Quaker Arts

Film About Friends: Journeys Towards Peace

2011-05-01T12:58:00.007-04:00

The 15th Street Arts Committee Presents:

Screening: Film about Friends Journeys Towards Peace

7:00pm May 5th 2011

15 Rutherford Place

15th Street Meetinghouse

Quakers believe in Peace. Film About Friends profiles five from the Mount Toby Meeting. They reach their belief from different backgrounds. David, an ex-Marine, knows the horror of war; Frances, a peace activist, has been imprisoned for her activism; Mary studied nonviolence in India; Margaret searched for peace in her professional life; and John prevented conflict by feeding the world.

The film's director Joe Fenstermaker lives in Brooklyn and attends Brooklyn Meeting. Joe will be present at the screening with a question and answer period after the film.

Film Trailer: http://vimeo.com/3120825

Film Summary:

Film About Friends: Journeys Toward Peace introduces five members of the Mount Toby Friends Meeting in Leverett, MA engaging in work that represents their fundamental values and beliefs about Peace. The individuals profiled range in age from 40 to 90 years old and illustrate how one can live a peaceful existence in each stage of life. From these portraits emerges an understanding of Peace as seen through the lens of the Quaker faith and, by extension, how leading a peaceful existence can impact all members of society.

An observational framework places viewers in the physical and spiritual perspective of Quakers. The film documents each life with the care and precision of a portrait film. Subjects respond to the viewer, recounting their journey towards Peace with past examples and current struggles. To maintain unity, the themes of Quaker faith and a belief in Peace weave individuals together. The characters’ lives speak in a calico unity of overlapping and opposing visions of Peace, as witnessed personally through their Quaker faith. The film ends with the silence of an unprogramed Quaker meeting, and all scenes in the film function within a Quaker context of silence and simplicity. No narrator tells the audience what to think, and no music tells the audience how to feel. Viewers in this peaceful environment may examine and consider their lives, as Quakers do, by questioning and engaging in a dialogue with themselves. Quotations appear between major thematic junctures in the film to foster and promote ongoing self-examination for viewers.

Quakers listen, discuss, and act on the inner light that they believe is fundamental to all people. This process involves reflection and action; filmmaking also requires a similar intellectual progression. This film is guided and mediated by the constraints that shooting on 16mm film fosters. Every decision must be made earnestly because the format forces structure and deliberation into the creative process. The film runs approximately an hour in length, providing enough space to explain, reflect on, and illustrate the individuals profiled.

Gasland Friday April 8, 7pm

2011-03-22T22:48:00.004-04:00

Screening of the Academy Award Nominated Documentary

GASLAND Followed by Q & A

Friday, April 8, 7-9 pm

at 15th Street Quaker Meetinghouse

15 Rutherford Place

(15th St. between 2^nd and 3^rd Aves. in Manhattan)

(PLEASE ALSO SAVE THE DATE—TWO DAYS EARLIER—FOR T.C. MCLUHAN’S THE FRONTIER GANDHI: BADSHAH KHAN A TORCH FOR PEACE)

Presented by:

Friends in Unity with Nature • The Quaker Arts Committee

Neighborhood Energy Network • Tri-State Food Not Lawns

Sane Energy Project*

The program is free and open to the public.

About the film

The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of "fracking" or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a "Saudi Arabia of natural gas" just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination.

A recently drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is just one of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called GASLAND.

The movie GASLAND has also been sweeping the country, alerting citizens everywhere to the true price of natural gas, and mobilizing them in defense of the land that they love. If you haven’t seen it, now’s your chance. If you have, it’s a great way to come together with others who are equally concerned for the beauty, health and integrity of our natural environment.

Q & A

After the film, a question and answer period will address the repercussions of fracking in New York City’s watershed and the proposed natural gas storage and transmission pipe line entering Manhattan at the Gansevoort peninsula. An opportunity to take action and discuss sustainable alternatives will be offered to attenders.

Sane Energy Project℠ is an advocacy coalition composed of the following volunteer groups: Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy, NYH2O, CDOG, Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, No Gas Pipeline, Sierra Club and United for Action.

Donations for the upkeep of the Meetinghouse are gratefully accepted.

A Force More Powerful (two Thursdays, March 17 & 24th)

2011-03-16T09:03:00.005-04:00

A Force More Powerful (two Thursdays, March 17 & 24^th)

7pm Thursday, March 17 (Part 1) and March 24 (Part 2), 2011. A Force More Powerful, by Steve York.

(PLEASE ALSO SAVE THE DATE FOR T.C. MCLUHAN’S THE FRONTIER GANDHI: BADSHAH KHAN A TORCH FOR PEACE)

A Force More Powerful location: Room 1, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place, Manhattan, near Union Square [NOTE THIS CHANGE OF LOCATION FROM THE ORIGINAL SCHEDULE].

EPISODE 1 (March 17)

In the 1960s, Gandhi’s nonviolent weapons were taken up by black college students in Nashville, Tennessee. Disciplined and strictly nonviolent, they successfully desegregated Nashville’s downtown lunch counters in five months, becoming a model for the entire civil rights movement.

