A Documentary Film of the Godfather of Disco Streams for One Night Only

May 23, 2023 | Business

 Writer and Director Alberto Moreira’s debut feature documentary film, “Heavy Vibes – The Vince Montana Retrospect,” explores Vincent’s rise in the jazz and r&b world as a vibraharpist, learning from the best of the era in Philadelphia and Las Vegas. With experienced gained with Philly-based MFSB, he charts a new course to make a mark for himself in New York City; that catapults him to the fledgling genre of dance music, disco, with the creation of the Salsoul Orchestra with the newly rebranding of Salsoul Records. His musical legacy, as impressive as it is; Vincent still needs to fight for his share of recognition and fortune or risks fading in obscurity.

Heavy Vibes is told by archive footage, pictures, interviews, and music with those who knew him then and in his later years by recording artists, record execs, club dee jays and his fans as well. One special guest shared her insights about working with Vincent in various iconic songs (Merry Christmas All – Salsoul Records 1976, # 1 Dee Jay – Atlantic Records 1979), daughter and platinum recording artist Denise Montana. “He was always rising… the music had to come out,” explains Denise on camera. “He lived and breathed music!”

“It’s special having Denise be part of this film, she brings an intimacy to the film, you see how much respect and admiration she has for her father,” Alberto says. “I felt that Vincent’s story had to be told, his music is Americana, from the jazz musicians he learned and played with in the 40s, to working with the up-and-coming music producers in the mid-90s and everyone and everything in between! This man deserves the recognition. I’m sure if I put a popular R&B or classic disco track of the era, most people would know it but are not aware his musical DNA is in it!”

With classic dance hits like “Salsoul Hustle” – Salsoul Records 1975, “Tangerine” – Salsoul Records 1975, “More” – Salsoul Records with Vocalist Carol Williams 1976, “Dance a Little Bit Closer” – Salsoul Records with Vocalist Charo 1977, “Runaway” – Salsoul Records with Vocalist Loleatta Holloway 1977, “Magic Bird of Fire” – Salsoul Records 1977, “Heavy Vibes” – Philly Sound Works 1982, and more, Vincent Montana’s body of work speaks for itself.

Heavy Vibes was chosen as an official selection of the 37th annual Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and debuted on November 10, 2022 as well as at the Saint Augustine Film Festival on January 15, 2023. When asked why the decision to live stream with Eventive, Alberto explained, “In November, we had a small hurricane off the coast of Florida and that spooked a lot of people. We want to give folks the chance to see the film in the comfort of their home, from anywhere in the world if you have internet and a laptop and with Eventive, they have a great reputation in achieving this. We knew we can count on them to deliver a cool and fun experience streaming our film.”

When asked what are the plans moving forward with the film’s exhibition, Alberto replied, “Heavy Vibes is a special film that covers the trajectory of popular and dance music in the U. S. with a pioneer of the disco sound out in front. That’s why we want to make it the event it deserves on the 9th of June with a Q&A afterwards. For all the classic disco fans and hustle dancers as well of those who appreciate the history of dance music, they do not want to miss this live stream. Great music, by great artists, at a time when you can go to a discotheque and for a few hours forget the problems of the world!”

Heavy Vibes – The Vince Montana Retrospect will stream for one night only on Eventive.org, June 9, 2023 at 730pm EDT. Q&A afterwards.

For ticket information – Click Here: Tickets

Heavy Vibes The Film LLC
Alberto Moreira
954-605-3383
www.heavyvibesthevincemontanaretrospect.com/

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Documentary Showcase Journeys with Chocolatiers on Chocolate Road

May 16, 2023 | Business

 Scientology Network’s Documentary Showcase, the weekly series providing a platform for Independent filmmakers to air films on important social, cultural and environmental issues, presents the documentary Chocolate Road.

Documentary Showcase airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Scientology Network.

Chocolate Road follows three chocolate artisans in pursuit of the highest quality cacao beans for the burgeoning craft chocolate market. Their quest takes them to the hot and humid cacao growing regions of the world, where their cooperation with cacao farmers has a transformative and empowering effect on the communities.

Directed by Tanya Chuturkova, the feature-length documentary shifts locales seamlessly between high-street chocolate shops run by esteemed, award-winning chocolatiers to the cacao plantations of South and Central America run by generations of anonymous farmers and producers. The growing demand for craft chocolate creates a symbiotic relationship between the chocolate artisans hoping to create next-level chocolate experiences and cacao producers hoping to make inroads to earning livable wages from their labors and expertise.

About Tanya Chuturkova

Originally from Sofia, Bulgaria, and now based in New York, Tanya Chuturkova is a director and creative producer with many film and television credits. She wrote, produced and directed six short films before embarking on Chocolate Road, her debut feature documentary. Additionally, her television work as an editor garnered her numerous awards, including four Telly Awards.

In an interview with Scientology Network for Documentary Showcase, Tanya conveyed the impact of her filmmaking journey:

“We live in a very consumer society and we’re used to just getting everything fast. Everything—food, fashion—that goes for chocolate as well. We just grab something. We don’t think where it comes from. But throughout the process of making the movie, it has changed my whole perspective.”

