Wrapped new HIV/AIDS film

Greetings from Kenya!

Yesterday I finished my last shoot for a new film I'm doing on male circumcision and its impact it has on reducing HIV infections by 60%!  Initially, I had reservations doing the film, knowing it would be a controversial topic but the more research I've done and now after filmming in Swaziland and Kenya, I see how important this procedure is to compliment efforts to reduce new infections primarily in Southern Africa.

The untitled film is one I'm doing with AIDStar-One, an initiative of JSI which was funded by USAID.  I filmmed in Swaziland in August and in Western Kenya over the past week.  The film is intended to reach policymakers - National AIDS coordinators, USAID missions, etc - who make decisions about AIDS programming and funding.  Very important film!

Look for it in early 2011.  Learn more about male circumcision and HIV/AIDS by visiting the Male Circumcision Clearinghouse

Using Film to Change the World

On September 21st, right in the midst of the UN MDG Summit, the UN Foundation, Mashable and the 92Y put together a really incredible social media summit that allowed journalists, bloggers and activists the opportunity to engage in conversations around the MDG Summit and following General Assembly meeting which is usually reserved to high profile personalities and world leaders.

I was asked to sit on a panel called "Reel Impact:  The Power of Film to Change Lives" with FilmAid International's Founder and CEO, Caroline Baron.  In all the hoopla of the MDGs, I felt it was important to ask critical questions about the role of filmmakers - particularly Western filmmakers - in telling development stories.

The panel was written up and posted on the front page of Mashable.com - which is huge considering its reach and impact.  Tom Cruise even picked up and tweeted about it.  I was thankful as it gave me an opportunity to introduce two of my projects - NOT YET RAIN, my film on unsafe abortions in Ethiopia and MDGFive.com which is a new media initiative uniting artists and activists for maternal health.

You can view the article here and watch the video of the panel above.

Global Artists and Activists Kick Off New Media Initiative to Spotlight Global Maternal Health

On September 16th, MDGFive.com - the new media initiative I co-founded by Maya Azucena - went live!!!

We have a lot of people to thank - our sponsors EngenderHealth, UNFPA, Ipas, Women Deliver, Reality Digital and Governess Films.  To Fredgy Noel Michael for making an awesome promo video.  We also are in deep gratitude to our contributing artists whom you can learn about by visiting our Artists' Map on MDGFive.com.  And of course all our users, bloggers and supporters who are getting the word out.

You can read the full press release here.

Visit the site and make your own video for maternal health!

YOUTH ZONES to screen at UN General Assembly

Nearly two years in the making, YOUTH ZONES - a film and poetry project I did with UNFPA and the Women's Refugee Commission - is having a very big moment. A 4-minute clip of this 25 minute film that I shot in Colombia, Liberia, Lebanon, Northern Uganda and New Orleans will screen at the UN General Assembly on August 12th to help launch the International Year of the Youth.

22-year old Wissam Samhat, who is featured in the film will do the introduction. 

MDGFive.com on the move!

The issue of maternal health has been a focus in my film work for the past 5-6 years, and despite the number of incredible screenings, discussions, and conversations that have resulted, there is so much more that needs to be done to change the trends of women dying or suffering from complications due to childbirth or pregnancy. 

That's why I chose to produce MDGFive.com - in collaboration with Grammy-winning singer, Maya Azucena - as a means to bring new audiences into the global conversation taking place to improve maternal health.  I'm happy to report that a small idea that started last year is starting to blossom...and fast!! 

Not only did we receive our first corporate sponsorship from REALITY DIGITAL (an industry-leader in social media who produces online editors) who is offering us $90,000 worth of pro-bono site development and hosting services, we were also chosen to receive a mini-grant from the Pepsi Refresh Campaign to record "LIFE FOR LIFE", a maternal health song/poem to help launch our new initiative to unite artists and activists around maternal health.  You can find more information about the song and our activites below. 

My and Maya's interest is to utilize our collective networks with the creative and humanitarian worlds to attract new audiences (including young people and communities of color) to maternal health with this project.  There are many exciting events and opportunities for MDGFive.com coming along in the next few months (including the Beta-launch of the site at the Women Deliver conference in Washington DC in June.)  Some events are listed below.  We'll keep you posted on further developments.

Feel free to send me ideas, comments, referrals - they are welcomed and necessary to build the community we hope to build!  As always, thanks for your support!

