2012 Selected Films for Lights. Camera. Help.
From the Streets to the Fields (2012)
80 minutes
“Sport has the power to inspire and unite people”. While the Spanish squad made history in the first World Cup on the African continent a junior championship took place near by. Three of the program participants got to meet their soccer idols and have their lives changed. The film shows the impact of apartheid and one programs solution: uniting boys of all colors through soccer. This reflects the dream of social cohesion that inspired the words of Nelson Mandela.
Benefiting: Tomando Conciencia and the Richard Allen Foundation
Trailer
Credits
Director - Carlos Sánchez-Llibre and Josep Maria Badell
Production Company - La Cafetera Productions
Screenwriter - Carlos Sánchez-Llibre, Eloi Tomás & Josep Maria Badell
Cinematographer - Josep Badell
Editor - Eloi Tomás
Music - Umthwakazi Amaxó
Sound - Mikel Z. Castells
NTEN Follies (2012)
Short Film
NTEN is the membership organization of nonprofit professionals who put technology to use for their causes. NTEN helps you do your job better, so you can make the world a better place.
NTEN Follies was originally released as a series of shorts following the NTEN staff as they try to raise money for scholarships to send 50 nonprofits to the 2012 Nonprofit Technology Conference.
Benefiting: NTEN
Credits
Director - Sarah Janczak
Producer - Mimi Cook, Sarah Janczak, Brett Meyer, Holly Ross, Amy Sample Ward
Screenwriter - Mimi Cook, Sarah Janczak, Brett Meyer, Holly Ross, Amy Sample Ward
Editor - Sarah Janczak
Ford Warriors in Pink (2012)
Public Service Announcement
Warriors in Pink is Ford's breast cancer initiative that donates 100% of the net proceeds of their fashionable apparel line to breast cancer research. The piece follows 11 breast cancer survivors as they meet for the first time after being chosen as Ford Warriors in Pink Models of Courage. After a rigorous selection process, these incredible women and men volunteered to share their energies and stories of survival with the world. We meet the masterminds behind the cause and get a sneak peak of the 2012 apparel line. As the launch piece for the program, this film hopes to inspire and motivate people to take action and stand up against breast cancer.
Credits
Director - David Modigliani, Matt Naylor
Producer - Tanya Schurr
Production Company - Flow Nonfiction
Cinematographer - Nicola Marsh and Brian Burgoyne
Editor - Matt Naylor
Music - David Rice
Sound - Pony Sound
Stay: Migration and Poverty in Rural Mexico
Short Film
The unauthorized immigrant population in the United States has tripled from 3.5 million people in 1990 to more than 11 million in 2010. Stepped-up patrols along the border with Mexico - the source of 60 percent of unauthorized immigrants - has had little impact.
Why?
Border enforcement does not address one of the main reasons why people leave their home countries: to escape poverty. This short film documents the lives of Marvin Garcia Salas, Santiago Cruz and their families. They migrated separately to the United States and Canada for work but are now able to stay in Mexico with the help of programs that invest in rural areas and reduce the pressure to migrate.
Benefiting: Bread for the World
Credits
Director - Laura Elizabeth Pohl
Producer - Laura Elizabeth Pohl
Cinematographer - Maisie Crow and Laura Elizabeth Pohl
Music - I Am Not Lefthanded, Oleg Serkov, Bosques de mi Mente, Joe Travieso, Alex Alexandroff, Sambodhi Prem
The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre™ (2012)
Public Service Announcement
Glimpsing into The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre™ (THK), a project of SFC, a nationally recognized cooking and nutrition education program that nurtures skills in food selection and preparation to prevent diet-related disease, such as diabetes and obesity. The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre™ serves individuals and families empowering them to shop for and prepare nutritious meals. THK provides individuals, families and institutions the resources and knowledge to make lasting dietary and behavioral changes. THK’s ultimate goal is to better the health of families for generations to come.
Credits
Director - Spencer Stoner
Producer - Susan Leibrock
Typography - Miguel Martinez
I am (2012)
Public Service Announcement
This PSA from the Dave Thomas Foundation was the winner of the Techsoup Digital Storytelling Challenge, powered by Lights. Camera. Help. The competition urge nonprofits to submit their stories or under a minute in length. This film aims to dispel the myth that all kind in foster care are “bad kids.”