About Documentary Showcase
Fundamental to Scientology is a humanitarian mission that extends to some 200 nations with programs for human rights, human decency, literacy, morality, drug prevention and disaster relief. For this reason, the Scientology Network provides a platform for Independent filmmakers who embrace a vision of building a better world.

Documentary Showcase debuts films weekly from award-winning Independent filmmakers whose goal is to improve society by raising awareness of social, cultural and environmental issues.

For more information, visit scientology.tv/docs.

The Scientology Network debuted on March 12, 2018. Since launching, the Scientology Network has been viewed in over 240 countries and territories worldwide in 17 languages. Satisfying the curiosity of people about Scientology, the network takes viewers across six continents, spotlighting the everyday lives of Scientologists; showing the Church as a global organization; and presenting its social betterment programs that have touched the lives of millions worldwide. The network also showcases documentaries by Independent filmmakers who represent a cross section of cultures and faiths, but share a common purpose of uplifting communities. Scientology Network’s innovative content has been recognized with more than 125 industry awards, including Tellys, Communitas and Hermes Creative Awards.

Broadcast from Scientology Media Productions, the Church’s global media center in Los Angeles, the Scientology Network is available on DIRECTV Channel 320, DIRECTV STREAM, AT&T U-verse and can be streamed at scientology.tv, on mobile apps and via the Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms.

Scientology Network
Erin Banks
323-210-1700
www.scientology.tv

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Documentary Film Focused on Black Maternal Health Crisis NY Premiere Screening

Apr 7, 2023 | Books, Business

“Birthing Justice” Film and Panelists Discussion leading into Black Maternal Health Week

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – April 5, 2023 – PRLog — Leading into Black Maternal Health Week, the New York Premiere Screening of Birthing Justice, a new feature-length documentary from Women in the Room Productions focuses on the stark reality for Black mothers who are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women in the United States. In addition, Black infants in the US are two times more likely to die than white infants. The screening and panel discussion with Film Director Monique Matthews, New York State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, Yvonne Secreto, RN, Wellness Expert and Sharonda Gardner, M.ED, Certified Postpartum Doula with Moderator Chanel Porchia-Albert, Commission Member of the NYC Commission on Gender Equity will occur at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, 145 Brooklyn Avenue, Brooklyn, New York on Friday, April 7, 2023, at 6:30 pm, hosted by B-Bullard LLC, Mocha Moms, Inc, the Shirley Chisholm Cultural Institute, and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum.

Birthing Justice follows the stories of several women and healthcare providers and explores why giving birth is so dangerous for Black women and their babies. The film illuminates the women advocating for themselves and their infants and people within the medical community affecting real and lasting changes to the way we care for Black mothers and their babies. The film highlights bright spots and reasons for celebration as well as the challenges.

Previously, researchers believed that mortality rates among this demographic were thought to affect poor, less educated women. Now, one major factor recognized by experts is the impact of systemic racism and stress on Black women, negatively affecting their birth outcomes.

“Black joy is a tool, a weapon, we have used to meet, resist, and fight injustice since our journey in America began. Birthing Justice brings this front and center as we show clear and specific examples of birth workers, clinicians, advocates, moms, and dads committed to end this healthcare crisis now”. – Monique Matthews, Film Director

“The key to solving this problem is complex, but a path exists as do reasons to be optimistic,” said Jacoba Atlas, co-executive producer of Birthing Justice. “Black women need to be heard and believed by medical professionals so once and for all, we can change the narrative.”

Birthing Justice places Black women at the center of the fight to repair our broken maternal healthcare system” says Denise Pines, Co-Founder, Women in the Room Productions. “Our goal is to see the solutions presented in this documentary replicated nationally.”

Support for the film was provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Missouri Foundation for Health, Meadow Fund, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the California Endowment, National Birth Equity Collaborative (NBEC), and others.

For more information on Birthing Justice, visit www.birthingjustice.com. The documentary is produced by Women in the Room Productions, a comprehensive media company that drives social impact for women and persons of color through storytelling and community.

To RSVP: Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-york-premiere-screening-of-birthing-justice-documentary-tickets-594017852387

AP, Frontline documentary ’20 Days in Mariupol’ to make world premiere at Sundance Film Festival

Dec 13, 2022 | Business

The new feature film 20 Days in Mariupol from The Associated Press and Frontline, the award-winning PBS documentary series housed at GBH in Boston, will make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this January in Park City, Utah, and be featured in the festivals World Cinema Documentary Competition.

NEW YORK – WEBWIRE –

This moving and important documentary will be the first Frontline or AP original documentary to debut at the world-renowned film festival.

Told through the perspective of Ukrainian-born director and AP video journalist Mstyslav Chernov, 20 Days in Mariupol is a visceral, first-person view of the early days of Russias invasion of the city of Mariupol, Ukraine. 

