St John Arts Festival Begins Tomorrow - February 14, 2014. Get Ready for Great Music, Dancing, Film and Shows

Get ready to enjoy the 14th St John Arts Festival starting February 14 (Valentine's Day) and running through February 19th. There is something for everyone who loves St John and the wonderful art of the island:

St John Film Debuts 'The End Of The Line' -- An Ocean Without Fish?

A Fish-less Ocean - We cannot allow that to happen!

On June 19 @ 7:30 PM @ Cases By the Sea in Coral Bay, St John Film Society (SJFS) brings to St John the world’s first major documentary about the effects commercial overfishing has had on the world’s fish populations!  Michelle Ward reports that: along the lines of An Inconvenient Truth, this film is important – especially here in the Caribbean where fishing is a way of life for so many.

Filmed at global locations from the Straits of Gibraltar to the coasts of Senegal and Alaska to the Tokyo fish market, and featuring top scientists, indigenous fishermen, and fisheries’ enforcement officials, The End of the Line premiered, and competed for best World Cinema Documentary, at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. 

The End of the Line will be the last film presented by SJFS until November as SJFS takes a seasonal hiatus.  If you’ve been meaning to come out this season and haven’t yet made it, this is a great film to make an effort to see. For more info on the film you might read the recent St John Source article or look at the film's website (which includes lots of great info on fishing and what fish are still OK to buy). Enjoy the film under the stars at Cases of the Sea in Coral Bay. What better way to spend an evening on St John!?

Interested in the local angle of this story? Check out the St John Source story on 'Changes Afoot in Fisheries Management' that was posted this past week.  If you are going to be in the Virgin Islands and want to go fishing check out these options for St John fishing charters. 

Movie time on St John featuring 'Rain' (under the stars)

Where else in the world can you watch a movie, eat the world's greatest BBQ with your favorite libation, out in the open under the stars? St John Film Society is hosting another film, in its 2013 series. This this Wednesday, May 22 at 7:30 PM at Cases By the Sea in Coral Bay the following two films (Mature audiences - adults and teens recommended) will be shown:

Rain - 85–min, dramatic feature length, directed by Maria Govan (2008)

Teen-aged Rain lives a sheltered and quiet life with her grandmother on the tiny rural Ragged Island in the Bahamas. When her grandmother dies, Rain travels to the city to find the mother she never knew. Rain is surprised to discover her mother living in the poverty-stricken “Graveyard” neighborhood of Nassau where regular school attendance and a uniform are beyond reach. Encouraged by her coach, Rain’s extraordinary talent running track spells relief from her home life, reveals inner strength, and inspires dreams of life beyond Nassau. Featuring performances by award-winning, veteran American-Guyanese actress CCH Pounder and the first-time, fourteen-year-old actress Renel Brown.

The Guardian: 8-min, short fiction by Fabrice Pierre (2006)

A visit to Grandfather’s seaside home is Mahalia’s favorite thing in the world – while mother cooks, Mahalia listens to him weave his oral stories made up about magic, courage, and survival. Or are they made up?  A compelling 8 minutes of action-packed magical realism.

Bring your beach chair, appetite, a $5 dollar donation (per person suggested), and enjoy St John with locals and others from afar.

Movies on St John - Learn about the Jamaican Underground Music Scene and Voodoo-Inspired Marching Music

St John Film Society presents: 

4th TRAVELLING CARIBBEAN SHOWCASE OF FILMS

 Spotlight on Caribbean Music

April 2, 2013/ 7:30 pm / St. John School of the Arts, Cruz Bay

Join us for a seldom seen look into contemporary Caribbean music.  Two filmmakers capture stories of reggae, rap, rara, and soul – inspiring, transcendent, uniquely Caribbean!

 RISE UP: STORIES FROM THE JAMAICAN UNDERGROUND MUSIC SCENE
88-min, documentary, directed by Luciano Blotta, 2009

You listen to Bob Marley and may have even been to Jamaica but you’ve never seen anything like this!

Follow three courageous musicians from Kingston back alleys, crowded dancehalls, privileged suburbs, and rural outposts as they demonstrate the raw power of hope in a place which appears to have forsaken them – although appearances can be deceiving. Welcome to the Jamaican underground music scene!

In a society where talent abounds and opportunity is scarce, three distinct and brave artists fight to “rise up” from obscurity and write themselves into the pages of history. Featuring Turbulence, Ice Anastacia, and Kemoy, with appearances by Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, and Lee “Scratch” Perry. 

