What I was doing when Trump was acquitted .. Please watch and read

MEANWHILE: Why have I put this clip from Louis Malle’s first film (1958), “Elevator from the Gallows”  Because I identify with the feeling Jeanne Moreau silently seems to express. Miles Davis’s improvised score resonates deeply and grounds me. 

Why?  Please read:

Let’s step back for a moment. Please realize that the continual use of the words "riot" and "rioters" denies what actually happened.   It was, in fact, a mob with a purpose. They were intent on stopping the count of the electoral ballots. If completed, it would confirm the election of Biden/Harris. Suppose they had succeeded (which they came very close to doing!) would have left Trump and his administration in control. What had not been clearly stated by the Democratic managers is: Sometime in April, it became clear to the Trump inner circle that COVID was not going to disappear. They looked realistically at its impact on the election and realized it could derail the election of Trump. While plan A was already in action: mobilize the base through campaign rallies to win. If Trump lost, it would be because of VOTER FRAUD! For months this rhetoric was turned up in volume as the clock ticked! It culminated in November with STOP THE COUNT and STOP THE STEAL. Trump and his supporters began to organize starting last Spring. This is not a secret.  Both media and digital tech amplified it. The coverage of Black Lives Matter’s reaction to the continual police killing of unarmed black men, some black women, and the persistence of the public response was foregrounded. It was providing the cover for the fear-based white supremacy response. QAnon (who really started it and why?.) “Pizza Gate” was my first knowledge of Q’Anon when it seduced a close friend.  

The defense lawyers have hammered home the message that Trump had nothing to do with the insurgent mob violence despite the open genuflecting at the Capital by the mob to Trump and his STOP THE STEAL call to arms. His rally on Nov 6th was a call to arms of the diverse Trump militia. “Heil Trump”  seemed to be the rallying point of unity.

So here I am today feeling much like the Jeanne Moreau character in this Louis Malle 1957 film with Miles Davis soundtrack resonating my feelings. 

Yes, I want Trump convicted. I want him never again to be able to excite the public with his irrationally lies —the of his actual actions both in his personal and his Presidential life. 

As good as it looks with the first 100 days of actions, the Biden administration does not reflect the things most important to me today.  I want Medicare for All. I want the Green New Deal. I want FAIR TAXES where every worker and every corporation pays a Fair Tax. I want private Colleges and Universities to pay taxes.  I want free public education for all qualified citizens; I want enforced Separation of Church and State as defined in the Constitution. I want Churches taxed.  I want the end of sexism and misogyny.  I want the air I breathe to be clean and healthy. I want the food I eat to be nutritious.s  

I am at an age where I want to make sure a better worldis possible for all people, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, class, race, age, and physical capability. These changes are especially important to me for the generations that follow.

 I want what I have fought for all my life to be on the table.

To be openly discussed and put into action.

A living wage, control of one’s own body, accessible education, gun control,

police as peacekeepers need no more debate. I want the death penalty to be abolished. The end of nuclear energy to fuel the war machine. End Income equality Until we white folks detox ourselves the internalized racism embedded by culture and education of the internalized racism  Act now.  

NOTE: As I was about to post this message, Trump was acquitted. 

A return to a reality check of how serious this moment is. Let me say one more time: I stand with the expanding SQUAD, Not the Chuck Schumer or Nancy Pelosi or Obama centrist Democratic Party. They gave us Biden. Yes, to stop Trump, But it is clear that we have a lot of work to do……. together!

 I believe a better world is possible.  We must continue to refuse fascism and corporate welfare.  Dangerous Times indeed. Stay safe, and remember love, not anger, must lubricate our resistance. What we have in common MUST be put above where we disagree at this critical moment. Capitalism and its promotors want to tear us apart. Don’t be fooled.  Remember, GREED is infectious

CineSalon EDM Anthems: French Touch on Film. + panel, master class, rooftop dance party

This March and April, the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), New York’s premiere French cultural center, celebrates electronic dance music from France with EDM Anthems: French Touch on Film. The new CinéSalon film series will be accompanied by events with leading artists of French Touch, including a master class, a panel discussion, and a rooftop dance party. EDM Anthems: French Touch on Film is presented in partnership with UniFrance, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, Bureau Export/France Rocks, and French Move.

Since the mid-1990s, a group of French DJs and producers have revolutionized dance music with their distinct mix of disco samples and robotic vocals. Known as the French Touch, musicians associated with this movement—including Daft Punk, Kavinsky, and Air—ha

ve also put their mark on contemporary cinema.

Presenting a series of films scored by and about DJs, EDM Anthems: French Touch on Film explores how French Touch has extended beyond the dance floors to transform the look and feel of cinema itself. Each screening will feature an episode of French Waves, the web series about French Touch music and its artists.

