Please give as much money as you can afford (or more) to Earthquake Relief in Haiti. I donated to Partners in Health, which is one of most amazing health organizations in the world and grew out of the work of Paul Farmer and others in Haiti decades ago.  The situation in Haiti is already catastrophic and will quickly become even worse if the earthquake survivors do not receive food, water and medical attention very soon.  People outside of Haiti can help the most right now by giving money to relief organizations.

Partners in Heath is a remarkable organization that has redefined health care for poor people around the world by treating poor patients in the same way that rich patients would expect to be treated.  It’s a simple but revolutionary idea that all began in Haiti.  Tracy Kidder tells the remarkable story of Paul Farmer and the founding of Partners in Health in his book Mountains Beyond Mountains.  The Partners in Health Web site also contains great information about the organization’s mission and history.

Relief organizations need help right away, but even if you’re reading this long after the earthquake, Partners in Health and other organizations can always use your support.  Thank you for donating what you can!

The Cine Las Americas International Film Festival kicked off last night at the Paramount Theater here in Austin.  Check out the festival’s Web site for their impressive line-up of films, both fiction and documentary.  In addition to being on the Narrative Feature Competition jury this year, a film I shot, The Least of These, will be playing out-of-competition.  If you missed The Least of These at SXSW, see it for free at Cine Las Americas or at the Texas Capitol.  Here is more info about the film and the screening times:

The Least of These
Free Screening at the Texas Capitol
Friday April 24, 2 pm
Texas Capitol Extension Auditorium (Room E1.004)

Co-sponsored by Rep. Elliott Naishtat, Rep. Rafael Anchia and the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival

(Note that Texas State Representatives will soon be voting on HCR-95, a resolution urging Congress to consider better alternatives to family detention.)

* * *

The Least of These
Cine Las Americas International Film Festival
Monday April 27, 6 pm
Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC)
600 River Street

Q&A after the screening with the directors, Barbara Hines (UT School of Law) and Lisa Graybill (ACLU)

The Least of These takes a penetrating look at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, a former medium-security prison that re-opened in 2006 as a prototype family detention center. The facility houses immigrant children and their parents from all over the world who are awaiting asylum hearings or deportation proceedings. As information about troubling conditions at the facility began to leak out, three activist attorneys (Vanita Gupta of the ACLU, Michelle Brané of the Women’s Refugee Commission, and Barbara Hines of the University of Texas School of Law) sought to investigate and address the issues. In telling the story of their quest, the film explores the role and limits of legal and community activism in bringing about change.  The film leads viewers to consider how core American rights and values – presumption of innocence, the protection of children, upholding the family structure as the basic unit of civil society, and America as a refuge of last resort – should apply to immigrants, particularly children.  (Filmmakers: Director/Producers Clark Lyda and Jesse Lyda, Producer Marcy Garriott, DP John Fiege)

“…This quiet and measured documentary about the history of Hutto doesn’t paint ICE or management firm Corrections Corporation of America as the bad guys. Instead, it shows them as victims of their own political and commercial hubris and highlights the bleak comedy of their attempts to justify a bad idea. But as the interviews with traumatized kids, parents disabused of the American dream, and the lawyers that fight for them show, it doesn’t matter how many Disney murals you paint on the walls – a prison is a prison.”  — The Austin Chronicle

For more information about the film: www.theleastofthese-film.com

For more information about Cine Las Americas: www.cinelasamericas.org

The Least of These Trailer on YouTube

Mississippi Chicken is finally coming out on DVD!  It’s now available for pre-order on Amazon.com and will be released on May 5.  More news about the release coming soon!

I have just begun casting on my new film, Barton Springs.  We’re currently developing the Web site for the film, which will be at bartonspringsfilm.com.  In the meantime, we have posted some preliminary information about the film here.  Check back for updates coming soon!

The Least of These plays tomorrow at the New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival. If you’re around, check it out.  For more about the film, check out my last post.

