Lebanon, October Revolution
Arcella. Appunti per un film sulla città di domani
A documentary about Arcella, a multi-ethnic neighborhood of Padova (Italy). The voices of some of its inhabitants tell about a city that changes, that lives and struggles between the attachment to the past, challenges of the present and new visions for the future. A project realized by the participants to the workshop “Premio Città Futura”, led by Euganea Movie Movement under the supervision of the filmmakers Marco Segato, Chiara Andrich, Cecilia Bozza Wolf and Mattia Epifani.
Controvento Trekking
A video produced for Antea Franceschin, member of the Italian Association for Professional Nature and Walking Guides (AIGAE).
Boston Women’s March For America
On January 21 2017, one day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as 45th President of the USA, hundreds of Women’s March took place all over the country . 672 marches and related demonstrations were organized not only in the USA, but in the entire world. Millions of people of different gender, origin and age gathered and marched in support of the rights of women’s, LGBTQI, people with disabilities, immigrants and other vulnerable parts of society. In Boston, the Boston Women’s March for America attracted reportedly 175,000 participants, that gathered in the park Boston Common and the surrounding streets. People marched and held signs in support of equality, dignity and justice for everybody.
White light into colors
Resist Trump
A timeline of Election Night
8 November 2016. Boston, MA. From the left, BU students Juan Zapata (freshman), Chasyty Escobar (sophomore), Rose Martinez (sophomore) and Chris Reyes (sophomore) follow the Election Viewing Party organized by Boston University at the George Sherman Union. At the beginning of the night the students show with applauses and hollers their support to the Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. In the basement were the event is organized the students can follow on the screens the election coverage by the CNN, together with the live-updated projections of the New York Times. At 7.02 pm from the live-blog of the New York Times the reporter Nick Confessore writes: “In talking to voters today, our crack team of reporters around the country found a nation at the end of its rope — paranoid and distrustful. Two countries, really, hostile and disenchanted with each other.”
8 November 2016. Boston, MA. From the left, BU students Alice Bai (junior), Wezi-Anne McCarthy (junior) and Kobi Kasall (sophomore) take part to the Election Viewing Party organized by Boston University at the George Sherman Union. They are some of the organizers of the party, where the students, many of whom are internationals, follow the election night together, enjoying some free food and waiting for the results. On some posters on the wall the students write their answer to the questions “Why have you voted?” and “This election matter because…”. Somebody wrote “I voted so my family can leave in peace with less prejudice” and “I voted because I don’t want to be a slave”.
8 November 2016. Boston, MA. From the left, BU students Sara Ospina (sophomore) and Camilla Romero (junior) follow the Election Viewing Party organized by Boston University at the George Sherman Union. They react to the CNN live coverage of the election night, that has just shown another success for the Republican candidate Donald Trump. At 8.53 pm the reporter Alan Rappeport writes on the live-blogging of the New York Times: “The Upshot forecast currently gives Clinton a 74 percent chance of winning, with Trump at 26 percent. The gap has been narrowing”. At 9.23 pm he writes “our Upshot forecast now has Clinton’s chances of winning the presidency at 59 percent. That’s down from 85 percent.”
8 November 2016. Boston, MA. A BU student shows his support for the Republican candidate Donald Trump during the Election Viewing Party organized by Boston University at the George Sherman Union. By the time he enters the room where the party is organized, the polls have shown that there has been a drastic upset in the probability of winning presidency by the favorite Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. At 9.43 PM Nate Cohn, reporter of the New York Times, writes on the live-blog “Trump is now favored in our forecast”. At 10.41 Nick Confessore writes on the live-blog: “It feels like we are at a historic turning point not only for our country, but what was once called Western Civilization. In Europe and the United States, we are now seeing a high tide of populist nationalism, rallying disaffected white people who are angry and opposed to the multicultural societies these countries have been becoming.”
9 November 2016. Boston, MA. Around 1.30 AM, just a few remaining students still follow the Election Viewing Party organized by Boston University at the George Sherman Union. From the live-blog of the New York Times, the reporter Allan Rappeport at 12:18 AM writes “Dow futures had fallen more than 800 points. Stocks in Japan have also plunged”. At 2.48 AM the reporter Adam Nagourney writes “Trump is walking out on the stage. As the president-elect. No red cap. I’ll bet this is a moment he never anticipated”. At 3.05 AM he writes “And Trump White House here we come.”