Lisa

Curating CINEMA CORNER at Women Deliver

I'm really honored to have been asked by Women Deliver to help curate the CINEMA CORNER at their prestigious conference coming up in May.

In the last few months, I've been introduced to some amazing films covering women's health/maternal health.  It's been a pleasure getting to know the filmmakers.

If you're planning to attend the conference, come check out the CINEMA CORNER on Wednesday, June 9th. We'll be showing films in 30-minute slots.

See you there!
Lisa

A Special NYC Screening of "Not Yet Rain"

In an ongoing celebration of Women's History Month, we're hosting a very special screening of "Not Yet Rain."  Held at a luxurious venue in Times Square with performances by young spoken word artists from Urban Word NYC and the electrifying Grammy-winning singer (and partner in my new MDGFive.com initiative), Maya Azucena, you won't want to miss it.  It's my absolute favorite kind of screening - one that brings artists together for reflection and celebration.

It's free and open to the public but seats are limited. Please RSVP to notyetrain@ipas.org or our Facebook invite at http://bit.ly/azFJrN.

Many thanks for your support!

Lisa

Lisa Russell
Director/Producer
GOVERNESS FILMS
www.governessfilms.com

Vote for our project

We only need 17 more votes to advance to the next level.  Please support my new project, MDGFive.com:  A film and new media initiative to increase civic engagement to improve maternal health.

As always, thanks for your support...

Lisa

Seeking Creative Content for Global New Media Site

Dear friends and fellow artists,

I'm developing a new project in collaboration with various international agencies and artists that blends the creative world with the humanitarian world around the issue of women/motherhood/maternal health.

Briefly, it's a new media "mash up" site that houses license-free music, film and spoken word clips by participating artists representing diverse genres, cultures and regions around the world. Users of the site will be able to mash up these clips to create their own advocacy PSAs. The site will be programmed so that these PSA's can be forwarded to networks, policymakers and development institutions. It will be focused around the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and will be promoted extensively around the international community starting in the fall.

We're looking for creative content contributions of all genres, styles, etc by artists including filmmakers, musicians, DJs, poets, who work at the local and/or international level.

In exchange for your contribution, we will promote you, your work and your website, distribute your promotional materials at various events and strive to make linkages between two worlds which don't communicate with each other as often as they should, in my opinion.

If you or someone you may know is interested, please contact me at lisa@governessfilms.com and I''ll  forward more information.

Thanks!

"Not Yet Rain" for Roe v. Wade

Today is the 37th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that made abortion legal in the United States.

I was born at a time when I didn't have to think much about women losing their lives from trying to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy.  But when I was in Ethiopia, shooting "Not Yet Rain", it became clear to me just how important is for abortion to be legal if we are going to be saving women's lives.

Please watch my short film at www.NotYetRain.org.  The trailer is posted below:

A new project: book/script on life of Pete O'Neal

On the night of my 39th birthday, I was in Tanzania getting ready for my flight back to New York and a wonderful thing happened.

I was at the United African Alliance Community Center, a community center that was founded by Pete O'Neal a former Black Panther Party member who has been living in exile for the past 40 years.  Since it was my birthday, he pulled out a bottle of whiskey and we spent the evening with him reminiscing about his life in Kansas City, running the International Black Panther Party in Algiers, leaving the US, his marriage to his wonderful wife Charlotte and all of the hoop-la and craziness that lead to the creation of the man many know, love and respect today.

Many know of Pete O'Neal - there is a great documentary film on his life in Tanzania (called "A Panther in Africa" - go see it -its online), and many students have visited as part of their study abroad program.  However, despite his highly entertaining and enlightening life journey, no one has publicly told his back story.

So, we decided to collaborate - initially a book that I want to turn into a screenplay. I'm in the middle of having a nine and a half hour interview with him transcribed and wanted to share some of it.

Here is the opening, where Pete introduces his name.  Even the introduction is hilarious.  Stay tuned for an update in March.

***

"My name is Pete O’Neal. Wait a minute my name is Felix Lindsay O’Neal Juniors specifically. My nickname is Pete. And the reason that is so, let me show you the brilliance of this.

