One World Cinema

Follow one of the UK’s top emerging designers, and Creative Director of the fashion line ‘Mother of Pearl,” Amy Powney, on her 18 month journey to create a sustainable, traceable, fashion collection ‘No Frills,’ where she successfully balances keeping the enjoyment of fashion, while considering it’s footprint and impact on the planet. If the fashion industry were a country, it would rank third for carbon emissions after China and the US, as we buy three times as many clothes as we did in the 1980’s, and wear them for half as long, with three out of five garments going to landfill within one year of purchase.

Naomi Klein’s book “No Logo,” made a life changing impact on Amy while she was studying at University as she learned about the harsh reality and poor health and safety conditions of those working in sweatshops in the Americas and Asia, and how only 2% of the people who make our clothes earn a livable wage. The impact the chemicals have, the large quantities produced, pollution, carbon emissions, and the way the animals are treated, made her want to create her own ethically sourced, sustainable line, in a socially responsible way.

She travels to Austria, Uruguay, Peru, and Turkey and finds mills that use logs for generating power, and farms that use steam instead of chemicals to soften wool leading to total equality in the sustainable production of combed wool which is in harmony with the environment.

Mulesing, or the pain and fear inflicted on sheep caused by the practice of cutting chunks of flesh from lambs’ hindquarters with shears to address problems caused by breeding them to produce excessive amounts of wool, is not practiced in Uruguay.

GOTS: or Global Organic Textile Standard is a certification body ensuring fashion products adhere to strict social and environmental standards. Under GOTS certification the minimum working age is 16, certified companies are required to pay their employees a living wage, while the use of hazardous chemicals is prohibited.

“No Frills” was the only sustainable collection on the schedule at London Fashion Week September 2018 and it’s success has allowed Amy and her partner Chloe, to turn ‘Mother of Pearl’ into one of the first sustainable luxury brands using organic cotton, wool and Tencel, a fibre made from sustainable managed forests.

As a result of those paving the way in sustainable fashion, many industry innovations are underway including scannable labels that trace a garments supply chain, friendly bacteria that are programmed to grow colors found in nature and dye fabrics biologically and not chemically, and leather made from mushrooms.

So, in the past four years, the number of clothes described as sustainable has quadrupled, however, fashion’s impact is only getting worse, with the industry projected to grow 63% by 2030 putting unprecedented strain on planetary resources.

“The True Cost” was an investigative documentary from 2015 which demonstrated the environmental and social impacts of the fashion industry showing just who really pays the price for your clothes.

• Best Documentary at Boston Film Festival 2022
• Best Documentary at St. Louis Int’l Film Festival 2022
• Best Documentary at Sunscreen Film Festival 2023
• Best Director and Best Cinematography at DOC LA 2022
• Best Cinematography at Red Rock Film Festival 2023

Journey along with filmmakers Ashley Avis and Edward Winters over five years, across 20,000 miles and 13 states as they document the tragic plight of North America’s wild horses living on unfenced areas of public lands. As they delve deeper into obtaining an answer as to why the wild horses are disappearing, they uncover the beauty, purity, power, freedom and humanlike personalities of the majestic creatures, learn where they originated from, the debate as to whether or not they became extinct during the ice age, the laws that should protect them under the Endangered Species Act, what a round up is, the reasons for the roundup’s, and the questionable tactics of the Bureau of Land Management and commercial livestock corporations that are abusing Western public lands for profit without the American public noticing.

Help protect their rightful habitat.

Stand with wild horses.

This award winning film is now available for streaming on Amazon, iTunes, Spectrum, and more from Gravitas Ventures.

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The World Premiere of “The Quiet One” was held on 5/2/2019 at the world-renowned Tribeca Film Festival, and NOW, the film will open on June 21, 2019 on Sundance Selects, Video On Demand.

You have heard of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts, and most likely even Brian Jones, however, this film, directed by Oliver Murray, is about “a man of few words who came from a working class background,” former founding member of “The Rolling Stones,” the bass player, Bill Wyman. Wyman has kept a daily journal since he was young (post WWII), has published seven books, taken thousands of photographs, and shot hours of unseen film footage.  “The Quiet One” takes a behind the scenes look at his life, relationships and world tours utilizing the unseen film archives from his personal collection. Bill discusses the musicians who helped influence him escape a bleak post war London, and turn him into the humble rock legend who has toured with the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1993.  He owes a debt of gratitude to Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Ray Charles.  Must see.  It is very moving.