In India in the 1930s, after Gandhi returned from South Africa, he and his followers adopted a strategy of refusing to cooperate with British rule. Through civil disobedience and boycotts, they successfully loosened their oppressors’ grip on power and set India on a path to freedom.

In 1985, a young South African named Mkhuseli Jack led a movement against the legalized discrimination known as apartheid. Their campaign of nonviolent mass action, most notably a devastating consumer boycott in the Eastern Cape Province, awakened whites to black grievances and fatally weakened business support for apartheid.

EPISODE TWO (March 24)

In April, 1940, German military forces invaded Denmark. Danish leaders adopted a strategy of “resistance disguised as collaboration”—undermining German objectives by negotiating, delaying, and obstructing Nazi demands. Underground resistance organized sabotage and strikes, and rescued all but a handful of Denmark’s seven thousand Jews.

In 1980, striking workers in Poland demanded independent unions. Using their leverage to negotiate unprecedented rights in a system where there was no power separate from the communist party, they created a union, Solidarity. Driven underground by a government crackdown in 1981, Solidarity re-emerged in 1989 as Poland’s governing political party.

In 1983, Chilean workers initiated a wave of nonviolent protests against the military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Severe repression failed to stop the protests, and violent opposition failed to dislodge the dictatorship—until the democratic opposition organized to defeat Pinochet in a 1988 referendum.

This film is part of the Courage vs. Violence Film and Discussion Series

If you imagine there’s nothing you can do, see what people with nothing have done and imagine again more clearly.

This Friday: Sir, No Sir!

2011-03-05T16:44:00.005-05:00

7pm Friday, March 11, 2011. Sir, No Sir! Filmmaker and activist David Zeiger’s documentary chronicles the largely forgotten antiwar activities of American GIs and other members of the military during the Vietnam era -- actions that put them in greater peril than civilian protesters. Powerful and surprising, the film weaves together the stories of veterans who participated in the opposition movement, an effort that, by the early 1970s, found widespread support from civilians and troops alike. 1 win & 2 nominations. Location: Room 1, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place, Manhattan, near Union Square.

This film is part of the Courage vs. Violence Film and Discussion Series

If you imagine there’s nothing you can do, see what people with nothing have done and imagine again more clearly.

Harlan County U.S.A. & Crude

2011-02-20T08:46:00.005-05:00

TWO FILMS THIS WEEK, ONE THURSDAY, ONE FRIDAY

7pm Thursday, February 24, 2011. Harlan County, U.S.A. Director Barbara Kopple's film about the 1973 coal miners' strike in Harlan County, KY, won a Best Documentary Oscar and was selected for the National Film Registry. Highlighting the struggles of families living in shacks with no indoor plumbing and enduring hazardous working conditions, the film details the conflict between the Eastover Mining Co. and the laborers determined to join the United Mine Workers of America. PG. Won Oscar. Another 2 wins. Location: Penington Friends House, 215 East 15th Street, Manhattan.

7pm Friday, February 25, 2011. Crude. Filmmaker Joe Berlinger's provocative documentary explores the ongoing battle waged by 30,000 indigenous Ecuadorans and their lawyers against Chevron for dumping billions of gallons of toxic oil waste into the Amazon. Berlinger examines the environmental catastrophe -- dubbed the "Amazon Chernobyl" -- from all sides, following the drama as it moves from the contamination site to the courtroom and beyond, even landing on the cover of Vanity Fair. NR. 9 wins & 2 nominations. Location: Meeting Room, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place, Manhattan.

These films are part of the Courage vs. Violence Film and Discussion Series

If you saw Bringing Down a Dictator at the C v. V Film Series, you already know this man

2011-02-17T13:03:00.005-05:00

Shy U.S. Intellectual Created Playbook Used in a Revolution

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

BOSTON — Halfway around the world from Tahrir Square in Cairo, an aging American intellectual shuffles about his cluttered brick row house in a working-class neighborhood here. His name is Gene Sharp. Stoop-shouldered and white-haired at 83, he grows orchids, has yet to master the Internet and hardly seems like a dangerous man.

But for the world’s despots, his ideas can be fatal.

Few Americans have heard of Mr. Sharp. But for decades, his practical writings on nonviolent revolution — most notably “From Dictatorship to Democracy,” a 93-page guide to toppling autocrats, available for download in 24 languages — have inspired dissidents around the world, including in Burma, Bosnia, Estonia and Zimbabwe, and now Tunisia and Egypt.

When Egypt’s April 6 Youth Movement was struggling to recover from a failed effort in 2005, its leaders tossed around “crazy ideas” about bringing down the government, said Ahmed Maher, a leading strategist. They stumbled on Mr. Sharp while examining the Serbian movement Otpor, which he had influenced. [Ian's note: We saw Sharp's work mentioned before in "Bringing Down a Dictator"--a film about the Otpor movement that overthrew Slobodan Milosevic]

When the nonpartisan International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, which trains democracy activists, slipped into Cairo several years ago to conduct a workshop, among the papers it distributed was Mr. Sharp’s “198 Methods of Nonviolent Action,” a list of tactics that range from hunger strikes to “protest disrobing” to “disclosing identities of secret agents.”

