Author: Andrea

St John School of the Arts / 7:30 pm / Tuesday, March 12, 2019 St John Film Society presents OUT OF MY HEAD Full length documentary followed by Q & A with filmmaker Jacki Ochs  Plus the following two short films:  THIS IS MY COUNTRY by Kris Samuelson and John Haptas ( 6-minute)  STATE OF THE UNION by Alan Berliner ( 3-minutes) “When I say a headache I don’t mean just a headache, I mean something that would totally brutalize you.” Joan Didion OUT OF MY HEAD Synopsis: A filmmaker, seeking treatment for her daughter’s migraine attacks, discovers a confounding neurological disease and learns why a devastating condition, afflicting nearly a billion people worldwide, remains so deeply misunderstood. There are few things more frightening than having a child who is sick, who you don’t know how to help and whose illness you don’t understand. That’s what Susanna Styron experienced when her daughter Emma’s spells of blindness and vomiting began at the age of fourteen. Emma’s eventual migraine diagnosis, rather than putting an end to the mystery and confusion, was just the beginning, as mother and daughter embarked on a years-long journey to discover the truth about living with migraine. Follow this and other stories through thoughtful interviews and animation as experts try to come up with answers for those suffering with headaches. https://outofmyheadfilm.com. Filmmaker Jacki Ochs JACKI OCHS is a Producer/Director of documentary film. Her work includes Vietnam: The Secret Agent , Letters Not About Love and Jazz Summit. Among the awards she has received are New York Film Festival premiere, Sundance Special Jury Prize, SXSW Best Feature Documentary, American Film Festival Best New Director. Jacki executive produced Keith Beauchamp’s Emmy nominated Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till, and Kristi Zea’s Everybody Knows…Elizabeth Murray. She is a two time MacDowell Colony and Guggenheim Fellow and Executive Director of Human Arts Association. FILMMAKERS UNITE Short films to be screened before the feature film: THIS IS MY COUNTRY by Kris Samuelson and John Haptas ( 6:43 minute film ) Rising bigotry towards immigrants is spawning fear and anxiety that permeate the lives of children just trying to get through school in the country they call home. STATE OF THE UNION by Alan Berliner

St John Film Society & The St John Arts Week Presents a very special evening of films: 7:30 pm / St John School of the Arts Please join us for: SHARKWATER EXTINCTION  An 88-minute documentary by filmmaker Rob Stewart & Plus the following two short films from FILMMAKERS UNITE : The Starting Line(6:42 minutes) by Pacho Velez & Nicole Salazar SHARKWATER EXTINCTION: (2018) is a thrilling, action adventure journey that follows filmmaker Rob Stewart as he exposes the billion dollar illegal shark fin industry and the political corruption behind it. From West Africa, Spain, Panama, Costa Rica and France, to California, Stewart’s  film dives into the often violent underworld of the pirate fishing trade. . Shark finning is still rampant, shark fin soup is still being consumed, and endangered sharks are now also being used to make products for human consumption. Stewart’s mission is to save the sharks and oceans before it’s too late. But exposing illegal activities isn’t easy; protecting sharks has earned him some powerful enemies. 100 – 150 million sharks are killed every year, but only about half of them are reported, including endangered species. Shark populations have dropped more than 90% in the last 40 years. Without the oceans’ main predator, marine ecosystems are being destroyed beyond repair. Stewart dedicated his life to shark conservation, saying: “Conservation is the preservation of human life. And, that, above all else is worth fighting for.” He taught the world to love the oceans and their creatures and not fear sharks through his iconic images of hugging and free diving with sharks and mantas. Tragically, Rob died in a dive accident in January 2017 while filming Sharkwater: Extinction in the Florida Keys. FILMMAKER ROB STEWART: Rob Stewart is an acclaimed filmmaker and internationally renowned activist. In SHARKWATER EXTINCTION, his third film, Stewart continues his heroic fight to save our oceans battling the billion-dollar pirate fishing trade and illegal shark fin industry. Shot in vivid 6K, Stewart travels across four continents and back to California in his ongoing mission to protect sharks. Stewart’s previous films, SHARKWATER and REVOLUTION won multiple international awards and have been viewed by more than 125 million people. Read more about the film and learn much more about sharks on the website: https://www.sharkwater.com/ FILMMAKERS UNITE Filmmakers Unite (FU) is a compilation of one-to-nine minute shorts by documentary, narrative and experimental filmmakers cutting across race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and religion – to present a collective response to the current threats to our democracy. THE STARTING LINE: by Pacho Velez and Nicole Salazar The Starting Line / La Línea captures the rhythms of a day at the Tijuana border crossing. But it’s not just any day. As people go through their routines, they listen to the local news report on Donald Trump’s inauguration.    

We have some exciting films coming from February – May 2019. This year we will feature the following films:  SHARK EXTINCTION: a  feature length documentary film about shark conservation by Rob Stewart.  OUT OF MY HEAD: A feature documentary about migraine headaches. We all know someone who suffers and this film will shed some light on the malady. SUGAR PATHWAYS: A documentary by Johanna Bermudez-Ruiz, a filmmaker from St Croix. 17th ANIMATION SHOW OF SHOWS: 11 short animated films by filmmakers from all over the world . FILMMAKERS UNITE: a series of very short films reflecting on our current political climate. Several of these films will be presented before our main attraction.

 7:30 pm/ St. John School of the Arts   St John Film Society presents: THE ISLAND AND THE WHALE A feature length documentary by Mike Day “Beautifully photographed and perfectly edited, The Islands and the Whales is a powerful, if challenging, documentary that needs to be seen.” ( Warning: this film does contain graphic footage and animals are harmed during the film)  “An exploration of the current threats to the lifestyle of the people living in the Faroe Islands.” In their remote home in the North Atlantic the Faroe Islanders have always eaten what nature could provide, proud to put local food on the table. The land yields little, so they have always relied on harvesting their seas.  Hunting whales and seabirds kept them alive for generations, and gave them the way of life they love; a life they would pass on to their children. But today they face a grave threat to this tradition. It is not the controversy surrounding whaling that threatens the Faroese way of life; the danger is coming from the whales themselves. The Faroese are among the first to feel the affects of our ever more polluted oceans. They have discovered that their beloved whales are toxic, contaminated by the outside world. What once secured their survival now endangers their children and the Faroe Islanders must make a choice between health and tradition.   Winner of DOC NYC Grand Jury Prize and the Hot Docs Emerging International Filmmaker Award  “….Whereas films like The Cove,  and The Ivory Game present animal cruelty in the efforts of shedding a light on its barbarianism, Mike Day has an altogether different story to tell. Set on the Nordic Faroe Islands (smack in the middle of Denmark, Iceland, and the UK), Day’s film looks at how these people have had to adapt their sustainable fishing and hunting practices  to an increasingly globalized world that doesn’t see their way of life as in line with modern norms. “ Read more reviews here: THE GUARDIAN & THE GUARDIAN