Rise Up is a journey into the heart of reggae’s birthplace, transcending genre and niche, seemlessly weaving three distinct stories into one inspiring feature film that is both dramatic and vibrantly explosive.

Whether you are a long-time fan of Jamaican music or want to learn more about it, there is plenty for you in Rise Up.  Acclaimed as a musical Hoop Dreams and considered one of the best movies to come out of the Caribbean in many years,Rise Up was considered by the Academy for a Best Documentary Oscar nomination.  Indie Wire says “Rise Up transcends the music subculture genre with abundant grace and style.” 

Preceded By The Short:

BROOKLYN RACINE12-min, documentary, directed by Jeremy Robins and Magaly Damas, 2008

What happens when a group of young Haitian immigrants bring the enduring legacy of rara — voodoo-inspired marching music — from the Haitian hills to Brooklyn streets?  The results awaken a pride for home that takes even the participants by surprise!

Find out more about the film Rise Up here.

Find out more about the film Brooklyn Racine here.

Movies under the stars on St John, USVI

What could be a better way to watch the movies than being on St John, out under the stars, able to enjoy your favorite liquid refreshment and great BBQ (more on that one later)? St John Film Society (SJFS) is including in its 2013 season screenings in Coral Bay at Cases By the Sea.  The SJFS recently announced:

St. John Film Festival Screenings in Coral Bay

We are pleased to announce that the St. John Film Society will be screening select films during the 2013 season in Coral Bay!  Please join us in kicking off  the Coral Bay film series on Wednesday, February 20 at Cases By the Sea with the 87 minute documentary film Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story, directed by Ron Berger and Dan Klores.  Bring your own chair or sit at the picnic tables and enjoy food from Reggie’s (optional)!  Stay tuned here for more Coral Bay film series details!  St. John Film Society is partially funded by the National Endowment of the Arts, Virgin Islands Council on the Arts, and YOU!  Your $5.00 suggested donation is greatly appreciated.

Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story

Directed by Ron Berger & Dan Klores,  87 minutes, Documentary, 2005

February 20, 2013/ 7:30 pm / Cases by the Sea, Coral Bay

Join St. John Film Society at Cases by the Sea in Coral Bay!  Bring your own chair or sit at the picnic tables and enjoy local food at Reggie’s.  Documentary filmmakers Dan Klores and Ron Berger look at a dark moment in American sports history — March 24, 1962 — when St. Thomas’s Emile Griffith fought Cuba’s Benny “Kid” Paret for the welterweight boxing championship. At the weigh-in, Paret taunted the gentle giant with an anti-gay slur. Later, Griffith pummeled Paret into a fatal coma as a nationwide TV audience watched. Decades later, six-time welterweight champion Griffith spoke of the fateful night that haunts him.  The film includes compelling boxing footage and interviews with Griffith and family, historians, and sports journalists.  Ring of Fire was a 2005 Sundance featured film and called “extraordinary” by The New York Times.

The St John Source also reports:

"We are very excited to have films in Coral Bay once again after a brief hiatus," said Andrea Leland, director of the St John Film Society. "For our first film we are particularly happy to have found a partner in Cases by the Sea, which features a large screen and food and drink for sale - it can be an evening out." Cases by the Sea and Reggie's feature food and drink at picnic tables under their open-air pavilion "or, bring your own chair if you like," suggests Leland.

Cuba comes to St John, USVI -- at least on film

Support the St John Film Society's 2013 season opening screening:

Films from the

4th TRAVELLING CARIBBEAN 

SHOWCASE OF FILMS

 Spotlight on CUBA

February 5, 2013/ 7:30 pm  

St. John

 School of the Arts, Cruz Bay

Join us for an insightful look into contemporary Cuba.  Three filmmakers capture the stories of teachers, cigar-factory workers, and taxi-drivers from urban Havana to rural Baracoa – inspiring, controversial, and uniquely Cuba!

Maestra 'The Teacher' highlights how thousands of young women taught nearly a million kids to read and write in a year

 ADOLPHO : 45–min , fiction, directed by Sofie Delaage 2006 Poor Adolpho yearns for life beyond his broken-down taxi and plots a journey across the sea in this contemporary Cuban comedy of errors.

CON EL TOQUE DE LA CHAVETA:  28-min, documentary, directed by Pamela Sporn In the cigar factories of Cuba, a unique tradition persists: ‘la lectura de tabaqueria’ . Every day, specially employed workers read out loud to the two or three-hundred tabaqueros as they sit rolling the country’s famous cigars. From classic novels to national politics and local baseball results, for centuries this daily tradition has been an education for the workers, or chavetas. But after years of listening, they are now knowledgeable and demanding, and the readers must be at their very best if they are to keep their discerning audience interested.

