Author: Andrea Leland

Saturday, June 1st  6pm at Bajo El Sol Gallery   IRMARIA : A  Short Film Filmmakers: Christopher Lawrence & Aariyah Athanase will be present for Q & A following the screening .  Set in the Virgin Islands, A young girl named Mia and her mother Kierra, experience one of the world’s most powerful hurricanes. As a result Mia realizes what she must do.   Christopher Lawrence, Director and co-creator of the film IrMaria  Christopher is a 26 year old 3D animator from the United States Virgin Islands. Of his work he says: “I come from a family of artists, so naturally I grew up always loving art. It is a practice that allowed me to express myself in ways that others could not. Specifically, the medium of animation had a major influence on me growing up. This influence is what drove me to pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Animation from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Animation allows me to create worlds. Some worlds may reflect reality, such as the IrMaria film and others that push the boundaries of human imagination. It allows me to leave something behind that is living and breathing even when I’m long gone. I love the ability to represent Virgin Island’s culture in media because it has been historically unrepresented amongst the wider populace. As a Virgin Island artist, it delights me in knowing I have the ability to share a fresh perspective. Directing the short film IrMaria allowed me to spread awareness, not only about the devastating effects of hurricanes, but also the resilience and courage of the Virgin Island people. “     Aariyah Athanase, Co-creator of the film IrMaria  Aariyah Athanase, a native St. Johnian, discovered her artistic spark and love for storytelling at a young age. Growing up in a vibrant family full of colorful characters, Aariyah’s curiosity blossomed as she observed their unique personalities and listened to the captivating folktales her aunts would weave, each with their own enchanting twist. This fascination with stories, fueled by her growing passion for drawing and animation, led Aariyah to nurture her artistic talents of drawing and painting in various mediums throughout her youth. After graduating from the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, she set her sights on the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she pursued a degree in 3D Animation. During her time at SCAD, Aariyah’s artistic journey took a digital turn, expanding her horizons to embrace the potential of digital art and video production. During her senior year  she co-created the short 3D animated film ‘IrMaria,’ a powerful piece that sought to shed light on the struggles of the Virgin Islands during a time of perceived neglect by the media in the United States. Armed with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Animation, Aariyah returned home with a fervent mission. She was determined to use her talents to illuminate the rich history and culture of the Virgin Islands, a place that had shaped her identity and inspired her art....

Saturday, April 6, 2024, 6:00 PM | Bajo El Sol Gallery St John Film Society and Bajo El Sol present STRIPPED FOR PARTS: AMERICAN JOURNALISM ON THE BRINK 99-minute documentary film Filmmaker RICK GOLDSMITH will be present for Q & A after the film WATCH THE TRAILER FILM SYNOPSIS: Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink is the story of one secretive hedge fund that is plundering America’s newspapers and the journalists who are fighting back. Investigative reporter Julie Reynolds, Denver Post editorialist Chuck Plunkett and a handful of others, backed by the NewsGuild Union, go toe-to-toe with the faceless Alden Global Capital in a battle to save and rebuild local journalism across America. Who will control the future of America’s news ecosystem: Wall Street billionaires concerned only with profit, or those who see journalism as an essential public service and the lifeblood of our democracy? “Goldsmith is an amazing storyteller, able to take the important and little-understood topic about how US newspapers are being destroyed by corporate greed and explain it in a compelling way. Everyone in a community that is vulnerable to the loss of their journalistic “voice” needs to watch Stripped for Parts.” –Mike Blinder Publisher and editor, Editor & Publisher Magazine RICK GOLDSMITH – FILMMAKER: RICK GOLDSMITH has been producing and directing documentary films since 1981. His mission as a filmmaker is to tell stories that encourage social engagement and active participation in community life and the democratic process, and to stimulate young minds to question the world around them. Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink (2023) is the third in a trilogy of films with journalism themes, following Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press (1996) and The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2009) (co-produced/co-directed with Judith Ehrlich),both nominated for Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature. Most Dangerous Man also won a Peabody Award. Other Goldsmith films: Everyday Heroes (2001) (co-produced/co-directed with Abby Ginzberg) is a behind-the-headlines look at AmeriCorps and a provocative and instructive look at youth, race and national service. Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw (2015), chronicles “the female Michael Jordan” from troubled family life to basketball superstardom, revealing a long-hidden battle with mental illness. In 2023, Goldsmith received a Maysles Bros. Lifetime Achievement Award from the St. Louis International Film Festival and also The Rose F. and Charles L. Klotzer First Amendment Award for Free Speech in the Service of Democracy from the Gateway Journalism Review. Born and raised in the suburbs of New York City, Goldsmith came west in 1975 and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area ever since. Trained in architecture, music and community activism, he began working in films in 1979. He is a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the Writers’ Guild of America, West, and New Day Films, a filmmaker-run distribution coop. See links to reviews and interviews with Goldsmith, and more...

