This is one of the most amazing festival stories I have heard yet. I met my friend Mitch Block (known to all industryites who care about documentaries and himself, worth a separate blog) on the circuit, and he introduced me to Keri Kukral and told me the two of them were organizing a science film festival at Cal Tech and Fox Studios to be held this December 6-8. They already have a VOD platform, website (www.rawscience.tv), YouTube channel, and are now selling tickets to the festival .
I am very partial to science and particularly to women in science because my family roots in science include the recent graduation of my niece from Stanford with her Master’s Degree in evolutionary biology.
Up to now, the only media-oriented science initiative I knew of was The Sloan Foundation which encourages science in media and in tandem, encourages women in science and media. On the festival front, there exist only a handful of science film festivals including Goethe Institute’s 10 year old Science Film Festival in October which showed 78 films from 27 countries from Se Asia, No. Africa and the Middle East; St. Petersburg’s International Science Film Festival World of Knowledge which began in 2006; the seven year old Imagine Science Film Festival in October featuring 89 films (5 features) from 20 countries which counts 35 women directors, Scinema in Australia since 2001, Jackson Hole Wildlife Ff, Pariscience Ff and a very few others .
Now we can add Raw Science TV and Raw Science Film Festival to be held for the first time ever at Cal Tech’s Beckman Auditorium with an awards ceremony at Fox Studios. Of course, Cal Tech is pushing this festival to its student body, but the public is cordially invited as well. Up to $40,000 in prizes will be awarded for science and technology videos and films.
Raw Science is a new online network that produces and distributes on-demand videos, news and original programming about science and technology. The festival is a collaboration with the Science and Entertainment Exchange of the National Academy of Sciences, the Caltech to present the first annual Raw Science Film Festival.
Award winners and runners-up will be screened at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium on December 6, 2014 and the Awards Ceremony will be held in the Zanuck Theater at 20th Century Fox Studios on December 8, 2014.
Organized within a year’s time, this festival is aimed at a broad public and celebrates filmmakers inspired by science.
“We wanted to create a film festival that significantly supported filmmakers who share the wonderful world of science and technology through exceptional film and video content,” explained Mitchell Block, Executive Director of Programming for Raw Science. “Our goal is to find, present, award and promote the youngest generation of student filmmakers all the way to the seasoned professional filmmaker, and in any style of film imaginable, be it narrative, documentary short, feature.”
We know sci-fi has a broad appeal, so let’s start there and later discover who this amazing woman, Keri Kukral, is and how she ventured into mostly unoccupied space.
The festival will screen the finalists for the eight awards offered in the categories of Less Than Ten Minutes and More Than Ten Minutes by students and by professionals to show on campus at its 1,100 seat theater. 20th Century Fox’s 400 seat Zanuck Theater will host the Awards Ceremony which will screen the winners. There will also be special theatrical feature and doc awards presented.
The call for submissions went out through the campus and through various film groups like Ifp. Mitch Block, who is the director of programming, made the first selection which will be judged. The Raw Science Film Festival Jury includes Academy Award ™ winning & nominated filmmakers Luke Matheny (Best Short Film, “God of Love”), Randal Kleiser (“Grease” and “Honey I Blew up the Kid”), Martha Coolidge (“Real Genius” and “The Twilight Zone” TV Series) and John Singleton (“Boyz n the Hood” and “Tupac”), and Iram Parveen Bilal (“Josh”).
Now, let’s return to who is Keri Kukral:
As former professional ballet dancer and engineer, Keri Kukral has a deep appreciation for the merging of creative and technical fields. She was chosen to train on full scholarship by Ruth Page at 10 years old. She performed under the direction of Larry Long and the Chicago Tribune Charities, New York City Ballet dancer Bryan Pitts with Ballet Oklahoma, and as an apprentice at Joffrey Ballet. After retiring from ballet, Keri attended Purdue University where she received a degree in biomedical/electrical engineering. She spent over a decade developing medical devices including the “The Navigator,” one of the first devices approved to monitor blood glucose real-time continuously with wireless data transfer. Keri also managed R&D for products including the “Apollo" micro catheter for use in treating brain Avms.
