PATOIS | The Sixth Annual New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival

March 26 – April 5, 2009
patoisfilmfest.org

This year, PATOIS will be better than ever. More than 50 films, 8 world premieres, 20 filmmakers presenting their films, food provided by at least six different New Orleans restaurants, workshops, panels, and live performances by local and national musicians at venues around the city, as well as out in the streets!

Complete information about our programming is available online at patoisfilmfest.org, and programs are available at spots all around New Orleans.

We have discounted and free tickets available for youth, and for others who might not otherwise be able to afford tickets. For more information, please write .

SOME OF THIS YEAR’S HIGHLIGHTS:

Thursday, March 26
Opening Night Film
7:00pm American Violet
Canal Place Landmark Cinema, 333 Canal Street
Filmed in New Orleans, the film confronts racial profiling through the inspiring story of a 24-year-old African American single mother living in a small Texas town who chooses to fight the local district attorney and the unyielding criminal justice system he represents.  Starring Nicole Beharie, Academy Award nominees Michael O’Keefe and Alfre Woodard, plus Tim Blake Nelson, Charles S. Dutton and Xzibit. Director Tim Disney will present the film and answer questions.

Friday, March 27
6:00pm Youth Rise Up: Films by students and young filmmakers
8:00pm Obama’s Iraq: New Films and Journalism from Iraq
*Please Note Venue Change* Lazziza – 2106 Chartres Street (at Frenchmen)
Films by New Orleans high school students, work by youth from around the world, and new grassroots media from Iraq. Filmmakers will be presenting their films, and the youth program features a panel of young filmmakers.

Friday, March 27
9:30pm Concert: Liberation Hip-Hop
*Please Note Venue Change* Lazziza – 2106 Chartres Street (at Frenchmen)
The sound of liberation, from New Orleans to Detroit to New York to Gaza. Featuring: Wise Intelligent (from the legendary hiphop pioneers Poor Righteous Teachers), Invincible (Detroit hiphop star and Jewish pro-Palestine activist), Mohammad Al-Farra (From Gaza’s first hiphop group Palestine Rappers), Sabreena Da Witch (The First Palestinian R&B Singer), Truth Universal (Trinidad born, New Orleans based, Afrikan liberation), and Dee-1 (New Orleans conscious hiphop), plus films and guest speakers.

Saturday, March 28
7:00pm Medicine for Melancholy
Zeitgeist Multi–Disciplinary Arts Center, 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd
A love story in the context of racism and gentrification told through two African-American twenty-somethings dealing with issues of class, race and identity in rapidly gentrifying San Francisco—a city with the smallest proportional black population of any major American city. Director Barry Jenkins will present the film. Also featuring acoustic soul roots music performed by local musician GaBrilla Ballard.

Sunday, March 29
1:00pm Blowout Consciousness Secondline
Step Off at Zeitgeist Multi–Disciplinary Arts Center, 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd
Films, speakers, and a street celebration of freedom, standing against the cradle-to-prison pipeline. Featuring the short films I Am Sean Bell and Moral Panic at Zeitgeist. Participants and speakers include rapper Wise Intelligent; filmmaker Stacey Muhammad; and members of Fyre Youth Squad. Secondline with brass band begins at Zeigeist. Free program.

Sunday, March 29
5:30pm 2-Cent: New Videos From The Grassroots
Zeitgeist Multi–Disciplinary Arts Center, 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd
From a demonstration in the French Quarter with 1,200 people, to music videos, to interviews with Common, Mos Def and Kirk Douglas.  Presented by 2-Cent Entertainment. Featuring a performance by New Orleans rapper Slangston Hughes.

Sunday, March 29
7:00pm Crips and Bloods
Zeitgeist Multi–Disciplinary Arts Center, 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd
The voices of and story behind South Los Angeles’ two most infamous African American gangs. Special benefit for Black Men United.

Tuesday, March 31
11:00am Violence in our Communities
Southern University of New Orleans, 6801 Press Drive
A discussion on law enforcement violence and community responses, featuring local community organizer James Williams and the film Moral Panic.

Wednesday, April 1
6:00pm Independent America
New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), 1 Collins Diboll Circle
Examines the reconstruction of New Orleans with a focus on the challenges small family businesses face in the growing landscape of corporate retailers. Film will be presented by Director Hanson Hosein.

Thursday, April 2
6:00pm  New Orleans Tea Party
New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), 1 Collins Diboll Circle
A locally-made documentary about the rebuilding of civil society in post-Katrina New Orleans. World Premiere screening. Film will be presented by Director Marline Otte.

Friday, April 3
7:00pm Films and Discussion: Reparations for Africans in America: Possible? Justifiable? Desirable?
Craige Cultural Center, 1800 Newton Street (Algiers)
A discussion with Ukali Mwendo, National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA); filmmaker Antoinette Harrell; and Walter Umrani (Nation of Islam). Featuring the films Welcome to Batey 6 and The Untold Story: Slavery in the 20th Century. Free event.

Friday, April 3
9:00pm Nerakhoon (The Betrayal)
Zeitgeist Multi–Disciplinary Arts Center, 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd
Academy Award-nominated documentary filmed over 23 years, from Laos to the US. A testament to the resilient bonds of family and an astonishing tale of survival.

Saturday, April 4
5:00pm Housing is a Right
Zeitgeist Multi–Disciplinary Arts Center, 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd
The issue of housing from Brooklyn to New Orleans to Detroit. Featuring the films St Joe; Locusts; Some Place Like Home; and speakers including housing activists from Brooklyn to Miami to New Orleans. Free Event, co-sponsored by Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center.

Saturday, April 4
7:00pm White Lies Black Sheep
Zeitgeist Multi–Disciplinary Arts Center, 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd
AJ is a young Black rocker entrenched in the debaucherous white New York rock n roll scene. He begins to find that his chosen community only accepts him if he’s not “too Black.” A fictional documentary. Film will be presented by director James Spooner, who also directed the cult favorite documentary Afro-Punk.

Sunday, April 5
1:00pm Take Back The Land
Zeitgeist Multi–Disciplinary Arts Center, 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd
Workshop: Direct action for housing justice, from Miami-based housing activist Max Rameau. Rameau has been working to move homeless individuals into empty houses owned by banks. Free event.

Sunday, April 5
Closing Night Film
6:00pm Justice for All
Zeitgeist Multi–Disciplinary Arts Center, 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd
An exploration of young people in the criminal justice system in the US, from Jena, Louisiana to California to New York. World Premiere screening, presented by director Sherry Dorsey.

Ticket prices, complete descriptions of films and programming, trailers, bios of guest speakers, and more is available online at patoisfilmfest.org. You can also buy a festival pass, for free admission to all films, on our website and in person at all venues.

Special thanks to our many co-sponsors and supporters, including: Center for Constitutional Rights, 2-Cent Entertainment, ACLU of Louisiana, New Orleans Video Access Center, Amnesty International, Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University, Rockefeller Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal, Finding our Folk, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, The Urban Conservancy, SUNO Center for African and African American Studies, and New Orleans Museum of Art.