The Ordinary Radicals is screening at the Hoboken International Film Festival in Hoboken, NJ on Monday, June 1st at 4:00 p.m. The Hoboken International Film Festival is a "worldwide renowned film festival" that showcases "fine non-studio films, TV pilots, and screenplays from filmmakers throughout the United States and internationally." It's an honor for us to be among this year's selections. If you'd like to go, tickets are $9 and can be purchased from the festival's website, under "Tickets and Schedule".

Here's the story of recent happenings at Jamie Moffett Media and Design:

We have two new documentaries in production to be released at the end of this year: Return to El Salvador and The Cost of Hunger.

Return to El Salvador is a documentary about life after the civil war that took place there from 1980 to 1992. The war was fought between the Salvadoran Army and a leftist guerilla group known as the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. The deadly conflict was sparked by long-rising tensions between the upper class and the rural poor and ended in a gross amount of unnecessary civilian deaths, as the Salvadoran Army bombed the impoverished villages thought to be sympathetic to the FMLN. Fearing communist takeover in Latin America, the United States government aided the army that was responsible for so many objectionable casualties with one million dollars a day and trained its soldiers at the U.S. Army School of the Americas. This documentary follows the stories of the people of El Salvador who were directly affected by the conflict and how it relates to Americans today. More information, along with a production blog, can be found at www.returntoelsalvador.com.

The Cost of Hunger will address the growing crisis of poverty in America and follow the stories of several families in Philadelphia who struggle daily to find food and shelter within the very borders of one of the wealthiest nations in the world. This documentary will examine the social, physical, and emotional hardships faced everyday by the starving poor within our own country. Find out more about this project as it develops and read the production blog at www.thecostofhunger.com.

Also be on the lookout for The Ordinary Radicals: Special Topics, a DVD that will be packed with more footage that we didn't have room to include in the film, as well as some extra stuff we've been out shooting over the past couple of months!

We've also added a new member to our team, Rebekah Henson, our communications assistant. She'll be blogging, twittering, and Facebooking relevant updates on all of our projects around here, and using her wordsmith abilities to make things sound pretty (she hopes, anyway).

Just got back from the Brehm Center in Pasadena, CA for another screening of The Ordinary Radicals. I met up with Eugene Suen, a film festival director and excellent host! The 7pm screening went well (I can tell now whether or not if folks are going to be into the film by about the 6 minute mark). Talk back session was great, with a couple dozen questions that led me to believe they were really wrestling with the topics in the film. Thanks to much to everyone who was a part of the event last night. I had a great time and hope to bring the next film to you!

What a magnificent day in Asbury Park, NJ for a screening of The Ordinary Radicals! Had a great time meeting with the festival coordinators and enjoyed the conversation with audience members. Thanks so much to the fine folks at the Garden State Film Festival for the opportunity to showcase this important story. Here are some photos of my time there.

Keep an eye on the calendar, we'll be screening at a venue near you - and if we're not, contact our events & promotions guru Ryan Paetzold: ryan@theordinaryradicals.com to set one up! I'd love to come to your town, screen the film and hear your stories.

After flying home from the festival in Jackson, I high-tailed it past the pines to a great community of folks at Forked River Pres to screen The Ordinary Radicals and discuss afterwards. If it's any example of how much of a good time we had, the movie started at 7pm but I didn't leave until after 11pm! Lots of great discussion, feedback for me and good, hard questions for the congregation to ponder. Many thanks to them for making an Agnostic feel welcome, and thanks for the food! That was just about the only meal I'd had time for that day & it hit the spot.

Well, I have to say I just about had the best time ever at the Crossroads Film Festival in Jackson, MS. I was picked up by my favorite character of the whole event, Jimmy Taylor. Jimmy, when not driving film directors to and fro, is a full time Mississippi Private Investigator with enough amazing stories to fill a season of Magnum PI...we just need to find him a good Higgins :)
Anywhoo, I had the pleasure of meeting fellow directors Paige Williams and Micki Dickoff at the opening reception. Paige's film, "Mississippi Queen", follows her coming home to Mississippi, digging past southern hospitality to examine gay values and the ex-gay ministry her parents run.
Micki spent the last 5 years working on Neshoba, a film about race, murder and reconciliation in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Watch it!

AND, we managed to convince Michael Wong and Brandt Russo to come join us for the film and talk back session. Good times indeed. Special thanks to Chris Spear, Marvin Snell, Nina Parikh, Carolina Whitfield-Smith and everyone at the Crossroads Film Festival for their hospitality and for supporting independent film!

I want to apologize for the hokey title to the post, but let me explain...

"The Ordinary Radicals" is an official selection for the Ion International Film Festival, and each year ION holds their festival in a new location. This year the festival will be held in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates! We are very excited to be part of this unique festival. From the festival's website:

"ION FIlm Festival strives to bring awareness to individuals and organizations who are creating socially relevant films to positively impact our worlds."

So, if you happen to be near Dubai, stay tuned as more info will be coming very, very soon.

ALSO, we're very excited to receive an "Award of Merit" from the Acolade Film Awards!!! We're off to an exciting new year!!!

Peace-

Ryan

What a great time! Had a fantastic screening of The Ordinary Radicals at the Pacific School of Religion for their Earl Lectures and Leadership Conference. I had the chance to meet so many good folks, eager to watch the film and talk about all sorts of great stuff. Special thanks to Mary Donovan Turner and John Davis for their commitment to the film!

I had a chance to spend a couple hours with Jay Bakker of Revolution NYC. Turns out we know a ton of the same folks and had a great time chatting it up and talking about faith, the interconnection between Christian and Agnostic folks (plenty of room at the table), and the wonderful world of media. I knew of him of course through his media famous parents Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker, but heard nothing but good things about him from Shane and folks. Let me tell you, the stories are true: this guy is quality. The quantity of drama he's been through would make an average person throw in the towel. He's pretty much living out the "Love everyone, no exceptions" model and doing it well. Check out a Sundance Channel mini-series about him called One Punk Under God on Netflix. It's currently at the top of my queue.

Happy 2009! All of us here hope your 2009 is off to a great start. Things are busy for us here, in Philadelphia. We are continuing to schedule some screening for the film (if you'd like to set up a screening, there's still a little time left to email events@theordinaryradicals.com), but at the same time we're working on additional projects (you'll hear about them sooner than later). On Tuesday, Jan 27, Jamie will be screening the film out in Berkeley, CA. For more info check out http://events.theordinaryradicals.com. We continue to be really excited by the support we're still receiving on the film.

Eastern University (the alma mater for some of us involved with the film) recently did a two-page article in their magazine "Spirit". You can see the whole article in its .pdf glory by clicking here.

We hope 2009 is a great year for all of us. And we hope to see you out on the road.

Happy New Year!!

-Ryan

Happy December!

As we're getting closer to saying "goodbye" to 2008, we thought we should give you an update on some exciting happenings...

First, "The Ordinary Radicals" has been selected for The Pocono Mountains Film Festival! We are super excited by this! The festival will take place in August 2009, and as we get more info, we'll make sure we share it with you.

Second, due to popular demand, we've decided to extend screenings into 2009. If you know of any indy theaters that would be a great place for us to screen at, or know of any schools, churches, or other groups that would be interested in sponsoring a screening, send an email to events@theordinaryradicals.com.

And finally, to stay on top of the latest news, announcements, events, and other projects, sign up for our new email list by clicking Mailing List.

Happy Holidays!

-Ryan