New Documentaries for 2010!
Collective Eye presents THE WOMEN AND THE WAVES!
The Women and the Waves is a documentary surf film that explores the lives of female surfers who, through the decades, have chosen to paddle head first into the male dominated sport of surfing and found a place of their own.
Collective Eye presents RETURN TO TARAWA!
Academy Award nominated actor Ed Harris narrates Return to Tarawa, the story of Leon Cooper, a US Marine veteran, and his emotional struggle with his past and his return to “Bloody Tawara.”
New films join Collective Eye’s catalog!
Collective Eye is excited to announce new films recently added to our catalog.
FARMINGVILLE is an award-winning documentary focusing on illegal immigration and the ‘American Dream.’
A DREAM IN DOUBT is an immigrant story of one man’s odyssey from persecution in India to embracing America as his homeland, that proves that courage and hope have the power to overcome hate.
Journey with Brazilian filmmaker Denise Zmekhol to the heart of the Amazon rainforest in search of the indigenous children she photographed fifteen years ago and their continuing struggle in CHILDREN OF THE
Queen of the Sun @ IFP in New York City
In keeping with Collective Eye’s vision, Independent Film Project, IFP, believes that independent films broaden the palette of cinema, seeding the global culture with new ideas, kindling awareness, and fostering activism. As the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, IFP has supported the production of 7,000 films and provided resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers’ voices that otherwise might not have been heard.
Queen of the Sun was chosen to be screened at the Independent Filmmaker Conference hosted by IFP in New York City in September. Queen Director Taggart Siegel and Producer Jon Betz attended the 5-day workshop, promoted the film, and met with other filmmakers. Queen of the Sun was chosen as one of 8 out of 117 films to receive special recognition and mention by IFC (Independent Film Channel) “This year, highlights included doc promo reels of …. Queen of the Sun, a credibly activist eco-doc about the mysteries of the global collapse in bee populations directed by Taggart Siegel (The Real Dirt on Farmer John)”
http://www.ifc.com/news/2009/09/no-one-knows-anything.php
The Real Dirt and The Grapes of Wrath
“can think of only two great films depicting the drama of agriculture and rural life. The first is “The Grapes of Wrath.” The second is “The Real Dirt on Farmer John.”
~ Jeff Walberg, the Mt. Vernon-Lisbon Sun
This is the opening paragraph from Jeff Walberg’s column about Taggart Siegel’s great fim, The Real Dirt on Farmer John. The column appeared in the Mt. Vernon-Lisbon Sun in Iowa.
You can read the full column here:
http://www.mtvernonlisbonsun.com/article.php?viewID=5260
Looking forward to 2009
· Collective Eye is creating a Grassroots Grant Program to provide films to organizations for educational institutions and grassroots organizations. This will help the filmmakers connect with people interesting in furthering their message, get paid for their work, and give engaged individuals and organizations a valuable tool for outreach, fundraising, etc.
· Katrina Taylor stepped up the plate to head up Distribution as Cole Stamm moved on to his first loves of animation and writing. Through Katrina’s efforts, Collective Eye has brought on many new films and connected with filmmakers worldwide.
· Collective Eye Distribution began creating and collecting educational study guides to accompany films
· Taggart will began Collective Eye’s “screening nights” to showcase films and promote discussion …. at its centrally located Southeast Portland studios sometime this fall.
· Queen of the Sun Documentary Film was in full production during 2008 and continues to post production in 2009. Jon Betz was hired as Producer helped get the project going forward beautifully.
Taggart Siegel’s Queen of The Sun, an HD feature-length documentary, celebrates the renewal and reverence of honeybees. The film is a creative exploration of the escalating global bee crisis. For 10,000 years bees have been a barometer of the health of the world, flying millions of miles to pollinate the earth, providing humans with honey, medicine and fuel. Now, however, they’re in a state of emergency.
The film follows heroes dedicated to the survival of bees, from ancient cultures to biodynamic communities. Queen delivers a cohesive message: people of the world must work collaboratively- as the bees themselves- in order to avoid the cataclysmic disappearance of these essential pollinators.
We cannot rely upon scientific strategies alone: doing that keeps us locked in the rationalistic framework that has produced many of our current problems. The unfolding crisis requires philosophical insight and-heretofore unrecognized- voices to develop applications for change. Einstein was right: it’s impossible to solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created it.
2008 Highlights
2008 was a year that has helped define how Collective Eye will look in the future. Scott Ray Becker moved the San Francisco office to Sausalito and decided to make 2008 his last year of involvement with Collective Eye. December 31, 2008 marked the closing of the California Collective Eye office.
In Portland, Collective Eye started its Distribution Department. Cole Stamm was hired to serve as Director of Distribution and, with Taggart’s guidance, got this project off the ground. Loretta Callahan designed and installed the back-end eCommerce and order processing function of Collective Eye Distribution and in January, we made our first sale to educational institutions.
Collective Eye Distribution introduced 17 new films into its catalog to accompany Taggart Siegel films.
Work on Taggart Siegel’s documentary on the honeybee crisis, Queen of the Sun, went into full production mode. Taggart Siegel traveled across the United States and to Europe, Australia and New Zealand to film beekeepers and obtain interviews for the film.
Taggart obtained interviews from powerful spokespeople and advocates for sustainable beekeeping, agriculture and food production that included Michael Pollan, Vandana Shiva and Gunter Hauk