UGA to Host Andrew Young Premiere of Civil Rights Documentary

The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia Libraries will host Ambassador Andrew Young as he presents the premiere of his new feature-length civil rights documentary, How We Got Over, at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 30.

The event, in Room 102 of the Miller Learning Center, is free and open to the general public, as well as UGA students, faculty and staff.

How We Got Over uses unique archival footage from the WSB and WALB Newsfilm Collections to re-frame the story of the civil rights struggle. The immediacy of this footage, mostly unseen since the time of its original broadcast in the 1950s and ‘60s, brings our nation’s struggle for racial equality to life.

An abridged version of the documentary was broadcast nationally as an episode of the series Andrew Young Presents. The feature-length version, to be seen here for the first time, includes never-before shown material, including a 2009 interview with Charlayne Hunter-Gault, one of the first African Americans to attend the University of Georgia and an alumna of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Young will introduce the film and answer questions after the screening.

Young, former congressman, United Nations Ambassador and mayor of Atlanta, was a leader in the American Civil Rights Movement. According to Robert A. Pratt, professor and head of the UGA department of history, “as one of Dr. Martin Luther King’s closest advisors and confidants during the 1960s, Young brings a unique perspective to the tragedies and triumphs that reflected at once the worst and the best of American society as it struggled to make good on the promises of freedom and equality for all. Those of this current generation who believe that the election of President Barack Obama has ushered in a new ‘post racial’ order will most surely have their eyes opened as they reflect upon the sacrifices made to get us to this point.”

How We Got Over draws on raw news footage from WSB-TV in Atlanta and WALB-TV in Albany. Held by the UGA Libraries’ Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, the moving images—about 450 clips—cover a broad range of key civil rights events. The clips also provide the foundation for UGA’s Civil Rights Digital Library.

“The video archive covers both national figures and local leaders,” according to Ruta Abolins, director of the Brown archives. “There is more than two hours of film related to Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King’s role in the Albany movement is documented extensively, including clips of speeches at mass meetings, his arrest by local police, press conferences, and his visit to a pool hall to urge local African Americans to adopt non-violence in achieving change in Albany.”

For more information see www.andrewyoung.org or http://crdl.usg.edu.

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Arts Across Georgia

Child Prostitution Documentary, Panel Discussion Hosted by Emory Law

Emory University School of Law will host a screening of the film "The Sold Project: Thailand" at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 19, in the school's Tull Auditorium, 1300 Clifton Rd. Filmed on location in Thailand, the documentary tells the story of children whose lives have been affected by prostitution. The screening is free and open to the public.

Rachel Sparks, founder of the SOLD Project and producer of the documentary, and Rachel Goble, executive director and associate producer, will speak at the screening. A question-and-answer session and panel discussion on human sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children in Atlanta and internationally will follow.

Panelists include:

Stephanie Davis, policy adviser, women’s issues, Office of the Mayor, Atlanta
Monique Hennink, associate professor, Rollins School of Public Health
Joseph Fonseca, coordinator, Crimes Against Children, Atlanta Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Kaffie McCullough, program manager, Community Collaboratives-Juvenile Justice Fund, A Future Not a Past
Nathan Whiteman, coordinator, MATCH Task Force, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Kirsten Widner, post graduate fellow in law, Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic
The event is sponsored by the Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic at Emory Law, the Emory Law Office of Student Affairs, the Feminism and Legal Theory Project, the Legal Association of Women Students (LAWS) and the Emory University Office of Multicultural Programs and Services.

About the SOLD Project

The SOLD Project is a grassroots organization dedicated to inspiring and empowering individuals to stop child prostitution before it begins.

The SOLD Project prevents the buying and selling of children through scholarships to those at risk. It supports partner organizations in Thailand that work to rescue and rehabilitate at-risk children.

The film tells stories of the children and allows those stories to inspire individuals to react.

