water sources. “We have a well with uranium concentration of 760 parts per billion,” many times above the 30 parts per billion Maximum Contaminant Level allowable under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking water standards, “and another a few miles away with 200 parts per billion,” he said. “These communities have no alternate water source and the Navajo continue to use contaminated sources for their domestic needs.”

Companies who once mined Navajo lands for uranium need to be made to come back and clean up their mess, according to Charley. “We have tons of radioactive materials scattered throughout Navajo lands. Our water is contaminated and our air is contaminated. Homes are built with radioactive materials.

“We need studies to determine the impact to our children and their future. There has never been a true epidemiological study done on Navajo lands to determine the true extent of exposure. Small-scale studies and research point to contamination of every segment of our lives and society.”

Navajo also needs educational funds for programs such as the Uranium Education Program which he once directed and had to cease due to lack of funding. “We need to educate our people and our young ones to be part of this process, to be self-sustaining and to dictate our own future and destiny. We literally have dozens of mining companies at our reservation doors waiting for the moratorium on uranium mining and processing to be lifted on Navajo lands. The companies and federal entities that continue to disregard our tribal sovereignty laws and rights need to recognize these.”

Education and research studies need to continue, Charley said. “Even for some of us who have been involved in being part of these activities to try to correct the wrongs of the past, we are affected as well. I don’t know what my future holds, but I am fighting for my very survival,” he told Spitz. “Feel free to tell them this, especially the feds.”