Living Jewish
2 December 2016. BROOKLINE, MA. Behind a candle holder, Fran Pechenick (76) prepares some plates for the Shabbat dinner, the traditional Jewish dinner that takes place on Friday night. Shabbat is the holy day in the Jewish religion, a moment for resting, joining together with family and friends and blessing God for its gifts. Traditionally, it starts with the sundown on Friday night, and it lasts until Saturday night, when the last sunlight fades away. There is an official calendar to follow in order to know the exact time when Shabbat starts, depending on which season of the year and in which part of the world Jews live. According to a saying, when it is not possible to distinguish any more between the pupil and the iris of the eyes, the Shabbat begins. During the day of Shabbat there is an exact set of rules to abide by that tell which activities are not allowed to be performed. Traditionally, women in the family light the Shabbat candles 18 minutes before the Shabbat starts, saying some blessings and prayers over the candles. The candles have then to naturally extinguish and it is not allowed to light them anymore until the end of Shabbat. Photo by Silvia Mazzocchin
LISTEN TO: Fran, a conservative Jewish
Fran Pechenick (76) speaks with some of her guests during the Jewish Shabbat dinner that she holds occasionally at her place. Fran is a conservative Jewish, part of the confessional division of Judaism considered “the middle of the road”. The other two major confessional divisions of Judaism are orthodox Jews, that follows more strictly traditions and religious rules, and reformed, the more liberal ones. As many conservative Jewish, she follows the dietary Kosher rules. Kosher means “pure”, and the Kosher dietary law define an extremely detailed set of rules for eating, cooking and slaughtering animals. Animals must be slaughtered in accordance with these laws, and must be healthy and tamed. Some parts of the animals can not be eaten, and some food is not considered Kosher, such as for instance shellfish, pigs, hares and some insects. Moreover, meat and diary products can not be mixed. In order to prevent contamination, Jews use two different sets of plates, utensils and cutlery to cook and eat. This tradition comes from the Torah, the Jewish holy book, that commands “Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk” (Exodus 23:6). In supermarkets, in order to certify that the food is Kosher there are some specific labeled marks (the letters U, K, P inside circles) that can be found on the packages. Photo by Silvia Mazzocchin
LISTEN TO: Shabbat rituals
LISTEN TO: Kosher rules
Fran Pechenick (76), left, serves wine in the glass of Nancy, right, one of her guests during the Jewish Shabbat dinner that she holds occasionally at her place. According to the Jewish tradition, Shabbat dinner is divided in different sections, accompanied with certain specific rituals and symbols. Singing plays an important role during the entire dinner. After having gathered around the table, usually families sing together Shalom Aleichem, a song that welcomes the Sabbath angels. Before starting to eat the host serves some sweet wine to the tablemates, and together they sing the Kiddush, the blessing over wine. The blessing recalls the importance of Shabbat as a day of rest. Photo by Silvia Mazzocchin
LISTEN TO: Shabbat dinner
Fran Pechenick (76) washes her hands at the beginning of the Jewish Shabbat dinner that she holds occasionally at her place. After the initial blessing over the wine, the members of the family and the guests stand up and go to the kitchen to wash their hands with a special jug, while saying a blessing. After washing the hands, the custom is not to speak until they are back to the table and everybody eats a piece of Challah, a Jewish traditional sweet bread made with eggs. Photo by Silvia Mazzocchin
LISTEN TO: Cerimonies during Shabbat
Fran Pechenick (76) hands some pieces of Challah to her guest, during the Jewish Shabbat dinner that she holds occasionally at her place. Challah is a traditional Jewish bread. According to the ritual of the Shabbat dinner, after everybody has washed their hands and has come back to the table silently, one of the family member say a blessing to give thanks for the bread. The bread is chunked into pieces and sprinkled with salt or honey, and passed around the table. After having eaten the bread, the guests can start again to speak. Photo by Silvia Mazzocchin
LISTEN TO: Which activities are not allowed during Shabbat
Some Tefillin (Phylacteries, in English) lie on a shelf in a chapel of the Jewish Temple Emeth. The Teifillin are part of the traditional garments that Jews wear when praying during the services in the synagogue. The Torah, the Jewish holy book, says “Bind [the words that I command you today] as a sign on your arm, and they shall be ornaments between your eyes. -Deuteronomy 6:8”. For this reason, the strips are bound around the arms and on the forehead they are used to hold a small box containing four tiny handwritten scrolls of Torah passages. Binding themselves with the Teifillin means committing both their intellect and their physical strength to the fulfillment of the commandments. Photo by Silvia Mazzocchin
