2014 HFF Presentations

2014

PRESENTATIONS

As CineCause presents this year's 18TH Annual Hollywood Film Festival, showcasing exceptional social impact films, we are also bringing together our global CineCause Champion's Community in the filmmaking capital of the world to explore how we can all help the entertainment industry better face today's critical social issues.

SOCIAL IMPACT

COMMUNITY

! ! +! !

SOCIAL ACTION

THEMES

Join us for the 2014 CineCause Spotlight series featuring dynamic screening events paired with engaging dialogue, curated conversations, interactive presentations, technology demonstrations and a host of networking and social events.

SUSTAINABLE EARTH

!

WATER CRISIS

The world is facing a water crisis, with lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water usage within a region. It affects every continent and around 2.8 billion people around the world at least one month out of every year. More than 1.2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water. Water scarcity is being driven by two converging phenomena: growing freshwater use and depletion of usable freshwater resources.

!

PANEL DISCUSSION: WATER CRISIS Experts in the water space will come together to explore the issues, solutions and strategic partnerships that are being developed to create change. This panel will also present video clips, graphic presentations and technological innovations that will help support this growing crisis.

!

FEATURED FILMS: SLINGSHOT & MY NAME IS WATER !

FEATURED SPEAKERS: KEN SURRITTE (Founder & CEO of Water is Life), KRISTINE BENDER (President of Water is Life), KRISTINE KOSINSKI (Founder & Executive Director of The Samburu Project)

CULTURAL EQUITY

!

WAR ON WOMEN

Women are strong, powerful, and visionary. However there is still much work to be done on issues of sexism, wage equity, violence against women, and more. Through documentaries and dialogue, there are films that must be seen and conversations that must be heard in order for action to be taken for a more just and equitable world for women & girls.

!

PANEL DISCUSSION 1: SEX TRAFFICKING Sex Trafficking strikes fear in the hearts and minds of women and girls. We know the issue has existed since the beginning of time. It happens all over the world, even in our backyard of LA, but what steps are being taken to solve this growing problem? In this panel discussion, organizations, causes and filmmakers will discuss their efforts and results, in an attempt to create a better understanding & greater awareness of sex trafficking around the globe.

!

FEATURED FILMS: NOBLE & SOLD !

FEATURED SPEAKERS: JEFFREY BROWN (Director of Sold), JANE CHARLES (Producer of Sold), LISA KRISTINE (Photographer of Slavery) & TSHERING LAMA (Childreach Nepal)

SOCIAL JUSTICE

!

CULTURAL IDENTITY

Social justice is defined as promoting a just society by challenging injustice and valuing diversity. It exists when all people share a common humanity and therefore have a right to equitable treatment, support for their human rights, and a fair allocation of community resources. The justice issue often raises questions of Cultural Identity, as people are often discriminated against, and their welfare and well-being constrained or prejudiced on the basis of socioeconomic circumstances, gender, sexuality, religion, political affiliations, age, race, belief, disability, location, social class, or other characteristic of background or group membership.

!

PANEL DISCUSSION: HOMELESS The homeless are misunderstood. Society often assumes they are lazy, alcoholics, or say “they put themselves into that boat.� Most often, this is the wrong assumption. In this panel, changemakers who have dedicated their lives to helping the homeless will discuss ways in which we can adjust our perceptions, shift the paradigm and offer a helping hand.

!

FEATURED FILMS: THE STARFISH THROWERS & THE NIMBY EXPERIENCE !

FEATURED SPEAKERS: KATIE STAGLIANO (Activist) & JACQUELYN ALUOTTO (Director & Producer of The Nimby Experience)

HUMAN POTENTIAL

!

MUSIC & THE MIND

It’s ironic that the very thing that gives us the ability to understand is perhaps the most misunderstood. The human brain is capable of unraveling complex mysteries, and yet the brain itself remains a mystery. While neuroscience has unveiled much over the years, there is still much more behind the curtain that remains an enigma. As the study of the mind and the diseases that plague it continue, efforts to create positive effects continue to grow and gain momentum.

An alternative remedy that doesn’t come in the form of a pill or with the need of a prescription, the power of music is being explored, with promising results that inspire hope.

