Dir: Futuru C.L. Tsai
Taiwan, 2005. Runtime: 47 min.
Language: Mandarin/Amis w/ Chinese & English Subtitles

Amis Hip Hop documents how a group of young Amis men from Dulan village have blended influences from contemporary social and cultural life in Taiwan with their traditional practice of ritual dance performance in the village. Rooted in the Amis ethos of respect for male age-grade organization, matrilineal affiliation, intimacy with the ocean, and appreciation of joking relationships, these young men also blend in elements of foreign fashion in music and dance all while keeping with traditional village aesthetics. Through their performances, they represent a new image to both locals and outsiders, and actively construct their local identity as Dulan Amis.

2005 David Plath Media Award, Society for East Asian Anthropology

• Showing: Saturday, 25 August @ 8:30 pm
• Screening with: Counting Headz: South Africa’s Sistaz in Hip Hop
• Website: http://www.oz.nthu.edu.tw/~d929802/amishiphop

Bling: Consequences and Repercussions tackles the issues behind hip-hop’s obsession with diamonds and the continued illegal diamond trade in Africa. Kanye West’s music video, ‘Diamonds from Sierra Leone’, introduced the topic of conflict diamonds to urban communities. Bling looks to further educate the hip-hop generation about the murder and carnage caused by the world’s greed for diamonds.

The film is narrated by hip-hop legend Chuck D, with interviewees that include David Shimanov, renowned jeweller whose A-List clientele includes hip-hop’s most prominent rappers – 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, Fabolous and Jewelz Santana, to name a few.

• Showing: Saturday, 18 August @ 8:30 pm
• Screening with: Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes
• Website: http://www.wghfilms.com/bling.htm

Dir: Vusi Magubane & Erin Offer
South Africa, 2006. Runtime: 50 min.
Language: English and Xhosa & Zulu w/ English Subtitles

Counting Headz reveals the struggles and victories of South Africa’s women from the perspectives of three major performers in South Africa’s hip-hop scene.

MC Chi asks if there’s a contradiction of values between African and hip-hop cultures, and if it’s possible to reconcile the two. Her questions thread together the obstacles encountered by fellow sistaz. DJ Sistamatic, challenged by a distorted media portrayal of her persona, candidly addresses the influence of male-formed images of women. World-renowned graffiti artist Smirk finds a way beyond her family’s initial misgivings about her art and prepares to merge a life with hip-hop and motherhood.

• Showing: Saturday, 25 August @ 8:30 pm
• Screening with: Amis Hip Hop
• Website: http://www.myspace.com/countingheadz

Dir: Iris B. Segarra
USA, 2006. Runtime: 60 min.
Language: English & Spanish w/ English Subtitles

Darkbeat: An Electro World Voyage aims to recognize the genre of music known as Electro. The film exposes the passion it takes to create and preserve this form of music by the artists, DJs and small communities around the world that support this underrated scene.

The film expands on the past, present and future uses of technology and its influence that have defined sounds of groundbreaking acts and future generations of producers. Darkbeat takes the viewer around the world from Miami, England, Spain, Holland, Paris, North Carolina, to Detroit, featuring recognizable artists such as Radioactiveman, The Advent, Satamile, Ectomorph, Dexorcist, and many more, while stimulating the audience with animation, re-creations, interviews, and rare electro tunes.

• Showing: Thursday, 23 August @ 8 pm
• Screening with: Deerhoof’s Milk Man
• Website: http://www.darkbeatmovie.com

Dir: Courtney Naliboff
USA, 2006. Runtime: 39 min.
Language: English

Part ballet, part surreal performance art, and part rock show, this film’s footage is culled from several rehearsals and performances of a ballet based on Deerhoof’s 2004 album, ‘Milk Man’. The ballet was performed in North Haven, Maine in October 2006, with a live band directed by music and drama teacher Courtney Naliboff, musicians and dancers from North Haven Community School and the community at large, and featured choreography by art and P.E. teacher Ken Jones.