Eun-hee is a 14 -year-old girl in the 8th grade living in Seoul, Korea.  Her teacher tells the class not to waste time going out on dates, or singing at karaoke bars, and to study hard to prepare for acceptance into Seoul National University.  Eun-hee wants to act her age and do what the teacher says she shouldn’t do; sing in karaoke after school, and go out on dates. Eun-hee’s family life is dysfunctional, and her father is also very strict putting pressure on her to study harder and pass exams.  She finds solace with a her new teacher, Young-Ji, and her best friend. More pressure is added when news strikes about Eun-hee’s health and Young-Ji’s fate.

-Matija Strnsia is the Berlin-based composer behind House of Hummingbird.

Cute movie about a girl from Glasgow, Scotland who has to make amends for her past and present before things can go right in her future.  Rose-Lynn is obsessed with country music, and is dreaming of getting to Nashville, TN to “make it” as a country singer.  Little does she realize, that she is sitting on one of the greatest unwritten country songs to date, her own life story.  Fresh out of prison, she references the late, great, Johnny Cash, and how, he too, spent time in jail.  Throughout the course of the film, it is explained why she ‘did time’, and demonstrates how some of the locals will not let her forget her mistakes, while others are trying to help her succeed.  With two kids at home, who she neglects for her singing career, Rose-Lynn’s mother is trying to get her to wake up and see how she is behaving with the hopes that she will grow up and act more responsibly.   Rose-Lynn’s own conscious gets the best of her as the film takes the viewer in a couple of directions, where you really aren’t exactly sure what the outcome will be.

A musical journey with Roots, Rock, and Reggae.

Reggae music was recently added to the list of international cultural treasures by Unesco.

Spend some time on this musical reunion with Rastafarian reggae legends, Ken Boothe, Winston McAnuff, Kiddus I, Jah9, Juddy Mowatt, and Cedric Myton (Congos), in their backyard, located in the panoramic green hills high above Kingston, Jamaica.  Hang out with these veterans and novices, as they record an acoustic album, jam on brass instruments, accordion, acoustic guitar, and piano, prepare for a world tour, listen to vinyl records and smoke some ganja. From a variety of backgrounds (children of jewellery makers, fisherman, and descendants of slaves), many of them started singing in church at an early age.  Although reggae music often has a positive vibe to it, the musicians talk about the history of Jamaica, poverty, religion, dishonest record labels, political unrest, and social injustices.

Album: “Inna De Yard” came out on April 12, 2019.

Tour: “Inna De Yard” will tour Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Denmark this Summer 2019.

Movie: “Inna De Yard” in theaters on July 12, 2019.

Tribeca Film Festival screenings:

Wednesday, May 1 at 4:00 PM

Village East Cinema – Theater 5
Director Peter Webber in-person!

Friday, May 3 at 5:00 PM

Regal Cinemas Battery Park 11 – Theater 6

Directed by Peter Webber (The Girl with a Pearl Earring)

Woodstock: Three Days That Defined A Generation” is less about the actual concert performances from the classic rock era musicians, and more about what is was like to put the festival together, be a musician playing at the festival, and attend the festival as a peace and love searching concert-goer.  The film has a few more screenings at The Tribeca Film Festival 2019, will then play at the Quad Cinema in NYC starting on May 24, 2019, at Landmark’s Nuart Cinema on June 7, 2019, and will also air on PBS/WGBH in August 2019 (for the 50th Anniversary).

Transport yourself back to the late 60’s when four businessmen had the idea of putting together three days of politically conscious music on a farm in Bethel, NY.  The planning included where to hold the gathering, figuring out which amenities, and how many of each to obtain, putting up fences/gates, stage design, performers, and ticket sales.  The concert organizers were uncertain of how many people would actually show up, as many of the music lovers didn’t plan ahead, and just made the journey from all around the country just to listen to music and meet other like minded people searching for answers to questions like, “Why was the VietNam war still going on?”, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and MLK (1968), and civil and social injustices.