Credits: Coming soon
Benefiting: The Dave Thomas Foundation
ILove Marriage in Illinois: It's Just Time (2012)
From Chicago to Springfield, Peoria to Champaign, our 16 plaintiff couples and their children are leading the fight for marriage in Illinois. We are fighting for marriage for same-sex couples in Illinois because only marriage can express the depth and meaning of the lifetime commitment that these lesbian and gay couples have made to each other, and because only marriage can ensure that they will be able to protect their families.
It's just time for Marriage Equality in Illinois! Find more info at www.lambdalegal.org/ilove
Benefitting: The Bedsider.org website, a program of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy
Credits
Director - Leslie Von Pless and Ben Mendelsohn
Producer - Lambda Legal
Cinematographer - Ben Mendelsohn
Editor - Leslie Von Pless
A Unique Look at Austin Bat Cave (2012)
Short Film
Winner of the 2012 Lights. Camera. Help. Reel Change Film Frenzy, A Unique Look at Austin Bat Cave, dives into the life of a student in the program Austin Bat Cave. The film shows us how teenagers can find their voice and project that voice through art and music.
Benefiting: Austin Bat Cave
Credits
Director - Rubén Cantú
Producer - Lorenzo Vidali
Co-Producer - Lupe Valdez
Director of Photography - Philip Goetz
Assistant Director - Monica Goetz
Camera Operator - Matt Iha and Lorenza Philips
Editor - Lorenzo Vidali
Sound - Arturo Cavasos
Animation - David Lackey and Jason Prieto
Let There Be Sight (2012)
Short Film
A film by Lights. Camera. Help.’s 2012 keynote address speaker, Turk Pipkin, Let There Be Sight tells the incredibly hopeful story of The Nobelity Project's partnership with The Seva Foundation, an eyesight surgical camp in Nepal.
Benefiting: Nobelity Project
This film is still in production and the site will be updated upon its completion. You can read more about this at the Nobelity Blog.
Who Cares About Kelsey? (2012)
76 Minutes
When Kelsey Carroll entered high school, she was a more likely candidate for the juvenile justice system than graduation. Diagnosed with ADHD and carrying the emotional scars of homelessness and substance abuse, as well as the actual scars of repeated self-mutilation, Kelsey was volatile, disruptive and, by her own admission, “not a nice person” to be around. As a freshman at Somersworth (NH) High School, she didn’t earn a single academic credit, but she did get suspended for dealing drugs.
During Kelsey’s sophomore year, a new school principal implemented dramatic reforms to improve the school’s culture and reduce the dropout rate. This school-wide overhaul gave Kelsey a chance at a different outcome.
Who Cares About Kelsey? follows Kelsey through the ups and downs of her senior year. As the film delves into Kelsey’s life, we watch her navigate the halls and classrooms of her school and the fraught terrain of family and romantic relationships. Kelsey interacts with a military father who questions her account of the past and dismisses her plans for the future. She manages her relationship with a mother trying to atone for past failures that set in motion some of Kelsey’s most destructive behaviors. She spends much of her time with a boyfriend she cherishes but whose loyalty and support for Kelsey’s newly forming independence are uncertain.
Along the way, a team of trusted adults meets with her weekly. She tells them her dreams and fears, planning a future she might never have let herself picture a few years earlier.
Who Cares About Kelsey? will make viewers reconsider the “problem kids” in their own high schools and spark new conversations about an education revolution that’s about empowering--not overpowering--our most emotionally and behaviorally challenged youth.
Benefiting: To Be Announced
Credits
Director - Dan Habib
Production Company - DH Photography LLC and Institute on Disability
Cinematographer - Dan Habib
Editor - Rose Rosenblatt and Diego Siragna
Music - Rick Baitz; Sound - Rikk Desgres
Cast - Kelsey Carroll, Kathy Francoeur, Susan Carroll, Chris Carroll, Sharon Lampros, JoAnne Malloy, Jonathan Drake.