• Showing: Thursday, 23 August @ 8 pm
• Screening with: Darkbeat: An Electro World Voyage
• Websites: http://www.milkmanballet.com
  http://deerhoof.killrockstars.com

Dir: Kerri Koch
USA, 2003. Runtime: 40 min.
Language: English

don’t need you is a documentary film that tells the story of the origins of Riot Grrrl in the American independent music scene of the 1990s, and how this feminist movement evolved into a revolutionary underground network of education and self-awareness through music, writing, activism, and women-friendly community. The film gives audiences a chance to meet key figures in the development of Riot Grrrl and see for themselves how these women have changed the history of music and feminism forever. The film features one-on-one interviews interspersed with rare, archival materials, including original Riot Grrrl fanzines, flyers, and photographs, as well as seldom seen footage from pioneering Riot Grrrl bands like Bikini Kill, Heavens to Betsy, and Bratmobile.

• Showing: Saturday, 25 August @ 6 pm
• Screening with: Our Nation: A Korean Punk Rock Community
• Website: http://www.urbancowgirlproductions.com/dont

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes provides a riveting examination of manhood, sexism, and homophobia in hip-hop culture. Director Byron Hurt, former star college quarterback, longtime hip-hop fan, and gender violence prevention educator, conceived the documentary as a “loving critique” of a number of disturbing trends in the world of rap music. He pays tribute to hip-hop while challenging the rap music industry to take responsibility for glamorizing destructive, deeply conservative stereotypes of manhood. The documentary features revealing interviews about masculinity and sexism with rappers such as Mos Def, Fat Joe, Chuck D, Jadakiss, and Busta Rhymes, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, and cultural commentators such as Michael Eric Dyson and Beverly Guy-Shetfall.

• Showing: Saturday, 18 August @ 8:30 pm
• Screening with: Bling: Consequences and Repercussions
• Website: http://www.bhurt.com/beyondBeatsAndRhymes.php

Dir: Timothy R. Tangherlini & Stephen J. Epstein
USA, 2001. Runtime: 39 min.
Language: Korean & English w/ English Subtitles

Our Nation is a stunning portrayal of how Korean youth have been using punk rock to find their voices in a rapidly changing culture, amidst the emergence of consumer capitalism with the concomitant economic crisis of the late 90′s.

Through the eyes of two young college age fans, the audience journeys through the underground punk rock scene through the small club Drug, which features bands such as Crying Nut, No Brain, Weeper and Supermarket. Our Nation gives air to a multiplicity of voices on issues such as the role of the school system in the lives of Korean youth, their relationships with their parents, and the impact of globalization on their culture.

• Showing: Saturday, 25 August @ 6 pm
• Screening with: don’t need you: the herstory of riot grrrl
• Website: http://www.filmakers.com/indivs/OurNation.htm

Dir: Zhang Yang
China, 2002. Runtime: 96 min.
Language: Mandarin w/ English Subtitles

Post Revolutionary Era is an illuminating documentary that explores the high-octane underground punk, thrash, metal and hardcore scene in Beijing. Focusing on the communities who live for their music and the reaction of the older generation to an unfamiliar phenomenon, the film follows a group of rockers to a ramshackle area in Beijing where bands share their creativity and cut their chops before hurtling themselves into the wider world with a vengeance.

• Showing: Friday, 24 August @ 8 pm
• Website: Director’s blog – blog.sina.com.cn/zyoung

Dir: Douglas Crawford
Canada, 2006. Runtime: 87 min.
Language: English

From Hamilton, Canada to São Paulo, Brazil and Jakarta, Indonesia, The Punks are Alright is a highly entertaining punk rock safari from the first world to the third, from the profane to the sacred.

Exploring human connections and the unifying power of music, the film profiles three punk bands from three parts of the world. Beginning its journey with the cult Canadian punk band The Forgotten Rebels, The Punks are Alright follows the surprising lineage of their influence and inspiration to The Blind Pigs from Brazil and Superman Is Dead from Bali. Connected through their music by unusual but coincidental circumstances, the film introduces the viewer to some fascinating people. The result is an insightful social commentary about young people’s perception of the their environments, DIY culture, and globalization.

• Showing: Sunday, 19 August @ 7 pm
• Website: http://www.myspace.com/thepunksarealright