As a prominent public speaking coach and former political fundraiser, Amy Ayoub always encouraged her clients to be authentic and to share their personal stories—painfully aware that she wasn’t ready, yet, to tell her own. Then, in 2012, she learned about Nevada Assembly Bill 67, a bill designed to fight sex trafficking. The Zen Speaker: Breaking the Silence charts Amy’s transformational journey from a tumultuous childhood in Las Vegas to her emotionally wrenching testimony before the Nevada State Legislature in 2013.  A personal portrait, the film explores the emotional and physical devastation associated with sex trafficking; being a survivor; public vs private personas; and finding one’s voice in unexpected ways.

Following the screening there will be remarks by Director Robin Greenspun and “The Zen Speaker,” Amy Ayoub. Discussion will be moderated by Amanda Horn.

View the trailer here.

The Holland Project challenged film directors to create a music video from start-to-finish for local bands of Holland’s choosing in just 48 hours. Each filmmaker was also tasked with incorporating five elements into their films (as chosen by last year’s filmmakers). The five elements were not revealed until the clock was punched at the start of their 48-hour journey.

Join us for the screening of the results followed by a Q & A with the filmmakers and musicians.

This program is presented as part of the Youth and Community-Based Arts Initiative and is sponsored by NV Energy.

Long before Art Deco was a movement and prior to the arrival of the youth culture of MTV and Miami Vice, South Beach was home to the largest cluster of Jewish retirees in the country.

Intrigued by the small apartments, low-cost of living, sunny weather, and thriving cultural life, they came in the thousands seeking refuge from the Northeast’s brutal winters. By the 1970’s, these former New Yorkers were turning from seasonal visitors to year-round residents, all the while making Miami Beach home to a population that was primarily over 70 and overwhelmingly Jewish.

In The Last Resort, viewers embark on a journey to the iconic Miami Beach of yesterday thru the lens of young photographers Andy Sweet and Gary Monroe. With camera in hand, they embarked upon an ambitious 10-year project to document the aging population living in the sunburned paradise of 1970’s Miami Beach and into the changing, turbulent 1980’s. Working in different styles and approaches they captured the end of an era through engrossing black and white images by Monroe juxtaposed with Sweet’s captivating candy-hued color photos. The result is one of the most fascinating photographic documentation’s of a community ever caught on film.

Featuring interviews with Pulitzer prize winner Edna Buchanan, filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, Jewish Museum of Florida Executive Director Susan Gladstone and photographer Gary Monroe, The Last Resort is a celebration of some of Miami’s greatest visual artists and a stunning testament to a community all but forgotten…until now.

Film presented with support from Catherine and John Farahi.

The OutWest Film Fest celebrates the best of LGBTQ international film making. Session II will feature international and regional shorts, documentaries and a local films. Films include, A Cohort of Guests, Mankind, Break In, The Last Supper, Hiding in Daylight, The One You Never Forget, Time and Again and Always Dani. 

Following the screening of the last film Session II, Always Dani will be a Q & A with the film’s director Rosa Carranza. Carranza is a young filmmaker from Mexico City who recently finished her filmmaking studies at SAE, Mexico. Along with Always Dani, she is the director of Mr. Turtle, a short documentary that has been awarded the diploma for the best student film in 2018’s Jaipur’s International Film Festival. This documentary has also been a part of the official selection of Hidalgo’s Film Festival and Monterrey’s Film Festival (KinoStart).

*NOTE: There are two sessions for the OutWest Film Festival. Tickets to each session are sold separately.

chez louie will be open between sessions with a small bites menu (for purchase) and cash bar.

The OutWest Film Fest celebrates the best of LGBTQ international film making and will feature the documentary film, Light in the Water, followed by a special Q&A session with Director, Lis Bartlett and Taj Paxton, Executive Producer and Head of Logo Documentary Films.

Light in the Water shares the empowering story of West Hollywood Aquatics, the first openly gay masters swim team, from their founding in 1982 for the first ever Gay Games in San Francisco, through the AIDS crisis, and up to the present day. A television version of the film premiered on Logo TV June 2018 and it has now screened in over 10 film festivals around the world, including Paris, Glasgow, Sydney, London and Palm Springs, where in January it was voted “Best of Fest” by audiences. 

*NOTE: There are two sessions for the OutWest Film Festival. Tickets to each session are sold separately.

chez louie will be open between sessions with a small bites menu (for purchase) and cash bar.

