The vitals:
7:00 ~ Doors
7:30 ~ THE POWER OF COMMUNITY hosted by Just Collaborative

The Power of Community

A film screening and plática (community conversation) with the film-maker, Anne Lewis

This project is supported in part by the City of Austin.

The Films

"Un Trip: raúlrsalinas and the poetry of liberation" (25 minutes) bilingual

UN TRIP is a split-screen jazz and liberation documentary based on “Un Trip through the Mind Jail” written in 1969 by the beloved Xicanindio poet raúlrsalinas while he was incarcerated at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary.

UN TRIP is a story of transformation through political education in the community (initially a community of the incarcerated). The specifics create a model of relationship once outside as well as inside the walls. The story is told by raúlrsalinas who spent most of his adolescent and young adult life inside as a petty criminal and drug dealer. He came out of Federal penitentiaries as a strong social advocate and community organizer. He never went back to prison. 

The film explores contemporary issues: imprisonment, community destruction, gentrification, and the profound impact of cultural memory on sanity and salvation.

"On Dying of Dementia in a Capitalist System" (15 minutes) transcript in Spanish and English 

A short film written, directed, and narrated by Anne Lewis, made in partnership with Chilean animators Sebastián Bisbal and Natalie Johns with sound design by Andrew Garrison.

After a violent episode on Memorial Day, Anne and her family placed her partner, Jim, in a memory care facility. 11 weeks later he died. Jim had lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disease similar to Parkinson’s. The film juxtaposes the humanity and vulnerability of elderly and those with dementia as they decline and the care workers who help them against the backdrop of for-profit commercial nursing homes and the big business medical system. It is also an exploration of community, the loss of elders, and the support we lack in communal care in a capitalist society. 

Plática

Following the screening will be a community conversation about past and present threats of community marginalization and erasure, poetry, remembrance, and social transformation.

About the Filmmaker: Anne Lewis

Anne comes out of a movement to make media that helps create opportunity for social change. She has made documentary films (always with limited resources) since the 1970¹s and was associate director and assistant camerawoman for HARLAN COUNTY, USA.

Learn more about her work at annelewis.org.

SEE YOU AT THE MOVIES
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