Sunday, March 3, 2024, 6:00 PM | Bajo El Sol Gallery St John Film Society and Bajo El Sol present STEWARDS OF THE LAND 90-minute documentary film Filmmaker JUANMA TEITELBAUM and Producer MARIOLGA REYES CRUZ will be present for Q & A WATCH THE TRAILER FILM SYNOPSIS: Stephanie, Ian and Alfredo are landless ecological farmers striving to produce healthy food for local consumption in Puerto Rico. In this economically depressed US-territory–highly dependent on food imports and a frequent target for hurricanes–producing food locally is urgent. The documentary shows the protagonists’ grit as they attempt to carve a living without land ownership or capital. DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT: “Puerto Rico is fertile land. I grew up in a land-occupation settlement in Vega Baja, surrounded by all the tropical fruit trees that my family could dream of. Seeing so much abundance and generosity from nature around us, I wondered how was it possible that Puerto Rico imported over 85% of our food? That question has determined my audiovisual work for almost 20 years. Stewards of the Land is our first feature-length documentary. In this film we follow the day to day of three young Puerto Rican agro ecological farmers as they confront the natural and unnatural challenges of cultivating food sovereignty with grace and dignity.” – JuanMa Teitelbaum, Director JUANMA TEITELBAUM – DIRECTOR: JuanMa Pagán Teitelbaum is a documentary filmmaker and ecological farmer. He holds a master’s degree in Caribbean Studies from the State University of New York-Buffalo and a wide-ranging experience in the world of cinema, including lighting and sound work, music video cinematography and editing, and work on movies and documentaries. Alongside Mariolga Reyes Cruz, JuanMa has produced over 30 short documentaries on sustainable agriculture in Puerto Rico. His mini-documentary series Harvest Today (Cosecha Hoy) was broadcast on The Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corporation and received an Emmy Suncoast nomination. The Stewards of the Land is his first feature-length documentary which showcases the efforts of three Puerto Rican ecological farmers working in the main island of Puerto Rico. MARIOLGA REYES CRUZ – PRODUCER/SCREENWRITER: Mariolga Reyes Cruz is co-founder and executive director of the Fideicomiso de Tierras Comunitarias para la Agricultura Sostenible, the first agricultural community land trust in Puerto Rico. Prior to founding the organization, Mariolga taught at the University of Puerto Rico and worked on coalition building for social and climate justice. She co-produced 30 short documentaries on sustainable agriculture that were broadcast on public television, for which she received an Emmy nomination. Supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Virgin Island Council of the Arts and the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands.  For more information, contact the St John Film Society stjviff@gmail.com or visit www.stjohnfilm.com  