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Atlanta Premiere of the HBO Documentary Film 'THE BLACK LIST: VOL. 2' on Thursday, February 19 at Woodruff Arts Center

HBO, Woodruff Arts Center's Celebrate Diversity Through the Arts Initiative and the 100 Black Men of Dekalb County to Host Atlanta Premiere of the HBO Documentary Film 'THE BLACK LIST: VOL. 2' on Thursday, February 19 at Woodruff Arts Center


/PRNewswire/ -- HBO, in partnership with the Woodruff Arts Center's Celebrate Diversity Through the Arts Initiative and the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County, will co-host the Atlanta premiere of THE BLACK LIST: VOL. 2 at an invitation-only screening on February 19 at The Woodruff Arts Center. Renowned photographer and filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and award-winning journalist, critic and radio host Elvis Mitchell will attend to present the second installment of a remarkable group of African-American notables sharing candid stories and revealing insights into the struggles, triumphs and joys of black life in the U.S.

THE BLACK LIST: VOL. 2, which debuts February 26, exclusively on HBO, is a collaboration between celebrated portrait photographer and filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, who directs, and award-winning journalist Elvis Mitchell, who interviews a host of influential people. The documentary profiles some of today's most fascinating African-Americans. From the childhood inspirations that shaped their ambitions, to the evolving American landscape they helped define, to the importance of preserving a unique cultural identity for future generations, these prominent individuals offer a unique look into the zeitgeist of black America, redefining the traditional pejorative notion of a blacklist.

The list of people featured in THE BLACK LIST: VOL. 2 includes activist and artist Majora Carter; activist and academic Angela Davis; producer Suzanne de Passe; actor Laurence Fishburne; Anglican Bishop Barbara Harris; Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick; pastor T.D. Jakes; physician and academic Valerie Montgomery- Rice, M.D.; filmmaker Tyler Perry; singer Charley Pride; fashion designer Patrick Robinson; actress Maya Rudolph; musician RZA; filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles; and artist Kara Walker.

Mitchell is never heard or seen on camera, which allows the subjects' own voices to remain the focus. The actual title was first conceived by Mitchell as an antidote to the persistent taint that western culture has applied to the word "black."

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and Elvis Mitchell conceptualized what would become "The Black List Project" in May 2006, discussing the idea of collaborating on a book on black culture, which led to the documentary. They wanted "The Black List Project" to be not just an enumeration of obstacles overcome, but also a unique source of insights that would emphasize the elegance and determination of its subjects.

A 2008 Sundance Film Festival selection, "The Black List: Vol. 1" debuted on HBO last August, and featured such notables as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sean Combs, Thelma Golden, Lou Gossett, Jr., Bill T. Jones, Vernon Jordan, Toni Morrison, Richard Parsons, Chris Rock, Al Sharpton, Slash, Faye Wattleton, Keenen Ivory Wayans and Serena Williams.

Inspired by "The Black List: Vol. 1," HBO launched a "Who's on Your Black List?" contest, asking viewers to submit a video of themselves, a relative, a friend, a co-worker, a neighbor or anyone else who has a story to tell about his or her experience of what it's like to be black in America today. The four winning videos were selected by a distinguished panel of judges and general viewers and are currently viewable on whosonyourblacklist.com. In January 2009, the winners visited New York, where they had their portraits taken by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and were interviewed on film by Elvis Mitchell. Select clips from these interviews will be showcased on various HBO platforms throughout February.

HBO Documentary Films and Freemind Ventures & Perfect Day Films present THE BLACK LIST: VOL. 2. A film by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders & Elvis Mitchell. Directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders; interviews by Elvis Mitchell; producers, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Elvis Mitchell and Michael Slap Sloane; executive producers, Tommy Walker, Scott Richman, Christopher McKee and Payne Brown; associate producers, Lukas Hauser and Mary Bradley; editor, Benjamin Gray; music by Neal Evans; directors of photography, Joe Victorine and Graham Willoughby.

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Learning What It Takes for African-American and Hispanic Kids to Compete in a Global Economy

/PRNewswire/ -- January 27th the 100 Black Men of DeKalb in collaboration with seminar promotions and professional speaking company CS Inspires Inc. will be hosting the screening of a new documentary entitled "Two Million Minutes." This film exposes the true facts concerning the widening global education gap between American students and their peers in China and India. The underlining premise of the film raises the question, "Is the American education system adequately preparing our children with the necessary knowledge and skills to compete for jobs within a global economy?"

