From countercorp-news at countercorp.org Mon Nov 5 19:58:01 2007 From: countercorp-news at countercorp.org (CounterCorp News and Events List) Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2007 16:58:01 -0800 Subject: [CounterCorp] Festival follow-up and thank-you's; Animation Fest Message-ID: <77DC668B-3D6E-4DFF-A43E-F63140E06C99@countercorp.org> Dear CounterCorp supporter, Well, we did again: another successful Anti-Corporate Film Festival completed and in the record books. After some much-needed time off, we wanted to follow up and thank everyone who helped make the 2007 Festival a success. Among the highlights at this year's Festival: -- One world premiere, two California premieres, and a San Francisco premiere among the six feature-length films we screened. -- Four people who were actually featured in the films we screened were able to be present for Q & A sessions after their respective films. -- Coverage in both the San Francisco Chronicle's "96 Hours" weekend pull-out section, and on Access SF, our local cable television community station, in addition to both weekly papers and numerous other media. -- The Festival was also notable this year for the number of short films we received as submissions and screened at the Festival, and we think this marks the beginning of a trend toward more citizen-driven films. We're looking into ways to utilize this phenomenon to involve more people and issues in CounterCorp's programs. We want to thank everyone who participated in this year's Festival -- audience members, speakers, co-presenters, and of course our volunteer Festival staff, without whom we could not organize the Festival in the first place: Moira Birss, Nathan Frankel*, David McClymonds, Ellen Roggeman, Darcy Sharpe, Olivia Solis*, Ann Wemeier*, Dennis Williams*, and especially our Volunteer Coordinator, Missy Ablin*. We also want to thank graphic design guru John Musgrove*, who designed CounterCorp's "Tipping Man" logo, as well as this year's Guardian ad and Festival poster. [* denotes returning volunteers from last year's Festival] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------- WHAT'S NEXT? CounterCorp will be on a programming hiatus until January 2008, when we hope to be able to announce several new one-night premiere film screenings, two possible "mini-Festivals" in the Spring, and CounterCorp's first non-film project. So stay tuned! We are also currently in discussions to co-present the theatrical premiere of a new documentary film in San Francisco later this month. More news on that if and when it happens. In the meantime, we still need to raise some money to help defray the costs of this year's Festival. If you'd like to make a tax- deductible donation before the end of the calendar year so that you can write it off on next year's tax return, now would be a great time to do so. The most convenient way is to go to our online form at and select CounterCorp from the drop-down menu. Thank you for any amount you can afford. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------- COUNTERCORP FRIENDS Finally, our colleagues at the San Francisco Film Society, who co- presented the centerpiece feature film at this year's Festival, the Spanish mystery-thriller "The Method" (El Metodo), are presenting their own festival this week, and we wanted to support them by letting you know about it: > The 2nd annual San Francisco International Animation Festival runs > November 8 ? 11 at Landmark?s Embarcadero Center Cinema, and > features a the boldest and most exciting animated films and videos > from around the world, including frame-by-frame and computer- > assisted animation. The festival opens with Leslie Iwerks' > examination of Pixar -- perhaps the best-known, most successful, > and most unusual animation house in the world, based right here in > the Bay Area. The director as well as several Pixar animators are > expected to be in attendance. The full festival program -- from the > lovable children's movie "Komaneko: The Curious Cat" to a > collection of the best shorts from the best animation festival in > Europe, and an exciting animated music video program, "Play it by > Eye" -- along with tickets and more information is available at > www.sffs.org. So go check out some excellent animation, and support independent media in the Bay Area ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------- Thanks as always for your support -- we couldn't do any of this without you! CounterCorp Core Corps CounterCorp: Putting an end to business as usual Organizers of the 2008 Anti-Corporate Film Festival www.countercorp.org :-:-=-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-: To add CounterCorp events to your computer or iPod calendar, click on webcal://icalx.com/public/CounterCorp/CounterCorp.ics To subscribe to CounterCorp's "Corporation Watch" e-mail list, visit the information page at http://www.corporationwatch.org From countercorp-news at countercorp.org Fri Nov 23 18:47:22 2007 From: countercorp-news at countercorp.org (CounterCorp News and Events List) Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 15:47:22 -0800 Subject: [CounterCorp] SF Event Tomorrow! 'What Would Jesus Buy?' - Sat., 11/24, 7 & 9pm Message-ID: <7A62747C-8686-4198-A3F9-B3407D81C80E@countercorp.org> Dear CounterCorp supporters, Sorry about the short notice, but due to the Thanksgiving holiday we were only able to finalize the details for this event today -- just in time for the holidaze! CounterCorp is pleased to be co-presenting the theatrical premiere of 'What Would Jesus Buy?', which opens in San Francisco today at the Lumiere Theater on 1572 California Street at Polk Street. 