Off the MAP:Southern Circuit
posted: September 26, 2006
The Media Arts Project (MAP)presents Pamela Yates as part of the Southern Circuit tour of
independent filmmakers at the Fine Arts Theatre on Biltmore Avenue on October 9, 2006 at 7pm.
Following a screening of her award-winning film, State of Fear, Yates will engage the audience in a discussion of the film and her work as a filmmaker. A reception with the filmmaker is scheduled after in the fine arts theatre lounge. Tickets will be five dollars and free to UNCA and WCU students with ID.
State of Fear tells a cautionary tale of what happens when fighting terrorism impairs democracy. “When I went there in 2002," says Yates, “I realized all of these astounding parallels between Peru and what the rest of the world was about to begin. It is really about the war between terror and counter-terror.” State of Fear makes every image count as it contrasts the unsettling testimony and confession of victims and perpetrators with the unparalleled beauty of the Peruvian landscape.
(Child soldier in Ayacucho, Peru from State of Fear. Photo credit: Vera Lentz)
The South American nation’s blood-soaked 20-year “war on terror” from 1980 to 2000 burst out of an explosive atmosphere of hopelessness, corruption and ideology gone wrong. The radical militant group, Shining Path, and the oppressive President Alberto Fujimori created a “state of fear” leading to the violent deaths of 70,000 Peruvians. State of Fear explores issues of traditional military responses to rebel attacks, the governmental use of fear to justify authoritarian measures, and the manipulation of the media to influence public opinion. Although the film tells the story of one particular country, the issues and events it depicts concern any democratic nation in today’s terror-conscious climate.
Pamela Yates has devoted her life to human rights and social-issue storytelling through documentary films. Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine director Michael Moore, a mentor and former coworker of Yates, taught the filmmaker to “go for the hard part first; the people who really, really don’t want to talk to us”. While working on State of Fear, Yates visited Peruvian prisons and listened to hours of stories from Shining Path. She learned to uncover the real-life human truths hidden beyond the surface of the story. In creating State of Fear, Yates pieced together these human truths to tell the story of a nation lost in the chaos of terror and tyranny. Peru’s Channel 7 aired State of Fear weekly, after the war, to remind the country of its history.
As a filmmaker, Yates’ goal is to push people to notice and question the trends of global, criminal, or human rights injustices. In this endeavor, she has earned both Academy and Emmy awards, as well as considerable respect in her field. However, Yates still faces challenges. “It is always a balance between the pessimism and the optimism,” she concludes, “because if I were a sunny and optimistic American, I would never be seeking out these kinds of films that have uncovered these realities. Yet, if I don’t stay somewhat optimistic, I’ll never believe that there is a possibility for change.”
Created by the South Carolina Arts Commission over thirty years ago, Southern Circuit takes independent filmmakers on a journey into communities across the South. Chosen by a panel of experts for the quality of their work, the filmmakers screen their recent films for local audiences. Produced without studio backing and struggling to secure a distributor, many of these films would never be seen on a screen in this area of the country without Southern Circuit. The program also encourages audiences to interact with the filmmakers during receptions and post-screening discussions.
Southern Circuit is a program of the Southern Arts Federation, a not-for-profit regional arts organization making a positive difference in the arts throughout the South since 1975. Southern Arts Federation is supported by funding and programming partnerships with the National Endowment for the Arts, private foundations, corporations, individuals, and the state arts agencies of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Off the MAP:Red Hat Speaker
posted: September 21, 2006
Join us for a special Off the MAP get together presented in conjunction with Meet the Geeks (MTGs) and Blue Ridge Entrepreneurial Council (BREC).
This coming **Thursday**, September 28th we’ll have a special guest at On Broadway. Starting at 5:30pm, we'll have casual socializing with other media artists and IT professionals. Then at 6:30pm, Jay Turner from Red Hat will speak about how to launch a new product. This is a free event with pizza and a cash bar. RSVP to director@themap.org and read on for more info...
Launching a new film or website can be a harrowing experience. You work day and night creating and improving it, fixing problems, viewing it with your client. Walking the balance between being a perfectionist and sending something below par out the door is not easy. How do you know when your product is ready to be seen?
Come see Jay Turner, Manager of Quality Engineering at Red Hat, speak
about developing a quality product and learn how to test your product for bugs (websites and software), ensure your product is easy to understand and aesthetically pleasing and determine when it is ready to launch or ship. This event is at On Broadway near Mellow Mushroom.
As a case study example, Jay will also talk about the development of
Red Hat's recently launched social networking site Mugshot
(www.mugshot.org) and how he used quality assurance to create a
Jay Turner graduated from UNC with a BS in Applied Science in 1996. While at UNC, he stumbled upon the fast maturing Linux kernel and GNU operating system components and began to use those in his coursework. Jay joined the Red Hat Quality Engineering team in December 1998 as the lead test engineering for the installer. Three years later he, and 4 other engineers, built and launched the Red Hat Network subscription service offering. Jay then returned to the operating system side of the company as a QE manager where his team focuses on test automation, qualification of the kernel for all Red Hat products as well as test integration with Red Hat's software and hardware partners.
Following a screening of her award-winning film, State of Fear, Yates will engage the audience in a discussion of the film and her work as a filmmaker. A reception with the filmmaker is scheduled after in the fine arts theatre lounge. Tickets will be five dollars and free to UNCA and WCU students with ID.
Launching a new film or website can be a harrowing experience. You work day and night creating and improving it, fixing problems, viewing it with your client. Walking the balance between being a perfectionist and sending something below par out the door is not easy. How do you know when your product is ready to be seen?