EDM Anthems: French Touch on Film kicks off on Tuesday, March 1 with the New York theatrical premiere of the 2015 documentaryDaft Punk Unchained, the story of the masked French duo that would indelibly change dance music. The screenings are free with RSVP, and the 7:30pm screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Hervé Martin-Delpierre and DJ Superpoze.

FIAF and French Waves welcome DJ and former Daft Punk manager Pedro Winter (Busy P) on Thursday, March 3 for a French Touch Master Class, where he will be joined by DJs Boston Bun, Superpoze, rising star Jacques, and French Waves director Julian Starke for live demonstrations. Rooftop bar and discothèque Le Bain celebrates French Touch with a Dance Party featuring DJs Busy P., Boston Bun, Superpoze, and Jacques on Friday, March 4. And as part of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center will host a talk with French Touch Composers Grégoire Hetzel, Mathieu Lamboley, and Mark Snow, composers, respectively, of Summertime, Lolo, and The X Files, on Monday, March 7, moderated by Variety’s Elsa Keslassy.

Below is the press release with the full program. For more info visit www.fiaf.org. Here is a link with hi-res, downloadable images and credit information.

Special Events:

·         French Touch Master Class with DJ Pedro Winter (Busy P), Thursday, March 3 at 7:30pm at FIAF

·         Dance Party with Busy P, Boston Bun, Jacques, and Soperpoze, Friday, March 4 10pm-4am at Le Bain

·         Talk with French Touch Composers: Grégoire Hetzel, Mathieu Lamboley, and Mark Snow, Monday, March 7 at 7:30pm at Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center

Films:

·         Daft Punk Unchained, dir. Hervé Martin-Delpierre, Tuesday, March 1 at 4 & 7:30pm. Free with RSVP! Q&A with Director Hervé-Martin Delpierre and DJ Superpoze after 7:30pm screening.

·         Grand Central, dir. Rebecca Zlotowski, Tuesday, March 8 at 4 & 7:30pm.

·         You and the Night, dir. Yann Gonzales, Tuesday, March 15 at 4 7:30pm.

·         Eden, dir. Mia Hansen-Løve, Tuesday, March 22 at 4 & 7:30pm.

·         Love at First Fight, dir. Thomas Cailley, Tuesday, March 29 at 4 & 7:30pm.

·         The Virgin Suicides, dir. Sofia Coppola & Trip to the Moon, dir. Georges Méliès, Tuesday, April 12 at 4 & 7:30pm.

·         Drive, dir. Nicolas Winding Refn, Tuesday, April 19 at 4 & 7:30pm.

·         Girlhood, dir. Céline Sciamma, Tuesday, April 26 at 4 & 7:30pm.

HISTORY LESSON and sapphic legend Natalie Clifford Barney - 1962 in her 90's her mind is sharp and she opens up

Please join me in these live events to be =live streamed at SUNDANCE 2016 and documented on YOURTUBE

HEY you can JOIN ME  in the Sundance LIVE events at HOME  :

Here is a list of ALL the Sundance live streams : http://www.sundance.org/blogs/special-edition/heres-how-to-follow-the-sundance-film-festival-from-home

and here is the youtube link for all archived livestreams  https://youtu.be/NNiRrSd6bhI

Join me at the  opening PRESS CONFERENCE  (this is a BIG DEAL

The Sundance Facebook page is a wealth of information and videos https://www.facebook.com/sundance

Spotify has playlist of all the musicians playing the ASCAP music cafe

You may not be able to be on the Ski Slopes of Park City , but you will be able to join me from the comfort of you home at events I will be attending
P
And Yes I do believe there is nothing live seeing a Sundance film at its Premier with a live audience ...plan ahead and join me next year

jim

Tribeca Recommendation: : Regarding Susan Sontag

Tribeca Film Festival recommendation #3 REGARDING SUSAN SONTAG 
Susan Sontag was a fierce, aggressive public intellectual and one of the few woman in the 60's taken seriously by the male intellectuals of her day, Her image was everywhere for over 20 years and her name remains a touch stone for feminist role models. But little was actually know bout her private life. For the last 8 years the documentary film community knew that Nancy Kates was attempting to make public the private life of Susan Sontag and her son author David Reif was fighting her tooth and nail .. he refused to talk with her and even attempted to stop anyone of Susan's friends to cooperate with Nancy. He failed and we have a beautifully nuanced film that will surprise and even shock some of the public who only know Sontag from her independent thinking contained in books, plays an movies . Whew ...all praise to the documentary film maker who does not give up despite the difficulty and time it takes .by the way her private life sizzles with passion and is a tribute to hoe she not only managed her lovers but disciplined her self to creative work.