Chernov and his colleagues, photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and field producer Vasilisa Stepanenko, were the last international reporters to remain in Mariupol as Russian troops attacked the city. Together they documented what would become defining images of the war: dying children, mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital, and more.

Produced and edited by Frontlines Michelle Mizner, 20 Days in Mariupol draws on Chernovs daily news dispatches and personal footage of his own country at war. The result is a raw and haunting account of a journalist risking his life to share the truth of the conflict with the world.

Bearing witness to the horrors that enveloped the city, 20 Days in Mariupol captures the beginning of the war through the lens of a Ukrainian journalist documenting the devastation of his home country. 

Much of Chernovs video and the visuals from his colleagues have been widely published around the world, from corpses in the streets, to panicked, displaced civilians desperate to flee, to grief-stricken parents of children who died from Russian shelling events reported by AP and Frontline as possible war crimes. The AP footage also directly refutes Russian misinformation about the war. 

Chernov has covered Ukraine and other international conflicts for The Associated Press for nearly a decade. 20 Days in Mariupol is his first feature film. 

We went to Mariupol not with the intention of making a documentary, but to contemporaneously report on what was happening. We later realized that, together, these video dispatches could tell a fuller story of what happened to the citys people a story that I hope will help audiences understand the scale of Russias invasion of Ukraine and the horrors that unfolded in Mariupol, said Chernov. 

We are honored to work with Mstyslav Chernov and The Associated Press to share 20 Days in Mariupol with the world, and hope that this film can be both a historical document of this conflict and a reminder of wars true human toll, said Frontline Editor-in-Chief and Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath. We are grateful to the Sundance Institute for including 20 Days in Mariupol in its 2023 film festival lineup, to Mstyslav, Michelle and the rest of the film team for their craft and thoughtfulness in telling this harrowing story, and to our colleagues at GBH, PBS and CPB for their unwavering support of this critical journalism.

The work of Mstyslav Chernov and his colleagues documenting the siege of Mariupol was nothing short of heroic. Without their intrepid coverage of the violence and carnage, the world would not have seen what was happening. This underscores the value of independent journalism without it, the facts simply would not be known, said AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Julie Pace. We are so pleased to work with Frontline to produce 20 Days in Mariupol and are honored that the Sundance Institute selected it to premiere at its prestigious film festival.

20 Days in Mariupol is part of a larger editorial collaboration between Frontline and AP examining Russias war in Ukraine. 

20 Days in Mariupol will be distributed by PBS Distribution.

About FRONTLINE

FRONTLINE, U.S. televisions longest running investigative documentary series, explores the issues of our times through powerful storytelling. FRONTLINE has won every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 104 Emmy Awards and 28 Peabody Awards. Visit pbs.org/frontline and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to learn more. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Park Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.

About AP

The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the worlds population sees AP journalism every day. Online: www.ap.org

HBO Documentary News Series AXIOS Season Finale Debuts December 12

Dec 11, 2021 | Business



The Emmy®-winning series AXIOS on HBO will debut its season finale SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12 (6:00-6:30 p.m. ET/PT). The sharp and insightful news-making series features thought-provoking interviews with top leaders from the worlds of politics, tech, media, science, and business. Directed and produced by Emmy® winners Matthew O’Neill and Perri Peltz, the series features Axios’ signature Smart Brevity® analysis, documentary-style reporting, and in-depth conversations on the topics and trends shaping the globe.

 

The series will air on HBO and be available to stream on HBO Max.

 

This week’s episode features the following segments: 

  • Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth, the incoming CTO of Meta (formerly Facebook), joins Axios chief technology correspondent Ina Fried to discuss the company’s future, the spread of vaccine misinformation on its platforms, whether the company did enough in the leadup to the January 6 Capitol attack, and how Bosworth envisions the “metaverse,” the all-immersive internet of tomorrow. 
  • House Majority Whip Representative James Clyburn (D-SC) speaks with Axios political reporter Alexi McCammond about President Biden’s falling approval ratings, his hopes for election reform, voting rights and the filibuster’s future.         
  • Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson welcomes Axios transportation correspondent Joann Muller to the company’s headquarters in Newark, California, where they discuss the affordability of the high-end electric vehicle market, how startup Lucid stacks up against iconic American car manufacturers like Ford and General Motors, and Rawlinson’s thoughts on his competitor and former employer, Tesla CEO Elon Musk.        
  • The Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. and Kim Teehee, The Cherokee Nation’s first named delegate to Congress, sit down with Axios race and justice reporter Russell Contreras in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where they discuss their ongoing effort to seat Teehee in the House of Representatives, why a treaty promising the tribe a Congressional seat has gone unfulfilled for nearly 200 years and what impact Teehee could have on tribal and federal government relations. 


 

AXIOS is a co-production of HBO Documentary Films, AXIOS and DCTV; executive produced by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen & Roy Schwartz; directed and produced by Perri Peltz and Matthew O’Neill. 


VIDEO: Incoming Meta CTO on Facebook’s COVID vaccine campaign | Axios on HBO