MAESTRA (THE TEACHER):  33-min, documentary, directed by Catherine Murphy, 2011 In 1961 Cuba 250,000 volunteers taught 700,000 people to read and write in one year. 100,000 of the teachers were under 18 years old, over half were women.  The  Bay of Pigs invasion took place in Cuba impacting the both the women and the literacy campaign.  The young women who went out to teach literacy in the rural communities across the island found themselves deeply transformed in the process. This documentary includes present day interviews with women who volunteered to teach their country to read in 1961 along with archival footage and still photos from the 60’s.   Catherine Murphy has begun the recording of an oral history of one of contemporary Cuba’s greatest achievements.

St John Film Society Presents 'Bag it!' Tuesday, June 5

BAG IT!

Directed by Susan Beraza, 78 minutes, documentary

June 5, 2012 @ 7:30 pm / St. John School of the Arts, Cruz Bay

Bag It follows "everyman" Jeb Berrier as he tries to make sense of our dependence on plastic bags. When Jeb discovers that he and his partner are expecting a child, his plastic odyssey becomes a truly personal one. How can they protect their baby from the health dangers associated with plastics? Jeb looks beyond single-use disposable plastics and discovers that virtually everything in modern society – from baby bottles, to sports equipment, to dental sealants, to personal care products – is either made with plastic or contains potentially harmful chemical additives used in the plastic-making process.

The average American uses about 500 plastic bags each year, for about twelve minutes each. This single-use mentality has led to the formation of a floating island of plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean more than twice the size of Texas. The film explores these issues and identifies how our daily reliance on plastic threatens not only waterways and marine life, but human health, too.

Featuring interviews with scientists and experts from around the world, Bag It is a first-person documentary in the style of Michael Moore, asking how we can incorporate healthy, more environmentally friendly practices into our lives, our cultures, and our communities.

Find out more about BAG IT!, the movie here.

Editorial note from Great Expectations: This is a huge issue world-wide but on a little island such as St John this is gigantic! The importance of recycling and using our limited energy in responsible ways cannot be overstated. We encourage all of our guests to recycle and use our precious resources in a responsible way. Some of the ways we try to conserve resources and support St John's resources can be found on the 'green initiatives' page of our website. If you are going to be on St John on June 5, please set aside time to see this important film and at the same time support the St John Film Society and the St John School for the Arts.

St John Film Society Presents -- Proceed and Be Bold - March 6, 2012

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

PROCEED AND BE BOLD*

2011/2012 Films

Directed by Laura Zinger:   90 minutes, 2008, Documentary

7:30 pm / St. John School of the Arts, Cruz Bay

Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. is an internationally recognized printing press artist known for his socially and politically charged works of art.  At age 40 and unsatisfied with his comfortable, middle-class life, Amos traded in his computer for a printing press and his white collar for a pair of overalls. Armed with life, liberty, peanuts and a meager yearly income of $7,000, Amos cranked out a new, rebellious declaration of independence.

The film joins Amos in a fascinating account of his story, while examining the pretensions and provisions of the art world. The work of this self-proclaimed “Humble Negro Printer” raises emotionally-charged questions and reveals remarkable depth beneath the bold print. By learning the rules and then choosing to break them, Amos redefines what life (and letterpress printing) can be: exhilarating and revolutionary.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE FILM / ARTIST / FILMMAKER AT THESE WEBSITES: 20K FILMS, PROCEED ,  AMERICAN CRAFT, AMOS KENNEDY

JOIN DIRECTOR LAURA ZINGER  AND AMOS PAUL KENNEDY JR. FOR DISCUSSION  AFTER THE SCREENING!

Laura Zinger is the founder and owner of Chicago-based, creative content production company 20K Films. Her 2008 initiative, Proceed and Be Bold has been screened in countries around the world.  Zinger has worked for various film companies, including MGM, Pretty Pictures and MOJO, a post-production trailer house. In addition to 20K Films, Zinger works as the Web Video Producer for Milk For Thought, a new national website dedicated to connecting, empowering and supporting breastfeeding mothers.

Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. is a journeyman letterpress printer living in rural Alabama, and the thought provoking subject of the film Proceed and Be Bold!  He is a remarkable man and exciting mentor to budding art students or retiring corporate workers ready to finally take on the art form than means something to him or her.

*An On Screen/In Person program made possible by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Regional Touring Program.