St John Film Presents: One Lucky Elephant

St. John Film presents a very special film about man and his best friend, you won't want to miss!

TUESDAY, May 6, 2014

 St John School of the Arts

Cruz Bay - 7:30 pm

ONE LUCKY ELEPHANT

Lisa Leeman, Director and Co-Writer

Ten years in the making,

ONE LUCKY ELEPHANT

follows the poignant journey of circus producer David Balding as he tries to find a nurturing and permanent home for Flora, the 18-year-old African elephant that he rescued as an infant, raised as his “daughter” and made the star of his circus. David’s love for Flora is put to the ultimate test when he realizes he made a terrible mistake keeping her as a solo elephant, and decides to retire her from the circus after 17 years of performing.

Knowing Flora will outlive him, and with his health and finances becoming an issue, David sets off on a quest to find a home for Flora can live freely with other elephants. This complicated task begins with Flora’s final circus performance in St. Louis and takes us on an emotional trek across America, then to Africa and back.

We follow David’s journey as he discovers just how difficult it is to find a proper home for an elephant in a world that reveres these animals for their majesty yet slaughters them for their ivory, adores them as cuddly Dumbos yet brands them “rampaging creatures”.

ONE LUCKY ELEPHANT

raises critical issues about the well-being and future of the hundreds of thousands of endangered and exotic animals kept in captivity, the over development and destruction of their natural habitats, our intense and often damaging relationship with wild animals, and how all these issues have impacted the life of one very lucky elephant.

      Come early to help set up the chairs! Thanks in advance!

Visit the

St John Film

website to find a list of recommended independent films that they purchased for the Elaine Sprauve Public Library on St. John.

SAVE THE DATE:

Last film of the spring season

June 3, 2014

:  BLACKFISH

St John Film - and Filmmaker - Presents Original Film Yurumein: Homeland

St John Film Society

presents and original film tonight! TUESDAY, April 1, 2014

St John School of the Arts

Cruz Bay - 7:30 pm

Yurumein: Homeland

 2014 Documentary / 50-minutes

What happens when a dislocated people begin to reckon with a past laden with trauma and repression?  YURUMEIN follows this journey as members of the Black Carib / Garifuna Diaspora attempt to rekindle a disappeared culture and revitalize its language, dance and music. The film reveals signs of resilience as local Vincentians (some with Carib ancestry, some without) come together to honor their ancestors and celebrate their Garifuna past, and in doing so, begin the journey of healing, rebuilding, and preserving the homeland.  YURUMEIN is a post-colonial story of re-identification and cultural retrieval among the indigenous Caribs in the Caribbean.

Andrea Leland

is an independent filmmaker and artist who calls St John home. She has produced and directed award winning documentaries focusing on Caribbean and Latin American cultures. In Haiti, Belize, Chiapas, and several Caribbean islands, she works collaboratively with community members providing a forum to voice their untold stories, personal challenges and compelling triumphs. Social, artistic or political actions are placed within context of their culture, imploring the viewer to confront old myths and discover a new perspective. These documentaries are successful tools for cultural preservation.

The April 1st screening will also include two short films directed by St John residents:

Janet Cook-Rutnik & Bill Setlzer

OTHER UPCOMING ST JOHN FIMS: 

May 6, 2014: ONE LUCKY ELEPHANT

June 3, 2014:  BLACKFISH

St John is all about wonderful Art; don't miss this week's Opening Reception featuring Caribbean - Japanese Fusion in Art Exteriors and More!

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 Presents: Rican-ing of White Boy

St John is a fabulous jewel in the middle of the Caribbean.  Most every St John lover knows that factoid. However, what many are just learning is what a vibrant artist community we have on this island in the sea.

One of our wonderful resources is the

St John Film Society

 whose mission is to: 

inspire a positive appreciation for the history, culture and environment of our US Virgin Islands by establishing a free monthly film series open to and for the benefit of our local community. We will present independent films that celebrate the human spirit with a focus on the Caribbean.

Showing at St John School of the Arts

Cruz Bay, St John

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

7:30 PM

Jeff Rodriguez: Visiting Cinematographer will be in the house!

What happens when a 47  year old paternally adopted Schmuck from Queens, NY, sets out for the first time to meet his long lost Puerto Rican family, after being raised by a tribe of white people?  Actor/writer, Paul Louis (Gonzalez) comically documents his journey, with no short supply of anxiety, culture  shock, religious jokes, and a surprisingly touching lessened learned on family, and the bond which connects us.