Saturday, April 1, 2023, 7:00 PM | Bajo El Sol Gallery St John Film Society and Bajo El Sol present LAZARO AND THE SHARK 76-minute documentary film Filmmaker William Sabourin O’Reilly will be present for the screening Seating is limited, so arrive early!  “There has been no other film, produced either in or outside Cuba, that goes as deep into the fascinating underground of the most African of Cuban cities, Santiago de Cuba.” FILM SYNOPSIS: Lazaro and The Shark: Cuba Under the Surface is a feature documentary that brings us to the world of Conga Competitions in the Carnival of Santiago de Cuba – one of the poorest Carnival in the world. Lázaro, the leader of the Conga de Los Hoyos, is determined to win the coveted award bestowed to the neighborhood that presents the most spectacular Conga. Like leaders of rival congas, Lazaro must join with his neighbors and scour the strictly rationed marketplace to find the necessary materials to create a show-stopping performance. Director William Sabourin O’Reilly, an Afrocuban native to Havana, offers a rare window into communist Cuba, a country that is often romanticized, and almost always portrayed through the eyes of an outsider. Sabourin seamlessly weaves wrenching moments of senseless police violence with intimate scenes of distant lovers aching to reunite. As the competition approaches, we see much more than Lazaro’s desire to win a local honor. We are immersed in the essential fight of the Cuban nation: to continue to live in the legacy of a revolution that has left its people in a constant struggle of poverty, or embrace a more dangerous, vital vision of living in freedom. DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT: “Cuba, my native country, is at a crossroads, where it has remained for years. After six decades of Communist rule, it has become quite clear that the island nation has sunk into a perpetual economic downturn resulting in poverty and political crisis. The concepts of freedom and democracy are non-existent to generations of Cubans. This reality becomes particularly heartbreaking when one bears witness to the energy, passion, and joy of the Cuban people, displayed intermittently as they experience a life of scarcity and vicissitudes. Lazaro and The Shark tells a story about life in contemporary Cuba, marked by generational conflicts and the suspense of a competition. This film is a declaration of love to my country, my people, and my culture. The music and dancing featured throughout the film emphasizes the undeniable presence and importance of the Afro-Cuban legacy on the Eastern part of the island. The evolution of these festivities, the Conga groups, and the competition between them is both provocative and entertaining. Stripped of the exotic gaze of an outsider, the film is full of compelling stories that peer into the daily lives of Cubans, and their valiant attempts to maintain traditions under extraordinary circumstances. My visceral desire to preserve this socio-cultural memory served as the initial trigger to begin this project over ten years ago. The story finally takes us out of...

ST JOHN FILM SOCIETY IS BACK!!  4pm / Sunday, February 27 ///   Bajo El Sol Gallery 6:30 pm / Saturday, February 26, 2022 ( sold out)    St John Film Society in collaboration with Bajo El Sol Gallery presents  LOS HERMANOS/THE BROTHERS 83-minute documentary film Directors Ken Schneider and Marcia Jarmel will be present for Q & A following the screening. SEATING AT BAJO EL SOL IS LIMITED. Register in advance by sending an email with your name and the number of tickets you want to: stjviff@gmail.com   FILM SYNOPSIS: Ilmar and Aldo López-Gavilán are virtuoso Afro-Cuban musician brothers, born in Havana in the 70s. At 14, Ilmar outgrew his island teachers and was sent to the U.S.S.R. to study violin. He never lived in Cuba again, ultimately landing as a working chamber violinist in the U.S. Younger brother Aldo grew up mentored by Cuba’s impressive jazz and classical pianists, his extraordinary talent achieving renown on the island, but stymied elsewhere by the 60-year-old U.S. embargo. Though they see each other when family finances  and visa restrictions allow, they’ve never had a chance to collaborate musically—something they’ve longed for all their lives. Tracking their parallel lives, poignant reunion, and momentous first performances together on stages across the U.S., Los Hermanos / The Brothers is a nuanced, intensely moving view of nations long estranged, through the lens of music and family. DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT: “A family story originally brought us to Cuba, where Ken’s dad was given shelter as a refugee child from Nazi Germany, two years before the U.S. opened its doors to him. Since the diplomatic shift in December 2014, we’ve seen things begin to change. More American tourists. More money. W-fi. There was a palpable sense of possibility—and concern that core Cuban values would be threatened. When we toured Cuba with Havana Curveball in the spring of 2015, we were concerned about how Cubans would respond to this story of an idealistic and perhaps naive middle class teen from the U.S. Criss-crossing the island for two weeks on a bus of Cuban artists, thought leaders, and pop stars, we found instead open hearts, open minds, and the building of deep friendships with a broad range of Cubans. A year later, the death of Fidel and the ascent of Donald Trump changed the landscape of US-Cuba relations, and the prospects for the brothers. Today it is harder than ever for Cubans and Americans to cross borders. Americans still know little of one of their closest neighbors, likening Cuba to either an island paradise or socialist prison. We rarely hear the perspectives of Cubans themselves. The Cubans we know are deeply proud of their values, their artistic achievements, their way of life. They want change—and self-determination. They have generously shared their stories with us. We are committed to bringing them to you.” – Marcia Jarmel & Ken Schneider KEN SCHNEIDER: A Peabody- winning producer/director who has also edited nearly 40 feature documentaries for PBS, HBO, Showtime and Al-Jazeera. He received a Peabody as Co-producer and editor of Soft Vengeance. He...