Keri has always loved science media.
For the decade while she was working in engineering, she would finance special trips to interview people she cared about. “I first started jumping into science media by documenting a group of radio astronomers led by Bob Dixon in Ohio with an organization called Naapo. That eventually led to many others including Stephen Hawking; Michio Kaku of string theory fame; and Nikolai Kardashev (deputy director of the Russian Space Research Institute).
She would bring with her Donald Goldsmith, Raw Science’s science editor who cowrote “Origins” with Neil deGrasse Tyson and whose college advisor was Carl Sagan, and the cinematographer Paul Goldsmith (no relation) whose Nyu Film School’s classmate was Mitch Block and who introduced the two. It was Mitch who suggested the film festival.
She was aware that the audience for science was quickly leaving TV and migrating to the internet. It began to be clear to her that one could make a legitimate network on the internet, and so she moved from her hobby to her new entrepreneurial endeavor by winning a pitch contest held by Cal Tech and Idealab. They seed-funded the medical start-up where she was currently working.
The newly created VoD platform has just licensed its first film, “Particle Fever”, a feature film that took 12 years to make about the discovery of the Higgs Boson, popularly known as “The God Particle”. Netflix and Raw Science share this film and there are more in the pipeline.
Raw Science video-on-demand: Particle Fever
http://www.rawscience.tv/particle-fever-2/
VoD revenues will contribute to the creation of independent science content straight from the thinkers, unbiased and unfiltered. So, dear reader, why buy off of Netflix when buying from RawScience.tv will help support this most worthy endeavor?
Festival :
http://www.rawscience.tv/get-your-tickets-to-the-raw-science-film-festival-and-awards-ceremony-featuring-martha-coolidge-and-john-singleton/
Press on the Channel :
12/09/2013: http://www.cynopsis.com/12913-2/
12/12/2013: http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml
12/18/2014: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/nasas-original-lunar-images-are-housed-in-a-former-mcdonalds/282471/
03/23/2014: http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/Raw-Science-Bringing-Science-Education-to-the-Streaming-World-95466.aspx
09/08/2014: http://blogs.indiewire.com/sydneylevine/raw-science-film-festival-dec-6-7-2014-40-000-in-prizes-20140908
09/29/2014: http://www.ufva.org/news/195406/Raw-science-tv-film-festival-Offers-20000-in-Prizes-for-Student-Films.htm
10/08/2014: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/raw-science-launches-multimedia-network-180500253.html
10/09/2014: http://www.socaltech.com/raw_science_takes_on_science_tech_video/s-0057316.html
10/10/2014: http://www.labusinessjournal.com/news/2014/oct/10/la-launch-list-oct-10/...
I am very partial to science and particularly to women in science because my family roots in science include the recent graduation of my niece from Stanford with her Master’s Degree in evolutionary biology.
Up to now, the only media-oriented science initiative I knew of was The Sloan Foundation which encourages science in media and in tandem, encourages women in science and media. On the festival front, there exist only a handful of science film festivals including Goethe Institute’s 10 year old Science Film Festival in October which showed 78 films from 27 countries from Se Asia, No. Africa and the Middle East; St. Petersburg’s International Science Film Festival World of Knowledge which began in 2006; the seven year old Imagine Science Film Festival in October featuring 89 films (5 features) from 20 countries which counts 35 women directors, Scinema in Australia since 2001, Jackson Hole Wildlife Ff, Pariscience Ff and a very few others .
Now we can add Raw Science TV and Raw Science Film Festival to be held for the first time ever at Cal Tech’s Beckman Auditorium with an awards ceremony at Fox Studios. Of course, Cal Tech is pushing this festival to its student body, but the public is cordially invited as well. Up to $40,000 in prizes will be awarded for science and technology videos and films.