Dalia Ziada, an Egyptian blogger and activist who attended the workshop and later organized similar sessions on her own, said trainees were active in both the Tunisia and Egypt revolts. She said that some activists translated excerpts of Mr. Sharp’s work into Arabic, and that his message of “attacking weaknesses of dictators” stuck with them.

Peter Ackerman, a onetime student of Mr. Sharp who founded the nonviolence center and ran the Cairo workshop, cites his former mentor as proof that “ideas have power.”

Mr. Sharp, hard-nosed yet exceedingly shy, is careful not to take credit. He is more thinker than revolutionary, though as a young man he participated in lunch-counter sit-ins and spent nine months in a federal prison in Danbury, Conn., as a conscientious objector during the Korean War. He has had no contact with the Egyptian protesters, he said, although he recently learned that the Muslim Brotherhood had “From Dictatorship to Democracy” posted on its Web site.

While seeing the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak as a sign of “encouragement,” Mr. Sharp said, “The people of Egypt did that — not me.”

He has been watching events in Cairo unfold on CNN from his modest house in East Boston, which he bought in 1968 for $150 plus back taxes.

It doubles as the headquarters of the Albert Einstein Institution, an organization Mr. Sharp founded in 1983 while running seminars at Harvard and teaching political science at what is now the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. It consists of him; his assistant, Jamila Raquib, whose family fled Soviet oppression in Afghanistan when she was 5; a part-time office manager and a Golden Retriever mix named Sally. Their office wall sports a bumper sticker that reads “Gotov Je!” — Serbian for “He is finished!”

In this era of Twitter revolutionaries, the Internet holds little allure for Mr. Sharp. He is not on Facebook and does not venture onto the Einstein Web site. (“I should,” he said apologetically.) If he must send e-mail, he consults a handwritten note Ms. Raquib has taped to the doorjamb near his state-of-the-art Macintosh computer in a study overflowing with books and papers. “To open a blank e-mail,” it reads, “click once on icon that says ‘new’ at top of window.”

Some people suspect Mr. Sharp of being a closet peacenik and a lefty — in the 1950s, he wrote for a publication called “Peace News” and he once worked as personal secretary to A. J. Muste, a noted labor union activist and pacifist — but he insists that he outgrew his own early pacifism and describes himself as “trans-partisan.”

Based on studies of revolutionaries like Gandhi, nonviolent uprisings, civil rights struggles, economic boycotts and the like, he has concluded that advancing freedom takes careful strategy and meticulous planning, advice that Ms. Ziada said resonated among youth leaders in Egypt. Peaceful protest is best, he says — not for any moral reason, but because violence provokes autocrats to crack down. “If you fight with violence,” Mr. Sharp said, “you are fighting with your enemy’s best weapon, and you may be a brave but dead hero.”

Autocrats abhor Mr. Sharp. In 2007, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela denounced him, and officials in Myanmar, according to diplomatic cables obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, accused him of being part of a conspiracy to set off demonstrations intended “to bring down the government.” (A year earlier, a cable from the United States Embassy in Damascus noted that Syrian dissidents had trained in nonviolence by reading Mr. Sharp’s writings.)

In 2008, Iran featured Mr. Sharp, along with Senator John McCain of Arizona and the Democratic financier George Soros, in an animated propaganda video that accused Mr. Sharp of being the C.I.A. agent “in charge of America’s infiltration into other countries,” an assertion his fellow scholars find ludicrous.

“He is generally considered the father of the whole field of the study of strategic nonviolent action,” said Stephen Zunes, an expert in that field at the University of San Francisco. “Some of these exaggerated stories of him going around the world and starting revolutions and leading mobs, what a joke. He’s much more into doing the research and the theoretical work than he is in disseminating it.”

That is not to say Mr. Sharp has not seen any action. In 1989, he flew to China to witness the uprising in Tiananmen Square. In the early 1990s, he sneaked into a rebel camp in Myanmar at the invitation of Robert L. Helvey, a retired Army colonel who advised the opposition there. They met when Colonel Helvey was on a fellowship at Harvard; the military man thought the professor had ideas that could avoid war. “Here we were in this jungle, reading Gene Sharp’s work by candlelight,” Colonel Helvey recalled. “This guy has tremendous insight into society and the dynamics of social power.”

Not everyone is so impressed. As’ad AbuKhalil, a Lebanese political scientist and founder of the Angry Arab News Service blog, was outraged by a passing mention of Mr. Sharp in The New York Times on Monday. He complained that Western journalists were looking for a “Lawrence of Arabia” to explain Egyptians’ success, in a colonialist attempt to deny credit to Egyptians.