Austin Speech Labs (2012)
Short Film
Stroke is a brain attack and it can happen to anybody at anytime. After stroke, people lose their speech, language and cognitive skills. This film highlights the recovery challenges of stroke survivors and the great work Austin Speech Labs does to help them succeed. While watching you will understand struggle of stroke survivors and be comforted know that Austin Speech Labs is here to help.
Benefiting: Austin Speech Labs
Credits
Director - Neha Gupta
Producer - Neha Gupta
Production Company - BizVoice Productions
Grow.Share.Prepare. (2012)
Short Film
Grow.Share.Prepare. is a short film about the Sustainable Food Center in Austin, Texas. The film was produced as part of the Lights.Camera.Help. 2012 Film Frenzy, a 48-hour nonprofit film competition, in January 2012.
Benefiting: Sustainable Food Center
Credits
Director - Max Benitez
Producer - Kristin Benitez
Production Company - Reader Films
Cinematographer - Clark Lee Walker
Editor - Max Benitez
Music - Dare Dukes
Connect Learn Change (2011)
Public Service Announcement
This film promotes NTEN the membership organization of nonprofit professionals who put technology to use for their causes. NTEN helps you do your job better, so you can make the world a better place.
Benefiting: NTEN
Credits
Director - Cam Hayduk
Producer - Kat Kelly Hayduk
Production Company - Turtlebox Productions
Cinematographer - Cam Hayduk
Editor - Cam Hayduk
Sound - Cam Hayduk
Music - Rob Bailey
Iram's Story (2012)
Public Service Announcement
Iram had been married to his high school sweetheart for nine years and had a daughter who was about to turn four at the time of his cancer diagnosis. He thought he could protect his family by not talking about it. Shortly after his brain surgery his wife filed for a divorce. The way he handled his emotions and ideas about dying, cancer and finances had pushed the ones he loved away. After reaching out to LIVESTRONG and attending the LIVESTRONG Cancer and Relationships class he gained some perspective and was able to connect with other people who understood what he was going through.
Benefiting: LIVESTRONG
Credits
Director - Mat Hames; Producer - Aaron Smith
Production Company - Alpheus Media
Cinematographer - Wilson Waggoner
Editor - Sandra Guardado; Music - Brian Satterwhite
Carbon for Water (2011)
Short Film
In Kenya’s Western Province, most drinking water is contaminated. The wood many Kenyans use to boil this water to make it safe is increasingly valuable. Women and girls, who bear the responsibility for finding water and fuel, often miss school or work while seeking both fuel and water. Some even encounter sexual violence. Yet waterborne illness remains a daily—and life-threatening—reality for them and their families. Carbon For Water introduces audiences to the inspiring people who face these hardships, and explores one company’s innovative solution for improving the health of millions of Kenyans and the environment in which they live.
Benefiting: To Be Determined
Credits
Director - Evan Abramson and Carmen Elsa Lopez Abramson
Producer - Carmen Elsa Lopez Abramson and Evan Abramson
Production Company - Cows in the Field
Super Rangers and the Legion of Bugs (2011)
Short Film
Follow the epic battle for our nation's forests when the Legion of Bugs fights the Super Rangers. Forest pests and pathogens band together to attack trees, while Forest rangers battle to protect them. In the process, we learn that we shouldn't move firewood, to prevent pests and pathogens from hitch hiking into the forest.
Benefiting: To Be Announced
Credits
Director - Kelly Gibson
Producer - Kelly Gibson
Re-Branding Birth Control
Public Service Announcement
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and the Ad Council launched a groundbreaking first-ever national public service campaign designed to reduce the rates of unplanned pregnancy among unmarried young adults in the U.S. It directs sexually active women ages 18-24 to Bedsider.org, a new comprehensive online and mobile program, to help them find the right birth control method for them and use it carefully and consistently to help prevent unplanned pregnancy.
Benefiting: To Be Determined
Credits
Director - Greg Bell
Producer - Emily Skinner; Production Company - Epoch Films; Screenwriter - Lisa Rettig-Falcone and Al Kelly, Euro RSCG New York; Cinematographer - Chris McPherson
Editor - Dave Anderson and Mackenzie Cutler; Sound -
Music - Butter Music & Sound. Music by Andrew Sherman. Lyrics by Nicole Renaud.