This has to be the thinking of young black women in the 1940s. My mother was pregnant, and she said she had a friend that was pregnant. And they were gossiping young girls, nineteen years old: “I’m gonna have a baby,” “I’m wanna have a baby too!” “What are we gonna name them?” “Well let’s see. If they’re a boy, I’ll tell you what we’ll do. The first one that has the baby,” because they were pregnant around the same time, “we’ll name the boy ‘Pete.’ And then the second baby, we’ll call him ‘Repeat.’”

So can you imagine if you will? This poor child, this poor male, wherever on this earth he may be, laboring under the burden of the name.  But if he was, can you imagine this? “Repeat Johnson.” That is a hell of a thing idn’t it? Yes I said, “Thank God you had me first.”"

I am soooo excited to get moving on this project!!!!

Urban Word Live!!!

This year I'm really excited to try out some new technology. I'm partnering with Urban Word NYC - the nonprofit I spend a lot of time with that gives free workshops in spoken word poetry and creative writing to NYC teens - to do an online broadcast of their 2010 slam season.

That's right - you can watch the slam from the comfort of your own computer and its totally free. The preliminary slam starts February 28th.  Check the site for the rest of the schedule.

If you want to check out some of the most talented young social commentators (ie poets), please join our Facebook Fan Page at

here.

and visit our site at


http://www.urbanwordlive.com.

Happy Holidays!

Greetings!

As 2009 comes to a close, I want to take this time to thank those of you who have supported me and my work on behalf of women and young people. Whether as a colleague, a friend, an audience member, or a supporter, I couldn't have asked for a better year in being able to do the work I care so deeply about. As a colleague of mine said last night, "2009 was your year" and it was! It would not have been possible without the support I receive from so many of you.

As Maya Angleou wrote, "If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities."

Thank you for helping me realize the power of a dream.

Many thanks and happy holidays!

Lisa

Producer/Director
GOVERNESS FILMS
www.governessfilms.com




Highlights of 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- April 2009: Premiered "Not Yet Rain", a short film on unsafe abortion, produced in association with Ipas
- May 2009: Traveled to the Cannes Film Festival with the pitch reel for my new film, "The Parliament of One" on US-UN relations.
- May 2009: Received the Emmy® Award in the "Outstanding Advanced Media Interactivity" category for "Bi-Racial Hair" starring Zora Howard and produced as part of the WGBH Lab with the National Black Programming Consortium.
- June/July 2009: Keynote at nine National Youth Leadership Forum conferences in Boston, Philadelphia, DC, Atlanta with "Love, Labor, Loss", on obstetric fistula in Niger.
- August 2009: Filmmed in Northern Uganda for "YOUTH ZONES", a film and poetry initiative with UNFPA and Women's Refugee Commission.
- September 2009: Filmmed exclusive interview footage with Pete O'Neal in Tanzania in preparation for a book/script on his life story.
- September/October 2009: Filmmed at the UN General Assembly and completed second round of interviews for "The Parliament of One."
- November 2009: Invited to join the Editorial Committee for the Maternal Health Task Force.



2010 Projections
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Develop and launch MDGFive.com - a film and new media initiative to increase civic engagement to meet MDG Five on maternal health.
- Premiere "YOUTH ZONES", a film and poetry initiative with UNFPA and Women's Refugee Commission profiling young people in conflict and natural disasters in Liberia, Lebanon, Colombia, New Orleans and Northern Uganda.
- Research and development with award-winning choreographer, Tamilla Woodard and activist Joao Brando, on a live theater piece focused on sexual violence in the DR Congo and the Conflict Mineral Trade Act introduced by Representative Jim McDermott.
- Continue fundraising for production funds for "The Parliament of One" and "Myth of the Motherland."



Show your support of independent artists: Make a tax-free donation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As independent filmmakers, we spend more of time raising funds than actually working on the projects we care about. Governess Films can definitely use your support to keep our projects moving.

If you are interested in making a tax-free donation to Lisa Russell's independent documentary projects, please visit the following sites:

http://fiscalsponsorship.ifp.org/donate_now.html

And choose either,

"The Parliament of One"
"Myth of the Motherland"

Thank you!

Lisa Russell's Film Blog: Conversations for a Better World BLOG POSTING

I posted a blog entry on Conversations for a Better World about the making of LOVE, LABOR, LOSS, my documentary on obstetric fistula.

"Laboring in Poverty: A Global Problem Caught on Film"

Please click here to read and join the conversation!

Conversations for a Better World BLOG POSTING

Please read this blog entry I posted on Conversations for a Better World and share your thoughts.