Enjoy Poverty
Thursday, September 9
7:00 PM
Mercury Cafe
2199 California St, Denver
$5 suggested donation

Absurdist satire is not what comes to mind when people think of documentaries about poverty in Africa, but filmmaker Renzo Martens’ approach is more Andy Kaufman than Nicholas Kristof. Traveling the Congo and observing the ways Western interests profit from misery and degradation in the region— selling photographs of malnourished children, paying plantation workers so little they cannot feed their families, flying in to dig for gold that will be taken and sold elsewhere—Martens decides that poverty is a natural resource that Africans need to learn to exploit. He sets up a makeshift school to teach wedding photographers to take pictures of war and raped women rather than celebrations, because they can earn 50 times as much by photographing misery. When this plan fails after an official tells the men their photographs are not good enough to earn them press credentials, Martens tells the men they should resign themselves to their poverty, since it will never change. It makes for uncomfortable viewing. No one is spared—even charity organizations like UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders are shown to be callous and exploitative in some ways—and most disturbing is Martens’ own interaction with the villagers, as he refuses to let them in on the joke. It is a kind of cruelty, another humiliation for the villagers. In making himself a villain of sorts, Martens has abdicated the filmmaker’s privileged position and produced a film that allows no one, not even the viewer, to escape awareness of their own complicity.

The One Percent
Monday, August 30
7:00 PM
Hooked on Colfax
3215 E. Colfax Ave, Denver
$5 suggested donation

This 80-minute documentary focuses on the growing “wealth gap” in America, as seen through the eyes of filmmaker Jamie Johnson, a 27-year-old heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune. Johnson, who cut his film teeth at NYU and made the Emmy®-nominated 2003 HBO documentary Born Rich, here sets his sights on exploring the political, moral and emotional rationale that enables a tiny percentage of Americans - the one percent - to control nearly half the wealth of the entire United States. The film Includes interviews with Nicole Buffett, Bill Gates Sr., Adnan Khashoggi, Milton Friedman, Robert Reich, Ralph Nader and other luminaries.

Fuel
Thursday, September 2
7:00 PM
Mercury Cafe
2199 California St, Denver
$5 suggested donation

Director Josh Tickell takes us along for his 11 year journey around the world to find solutions to America’s addiction to oil. A shrinking economy, a failing auto industry, rampant unemployment, an out-of-control national debt, and an insatiable demand for energy weigh heavily on all of us. Fuel shows us the way out of the mess we’re in by explaining how to replace every drop of oil we now use, while creating green jobs and keeping our money here at home. The film never dwells on the negative, but instead shows us the easy solutions already within our reach.

Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists
Thursday, August 5
7:00 PM
Mercury Cafe
2199 California St, Denver
$5 suggested donation

Julia Reichert (who also made UNION MAIDS…spotting a theme yet?) and Jim Klein made this doco in 1983, fortunately in enough time to snag interviews with a number of senior citizens who were right in the thick of it way back when the communist party established itself in the U.S.  SEEING RED takes us through the trials and tribulations of the party through the changes of the decades – the depression, the Spanish Civil War, World War II, the Cold War and subsequent HUAC hearings, the devastating revelations about exactly what kinda guy Stalin had become, and of course all the hardline propaganda that beleaguered them at every turn.

Even though the film-makers’ sympathies lie clearly with their interview subjects, SEEING RED isn’t meant to be pro-Pinko (while even now still holding on to their ideals these old folks admit the official party line lost its way, and point out where things went wrong).  Pete Seeger (of The Weavers) gets to sing a few songs; Reagan, Nixon, McCarthy and even actor John Saxon make archival appearances.  If you weren’t aware of the full story behind this marginalised slice of history, then here’s your chance to find out.

What’s the Matter with Kansas?
Monday, August 2
7:00 PM
Hooked on Colfax
3215 E. Colfax Ave, Denver
$5 suggested donation

Based on the Thomas Frank’s best-seller, What’s the Matter with Kansas? shows how Kansas transformed from an outpost of radicalism to a bastion of hard-core conservatism. Unforgettable characters and their stories shed new light on our nation’s political divide.