The film really makes you feel as if you were in the audience and actually attending the festival, detailing the times the musicians went up on stage, the musicians that improvised for the sake of scheduling, which performers were scheduled for which dates and times, when people walked around the grounds and experienced the arts and crafts and other visitors and performers, the drugs that were taken, the times the rains came, the slip and slides in the mud, how they communicated with one another and the outside world, went skinny dipping, gave birth, first aid tents, make shift tents/hippy buses, slept, searched for food, and finally went home, unscathed.

Must experience!

Tue. 4/30, 6:45 p.m., Village East Cinema 4

Wed. 5/1, 3:15 p.m., Village East Cinema 6Sat.

5/4, 2:30 p.m., Regal Battery Park 5

The 18th Annual Tribeca Film Festival opened up with a screening of “The Apollo,” about the legendary theater, which has been providing over 80 years of Black Entertainment, located on 125th Street between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevards in NYC, NY.  The film captures the 1,506 seat venue, which became ‘The Apollo’ in 1938, with honesty and pride.  Amateur Night at The Apollo, founded by Ralph Cooper, is held every Wednesday evening, and offers unknown African American artists a chance to perform with the hopes of catching their big break.

The film also provides interesting facts you may or may have not have known about the following singers and performers:

Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Billy Holiday, Dinah Washington, Eartha Kitt, Etta James, Martha and the Vandellas, The Four Tops, The Temptations, The Supremes, Little Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, The Isley Brothers, James Brown, Pharrell Williams, and Common,

Comedians: Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle,

Social unrest and racial discrimination: Trayvon Martin, Jamar Clark, and Eric Garner,

Politicians and activists: Malcolm X, Charles Rangel, and Barack Obama,

Businessmen: Bobby Schiffman, Percy Sutton, and the financial up’s and downs the theater has seen over the years,

and

Tribute concerts to those entertainers who have passed away: James Brown (2006), Michael Jackson (2009), Whitney Houston (2012),  Prince (2016), and Aretha Franklin (2018).

Must see!

HBO

Opens June 28, 2019 in NY/LA.  Sony Picture Classics

One of my favorite films at Tribeca 2019.

The Whitbread Around the World Sailing Race (WRTWR) began in 1973, and was originally sponsored by a brewery in Britain that grew into a hotel chain.  The race is held every three years, and is now known as the Volvo Ocean Race.

When Tracy Edwards was 10 years old, her father died from a cardiac arrest.  When she was 16, she found herself escaping an alcoholic stepfather, dropping out of school, and heading to the Greek Islands.  Leaving everything behind, she found freedom in sailing. Although the all male crew was hesitant to hire a female, she landed a job as a cook on board a yacht that was competing in the Whitbread Challenge.  When she managed to get away from cooking and cleaning, she learned as much as she could above deck.

Wanting to sail around the world again, Tracy was determined to form the first all female sailing crew and compete in the 1989/90 Whitbread Race with 9 women. Her idea was met by many obstacles, however. Firstly, funding the adventure was looking bleak as no one would take the women seriously thinking women did not have the stamina that was required. Secondly, personality conflicts among the female crew were a growing concern, and lastly, repairing their extremely dilapidated boat, seemed hopeless.

Over 3 months at sea, 30 foot waves, and the dangerous Southern Ocean crossing, the film takes you through each leg of the race:

1. Southampton, England to Punta del Este, Uruguay  5,938 miles

2. Punta del Este, Uruguay to Fremantle, Australia    7,260 miles

3. Fremantle, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand   3,272 miles

4. Auckland, New Zealand to Punta del Este, Uruguay  6,255 miles

5. Punta del Este, Uruguay to Fort Lauderdale, Florida  5,475 miles

6. Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Southampton, England  3, 818 miles

Will they persevere?

Must see!

Wed May 1, 2019  6:00pm VEC-01  Village East Cinema

Thurs  May 2, 2019  6:00pm VEC-06  Village East Cinema

Saturday May 4, 2019 1:30pm  RGL-03  Regal Cinemas Battery Park 11