'What Would Jesus Buy?' examines the commercialization of Christmas in America by following Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the "Shopocalypse" -- the end of humankind from consumerism, over- consumption and the fires of eternal debt. From the humble beginnings of preaching at his portable pulpit on New York City subways, to having a congregation of thousands and his own gospel choir, Bill Talen (a.k.a. the Rev. Billy) has become the leader not just of a church, but a national movement. Rev. Billy's epic journey takes viewers from chilling exorcisms at Wal-Mart headquarters to retail interventions at the Mall of America, all the way to the Promised Land on Christmas Day. Along the way, the film reminds us that even though we may be "hypnotized and consumerized," we still have a chance to save ourselves this Christmas. As an added bonus, the Rev. Billy will be in attendance and conduct a Q&A with the audience after both shows (7:00 and 9:00pm) this Saturday, November 24th! CounterCorp director John Wilner will introduce him. Directed by Rob VanAlkemade and produced by Morgan Spurlock, director and star of 'Super Size Me'. For more information, visit www.wwjbmovie.com. # # # CounterCorp: Putting an end to business as usual Organizers of the 2008 Anti-Corporate Film Festival www.countercorp.org :-:-=-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-: To subscribe to CounterCorp's News and Events e-mail list, go to http://list.countercorp.org/mailman/listinfo/countercorp-news To add CounterCorp events to your computer or iPod calendar, click on webcal://icalx.com/public/CounterCorp/CounterCorp.ics To subscribe to CounterCorp's "Corporation Watch" e-mail list, visit the information page at http://www.corporationwatch.org To donate to CounterCorp, select our name from the drop-down menu at https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=695 From countercorp-news at countercorp.org Fri Nov 23 20:46:47 2007 From: countercorp-news at countercorp.org (CounterCorp News and Events List) Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:46:47 -0800 Subject: [CounterCorp] The alternative to consumptive, corporate-driven Christmas Message-ID: <4079E76E-F282-4690-B8D3-025FEADC79BE@countercorp.org> 'What Would Jesus Buy?' Film Asks Los Angeles (AP, Nov. 23) -- Buy Nothing Day is getting a Jesus jolt. New York-based performance artist Bill Talen assumes the persona of Reverend Billy, often accompanied by a gospel choir, to use the histrionics and cadences of a televangelist (think Jimmy Swaggart) in an anti-consumerism effort to convert people to his Church of Stop Shopping. And for this year's Black Friday shopping frenzy, Talen is upping his profile with a colorful campaign promoting a new documentary film about his efforts, 'What Would Jesus Buy?' It will feature "Four Horsemen of the Shopocalypse" riding down Madison Avenue in New York and "elves on strike" at the Grove outdoor mall in Los Angeles, said Morgan Spurlock, who produced the film. Spurlock, known for placing himself in uncomfortable situations in 2004's 'Super Size Me' and his '30 Days' TV series, isn't going with the immersion technique for this project. "I've unplugged, man," Spurlock said this week. "I've started to walk away from this idea of getting credit card after credit card to get people more gifts." Spurlock says the campaign and film should appeal to conservative Christians as well as to those on the political left. "People on both sides of the fence can agree on one thing, and that's that the holiday's gotten out of control," he said. "We've been convinced that the way to show your love for someone is by what you buy them, by what the price tag is, by what is represented on the receipt. And that's the wrong message to send out," he added. A review of 'What Would Jesus Buy?' in 'Christianity Today' questioned whether Talen's act, poking fun at both religion and consumerism, went too far. "Yes, it's condescending. Yes, it cheapens Christianity," the magazine said. "But the whole argument of the film is that our commodity culture has already cheapened Christianity." Buy Nothing Day was conceived 1992 by artist Ted Dave of Vancouver, British Columbia, and since then has been championed by Adbusters magazine, said Adbusters campaign manager Paul Cooper. "It started off as a bit of a joke," said Adbusters editor-in-chief Kalle Lasn. "Environmentalists are really the core base of this movement. But after that there were religious people that came on board." Cooper calls the day an "open source" event for all types of performance artists and activists. Any effort that generates thought about shopping and consumption is encouraged. Last year, one group wandered into stores wearing shirts that advertised 50 percent off everything in the store. "There are a lot of people who don't like this weird tradition of hectic shopping and frenzied and angry crowds the day after Thanksgiving," Cooper said. # # # CounterCorp: Putting an end to business as usual Organizers of the 2008 Anti-Corporate Film Festival www.countercorp.org :-:-=-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-=-:-: To subscribe to CounterCorp's News and Events e-mail list, go to http://list.countercorp.org/mailman/listinfo/countercorp-news To add CounterCorp events to your computer or iPod calendar, click on webcal://icalx.com/public/CounterCorp/CounterCorp.ics To subscribe to CounterCorp's "Corporation Watch" e-mail list, visit the information page at http://www.corporationwatch.org To donate to CounterCorp, select our name from the drop-down menu at https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=695