!

PANEL DISCUSSION: MIND OVER MUSIC What is it about a song that brings us back to a time and to a place? How does music lead us back to our most powerful memories? These are great questions that deserve equally qualified answers. In this panel discussion, personal and professional positions will be shared, offering new perspectives that will alter the future of healing.

!

FEATURED FILMS: UNA VIDA & ALIVE INSIDE !

FEATURED SPEAKERS: DR. NICOLAS BAZAN (Director of the LSU Neuroscience Center of Excellence)

GLOBAL AWARENESS

!

DISPLACEMENT

The Middle East: a territory presently plagued by conflict, war, hate and violence. Thousands have been forced to flee.

Seeking safer ground, they find themselves displaced. Foreigners in nearby lands, they are far from feeling at home as a fragment of society unwelcome, often unwanted and confined. How do we begin to resolve an issue that doesn't seem to have an end?

!

PANEL DISCUSSION: DISPLACEMENT If suddenly the country you call home broke out in war, what would you do? Some dismiss the Middle East conflict by simply stating that it’s been going on for years and it will never be resolved. It’s easy to dismiss when we aren’t living in the middle of it, but the reality is that there are people just like us who are. What can we do to help these people? How are we complicit? In this discussion, these question and many more will be explored.

!

FEATURED FILMS: #CHICAGOGIRL & A WORLD NOT OURS !

FEATURED SPEAKERS: DANIELA KON (Executive Director of SIMA), ALAA BASATNEH (#ChicagoGirl) & SANDRA DE CASTRO BUFFINGTON (Founding Director of the Global Media Center for Social Impact (GMI) at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health)

EFFECTIVE EDUCATION

!

LESSONS ON LEARNING

In a world where technology is taking over, education is stuck with a broken model. The system is failing and leading experts are finally admitting that there is more than one approach to teaching. A revolution is taking place and things are finally beginning to change.

!

PANEL DISCUSSION: DISRUPTIVE EDUCATION There are two modes of addressing the problem with education today: (1) Make changes within the system; or (2) Toss the current system and start from scratch. Individuals who follow the second mode are called Disruptors. In this panel, leading disruptors will come together to discuss the different systems they’ve created and the impact they have made by doing so.

!

FEATURED FILMS: FOUR LETTERS APART & DISRUPTIVE EDUCATION !

FEATURED SPEAKER: DANELLE FLOTZ (Acton Academy)

FILM FUNDING

!

SOCIAL INVESTING

CineCause believes in the power of filmed entertainment and its ability to inspire change. As social impact filmmakers struggle to raise the funds needed to produce their projects, CineCause supports their efforts.

!

In this panel discussion, traditional and social impact investors will engage in a dialogue, comparing paths of conventional film investment with new methodologies based on measuring impact. Is the bottom line more important than the bigger picture? Isn’t it possible to profit with purpose?

!

Return on investment has historically been measured in dollars, but a shift in the increased value of social equity is changing traditional metrics. Profit can be more than monetary, as seen on the face of a child who no longer has to walk hours for clean water. A capital investment can produce conscious rewards.

SOCIAL IMPACT STORYTELLING

!

DIGITAL DIALOGUE

In a world ruled by digital communication, social impact storytelling is the most effective way of creating change. Video has the power to engage audiences and immerse them in cultures and socially relevant issues.

!

In this panel discussion, established social impact filmmakers and digital media advocates will discuss how storytelling has provided opportunities to share their mission and, ultimately, to have the greatest impact.

CINECAUSE SOCIETY

!

A LEARNING LENS

The CineCause Society will work with filmmakers to bring their films to grade schools, colleges and institutions across the country. Each film has its own mission, goals and social action campaign, with a unique combination of Discussion Guides, Curriculum and Tool Kits.

!

Working with Journey’s in Film on the curriculum and Tugg for the distribution, this program is certain to become a valuable tool for educators across the country. Join us at the hollywood Film Festival as we present the CineCause Society initiative with one of our social impact films.

Visit the Hollywood Film Festival website for more information. www.hollywoodfilmfestival.com