Arlen here. You probably know me from this long lost opera adventure documentary. I’ve got a neat update on that project below, but first…
Tune in to watch “Blueprint for Bronzeville”
If you’re in Chicago, our local PBS station WTTW (Channel 11) is broadcasting Tristan Hanson and I’s affordable homeownership documentary Blueprint for Bronzeville. The film is about a group of ordinary citizens working to make their community a better place, against all odds. It’ll be airing this Thursday August 2nd as part of a collection of some of the best films from the Black Harvest Film Festival. The compendium starts at 10PM and ends at 11:30 – set those DVRs!
My co-director Tristan, the activists from the film, and I had a great time over the past month screening the film at some South Side and West Side Chicago Public Library branches (big thanks to Keisha Chavers at Black Harvest for setting those screenings up!).
“The Way to Andina” screens in Colombia
I was really excited when the Bogotá Music Video Festival approached me to screen our documentary about finding a long lost opera and performing it 80 years later. They showed a special Spanish subtitled version of the film and from what I hear it went great! They even did a mini-interview with me and subtitled it to promote the event. How fun.
If you’d like to watch the film yourself, it’s available on DVD and online streaming here. Even if you don’t like opera music– and I wasn’t sure if I did at the start of this musical adventure– it’s a great conversation starter about family history.
My video of the month: How to spot the worst predictions ever
In January I gave myself a silly goal of creating one video each month. Here’s my latest video: How to spot the worst predictions ever. It was fun to edit and it might be the most important video I make all year.
My earlier videos:
January: Shouldn’t we ban this type of commercial?
February: Why I changed my mind about a hot button issue
March: How to make $1 million (if you’re young)
April: What caused the Great Recession? Explained in 3 minutes
May: 5 Marketing phrases that should instantly make you skeptical
If you got something out of these videos, please share them. They’re designed to be passed around.
Lastly, One Cool ThingTM
This is the part of my newsletter where I share a neat link that you should check out.
Dancing in Movies is an amazing montage video by a fellow named Casper Langbak from Denmark. He edited together the dancing scenes from almost 300 movies (old & new) and set them to music. OH MY GOODNESS, IS IT DELIGHTFUL! If you’re anything like me, you simply will not be able to watch it without grinning like an idiot.