Lis Bartlett: Emmy nominated Director Lis Bartlett has long been captivated by true stories. While pursuing degrees in Media Studies and Performing Arts and Social Justice at USF, she spent her summers cultivating her passion through Project Moonshine, a Reno, Nevada non-profit, teaching filmmaking skills to high school students. Lis has developed her filmmaking skills in Los Angeles by working in the editorial department of numerous projects, including Kobe Bryant’s Showtime documentary MUSE; and most recently as editor for two episodes of “The Pitch” for Audience Network.

Taj Paxton: Taj is an award-winning writer, director and producer who has won three consecutive Emmy Awards in the Documentary category. Taj was awarded the Humanitas Prize, given to works that inspire human freedom, for producing the independent feature film, Green Dragon. Her short film, A Fat Girl’s Guide to Yoga, won NBC’s Comedy Short Cuts Film Festival, as well as its Audience Award. Her most recent work as a filmmaker, the music-inspired short My Brothers Keeper, is a moving meditation of love and loss that asks the audience to expand their understanding of Black masculinity and Black fatherhood.  Taj’s entire career has been lived at the intersection of race, gender & sexual orientation and, equally important, at the intersection of art and social change. She believes a story well told is our best tool in the fight against bigotry and hatred. Her new company Tajsworld Productions is based at MTV Studios.

Drawn from a cache of personal video recordings from the past 22 years, director Steve Loveridge’s Sundance award winning MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. is a startlingly personal profile of the critically acclaimed artist, chronicling her remarkable journey from refugee immigrant to pop star. 

She began as Matangi. Daughter of the founder of Sri Lanka’s armed Tamil resistance, she hid from the government in the face of a vicious and bloody civil war. When her family fled to the UK, she became Maya, a precocious and creative immigrant teenager in London. Finally, the world met her as M.I.A. when she emerged on the global stage, having created a mashup, cut-and-paste identity that pulled from every corner of her journey along the way; a sonic sketchbook that blended Tamil politics, art school punk, hip-hop beats and the unwavering, ultra-confident voice of a burgeoning multicultural youth.   

Never one to compromise on her vision, Maya kept her camera rolling throughout. MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. provides unparalleled, intimate access to the artist in her battles with the music industry and mainstream media as her success and fame explodes, becoming one of the most recognizable, outspoken and provocative voices in music today. 

The Third Coast Dance Film Festival celebrates the intersection of contemporary dance and the moving image with a screening series of short dance films.  Currently entering its eighth season, the 2019 Third Coast Dance Film Festival lineup will include domestic and international films. Join festival co-founder Rosie Trump for an evening celebrating dance and the moving image.

A few miles south of Carson City, Nevada lies a collection of stone buildings that look like they belong to another time. They represent a complex past that changed the course of generations of American Indians as one of the hundreds of Indian boarding schools built across the United States. They also represent a period in American history when the government thought they could change the thoughts, beliefs, and culture of American Indians across the country. The beautiful stone buildings stand as a testament to the countless stories of hardship, resilience, strength, and the triumphs of native peoples across the Great Basin. They represent the Stewart Indian School, and this is its story.

Join us for the premier screening of the documentary film, produced and directed by JoAnne Peden, with associate director Sam Santoro.  The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring alumni, scholars, and special guests. 

Doors open at 5:00 pm, VIP reception at 5:00 pm, film begins at 6:15 pm. 
 
For more information on the Stewart Indian School, please visit StewartIndianSchool.com

Sixteen years after the release of the groundbreaking film Rivers and Tides – Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time director Thomas Riedelsheimer has returned to work with the artist.  Leaning into the Wind – Andy Goldsworthy follows Andy on his exploration of the layers of his world and the impact of the years on himself and his art. As Goldsworthy introduces his own body into the work it becomes at the same time even more fragile and personal and also sterner and tougher, incorporating massive machinery and crews on his bigger projects. Riedelsheimer’s exquisite film illuminates Goldsworthy’s mind as it reveals his art.

93 minutes

In celebration of Architecture Week, join the Black Rock Design Institute (BRDI) and the American Institute of Architects, Northern Nevada (AIANN) for a special screening of Columbus.  First premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, Columbus is set in the title city of Columbus, Indiana, home to an outstanding collection of works of modern architecture by renowned architects including Eero Saarinen and I.M. Pei. Written and directed by video essayist and formalist film director Kogonada, Columbus explores the various architectural buildings in and around the city, through the eyes of unique and unforgettable characters.

Social hour at 5:00 pm, event begins at 6:00 pm

Sponsorship for the 2018 BRDI Series is provided by Henriksen Butler and Herman Miller, the Nevada Arts Council, and Northern Nevada AIA.