The title comes from the fact that as soon as a student completes the 8th grade, the clock starts ticking. From that moment, the child has approximately two million minutes until high school graduation, which means two million minutes to build their intellectual foundation, to prepare for college and ultimately career, to go from a teenager to an adult.

The film compares educational standards in the United States with those in India and China by following two students from each of these countries and interviewing them, as well as members of their families, about the priorities in their lives during their senior year in high school. The film is intended to spark discussions and dialogue about American education. How do Americans compare on a global scale? Twenty months in the making, "Two Million Minutes" highlights the various pressures and priorities of these students and their families, providing insight into the changing nature of competition in the knowledge economy.

An even more pressing concern is that African-American and Hispanic students are dropping out of high school at alarming rates. Latest statistics suggest that in seventeen of the nation's 50 largest cities, more than 50% of African-American and Hispanic 9th graders are failing to earn their high school diplomas. After the screening attendees will be encouraged to participate in solution based dialogue on how we can improve the quality of education in DeKalb County and surrounding communities.

This event is free to the public. Parents, educators local political, business and community leaders are encouraged to attend. The screening will take place on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at the McNair High School Auditorium located at 1804 Bouldercrest Blvd, SW Atlanta Georgia. The screening will start promptly at 6:00 PM.

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Atlanta Premiere of the HBO Sport s Documentary 'BREAKING THE HUDDLE: THE INTEGRATION OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL' on Tuesday, December 2

HBO Sports, the Chick-fil-A Bowl and the Atlanta Sports Council to Host Atlanta Premiere of the HBO Sports Documentary 'BREAKING THE HUDDLE: THE INTEGRATION OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL' on Tuesday, December 2 at Georgia State's Rialto Center

PRNewswire/ -- HBO has partnered with the Chick-fil-A Bowl and the Atlanta Sports Council to host the invitation-only screening of the HBO Sports Documentary BREAKING THE HUDDLE: THE INTEGRATION OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL on Tuesday, December 2 at 7:30 pm at the Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University. Jerry LeVias, the first African-American football scholarship athlete in the Southwest Conference, and the film's producer, Joe Lavine, will attend.

While America celebrates the historic election of its first African-American president, HBO Sports revisits a moment in time when black athletes blazed a trail through the South. In BREAKING THE HUDDLE: THE INTEGRATION OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL, HBO's award-winning documentary unit chronicles the compelling stories of the young men who leveled the playing field in the major conferences of the South against the backdrop of the civil rights movement.

Focusing on football programs in the Southeastern, Southwest and Atlantic Coast Conferences, BREAKING THE HUDDLE: THE INTEGRATION OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL chronicles the heyday of football programs at historically black colleges and universities, and explores the profound effect of the Civil Rights movement of the '60s on the racial status quo of college athletics. The story culminates with the Sept. 1970 game played in Birmingham between the University of Southern California, featuring star African-American running back Sam "Bam" Cunningham, and the University of Alabama team of legendary Crimson Tide head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.

"We strive to uncover sports stories such as this which display tremendous struggle, pain and triumph," says Joe Lavine, the film's producer. "BREAKING THE HUDDLE will make you laugh, make you cry and make you see just how resilient people can be -- even at very young ages."

Among those interviewed are college football trailblazers Thom Gossom, Darryl Hill, Jerry LeVias, Willie Lanier, John Mitchell, Bubba Smith, Wilbur Hackett, Jr., Jimmy Jones and Sam Cunningham; journalists Jeff Prugh, Howell Raines, Ed Krzemienski and Keith Dunnavant; and George Wallace, Jr.

HBO Sports' documentary division has produced 56 documentaries since 1991, capturing seven Peabody Awards and 27 Sports Emmy(R) Awards.

The executive producers of BREAKING THE HUDDLE: THE INTEGRATION OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL are Ross Greenburg and Rick Bernstein; Joe Lavine produces; William C. Rhoden is the writer; music composed by Joel Goodman; edited by Bill McCullough; Liev Schreiber narrates.

BREAKING THE HUDDLE: THE INTEGRATION OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL, chronicling the integration of college football in the South, debuts TUESDAY, DEC. 16 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT), the eve of college bowl season, exclusively on HBO.