Raw Science is a new online network that produces and distributes on-demand videos, news and original programming about science and technology. The festival is a collaboration with the Science and Entertainment Exchange of the National Academy of Sciences, the Caltech to present the first annual Raw Science Film Festival.
Award winners and runners-up will be screened at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium on December 6, 2014 and the Awards Ceremony will be held in the Zanuck Theater at 20th Century Fox Studios on December 8, 2014.
Organized within a year’s time, this festival is aimed at a broad public and celebrates filmmakers inspired by science.
“We wanted to create a film festival that significantly supported filmmakers who share the wonderful world of science and technology through exceptional film and video content,” explained Mitchell Block, Executive Director of Programming for Raw Science. “Our goal is to find, present, award and promote the youngest generation of student filmmakers all the way to the seasoned professional filmmaker, and in any style of film imaginable, be it narrative, documentary short, feature.”
We know sci-fi has a broad appeal, so let’s start there and later discover who this amazing woman, Keri Kukral, is and how she ventured into mostly unoccupied space.
The festival will screen the finalists for the eight awards offered in the categories of Less Than Ten Minutes and More Than Ten Minutes by students and by professionals to show on campus at its 1,100 seat theater. 20th Century Fox’s 400 seat Zanuck Theater will host the Awards Ceremony which will screen the winners. There will also be special theatrical feature and doc awards presented.
The call for submissions went out through the campus and through various film groups like Ifp. Mitch Block, who is the director of programming, made the first selection which will be judged. The Raw Science Film Festival Jury includes Academy Award ™ winning & nominated filmmakers Luke Matheny (Best Short Film, “God of Love”), Randal Kleiser (“Grease” and “Honey I Blew up the Kid”), Martha Coolidge (“Real Genius” and “The Twilight Zone” TV Series) and John Singleton (“Boyz n the Hood” and “Tupac”), and Iram Parveen Bilal (“Josh”).
Now, let’s return to who is Keri Kukral:
As former professional ballet dancer and engineer, Keri Kukral has a deep appreciation for the merging of creative and technical fields. She was chosen to train on full scholarship by Ruth Page at 10 years old. She performed under the direction of Larry Long and the Chicago Tribune Charities, New York City Ballet dancer Bryan Pitts with Ballet Oklahoma, and as an apprentice at Joffrey Ballet. After retiring from ballet, Keri attended Purdue University where she received a degree in biomedical/electrical engineering. She spent over a decade developing medical devices including the “The Navigator,” one of the first devices approved to monitor blood glucose real-time continuously with wireless data transfer. Keri also managed R&D for products including the “Apollo" micro catheter for use in treating brain Avms.
Keri has always loved science media.
For the decade while she was working in engineering, she would finance special trips to interview people she cared about. “I first started jumping into science media by documenting a group of radio astronomers led by Bob Dixon in Ohio with an organization called Naapo. That eventually led to many others including Stephen Hawking; Michio Kaku of string theory fame; and Nikolai Kardashev (deputy director of the Russian Space Research Institute).
She would bring with her Donald Goldsmith, Raw Science’s science editor who cowrote “Origins” with Neil deGrasse Tyson and whose college advisor was Carl Sagan, and the cinematographer Paul Goldsmith (no relation) whose Nyu Film School’s classmate was Mitch Block and who introduced the two. It was Mitch who suggested the film festival.
She was aware that the audience for science was quickly leaving TV and migrating to the internet. It began to be clear to her that one could make a legitimate network on the internet, and so she moved from her hobby to her new entrepreneurial endeavor by winning a pitch contest held by Cal Tech and Idealab. They seed-funded the medical start-up where she was currently working.
The newly created VoD platform has just licensed its first film, “Particle Fever”, a feature film that took 12 years to make about the discovery of the Higgs Boson, popularly known as “The God Particle”. Netflix and Raw Science share this film and there are more in the pipeline.