LISTEN TO: The story of the temple
Enrico Schwimmel reads the Torah during the Friday morning service at the Jewish Temple Emeth. The congregation started in 1947, originally as Jewish community center, over a place that was an horse farm. 400 families are now part of the congregation. Photo by Silvia Mazzocchin
LISTEN TO: Reading the Torah
2 December 2016. BROOKLINE, MA. Davin Wolowok (right) shakes the hand of Enrico Schwimmel (left) during the Friday morning service at the Jewish Temple Emeth. Enrico Shwimmel has just finished to chant some parts of the Torah. Photo by Silvia Mazzocchin
LISTEN TO: The roles of the people in the Synagogue
Davin Wolowok, prays during the Friday morning service at the Jewish Temple Emeth. Davin works part-time in the synagogue. He wears on his forehead the tefillin with some scrolls of the Torah passages. The ropes hang down on his shoulder and then are bound around his arms. On his shoulder and back he wears a four-cornered shawl called a tallit. Photo by Silvia Mazzocchin
LISTEN TO: Simbols in the synagogue
Enrico Schwimmel removes the tefillin from his arms after the end of the morning service at the Jewish Temple Emeth. Usually during the week the members of the community meet three times (on Saturdays, Wednesdays and Thursday) to read some passages of the Torah and to pray together. Photo by Silvia Mazzocchin
SOURCES
Harry Belafonte. A life for human rights
3 November 2016. Boston, MA. Harry Belafonte (89 years old), human rights activist and artist, speaks in Faneuil Hall, during the annual Najarian Lecture on Human Rights. The event is an endowed public program of the Armenian Heritage Foundation, which every year invites key figures committed to advance justice and human rights in the world. The title of the 2016 event was “Justice & Equality: Inspiring Activism”. The setting of the conference is a simbolic tribute to the women and men that in 1890s from Faneuil Hall raised awareness about the atrocities taking place against the Armenian minority of the Ottoman Empire. The movement managed to raise over $100 million of aid and could be considered one of the first international human rights movement.
3 November 2016. Boston, MA. Harry Belafonte (89 years old, centre), human rights activist and artist, sits next to Roger H. Brown (left), president of the Berklee College of Music, and his wife Pamela Frank (right), during the annual Najarian Lecture on Human Rights held by the Armenian Heritage Foundation in Faneuil Hall. Harry Belafonte was born in Harlem in 1927. He spent his childhod in Jamaica with his maternal grandmother and then returned to Harlem for his high school. He got into the world of theater and music starting from the American Negro Theatre in Harlem, joining then the New School of Social Research and starting a Dramatic Workshop with classmates like Marlon Brando and Tony Curtis.
3 November 2016. Boston, MA. Harry Belafonte (89 years old), human rights activist and artist, talks about his life during the annual Najarian Lecture on Human Rights held in Faneuil Hall by the Armenian Heritage Foundation. During his life he has committed himself to raising awareness of human rights and societal equality all over the world. He joined Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the early ’50s and embraced the civil rights movement with him.
3 November 2016. Boston, MA. The audience stands up and applaudes after the speech of Harry Belafonte (89 years old), human rights activist and artist. He is the special guest of the annual Najarian Lecture Human Rights held in Faneuil Hall by the Armenian Heritage Foundation. Harry Belafonte is well-known and respected not only for his contribution to the civil rights movement, but also for his worldwide efforts to raise awareness about human rights. In 1985 helped to organize the song “We are the World”, a multi-artist creation, in order to raise funds for Africa.
3 November 2016. Boston, MA. Harry Belafonte (89 years old), human rights activist and artist, leaves Faneuil Hall after his speech for the annual Najarian Lecture on Human Rights held by the Armenian Heritage Foundation. During his life he has served as cultural advisor for the Peace Corps andUNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He was honored as Ambassador of Conscience by Amnesty International, and received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Despite his age, he has recently started Sankofa, a non-profit organization that unites the power of culture and celebrity with activism.