Still, just as Mr. Sharp’s profile seems to be expanding, his institute is contracting.

Mr. Ackerman, who became wealthy as an investment banker after studying under Mr. Sharp, contributed millions of dollars and kept it afloat for years. But about a decade ago, Mr. Ackerman wanted to disseminate Mr. Sharp’s ideas more aggressively, as well as his own. He put his money into his own center, which also produces movies and even a video game to train dissidents. An annuity he purchased still helps pay Mr. Sharp’s salary.

In the twilight of his career, Mr. Sharp, who never married, is slowing down. His voice trembles and his blue eyes grow watery when he is tired; he gave up driving after a recent accident. He does his own grocery shopping; his assistant, Ms. Raquib, tries to follow him when it is icy. He does not like it.

He says his work is far from done. He has just submitted a manuscript for a new book, “Sharp’s Dictionary of Power and Struggle: Terminology of Civil Resistance in Conflicts,” to be published this fall by Oxford University Press. He would like readers to know he did not pick the title. “It’s a little immodest,” he said. He has another manuscript in the works about Einstein, whose own concerns about totalitarianism prompted Mr. Sharp to adopt the scientist’s name for his institution. (Einstein wrote the foreword to Mr. Sharp’s first book, about Gandhi.)

In the meantime, he is keeping a close eye on the Middle East. He was struck by the Egyptian protesters’ discipline in remaining peaceful, and especially by their lack of fear. “That is straight out of Gandhi,” Mr. Sharp said. “If people are not afraid of the dictatorship, that dictatorship is in big trouble.”

Andrew W. Lehren contributed reporting from New York, and David D. Kirkpatrick from Cairo.

Favela Rising February 17

2011-02-13T09:16:00.007-05:00

7pm Thursday, February 17, 2011. Favela Rising. Co-directors Jeff Zimbalist and Matt Mochary's acclaimed documentary charts the growth of Rio de Janeiro's AfroReggae movement, a grassroots effort to combat the soul-crushing oppression of the city's most notorious slum. Led by former dealer Anderson Sa, the nonviolent program celebrates Afro-Brazilian culture, drawing on hip-hop music and dance to create a community of peace ruled neither by the drug armies or the corrupt cops. Won over 25 international festival awards and was short-listed for an Oscar. Location: Room 1, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place.

This film is part of the Courage vs. Violence Film and Discussion Series

Eyes on The Prize

2011-02-06T20:40:00.006-05:00

7pm Thursday, February 10, 2011. Eyes on the Prize. This Emmy-winning documentary from the PBS "American Experience" series uses newsreel footage and narratives from famous and everyday people to take viewers inside the struggle for civil rights during the crucial years of 1954 through '65. Among the critical events discussed are the Montgomery bus boycott, the integration of schools in Little Rock, the murder of activists in Mississippi and Martin Luther King's groundbreaking marches to freedom. Location: Penington Friends House, 215 East 15th Street, near the corner of Rutherford Place.

This film is part of the Courage vs. Violence Film and Discussion Series

Tian'anmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace)

2011-01-31T12:05:00.008-05:00

7pm Friday, February 4, 2011 (Part 2). Tiananmen/Gate of Heavenly Peace. Location: Room 1, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place, Manhattan.

A feature-length documentary about the 1989 protest movement, reflecting the drama, tension, humor, absurdity, heroism, and many tragedies of the six weeks from April to June in 1989. Six awards, one nomination. For more info visit http://www.tsquare.tv

This film is part of the Courage vs. Violence Film and Discussion Series

Pray The Devil Back to Hell

2011-01-20T16:08:00.003-05:00

Thursday, January 27, 2011 @ 7pm. Pray the Devil Back to Hell. Location: Meeting Room, 15 Rutherford Place, New York, NY 10003.

Director Gini Reticker and producer Abigail E. Disney's documentary tells the story of the thousands of Liberian women, both Christian and Muslim, who helped end the bloody civil war in 2003 that killed over 200,000 people. Through nonviolent protests, these brave women forced a resolution in the peace talks, and their efforts led to the election of Africa's first female head of state, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. NR. 1 nomination.

This film is part of the Courage vs. Violence Film and Discussion Series

Joyeux Noel & Weapons of the Spirit

2010-12-10T10:56:00.007-05:00

Thursday, December 16, 2010. 7pm. Joyeux Noel. Location: Meeting Room, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place.

Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee for Best Foreign Film, Joyeux Noel tells the story of a spontaneous Christmas Eve truce declared by Scottish, French and German troops in the trenches of World War I [loosely based on a number of truces that really broke out on Christmas Eve during World War I]. Enemies leave their weapons behind for one night as they band together in brotherhood and forget about the brutalities of war. Diane Kruger (Troy), Daniel Bruhl (Good Bye Lenin!) and Benno Furmann (The Princess and the Warrior) head a first rate international cast in a powerful, must-see film [from the DVD case]. PG-13. Nominated for an Academy Award. Another 2 wins & 9 nominations.

