Mission Asset Fund - 2014 Community Leadership Awards

In this fun and educational piece, animal experts talk about the real creatures that inspired the characters of Rango and the filmmakers explain why they chose specific animals to reflect certain personality traits.

Les Champs de la colère

At Ella Hill Hutch Community Center in the Fillmore, magic is happening. Throughout the 2024 school year, Magic Zone students in Citizen Film's filmmaking and media production class collaborated in painting murals that represent their community, cultivating a beautiful garden, learning how to cook nutritious meals and documenting community stories through still photography, video and graphic design.

Presence narrates the journey of Thati, a woman determined to overcome her anxiety attacks through surfing. She finds refuge in the waves, where the surfboard becomes her ally and personal therapy.

With an off beat sense of humour, the film looks at the politics and glamour of lipstick and the dilemmas of the modern woman in a marketed world.

Through one woman's experience as an adopted person and also as a mother who relinquished her child in 1971, this documentary highlights the many complex issues associated with adoption.

After Coal profiles inspiring individuals who are building a new future in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky and South Wales. Meet ex-miners using theater to rebuild community infrastructure, women transforming a former coal board office into an education hub, and young people striving to stay in their home communities. The stories of coalfield residents who must abandon traditional livelihoods illustrate the front lines of the transition away from fossil fuels.

A panorama of Brazilian popular music from the 60s and 70s through the musical group Novos Baianos. A retrospective of the community lifestyle adopted by its members and the influence inherited from singer João Gilberto.

Guaranteed in Gary follows an income gift experiment in Gary, Indiana, designed to help create pathways to lift local residents out of poverty and to prove that poverty is a lack of cash, not a lack of character.

Chocolate of Peace depicts the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó's experiences of resistance, via a journey through their processes of organic chocolate production. From the seed to the product, the cacao is the narrative thread that takes us through the Community's stories of violence and resilience, and their fight to remain neutral in the face of the Colombian armed conflict. This film offers a panorama of hope, proof that despite great difficulties it is possible to sow peace through human and economic relationships. It invites us to rethink our relationship with food, to value the efforts of those who produce it, and to build bridges between the victims of the armed conflict and other sectors of global civil society.

This a fun behind-the-scenes featurette that looks back on the creation and continuing popularity of the show. Several members of the crew discuss the production's early difficulties, finding the series' tone, the growing fandom, and the show's unique appeal to all ages.

A documentary behind the scenes of Peter Bogdanovich's 'The Cat's Meow' (2001).

Featuring Interviews with Noel Cunningham, Sean S. Cunningham, Kane Hodder and Todd Farmer. Discussions include writing and pre-production, the influence of Scream's success on the film, early concepts for the film, settling on outer space, plot and setting details, shooting 3-perf film, visual effects, ditched concepts, über Jason, audience reaction, and more.

Short-documentary about the squat at Amandastraße 73 in Hamburg.

COINTELPRO 101 exposes illegal surveillance, disruption, and outright murder committed by the US government in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. “COINTELPRO” refers to the official FBI COunter INTELigence PROgram carried out to surveil, imprison, and eliminate leaders of social justice movements and to disrupt, divide, and destroy the movements as well. Many of the government's crimes are still unknown. Through interviews with activists who experienced these abuses first-hand, with rare historical footage, the film provides an educational introduction to a period of intense repression and draws relevant lessons for the present and future.

A look at the unusual process used in the making of the film Shortbus (2006) featuring interviews, behind the scenes footage and clips from the feature film. Director John Cameron Mitchell starts with the concept of using real sex in a film with a positive message. The cast of unknowns is selected from homemade audition tapes and then a callback audition workshop. More acting workshops are used to develop the characters and script. The project overcomes a number of obstacles and the rest of the film's development is followed up until its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

The cast and crew talk about the core themes of the film and the seeds of the film.

The Richardson Olmsted Campus, a former psychiatric center and National Historic Landmark, is seeing new life as it undergoes restoration and adaptation to a modern use.

Short documentary about the making of the 1938 film "Jezebel."

John Milius narrates this featurette on the Clint Eastwood classic.