Maestra (Teacher) (2011)
Photo by Liborio Noval December 22,1961
33 minutes
“Maestra” explores the stories of eight women who taught on the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign as teenagers. Through current-day interviews, we look at how this experience changed their idea about what it was to live as women in Castro’s Cuba.
In 1960, Cuba made an open call for volunteer teachers. Over 250,000 people volunteered; including thousands of very young women. Many parents refused, but the young women intensely negotiated, achieving a degree of independence virtually unknown by Cuban women at the time.
The beautiful stories these women tell, some funny and some tragic, transcend time and geography to transport you back to a transformative era for Cuba.
Benefiting: The Literacy Project
Credits
Director - Catherine Murphy
Producer - Ruben Carreño
Screenwriter - Eve Glodberg
Cinematographer - Roberto Chile
Editor - Eve Goldberg; Music - Heyleen Williams, Aldo Lopez-Gavilán; Sound - Elise Lebec
Cast - Daysi Veitia, Norma Guillard, Adria Santana
Ovejas Azules (Blue Sheep) (2011)
30 Minutes
A magical story between a documentary and a fictional plot that take us to Villamayor de Campos in Zamora (Spain) where many neighbours are affected by Cancer, caused by an energy tower.
Credits
Director - Noel Gálvez
Production Company - Blue Sheep Films
Screenwriter - Noel Gálvez
Cinematographer - Luis Ángel Pérez
Editor - Noel Gálvez; Sound - Santiago García
Benefiting: To Be Announced
Friday, September 14, 2012
Shorts and PSAs - Day 3
Friday, September 14, 2012 at 4:30 PM
Let There Be Sight (2012) - Short Film
A Unique Look at Austin Bat Cave (2012) - Short Film
ILove Marriage in Illinois: It's Just Time (2012) - Public Service Announcement
I am (2012) - Public Service Announcement
The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre™ (2012) - Public Service Announcement
Stay: Migration and Poverty in Rural Mexico (2011) - Short Film
Ford Warriors in Pink (2012) - Public Service Announcement
NTEN Follies (2012) - Short Film
Feature - Day 3
Friday, September 14, 2012 at 6:00 PM
From the Streets to the Fields (2012) 80 minutes
“Sport has the power to inspire and unite people”. While the Spanish squad made history in the first World Cup on the African continent a junior championship took place near by. Three of the program participants got to meet their soccer idols and have their lives changed. The film shows the impact of apartheid and one programs solution: uniting boys of all colors through soccer. This reflects the dream of social cohesion that inspired the words of Nelson Mandela.
Credits: Director - Carlos Sánchez-Llibre and Josep Maria Badell; Production Company - La Cafetera Productions; Screenwriter - Carlos Sánchez-Llibre, Eloi Tomás & Josep Maria Badell; Cinematographer - Josep Badell; Editor - Eloi Tomás; Music - Umthwakazi Amaxó; Sound - Mikel Z. Castells
Benefiting: To Be Announced
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Shorts and PSAs - Day 2
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 7:00 PM
Re-Branding Birth Control - Public Service Announcement
Super Rangers and the Legion of Bugs (2011) - Short Film
Carbon for Water (2011) - Short Film
Iram’s Story (2012) - Public Service Announcement
Connect Learn Change (2011) - Public Service Announcement
Grow.Share.Prepare. (2012) - Short Film
Austin Speech Labs (2012) - Short Film
Feature - Day 2
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 8:30 PM
Who Cares About Kelsey? (2012)
76 Minutes
When Kelsey Carroll entered high school, she was a more likely candidate for the juvenile justice system than graduation. Diagnosed with ADHD and carrying the emotional scars of homelessness and substance abuse, as well as the actual scars of repeated self-mutilation, Kelsey was volatile, disruptive and, by her own admission, “not a nice person” to be around. As a freshman at Somersworth (NH) High School, she didn’t earn a single academic credit, but she did get suspended for dealing drugs.