Friday, December 17, 2010. 7pm. Weapons of the Spirit. Location: Room 1, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place, Manhattan.

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon was a tiny Protestant farming village in the mountains of south-central France. Defying the Nazis and the French government that was collaborating with the Nazis, the villagers of the area of Le Chambon provided a safe haven throughout the war for whoever knocked on their door. During the course of the war, the villagers collectively rescued 5,000 Jews, mostly children. NR. 2 wins. [http://www.chambon.org/weapons_en.htm].

These films are part of the Courage vs. Violence Film and Discussion Series

"The Weirdos of 15th Street" - a First Day School Holiday video

2010-11-25T18:14:00.004-05:00

A special holiday video by First Day School kids at the 15th Street Friends Meeting House. Happy Holidays! Enjoy:)

Courage vs. Violence Film and Discussion Series

2010-10-16T15:17:00.206-04:00

CLICK HERE FOR SHOWTIMES AND LOCATIONS

posters designed by Juan Alduey

Days, Times and Locations

We will screen films starting at 7pm (doors open at 6:30). All films will be a short walk from Union Square subway station and a shorter walk from 3rd Avenue L-line station.

Each film will take place at one of three venues: either at the Meeting Room or Room 1 at the 15th Street Friends' Meeting House at 15 Rutherford Place, New York, NY (along Rutherford Place, which lies between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, and runs between 15th and 16th Streets), or at Penington Friends House, 215 East 15th Street, next to the Meeting House along 15th between 3rd Ave and Rutherford Place.

Thursday, March 17, 2011 (Part 1) Thursday, March 24, 2011 (Part 2). A Force More Powerful. The film explores one of the 20th century's most important but least understood stories: how nonviolent power has overcome oppression and authoritarian rule all over the world. Narrated by Ben Kingsley, and nominated for an Emmy. [from http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/]. NR. Location: Room 1, 15 Rutherford Place, Manhattan.

[Films below have already been shown]

Wednesday December 1, 2010. Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony. The struggle to eradicate apartheid in South Africa has been chronicled over time, but no one has addressed the vital role music plays in this challenge. This documentary by Lee Hirsch recounts a fascinating and little-known part of South Africa's political history through archival footage, interviews and, of course, several mesmerizing musical performances. 11 wins and 6 nominations. Location: Meeting Room, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place.
Thursday, December 2, 2010.

The Singing Revolution. James and Maureen Castle Tusty's moving documentary recounts Estonia's fight for independence from Soviet occupation, telling the remarkable story of the hundreds of thousands of protestors who gathered in public to voice their dissent through song. After 50 years of rule by the oppressive Soviet regime, the people of Estonia gave life to a grassroots movement for change by staging passionate rallies and singing forbidden patriotic songs. Location: Penington Friends House, 215 East 15th Street.

Thursday, December 9, 2010. Bringing Down A Dictator. Documents the spectacular defeat of Slobodan Milosevic in October, 2000, not by force of arms, as many had predicted, but by an ingenious nonviolent strategy of honest elections and massive civil disobedience. [www.aforcemorepowerful.org]1 award. Location: Penington Friends House, 215 East 15th Street.

Thursday, December 16, 2010. Joyeux Noel. Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee for Best Foreign Film, Joyeux Noel tells the story of a spontaneous Christmas Eve truce declared by Scottish, French and German troops in the trenches of World War I [loosely based on a number of truces that really broke out on Christmas Eve during World War I]. Enemies leave their weapons behind for one night as they band together in brotherhood and forget about the brutalities of war. Diane Kruger (Troy), Daniel Bruhl (Good Bye Lenin!) and Benno Furmann (The Princess and the Warrior) head a first rate international cast in a powerful, must-see film [from the DVD case]. PG-13. Nominated for an Academy Award. Another 2 wins & 9 nominations. Location: Meeting Room, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place.

Friday, December 17, 2010. Weapons of the Spirit. Le Chambon-sur-Lignon was a tiny Protestant farming village in the mountains of south-central France. Defying the Nazis and the French government that was collaborating with the Nazis, the villagers of the area of Le Chambon provided a safe haven throughout the war for whoever knocked on their door. During the course of the war, the villagers collectively rescued 5,000 Jews, mostly children. NR. 2 wins. [http://www.chambon.org/weapons_en.htm]. Location: Room 1, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place, Manhattan.

Thursday, January 27, 2011. Pray the Devil Back to Hell. Director Gini Reticker and producer Abigail E. Disney's documentary tells the story of the thousands of Liberian women, both Christian and Muslim, who helped end the bloody civil war in 2003 that killed over 200,000 people. Through nonviolent protests, these brave women forced a resolution in the peace talks, and their efforts led to the election of Africa's first female head of state, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. NR. 1 nomination. Location: Meeting Room, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place.