“The Rican-ing of White Boy” won the Audience Choice Award at the 2013 Rincon International Film Festival – thanks in no small part to cinematographer and supporting actor, Jeff Rodriguez.  Jeff is part of the dynamic duo behind the production of the award-winning comic documentary shot on location in Rincon, Puerto Rico.  Jeff also lent his effortless comedic persona to the film as he made his screen acting debut and played comic sidekick to the film’s star and director, Paul Louis.

SAVE THE DATES: 

March 4, 2014: LAS CARPETAS, Director, Maite Rivera Carbonell will be present for the Cruz Bay screening.

April 1, 2014: YURUMEIN: HOMELAND, Documentary Director and St John Film Director, ANDREA LELAND will present her most current work

May 6, 2014: ONE LUCKY ELEPHANT

MOVIE ANNOUNCEMENT: St John Art's Festival 2014

Chasing Ice

Gifft Hill School

Tues Feb 18, 2014 at 7:30pm

Free Admission

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.

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 'Milking the Rhino' April 3, 2012

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

2011/2012 Films

MILKING THE RHINO*

Directed by David E. Simpson: 85 minutes, 2008, Documentary

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

Milking the Rhino examines Africa’s deepening conflict between humans and animals in an ever-shrinking world. It is the first major documentary to explore wildlife conservation from the perspective of people who live with wild animals. Shot in some of the world’s most magnificent locales, the film offers complex, intimate portraits of rural Africans at the forefront of community-based conservation: a revolution that is turning poachers into preservationists and local people into the stewards of their land. With memorable characters and spectacular locations, this film tells intimate, hopeful and heartbreaking stories of people from Kenya and Namibia.

MEET DIRECTOR DAVID SIMPSON FOR DISCUSSION AFTER THE SCREENING!

David E. Simpson is a producer, director and editor who has crafted award-winning documentaries for over 25 years. His pioneering film about disability culture, When Billy Broke His Head, garnered dozens of major awards including a jury prize at Sundance and a duPont-Columbia Baton for journalistic excellence. David directed Refrigerator Mothers, about the mothers of autistic children, which won top honors at many festivals and aired on public television’s POV. Milking the Rhino aired on PBS’Independent Lens and screened at over five dozen film festivals on six continents.

*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.

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.

Catch a bit of theater on St John - January 27 - Broadway comes to St John (again)!

St John School for the Arts (SJSA) is sponsoring, for the second year in a row, a musical production (under the rubric 'Broadway comes to St John'.  If this year's production entitled, World of Dreams, is anything like last year's production the audience will be in for a true treat!  Fourth graders from Guy Benjamin, Gifft Hill, and Julius Sprauve Schools will be featured.  NYC theater professionals - singers, dancers and choreographers -  work with the young students for several weeks prior to the production which should prove a special experience for both groups.  This production is one of SJSA's fundraiser's so there is a part for you to play as well!  SJSA will sell tickets for the first show for $200 each.  This will include a champagne reception and dinner at one of St John's wonderful restaurants (e.g. Fatty Crabs, Lime Inn, or our personal favorite LaTapa and several others).  The second show, at 8 PM, is free and open to all, although contributions will be gladly accepted!  Call the SJSA (340 779-4322) for more info. Get your tickets early, you and the kids of St John will be the better for it.

St John School of the Arts Auction

If you love St John and you love the Arts then this on-line auction is for you!

Diamond & Emerald Ring with starting bid of $4,800

Just over 30 years ago through the insight, love, and pure hard work of several people who loved St John, the Arts, and children the St John School of the Arts (SJSA) was formed. For the next 30 years there would be one constant -- Ruth "Sis" Frank. It was "Sis" who served as the very first manager for St John's steel band, a group of 28 young St Johnians who travelled to the Rose Bowl, Disneyland, and Europe, that served as the conception for the St John School of the Arts. "Sis' served as the School's Executive Director for 25 years and during her tenure the School became a force on the island. Today, the School has its own building which hosts such programs as dance, musical theatre, photography, piano, to name a few. Over 500 students annually are enrolled in the School's programs. SJSA's encourages self-expression and self-esteem to help foster a sense of accomplishment, providing a firm foundation in life.

18k Enameled Roost Brooch (this could be a St Johnian rooster!)

Scholarships and financial assistance for its students are essential. This on-line auction will fund scholarships and programs for the school so bid often, big high, and know that you are doing good! Items start at $30 - $5,000 so there is definitely an item (or more) for your holiday gift list.

Sterling Brooch of Sea Birds starts at just $30

The on-line auction runs through November 24 (2011) so don't delay. If you are on St John the evening of November 25 join the festivities at Mongoose Junction's 'Evening in the Courtyard' for the actual live silent auction.