Saturday | March 28 | 3pm |Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center

Over the past couple years, I’ve worked as the director of photography and co-produer on The Least of These, a documentary about the Hutto immigrant family detention center outside of Austin, Texas.  The film tells an amazing story about how the U.S. government decided to start putting immigrant children, together with their families, behind bars in a prison-like setting and the legal battle that Barbara Hines of the University of Texas law school, together with the ACLU, waged against the government to shut down the facility.

The Least of These is making its world premiere at the SXSW film festival here in Austin next week.  There will be a Q&A after each screening featuring the Clark Lyda and Jesse Lyda (the directors), Barbara Hines of the University of Texas School of Law, Michelle Brané of the Women’s Refugee Commission, and former detainees.  The film was produced by Clark Lyda, Jesse Lyda and Marcy Garriott.

Here’s the SXSW screening schedule:

Monday March 16, 11 am, Alamo Ritz (320 E. 6th St.)
Wednesday March 18, 7 pm, Alamo South Lamar (1120 S. Lamar Blvd.)
Friday March 20, 11 am, Paramount (713 Congress Ave.)

Admission is with a SXSW film badge, SXSW film pass, or single ticket (available at each venue 30 minutes before the screening time; price $10).

For more information and to see the trailer, visit The Least of These Web site.

After the premiere, the film will be distributed to the educational/institutional market by Cinema Guild, and to the home video and download-to-own markets by Indiepix. It will also be available for on-line streaming by SnagFilms.  Additional festival and semi-theatrical screenings across the country will be posted on the film’s Web site.

I’ll be on a panel this year at SXSW that’s cross-listed between Film and Interactive.  We’ll be talking about the RED camera production workflow, among other things.  It’s called “Hey - You Got Your p2 In My Redcode!”:

“With a plethora of new HD production formats available, how does a director or producer decide which one to shoot in? This panel will debate the benefits of IT-based HD production workflows, including Red One’s Redcode, Panasonic’s p2 - in DVCPRO and AVC-Intra flavors; Sony’s XDCAM EX, and options for capturing HD video directly to computer over digital connections.”

If you have a SXSW Film or Interactive badge, come check it out:

Room 12AB
Monday, March 16, 2009
10:00 am - 11:00 am

Here’s the Interactive listing.

Here’s the Film listing.

I just launched a website for RED Camera Texas, my production company that specializes in motion picture production and post-production using RED digital cinema cameras and related technologies.  The site includes a list of all my RED camera equipment for rent and a gallery featuring a couple recent productions that shot with my camera.  Check out the site here.

I’ve also started a blog on the site devoted to RED production and post-production issues, recent RED Camera Texas shoots, and announcements for upcoming events, such as RED workshops I’ll be holding in the Austin area.  Keep up-to-date by subscribing to the RED Camera Texas RSS feed.

From now on, the RED camera-related blog posts will go on redcameratexas.com, and this blog on fiegefilms.com will be devoted to my film and photography work, specifically, without all the technical stuff.

And finally, become of fan of RED Camera Texas on Facebook!

Eight years ago, I lived just blocks from the White House, and I watched (and filmed) as George W. Bush took office.  Months after Bush moved to D.C. from Austin, I moved to Austin from D.C.  I’ve returned to my hometown to celebrate the end of an era and the beginning of a new one, along with Barack Hussein Obama and two million or so of the world’s happiest people.  It was a magnificent homecoming.  Here are the pictures: on my photographs page and on Flickr.

This American Life (a.k.a. “my favorite show on the radio”) just had their annual poultry show last weekend–Poultry Slam 2008–and “Act Three: A Pastor and his Flock” continues the Mississippi Chicken story. After watching Mississippi Chicken, producer Sarah Koenig contacted me about their upcoming show on the theme of God and chickens. Anita and I then referred her to the Western North Carolina Workers’ Center, where Anita has been working very closely with the folks there over the past year and half on their organizing campaigns. Set within the workers’ ongoing struggle to unionize and the poultry company’s rabid anti-union campaign, Sarah Koenig tells a fascinating story involving an organizer, a poultry plant manager and his priest. If you didn’t hear it this past weekend, check it out here.