Thursday, February 3, 2011 (Part 1) and Friday, February 4, 2011 (Part 2). Tiananmen/Gate of Heavenly Peace. A feature-length documentary about the 1989 protest movement, reflecting the drama, tension, humor, absurdity, heroism, and many tragedies of the six weeks from April to June in 1989. The film reveals how the hard-liners within the government marginalized moderates among the protesters (including students, workers and intellectuals), while the actions of radical protesters undermined moderates in the government. Moderate voices were gradually cowed and then silenced by extremism and emotionalism on both sides. [http://www.tsquare.tv/] NR. 6 awards, one nomination. Location: Room 1, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place.

Thursday, February 10, 2011. Eyes on the Prize. This Emmy-winning documentary from the PBS "American Experience" series uses newsreel footage and narratives from famous and everyday people to take viewers inside the struggle for civil rights during the crucial years of 1954 through '65. Among the critical events discussed are the Montgomery bus boycott, the integration of schools in Little Rock, the murder of activists in Mississippi and Martin Luther King's groundbreaking marches to freedom. NR. Location: Penington Friends House, 215 East 15th Street.

Thursday, February 17, 2011. Favela Rising. Co-directors Jeff Zimbalist and Matt Mochary's acclaimed documentary charts the growth of Rio de Janeiro's AfroReggae movement, a grassroots effort to combat the soul-crushing oppression of the city's most notorious slum. Led by former street thug Anderson Sa, the nonviolent program celebrates Afro-Brazilian culture, drawing on hip-hop music and dance to unite the impoverished neighborhood against the ubiquitous drug pushers and corrupt cops. NR. Won over 25 international festival awards and was short-listed for an Oscar. Location: Room 1, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place.

Thursday, February 24, 2011. Harlan County, U.S.A. Director Barbara Kopple's film about the 1973 coal miners' strike in Harlan County, KY, won a Best Documentary Oscar and was selected for the National Film Registry. Highlighting the struggles of families living in shacks with no indoor plumbing and enduring hazardous working conditions, the film details the conflict between the Eastover Mining Co. and the laborers determined to join the United Mine Workers of America. PG. Won Oscar. Another 2 wins. Location: Penington Friends House, 215 East 15th Street.

Friday, February 25, 2011. Crude. Filmmaker Joe Berlinger's provocative documentary explores the ongoing battle waged by 30,000 indigenous Ecuadorans and their lawyers against Chevron for dumping billions of gallons of toxic oil waste into the Amazon. Berlinger examines the environmental catastrophe -- dubbed the "Amazon Chernobyl" -- from all sides, following the drama as it moves from the contamination site to the courtroom and beyond, even landing on the cover of Vanity Fair. NR. 9 wins & 2 nominations. Location: Meeting Room, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place.

Friday, March 11, 2011. Sir, No Sir! Filmmaker and activist David Zeiger’s documentary chronicles the largely forgotten antiwar activities of American GIs and other members of the military during the Vietnam era -- actions that put them in greater peril than civilian protesters. Powerful and surprising, the film weaves together the stories of veterans who participated in the opposition movement, an effort that, by the early 1970s, found widespread support from civilians and troops alike. NR. 1 win & 2 nominations. Location: Room 1, 15th Street Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place.

Summaries above are cut and pasted from Netflix unless otherwise noted. Awards listings are sourced from IMDB or Wikipedia.

The series runs until March 24. The films will be shown approximately once a week (sometimes twice for thematically similar films or for long films that need to be split up). Most films will be shown on Thursdays, some on Fridays.

This series is co-sponsored by the Arts and Peace Committees of the 15th Street Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. If you are interested in volunteering to assist with this film series, please contact Ian by email: ianthehansen "at" gmail "dot" com. Please check this website for updates.

2nd Ever SLC Gathering

2010-09-30T08:15:00.112-04:00

Building on the success of our first ever Gathering for Spirit Led Creativity (a.k.a SLC Gathering), we'd like to launch a second Gathering on Saturday, October 23rd. The 15th Street Friends Meetinghouse is already reserved! Will you join us?

If you're interested, please fill out this e-form to indicate what you'd like to see happen at the event, including details on duration and activities.

In one key question, you'll be asked to choose one of these two options to indicate how long you want the gathering to be:

(1) A long gathering (3 hours), much like the one we had before (see form for details).

(2) A short gathering (1 hour), more like a meeting for worship (again, see form for details).

For photos and videos of the first SLC Gathering click "SLC Gathering" in the TAGS section on the sidebar.

At this next gathering there will be no filming during worship-sharing times. Only those who give their explicit consent will be filmed (or sketched, painted, interpretively danced, etc).

If you want to attend on October 23rd, or if you have any other suggestions and ideas, please let us know by filling out the form. We would be especially grateful to have some musicians this time around!

We All Sing Glory to the Mountains

2010-08-17T02:55:00.104-04:00

Actor Martin Pfefferkorn as energy genius Nikola Tesla. Click image to see slide show.

On Thursday, July 15, 2010 the 15th Street Friends Meeting House hosted an evening of entertainment and action to support the March on Washington (September 25 - 27) to end mountaintop removal and strip mining in Appalachia. The Arts Committee helped to secure the space, and provided technical support. Appalachia Rising is organizing the March.