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Georgia Gopher Frog Project Filmed For PBS Nature Series

Gopher frogs at a glance

** The species is state-listed as rare and is protected in all states within its range.

** The frogs are found almost exclusively in the longleaf pine ecosystem of the Coastal Plain.

** Adults can grow to about 4 inches long. They spend most of their time in burrows, usually those made by gopher tortoises, in dry, upland sites

** Breeding occurs at fishless, ephemeral (or temporary) and isolated wetlands in longleaf pine forests. Suitable breeding ponds regularly go dry, meaning there are no fish to prey on tadpoles. Breeding peaks in late winter, but can be triggered by heavy rains throughout fall.

** Threats to the species include destruction and changes to favored uplands and wetlands, fish stocked in breeding wetlands, draining wetlands, the decline of gopher tortoises and a lack of natural and prescribed fires.

** Gopher frogs have been found at fewer than 10 sites in Georgia.

They may not have the most photogenic mug, but Georgia’s gopher frogs are making the jump to television.

Award-winning ArgoFilms recorded the recent release of gopher frog metamorphs and tadpoles at Williams Bluffs Nature Preserve for Public Broadcasting System’s Nature series.

Filmmaker Allison Argo sees the restoration project in Early County as “one of the few ... positively good news stories" about amphibians. The one-hour documentary, tentatively scheduled for broadcast in spring, will explore the global decline of amphibians, Argo said.

The work at Williams Bluffs is a partnership involving the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division, Atlanta Botanical Garden, The Nature Conservancy and Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center. The goal: Establish a gopher frog population at the 1,980-acre preserve near Blakely. The project is supported by sales of Georgia’s bald eagle and hummingbird license plates and donations to the Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff.

Gopher frogs are listed as rare throughout their six-state range. They have been documented at fewer than 10 sites in Georgia. Threats to the species, found almost exclusively in the Coastal Plain’s longleaf pine ecosystem, include habitat destruction, the lack of natural and prescribed fires, fish stocked in the frogs’ breeding areas, and the decline of gopher tortoises, which dig burrows the like-named frogs also use.

With a camera running Sept. 11, biologists eased 32 metamorphs and 157 tadpoles into a shallow, seasonal pond. A similar release in August 2007 marked the start of the multiyear project and a first for the frog in this state.

But this time, a tropical storm – Fay – had swamped South Georgia, filling the ephemeral ponds where gopher frogs breed and avoiding last year’s situation where biologists had to create an artificial pond for the legged tadpoles and metamorphs, or young frogs with developed lungs and four legs that no longer need the water.

John Jensen, a senior wildlife biologist with Wildlife Resources’ Nongame Conservation Section, said within a few years the frogs might mature to the point they are returning to the pond to breed. Biologists will then search for egg masses following heavy winter rains, the peak season and weather event for breeding, and set up pitfall traps along a drift fence to catch adult frogs.

Biologists marked legged tadpoles and metamorphs by injecting a fluorescent red elastomer, or rubber, dye under the skin.

According to Argo, a Cape Cod, Mass., filmmaker whose awards include five national Emmys, the documentary will focus attention on the fragile status of amphibians. “More than anything it’s habitat loss and degradation,” Argo said. “And it’s important for the public to be aware of that.”

She said filming was done throughout the U.S and, in Panama and Australia. Read more about ArgoFilms at www.sitestories.com/argofilms/.

In Georgia, sales of the nongame wildlife license plates and the Give Wildlife a Chance income tax checkoff benefit conservation of gopher frogs and other rare species. Both programs are fundraisers for the Wildlife Resources Division’s Nongame Conservation Section, which receives no state funds for its mission to help conserve Georgia wildlife not legally hunted, fished for or trapped, as well as rare plants and natural habitats in the state.

The license plates – featuring a bald eagle or a ruby-throated hummingbird – are available for a one-time $25 fee at county tag offices, by checking the wildlife license plate box on mail-in registrations and through online renewals (http://mvd.dor.ga.gov/tags).

For the checkoff, fill in an amount more than $1 on line 26 of the long state income tax form (Form 500) or line 10 of the short form (Form 500EZ). Contributions can be deducted from refunds or added to payments.

Visit www.georgiawildlife.com for more information, or call Nongame Conservation offices in Social Circle (770-761-3035), Forsyth (478-994-1438) or Brunswick (912-264-7218).

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