JAN. 25-30: Freedom Cinema Festival Returns to Park City

Freedom Cinema Festival

www.freedomcinemafestival.org

FREEDOM CINEMA FESTIVAL RETURNS TO PARK CITY

Festival Creates Home for Political Films and Leading Activists

‘Celebrating Arts and Media That Matter’

Announces Film Selections and Live Events Lineup

January 25 to 30, 2005

OAKLAND, CA -- The 2005 Freedom Cinema Festival: Park City is pleased today to announce the film program selction and live events lineup for this year. The Freedom Cinema Festival will be held concurrently with the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, from January 25 to 30, 2005.

One of the top alternative and truly independent festivals during this annual convergence of arts, media and commerce, Freedom Cinema Festival provides a unique forum for leading grassroots artists addressing socially and politically relevant issues of the day.

The second annual flagship event features gripping and sometimes controversial films from around the world, including several national premieres, and the participation of award-winning filmmakers. Freedom Cinema Festival also includes live music events, panel discussions of activist media, stand-up

comedy, graphic arts/cartooning and more.

Special guests for 2005 Festival include: BBC investigative journalist Greg Palast, cited by Michael Moore as a main source for his film ''Fahrenheit 911''; Winona LaDuke, Native American, ecological activist and 2000 Green Party VP candidate; Michael Franti, solo performer from Spearhead; John Trudell, poet/actor/activist; Danny Schechter 'the news dissector,'

documentary filmmaker and media critic; socially conscious hip hop groups, The Coup and Zion I; comedians Barry Crimmins, Laura Kightlinger, Randy Credico and many others.

Freedom Cinema Festival will be headquartered on the second floor of the Main Street Mall, 333 Main Street (directly across the street from the Egyptian Theater) in Park City. This central location houses the box office, screenings, bookstore, Fairtrade Cafe, music lounge, and their offices.

''The rise in popularity of political film and arts, especially activist

documentaries, is an undeniable and unprecedented trend,'' said Andrew Jon Thomson, Founder and Executive Director Freedom Cinema Festival.

''While other festivals have done a good job of including important political work in their program, the films with the big stars and the big corporate money behind them will continue to get the most attention at these festivals.''

''Freedom Cinema Festival is at the center of the new political cinema movement, bringing together the leaders of the activist arts and media including cinema, music, comedy, graphic arts and journalism, creating a meeting place for this work, giving the industry a way to access the artists and their work directly.''

''The Freedom Cinema Festival was the best thing about Park City during the 2004 Sundance Film Festival,'' said Mark Achbar, Director, 'The Corporation’ winner, 2004 Sundance Audience Award World Cinema Documentary.

''If there was a prize for 'Best Vibe' they would surely have won. There was a consciousness in all the organizers' choices that did not pervade the larger festival down the street. This is a festival that doesn't just choose excellent films that delve into important issues, it actually DOES something about them.''

The 2005 Freedom Cinema Festival selected over 64 films submitted from filmmakers around the world:

This year’s films are powerful and unafraid of rocking the boat. From an Iraqi mother singing a lullaby to her children as bombs and artillery fire demolish their world; a drug sting operation in a small town in Texas results in the arrest of nearly 20 percent of the black community; a modern-day "underground railroad" through China for refugees from North Korea; a true story of a St. Louis couple who lost their chain of video stores, their family, and almost their lives, fighting a religious group over the removal of the controversial film, ''The Last Temptation of Christ''; and a filmmaker discovers that 16 out of the 32 women she interviews because they share her name, have been raped, beaten or molested, herself included.

Selected Documentary and Dramatic Films include:

SHEM (Director: Caroline Roboh)

Heart of the Beholder (Director: Ken Tipton)

Seoul Train (Directors: Jim Butterworth, Aaron Lubarsky, Lisa Sleeth)

The Future of Food (Director: Deborah Koons Garcia)

An Iraqi Lullaby For Children Who Are About To Die (Directors: Allie Light, Irving Saraf)

Weapons of Mass Deception (Director: Danny Schechter)

Arlington West the Film (Directors: Sally Marr and Peter Dudar)

Helen’s War: Portrait of a Dissident (Director: Anna Broinowski)

Livicated (Director: Eric Crown)

Sha Chen Bao (Sandstorm) (Director: Michael Mahonen)

Kilowatt Ours (Director: Jeff Barrie)

Bush Family Fortunes (Director: Greg Palast)

Professional Revolutionary: The Life of Saul Wellman (Director: Judith Montell)

Searching For Angela Shelton (Director: Angela Shelton)

Tulia, Texas: Scenes from the Drug War (Directors: Emily and Sarah Kuntsler)

Citizen Stan (Director: Patty Sharaf)

Hunger No More (Director: Burton Buller)

Quenching the Thirst (Directors: Phyllis Eckelmeyer and Kym Cohen)

For tickets, information, volunteering, call (800) 503–5923, or visit

www.freedomcinemafestival.org. This event is co-sponsored by Mother Jones Magazine, ACLU, and Speakoutnow.org.

Freedom Cinema Festival

2759 Grande Vista Ave. Oakland, CA 94601

www.freedomcinemafestival.org

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