Titled "We All Sing Glory to the Mountains," the event featured a sermon and song by Reverend Billy and the Church of Life After Shopping Choir; music by banjo player Morgan O'Kane and vocalists Mimi Bessette and Helen Russell from *Woody Guthrie's American Song*; and theatrical performance by actor Martin Pfefferkorn, as energy genius Nikola Tesla.

After the show, the audience had the opportunity to take three different actions in support of ending mountaintop removal:

Signing a divestment letter asking New York Common Retirement Fund to divest from Massey Energy
Signing up for wind and solar power from Community Energy.
Signing up to attend the September 27th March in Washington.

Author and activist Sarah Moon moderated the evening, sharing the mission of Appalachia Rising: to awaken all Americans to their connection to this slash-and-bomb practice that is destroying the oldest mountain range in America.

In Loving Memory of Melvin Dennis . . .

2010-08-13T13:22:00.159-04:00

Flyer with photo from "Gospel According to St. Matthew". Rossana Di Rocco plays the angel
in Joseph's dream. Click above to see slide show.

In loving memory of the late Melvin Dennis, join us on Tuesday August 24 (7pm), at 15 Rutherford Place, for a special screening of the film "The Gospel According to St. Matthew" (Pasolini, 1964). Donations will be gratefully accepted.

Melvin Dennis ('46 - 2010)

A valued member of the 15th Street Friends Meeting House, Melvin was Clerk of the Peace Committee. He was an architect whose natural curiosity and depth of knowledge – combined with a generous spirit of service – enriched the community.

Often he noted the influence of American Transcendentalism on Leo Tolstoy, and made approving mention of the author's biography of quaker abolitionist William LLoyd Garrison. Perhaps echoes of Melvin's comments led me to pick up Tolstoy's "The Kingdom of God is Within You", easily the most important essay on nonviolence – the one that converted Mahatma Gandhi.

Melvin passed away at age 64 on June 13, 2010, of sepsis from a perforated colon. Weeks before death he asked the Arts Committee to screen "The Gospel According to St. Matthew", a 1964 film by italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Here's a a brief synopsis by film critic David Bruce:

The birth, life, teachings and death on the cross of Jesus Christ presented almost as a cinema-verite documentary. Applying Neo-Realist methods, writer/director Pier Paolo Pasolini takes Christ out of the opulent church and presents him as an outcast Italian peasant in this expressive interpretation of the greatest story ever told.

Click here for David's extended review.

"The Gospel According to St. Mathew" is cast entirely with non-professional actors. Jesus is played by a 19 year old student from Spain, Enrique Irazoqui. Pasolini's own mother, Susanna, plays the elderly Mary.

The film also has an eclectic musical score, featuring Bach's "Mass in B Minor" alongside Odetta's "Sometimes I feel Like a Motherless Child".

These and other elements form Pasolini's Neorealist approach to the gospel. Neorealism is a style of cinema from the post-World War II period (1944 - 1952) that depicts life among poor and working class people, rejecting common practices in the contrived and highly commercialized film world.

Running time for "The Gospel According to St. Matthew" is 133 minutes. Portraits of Melvin Dennis will be on display during a programmed intermission, along with a special set of still-life photos that he appreciated.

The Future of SLC Gatherings...

2010-07-16T11:36:00.023-04:00

"what always is an essential element in the creative...is the mysterious." - Alan Watts

The first ever Gathering for Spirit Led Creativity happened on July 10, 2010. A few days later the Arts Committee put out the following minute at its July monthly meeting, which includes suggestions about future gatherings:

SLC Gathering Report-back: Committee finds the SLC Gathering was well received and inspiring. Concerns were raised over the filming of the event, and how this can be done more appropriately in the future. We might also want programmed breaks. Another idea: if participants feel led to make art that directly speaks to the central query, we can help by offering Query-based Creativity Workshops in the months leading up to the next SLC Gathering. Committee agrees that the next step is to gather feedback from other SLC Gathering participants.

In other words: the Gathering was great -- we want to do it again, and better! What do you think?

Please click the "comments" link at the foot of this article to post your feedback, thoughts, suggestions, etc. How do you feel about having "Query-based Creativity Workshops" before the next Gathering, or programmed breaks at the event itself?

What about taking photos and videos at the Gathering? What's the best way to incorporate this? We can have a period when no filming or photographing is allowed, or make special tags available to those who prefer to not be photographed. Thoughts?

Your feedback will be reviewed at the next monthly Arts Committee meeting (Wednesday, August 11, 7pm @ the 15th Street Friends Meeting House). Thanks again to all who came to the first SLC Gathering:) We look forward to your reply!

Some SLC Gathering Highlights...:)

2010-07-12T19:22:00.037-04:00

Thanks to all who came to the first ever Gathering for Spirit Led Creativity! Below are some photo and video highlights. We'll add more during the week -- including parts of the discussion we had on "what is spirit led creativity?"-- so be sure to check back in! Feel free to send in your own photos.

