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WHO NEEDS SLEEPS receives standing ovation at Labourstart 2010 Global Solidarity Conference!

Trade union delegates from over 28 countries and members of the Toronto film and television community attended a screening of Who Needs Sleep followed by a lively discussion with Haskell Wexler on Saturday, July 10, 2010 as part of the first annual Labourstart 2010 Global Solidarity Conference.

Brothers and sisters from across the labour movement pledged their support and solidarity for the 12on12off campaign, expressing their shock at the industry standard for working hours and the total unwillingness of the unions to address the issue, despite a clear message from the rank and file that this is a crisis situation.

A number of university professors and union educators said they will be using the film as part of their curriculum.

With thanks to the support, wisdom and expertise of brothers and sisters from other unions, efforts are underway to develop a political and organizing campaign to move 12on12off forward across North America, including screenings for industry workers, enhanced petition efforts and the development of organizing kits.

 

THE DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL® PRESENTS THE EXCLUSIVE NETWORK PREMIERE

OF  “WHO NEEDS SLEEP?”

FROM OSCAR® -WINNING CINEMATOGRAPHER HASKELL WEXLER

Documentary Features Interviews With Hollywood Stars Including Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Annette Bening, Billy Crystal, Paul Newman and Tyne Daily, among many others

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (June 1, 2010) — The Documentary Channel® (DOC) presents the exclusive network premiere of the critically acclaimed feature-length documentary “Who Needs Sleep?” from Academy® Award winner Haskell Wexler on Friday, June 25 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT.

NEXT scheduled screening is Sunday, July 11th at 6pm

Distributed by Chatsworth, Calif.-based Image Entertainment (NASDAQ: DISK), the film features intimate interviews with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Annette Bening, Billy Crystal, Paul Newman, and Tyne Daly, as they discuss health risks associated with long production work days surpassing the 14-hour mark.

Award-Winning Filmmaker Haskell Wexler Returns to Chicago

Haskell Wexler is considered one of the most influential cinematographers in film history. And with Oscar-winning films like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Bound for Glory to his credit –you can see why. His most famous film is a little more outside the movie mainstream. Medium Cool was shot in and around the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. The film combines real footage of the protests and violence with a fictional framework – an unorthodox approach at the time. The Chicago-born filmmaker has lived in California for some time now. But he’s back for a special screening of Medium Cool at the University of Chicago’s Film Studies Center this evening. And we’re delighted he decided to stop by our studio for a chat.

LISTEN to THIS

Thursday, May 27th, 2010  7:00 pm

Introduction by Judy Hoffman, Department of Cinema and Media Studies

Within the framework of the groundbreaking film Medium Cool (1969), Haskell Wexler will discuss his approaches to cinema, filmmaking and the career he forged in Chicago during the era just before video changed the method and technique of documentary image gathering. What does it mean to film on film…as a documentarian… as a cinematographer? These questions intrigue and resonate with Wexler and will inform the discussion of his work in this very special screening with the award-winning director. Read the rest of this entry »

I found this interview which may be of interest to 12on12off. Not that we movie workers need confirmation of the debilitating effects of excessive hours. Check this out.

- Haskell Wexler

Katherine Faulkner in her blog states:

“This government’s ‘legacy’ will be the demise of plain English” referring to the British government, I believe, but fully applies to the United States. She goes on to say,

“The main point of political prose, said George Orwell more than half a century ago, was to give ‘an appearance of solidity to pure wind’. Orwell accused politicians of the being deliberately unclear in their prose, pretending to communicate but really aiming only to obscure.

You don’t need to look very far to see Orwellian echoes in the political language of our times. Take ‘credit crunch’, a word which popped up in newspapers as it became apparent that the country was facing recession. While ‘recession’ conjures unsightly images of bread lines and derelict factories, ‘credit crunch’ sounds inherently benign, like a breakfast cereal containing free toys in little plastic sachets.”

Another article by John Pilger on the same subject puts the Obama administration in perspective:

“In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell described a superstate called Oceania, whose language of war inverted lies that ‘passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past’, ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past’.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Dr. Charles Czeisler is known in the N.B.A. as the Sleep Doctor. He advises players to sleep 8.2 to 8.4 hours a night, which requires nine hours in bed.

A growing interest in sleep science — and a recognition that players need more time to recharge — is fueling the trend. Simply speaking, N.B.A. players often fail to get enough sleep.

READ THE ARTICLE from The New York Times

The making of “Hope Is A Thing” video with Lisbeth Scott

WATCH THE VIDEO

Obama’s writers are working on his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.  Although the exact date of the Oslo event has not been announced, it is expected to be within the next few weeks. Crafting the acceptance speech could present a problem as Obama’s Afghan war for peace continues. Perhaps his writers should check out President Carter’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech.

President Carter:

“For powerful countries to adopt a principle of preventative war may well set an example that can have catastrophic consequences.”

“War may sometime be a necessary evil, but no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children. The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. God gives us a capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes. And we must.”

President Kennedy American University Commencement Speech:

“What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children–not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women–not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.”

Chris Hedges, courtesy of truthdig.com

Chris Hedges says America is gone. It’s lost to consumer culture and the cult of the self. We’re barreling towards collapse. Hedges points to Michael Jackson’s funeral, made into a maudlin form of entertainment where a celebrity attendee like Magic Johnson could plug his sponsor, A.K.A Kentucky Fried Chicken. In Hedges’ view of this world, lies and manipulation win over truth, as evidenced everywhere from Wall Street to reality television. Over time, says Hedges, corporations have morphed our consumption into a constant, nagging compulsion. One homogenous culture sold to us by large companies has stamped out our nation’s distinct regional differences, and there’s no turning back.

In this talk at Town Hall Seattle, Hedges makes his case against consumerism, celebrity culture, mainstream media and unfettered capitalism.

His latest book is “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle.” Elliott Bay Book Company co–sponsored his talk on July 22, 2009.