During Kelsey’s sophomore year, a new school principal implemented dramatic reforms to improve the school’s culture and reduce the dropout rate. This school-wide overhaul gave Kelsey a chance at a different outcome.
Who Cares About Kelsey? follows Kelsey through the ups and downs of her senior year. As the film delves into Kelsey’s life, we watch her navigate the halls and classrooms of her school and the fraught terrain of family and romantic relationships. Kelsey interacts with a military father who questions her account of the past and dismisses her plans for the future. She manages her relationship with a mother trying to atone for past failures that set in motion some of Kelsey’s most destructive behaviors. She spends much of her time with a boyfriend she cherishes but whose loyalty and support for Kelsey’s newly forming independence are uncertain.
Along the way, a team of trusted adults meets with her weekly. She tells them her dreams and fears, planning a future she might never have let herself picture a few years earlier.
Who Cares About Kelsey? will make viewers reconsider the “problem kids” in their own high schools and spark new conversations about an education revolution that’s about empowering--not overpowering--our most emotionally and behaviorally challenged youth.
Benefiting: To Be Announced
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Shorts and PSAs - Day 1
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 7:00 PM
PATH: I am (2012) - Public Service Announcement
Mockingbird Society: Building a World Class Foster Care System (2011) - Short Film
In Her Shoes (2012) - Short Film
Will (2012) - Public Service Announcement
When the Guns Fall Silent (2011) - Short Film
Native Plant Avengers (2012) - Public Service Announcement
Enakkum Oru Per (I Too Have a Name) - Short Film
Stories of Hope - Michael (2011) - Public Service Announcement
Features - Day 1
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 8:30 PM
Ovejas Azules (Blue Sheep)
(2011) - 28 Minutes - Short Film
A magical story between a documentary and a fictional plot that take us to Villamayor de Campos in Zamora (Spain) where many neighbours are affected by Cancer, caused by an energy tower.
Benefiting: To Be Announced
Maestra (Teacher)
(2011) - 33 minutes
“Maestra” explores the stories of eight women who taught on the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign as teenagers. Through current-day interviews, we look at how this experience changed their idea about what it was to live as women in Castro’s Cuba.
In 1960, Cuba made an open call for volunteer teachers. Over 250,000 people volunteered; including thousands of very young women. Many parents refused, but the young women intensely negotiated, achieving a degree of independence virtually unknown by Cuban women at the time.
The beautiful stories these women tell, some funny and some tragic, transcend time and geography to transport you back to a transformative era for Cuba.
Benefiting: The Literacy Project
Stories of Hope - Michael (2011)
Public Service Announcement
After the death of his parents and the loss of his job, Michael was overcome with sorrow. He relapsed into alcohol, but wanted a way out. He came to us with a burning question, and his life depended on the answer.
Benefiting: Portland Rescue Mission
Showing Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 7:00 PM
followed by the features at 8:30pm - Ovejas Azules (Blue Sheep) and Maestra (Teacher)
Credits: Director - Kent Factora
Enakkum Oru Per (I Too Have a Name)
Short Film
In a time of violence in Sri Lanka, this film looks into the lives of two women, living in a monastery. The nun and the servant girl move in their daily lives to reconcile their past and redirect their future. Beautiful imagery of Sri Lanka and sparse but poignant dialogue combine to provide a portrait of an area of the world with a remarkable history.
Showing Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 7:00 PM
followed by the features at 8:30pm - Ovejas Azules (Blue Sheep) and Maestra (Teacher)
Credits
Director - Suba Sivakumaran
Producer - Samuel Holt
Screenwriter - Suba Sivakumaran
Cinematographer - Kalinga Deshapriya
Editor - Muthulaxmi Varadhan, Samuel Holt and Jeff Marcello
Native Plant Avengers (2012)
Public Service Announcement
Although hopelessly outnumbered by the invasive species Bastard Cabbage, Texas wildflowers assemble their combined strength to battle against the choking monoculture invading their ecosystem. The loyal heroics of Texas Bluebonnet, the hulking presence of Bitterweed, and the lighting power of Indian Paintbrush bring their native plant diversity together in a desperate fight against their invasive foe.