The opening act was an excerpt of "Light Comes," a play by Sarah Moon on the problems of mountain top coal mining and the electricity industry. Here's a nice moment from that...

Next we saw "The Well Beneath the Hill," a short film made specifically for the SLC Gathering by Juan Alduey and Robert Baldridge, exploring "what is spirit led creativity?"

For our closing worship we made a group mandala. Stephen McDonnell led us through this exercise, and discussed the nature and history of mandalas...

And here is a photo of our finished group mandala! Click on it to see a slide show:)

The Well Beneath the Hill

2010-07-12T15:22:00.011-04:00

A short film shown at the Spirit Led Creativity Gathering (July 10, 2010), addressing the central query "What is Spirit Led Creativity?" It was made specifically for the event by Juan Alduey and Robert Baldridge.

Gathering For Spirit Led Creativity

2010-07-07T15:08:00.032-04:00

A day to share your creative leadings in an un-programmed setting. Bring your paintings, photos, performance...etc...and share when the spirit moves you.

Our guiding query: "What is Spirit Led Creativity?"

Lead and participate in collaborative art. Get to know creatives in the Quaker community. See paintings, films, performances by Tom Goodridge, Reynolds, Stephen McDonnell, Sarah Moon, John Randall, Melinda Hunt ... and many others - yourself included.

For the closing we'll make a group mandala:) Please bring food for yourself and at least one other person.

Hope to see you!

In Loving Memory of Melvin Dennis (1946 - 2010)

2010-06-14T13:25:00.013-04:00

Click on photo to see slideshow (photos by Molly Holland)

Spirit Led Creativity Gathering Is Under Way!

2010-05-27T00:21:00.009-04:00

Planning for the first Gathering for Spirit Led Creativity is under way! It will be a one-day affair for worship sharing and performance/showcasing.

It will take place at the 15th Street Friends Meeting House in Manhattan (15 Rutherford Place, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, and between 15th and 16th Streets). We are using a very simple survey to help us determine the exact date and time of the Gathering, among other details.

We need to choose between three possible dates for the Gathering: Friday, June 25; Wednesday, June 30; and Saturday, July 10. Please use the survey to tell us which of these dates work best for you (choose at least one, but no more than two).

If you want to perform, share your work, or lead a collaborative art activity, please check the appropriate boxes in the survey.

Last but not least: we need folks to help in the critical planning stages! Please check off the appropriate box if you'd like to attend the next planning meeting, which will happen 2 weeks before the designated event date (time and place to be announced).

Surveys are due next Thursday, June 3. Though we'd love to have you complete all 9 survey items, the only required fields are your name and preferred event date(s). Please click here to fill out ASAP!

Benefit Concert At 15th Street Meetinghouse

2009-10-28T12:52:00.001-04:00

Barnraising Benefit Concert To Build Schools In Tanzania and Kenya
Libby Johnson Carrie Johnson Taylor Giacoma
Friday 13 November 2009 7:00pm
At the 15th Street Meetinghouse

http://taylorgiacoma.com/barnraising_benefit_concert_09.html

In the Fifteenth Street Meeting

2009-10-05T14:03:00.013-04:00

The poem above was written during Sunday Worship, in August 2009, at the 15th Street Friend's Meeting House (New York City). ANNIE FINCH is author or editor of fifteen books of poetry, translation, and criticism, most recently Among the Goddesses, Calendars, and The Body of Poetry. She is the director of Stonecoast, the low-residency MFA program of the University of Southern Maine. Her website is at www.anniefinch.com.

Light Comes - By Sarah Moon

2009-08-26T23:34:00.005-04:00

Sarah Moon is a playwright, activist, and attender at the Brooklyn Friend's Meeting. The video above is a trailer for her latest play: Light Comes, an indictment of Mountain Top Removal Mining. Light Comes is also a critical history of the electricity industry, and features as characters two of the main scientific pioneers of this industry: Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla. The video was shot and edited by a member of the 15th Street Quaker Arts Committee, Juan Alduey.

An Evening with Chris Hedges (now October 7th)

2009-08-21T16:05:00.006-04:00

“…a trenchantly argued critique of the near-destruction of the American dream by unfettered capitalism.”
– The Philadelphia Inquirer

Join CHRIS HEDGES, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and The Triumph of Spectacle (Nation Books), as he charts the dramatic and disturbing rise of a post-literate America that craves fantasy, ecstasy and illusion. Audience questions will be taken, and following the event there will be a book signing.

October 7th, 7 p.m. 15th Street Friends Meeting House. 15 Rutherford Place (between 2nd and 3rd Ave). New York City.

FREE OF CHARGE. FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED. Doors open at 6.30 p.m. For more information please go to www.nationbooks.org or call 212-822-0269.

Friends - by Molly Holland

2009-08-10T16:27:00.008-04:00

Photo portraits by Molly Holland of 15th Street Friends meeting attenders. Click the image above to enter the slideshow exhibit.