Raw Science video-on-demand: Particle Fever
http://www.rawscience.tv/particle-fever-2/
VoD revenues will contribute to the creation of independent science content straight from the thinkers, unbiased and unfiltered. So, dear reader, why buy off of Netflix when buying from RawScience.tv will help support this most worthy endeavor?
Festival :
http://www.rawscience.tv/get-your-tickets-to-the-raw-science-film-festival-and-awards-ceremony-featuring-martha-coolidge-and-john-singleton/
Press on the Channel :
12/09/2013: http://www.cynopsis.com/12913-2/
12/12/2013: http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml
12/18/2014: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/nasas-original-lunar-images-are-housed-in-a-former-mcdonalds/282471/
03/23/2014: http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/Raw-Science-Bringing-Science-Education-to-the-Streaming-World-95466.aspx
09/08/2014: http://blogs.indiewire.com/sydneylevine/raw-science-film-festival-dec-6-7-2014-40-000-in-prizes-20140908
09/29/2014: http://www.ufva.org/news/195406/Raw-science-tv-film-festival-Offers-20000-in-Prizes-for-Student-Films.htm
10/08/2014: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/raw-science-launches-multimedia-network-180500253.html
10/09/2014: http://www.socaltech.com/raw_science_takes_on_science_tech_video/s-0057316.html
10/10/2014: http://www.labusinessjournal.com/news/2014/oct/10/la-launch-list-oct-10/...
- 12/1/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The 1974 Zaire concert became a powerful documentary: its producers recall three magical days
Stewart Levine, festival promoter
I had been making records with Hugh Masekela since the early 1960s. We'd got this African-American hybrid going, and were always looking for ways to get more western exposure to African music: it really was the dark ages in awareness terms. When I saw George Foreman was fighting Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight boxing title in Zaire in 1974, my mind went boom: let's do a music festival and a film.
Hugh and I weren't just into soul, and we cast our net wide. We had the Fania All-Stars with Celia Cruz, and Miriam Makeba, as well as Bb King, James Brown, Bill Withers and the Spinners. The Spinners' manager was this funny little cat out of Philadelphia, a real sweetheart, and he said to me: "I've three girls who are gonna be great.
Stewart Levine, festival promoter
I had been making records with Hugh Masekela since the early 1960s. We'd got this African-American hybrid going, and were always looking for ways to get more western exposure to African music: it really was the dark ages in awareness terms. When I saw George Foreman was fighting Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight boxing title in Zaire in 1974, my mind went boom: let's do a music festival and a film.
Hugh and I weren't just into soul, and we cast our net wide. We had the Fania All-Stars with Celia Cruz, and Miriam Makeba, as well as Bb King, James Brown, Bill Withers and the Spinners. The Spinners' manager was this funny little cat out of Philadelphia, a real sweetheart, and he said to me: "I've three girls who are gonna be great.
- 9/3/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
Chicago – What can you say about a documentary that lands in theaters thirty-five years too late? “Soul Power” consists of footage from the historic three-night music festival in Zaire, meant to coincide with the heavily hyped “Rumble in the Jungle” between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The events took place in 1974, and were filmed in order to spread African culture to the masses.
Footage from the epic match was assembled into 1996’s Oscar-winning documentary, “When We Were Kings,” which was a vital historical record that didn’t devote enough of its screen time to the actual fight. “Kings” editor Jeffrey Levy-Hinte took the directorial reigns of “Soul Power,” another vital historical record that doesn’t devote enough screen time to its central subject: the actual concert. But the music it does include is so good that it makes the film essential viewing regardless of its shortcomings.
Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0
To his credit,...
Footage from the epic match was assembled into 1996’s Oscar-winning documentary, “When We Were Kings,” which was a vital historical record that didn’t devote enough of its screen time to the actual fight. “Kings” editor Jeffrey Levy-Hinte took the directorial reigns of “Soul Power,” another vital historical record that doesn’t devote enough screen time to its central subject: the actual concert. But the music it does include is so good that it makes the film essential viewing regardless of its shortcomings.
Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0
To his credit,...
- 1/29/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Release Date: July 10
Director: Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
Cinematographer: Paul Goldsmith, Kevin Keating, Albert Maysles, Roderick Young
Studio/Run Time: Sony Pictures Classics, 93 mins.
An enjoyable companion to When We Were Kings
In 1996, Leon Gast’s documentary When We Were Kings vividly retold the famous story of the Ali/Foreman fight in Kinshasa, Zaire, but as you might expect of a boxing match promoted by Don King in the mid ’70s, there was entirely too much spectacle to fit into one film. The fight was a rematch with a historic outcome, a bout legendary enough to relegate the three-day, 12-hour concert that preceded it to a mere footnote in the history books.
Director: Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
Cinematographer: Paul Goldsmith, Kevin Keating, Albert Maysles, Roderick Young
Studio/Run Time: Sony Pictures Classics, 93 mins.
An enjoyable companion to When We Were Kings
In 1996, Leon Gast’s documentary When We Were Kings vividly retold the famous story of the Ali/Foreman fight in Kinshasa, Zaire, but as you might expect of a boxing match promoted by Don King in the mid ’70s, there was entirely too much spectacle to fit into one film. The fight was a rematch with a historic outcome, a bout legendary enough to relegate the three-day, 12-hour concert that preceded it to a mere footnote in the history books.
- 7/10/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
Soul power premiers at is released theatrically in the UK on the 10th July 209 Glastonbury festival 2:30am Friday (Saterday morning)
"In 1974, the most celebrated American R&B acts of the time came together with the most renowned musical groups in Southern Africa for a 12-hour, three-night long concert held in Kinshasa, Zaire. The pipe dream of musician Hugh Masekela and producer Stewart Levine, this music festival became a reality when they convinced boxing promoter Don King to combine the event with “The Rumble in the Jungle,” the epic fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, previously chronicled in the Academy Award winning documentary “When We Were Kings.”
Soul Power is a verité documentary, entirely composed of footage shot in 1974 at the legendary music festival (dubbed “Zaire ’74”). It shows the experiences and performances of such musical luminaries as James Brown, Bb King, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz, Miriam Makeba, among a host of others.
"In 1974, the most celebrated American R&B acts of the time came together with the most renowned musical groups in Southern Africa for a 12-hour, three-night long concert held in Kinshasa, Zaire. The pipe dream of musician Hugh Masekela and producer Stewart Levine, this music festival became a reality when they convinced boxing promoter Don King to combine the event with “The Rumble in the Jungle,” the epic fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, previously chronicled in the Academy Award winning documentary “When We Were Kings.”
Soul Power is a verité documentary, entirely composed of footage shot in 1974 at the legendary music festival (dubbed “Zaire ’74”). It shows the experiences and performances of such musical luminaries as James Brown, Bb King, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz, Miriam Makeba, among a host of others.
- 6/17/2009
- by Leigh
- Latemag.com/film
See plenty images as well as the trailer in high definition for Sony Pictures Classics "Soul Power" documentary. Experienced producer Jeffrey Levy-Hinte makes his directorial debut on the project which includes James Brown, Muhamad Ali, B.B. King, Celia Cruz, Don King and Miriam Makeba. The film is slated for a July 10th release in limited areas. See the trailer| See more images in the gallery What's "Soul Power" about? In 1974, the most celebrated American R&B acts of the time came together with the most renowned musical groups in Africa for a 12-hour, three-night long concert held in Kinshasa, Zaire. The dream-child of Hugh Masekela and Stewart Levine, this music festival became a reality when they convinced boxing promoter Don King to combine the event with “The Rumble in the Jungle,” the epic fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, previously chronicled in the Academy Award-winning documentary When We Were Kings.
- 4/29/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
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