Benefitting: Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center
Showing Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 7:00 PM
followed by the features at 8:30pm - Ovejas Azules (Blue Sheep) and Maestra (Teacher)
Credits: Director - Ben Shrader
When the Guns Fall Silent (2011)
Short Film
The story of Ugandan woman, Lillian Akwero, who was abducted at age eight, forced to be a child soldier for the LRA, impregnated by rebel leader Joseph Kony, and later escaped; only to live in an Internally Displaced Persons camp in Gulu. While there she shared a small hut with her four children. This is the story of one woman's struggle to go back home, to overcome the horrors of war, and provide a better life for her children. Will she find the strength to overcome the odds? Or will her past overshadow her hopes for success and the raising of her children?
Benefiting: Clear Water Initiative
Showing Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 7:00 PM
followed by the features at 8:30pm - Ovejas Azules (Blue Sheep) and Maestra (Teacher)
Credits
Director - Jake Herrle
Producer - Jake Herrle
Production Company - Earl, LLC
Cinematographer - Jake Herrle
Editor - Bazyl Dripps and Magick Lantern
Sound - John Dance/ and Arcade 160 Studios
Cast Lillian Akwero with narration by Shayr Guthrie
Will (2012)
Public Service Announcement
This 60-second PSA introduces an adopted puppy mill dog, Will, details his list of medical issues, and calls for people to seek other methods of adopting a dog than pet stores and the Internet.
Benefiting: Canine Rescue
Showing Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 7:00 PM
followed by the features at 8:30pm - Ovejas Azules (Blue Sheep) and Maestra (Teacher)
Credits
Director - Clay Meyers
Producer - Mary Klever and Julie Wysocki
Screenwriter - Melanie Monteiro
Editor - Ray Volkema
Sound - Tina Morasco and Ray Volkema
Cast - Will, the Cocker Paniel
In Her Shoes (2012)
Short Film
Ever wondered how someone finds themselves homeless? What turn of events must have happened? Most often we discard the notion that it could ever happen to us. In this short documentary we learn about a woman named Betty and how she went from having the life of “every girl’s dream” to sitting on the curb of the Salvation Army, to then rebuild her life and giving back to the community that supported her in a time of need. In Her Shoes is an inspirational story of triumph, compassion and making a difference in the world.
Showing Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 7:00 PM
followed by the features at 8:30pm - Ovejas Azules (Blue Sheep) and Maestra (Teacher)
Credits
Director - Brandy Amstel
Producer - Marian Bingaman and Brandy Amstel
Cinematographer - Suezean Matarazzo
Editor - Kate Dawson
Music - Justin Durban
Cast - Betty Staehr
Benefiting : Dress For Success
Building a World Class Foster Care System (2011)
Short Film
Filmed at The Mockingbird Society's Youth Advocacy Day on February 18, 2011, this video features exceptional teenagers from the Mockingbird Youth Network. Deonate Cruz, Amanda Bevington, and Chris Bauer share their stories and how they are helping to build a world-class foster care system through effective advocacy efforts.
Benefitting: Mockingbird Youth Network
Showing Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 7:00 PM
followed by the features at 8:30pm - Ovejas Azules (Blue Sheep) and Maestra (Teacher)
Credits
Director - Aaron Straight and Mia Vyzis
Producer - Rose Berg; Production Company - Trifilm
Screenwriter - Aaron Straight and Mia Vyzis
Cinematographer - Doug Hostetter; Editor - Miles Lippold
Sound - Matt Barrett
PATH: I am (2012)
Public Service Announcement
Kids love to dream about what they’ll be when they grow up. But to get to their future, they’ve got to make it past their fifth birthdays. Every year, vaccines help millions of children grow up. Find out about one of the most successful public health interventions ever.
Benefitting: PATH
Showing Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 7:00 PM
followed by the features at 8:30pm - Ovejas Azules (Blue Sheep) and Maestra (Teacher)
Credits
Director - Aaron Straight & Mia Vyzis
Producer - Kat Griffing
Production Company Trifilm
Screenwriter - Aaron Straight & Mia Vyzis
Editor - Miles Lippold; Music - Campfire OK
