alsolikelife update: Awards, Screenings, India, NY Film Fest

[alsolikelife]

Index of Topics:
1. Dastaar awards and screenings (Hawaii, San Diego, Toronto, etc)
2. Dastaar being used as an educational tool nationwide
3. Pictures of India trip online
4. Kevin's New York Film Festival reviews online
5. Join alsolikelife mailing list

1 Dastaar awards and screenings (Hawaii, San Diego, Toronto, etc)

"Dastaar: Defending Sikh Identity" is getting a lot of attention on the
festival circuit. Last weekend it screened at the 2 nd Annual
Spinning Wheel Film Festival at Hofstra Univeristy, New York, where it
was very well received. This weekend I'll be at the San Diego Asian
Film Festival where the film will receive the Jury Award for Best Short
Documentary. There are many other screenings coming up, some of
which I'll be attending- here's a list:

***San Diego Asian Film Festival (Jury Award for Best Short
Documentary)
Friday September 30, 3:00 PM
Brickstone Salon @ Doubletree Hotel
7450 Hazard Center Drive
San Diego, California 92108

Saturday October 1, 2:45PM
UltraStar Mission Valley (formerly Mann Theatres)
7510 Hazard Center Drive
San Diego, California 92111

For more info:
http://www.sdaff.org/festival/program_desc.php?program_id=62


***Third World Newsreel Call for Change at the Brooklyn Academy of
Music (BAM)
Saturday October 8 at 4:30PM and 9:15PM.
Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette St., Brooklyn NY 11217 .
For more information go to these links:
http://www.twn.org/update.html
http://www.bam.org/film/series.aspx?id=39


***Spinning Wheel Sikh Film Festival of Toronto (Kevin attending)
Sunday, October 16, 2005, 5:00 p.m
Isabel Bader Theatre
93 Charles Street W, Toronto
For more info: http://www.spinningwheelfestival.com/


***Hawaii International Film Festival
Friday, October 21, 6:00 PM (with feature DAUGHTERS OF THE WIND)
For more info: http://www.hiff.org/


***Eureka International Film Festival (New York )
Friday, October 28 at Anthology Film Archives
For more info: http://www.eurekaiff.com

There will be more screenings in November and December - details in
future updates.


2 Dastaar being used as an educational tool nationwide

On July 31, volunteers and staff from the Sikh Coalition and I took
fifteen school teachers to a Sikh temple in Richmond Hill, Queens, New
York. We had met these teachers at a screening of "Dastaar: Defending
Sikh Identity" at the New York Asian American International Film
Festival, and invited them to learn more about Sikhism by visiting a
local temple. After guiding the teachers through the temple, the
volunteers answered questions and explained the central tenants of the
Sikh faith. The teachers came from across the country as part of a
program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Many of the teachers have decided to screen "Dastaar" with their
classes in order to explain who Sikhs are and more generally to educate
their students on diversity.

The film is being used at both high schools and universities
nationwide. A professor at the University of Connecticut shared her
feedback:

" I just wanted to say thank you for the 13 minute documentary about
the challenges of Sikhs in America. I showed the clip to my First
Year Experience course, and they were so amazed by it and had so many
questions after. I first showed the film without sound and than had
an open discussion on what they thought the film was about and than
played it again with the sound on, so we could discuss their reactions
and what they learned. The discussion before and after both clips was
great."

Share "Dastaar" with Your Local Schools and Communities
"Dastaar: Defending Sikh Identiity" is a 13 minute documentary that
shows the struggle of the Sikh-American community in post-9/11
American. This community must overcome the bias and intolerance
often centered on Sikhs who wear articles of faith such as the turban
(dastaar). The film also explores how media imagery fuels association
of the turban with terrorism, leading to widespread discrimination.
Made in a sensitive, yet informative and positive style, the short
documentary is an excellent educational tool. The documentary can be
viewed on the Sikh Coalition website, but a more comprehensive version
is available on DVD. If you would like to procure a copy of "Dastaar"
to screen at your local school, college, work place, or community
center please email Ke...@alsolikelife.com


3 Pictures of India trip online

As some of you know, I was in India for the last month shooting part of
my documentary, WARRIOR SAINTS, a personal journey through the world of
Sikhism. I originally intended to focus primarily on Sikhs in the New
York metro area, but when I learned that one of my subjects was
returning to the Sikh homeland of Punjab India, I couldn't pass up the
opportunity. Please allow me to share with you pictures taken along
my journey. You can find them here:

http://www.alsolikelife.com/images/India.html

I now have 25 hours of India footage to work through, in addition to
the 20+ hours I've shot in New York prior to the trip. I'm far from
being done with shooting (will probably follow my subjects for another
6 months), but I expect to have a trailer cut by the end of the year.


4 New York Film Festival reviews online

This year I am covering the New York Film Festival for Senses of Cinema
( www.sensesofcinema.com). I am grateful for the opportunity to write
about what I love (and save about $200 in tickets). My
quick-and-dirty capsules on films like George Clooney's GOOD NIGHT AND
GOOD LUCK and Steven Soderbergh's BUBBLE can be found on my Film Diary:
http://www.alsolikelife.com/FilmDiary/2005.html .


5 Join alsolikelife mailing list

If you want to make sure you receive future updates please join the
alsolikelife mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/alsolikelife
and click on the link "Join this group". Rest assured that your
email address will never be resold or used for any purpose other than
these updates.

Thanks for reading and stay in touch!


Kevin