Kevorkian
Monday, September 6
7:00 PM
Hooked on Colfax
3215 E. Colfax Ave, Denver
$5 suggested donation

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, whose participation in at least 130 assisted suicides earned him the nickname “Dr. Death,” courted controversy in the 1990’s by arguing for death with dignity and ending the physical and psychological anguish of the terminally ill. After being exonerated of murder charges in five separate trials, Kevorkian was found guilty in 1999 and sentenced to 10-to-25 years in prison for the 1998 death of Thomas Youk - the first patient whose death Kevorkian videotaped. Despite serving eight and a half years in prison, Kevorkian today insists, “I don’t have regrets. In fact, I’m thankful.”

“Kevorkian” offers a “Lion-in-Winter”-style portrayal of a man whose compassion and vision has largely been misunderstood, perhaps, at times, even by he himself. One friend compares him to “an Old-Testament prophet. He’s very disagreeable, hard to take, nobody you want over for a weekend, but somebody who tells us some unpleasant truths.”

Streetwise
Monday, July 19
7:00 PM
Hooked on Colfax
3215 E. Colfax Ave, Denver
$5 suggested donation

Streetwise is a powerful documentary from 1984, which follows the lives of several homeless teenagers in Seattle. It focuses mostly on 14-year-old Erin Blackwell, a child prostitute who goes by the name of Tiny. Much of the time, Tiny stays at the home of her alcoholic mother, Pat, who seems unfazed by her daughter’s prostitution, calling it a “phase”.

Super Secret Mystery Movie
Thursday, July 22
7:00 PM
Mercury Cafe
2199 California St, Denver
$5 suggested donation or 1 Time Dollar

It’s time once again for ArgusFest’s Super Secret Mystery Movie. If you want to know what it is you’ll just have to show up! I will say that it is new and has not been shown in the US yet. It has already one several awards and is even being considered for an Oscar nomination.

Intro to Time-Banking
Thursday, July 15
7:00 Pm
LOCATION CHANGE
Hooked on Colfax
3215 E. Colfax Ave, Denver
$5 suggested donation or 1 Time Dollar

At this year’s US Social Forum in Detroit I attended one particular workshop about something that is truly revolutionary and vital in restoring our communities to independence. It was on time-banking, which is way to create reciprocal exchanges within a community without requiring money.

Let’s face it, we’re all pretty broke these days and we have many unmet needs that we just can’t financially afford to fulfill. But here’s the thing, there are plenty of unused resources in our community. Many people are unemployed or underemployed and yet they have lots of skills to offer. The only thing missing is the money but what if we stopped allowing money prevent us from providing for one another?

Enter time-banking. For every hour you spend doing something for someone in your community, you earn one Time Dollar. Then you have a Time Dollar to spend on having someone do something for you. It’s a simple concept but with profound implications for our communities and our relations with one another.

I filmed the time-bank workshop and even interviewed the founder of time-banks and have edited together a video introducing people to the idea and the changes that have occurred in communities that have implemented them. I’ll be showing this video and then opening up for a community discussion to lay the ground work for starting one in our community.

Please join me for this promising ArgusFest event this Thursday!

Children of Gaza
Monday, July 12
7:00 PM
Hooked on Colfax
3215 E. Colfax Ave, Denver
$5 suggested donation

In December 2008, the Israeli Defence Force unleashed a campaign to destroy the ability of Hamas to launch rockets and mortars into Israel. Around 300 children were among the 1,300 Palestinians that were killed.

After the ceasefire, BAFTA-winning filmmaker Jezza Neumann arrived in Gaza to follow the lives of three children over a year.

Surrounded by the remnants of the demolished Gaza Strip and increasingly isolated by the blockade that prevents anyone from rebuilding their homes and their lives, Children of Gaza is a shocking, touching and uniquely intimate reflection on extraordinary courage in the face of great adversity.