Tagged: Turnstyle News

Last week BreakOut!, a New Orleans based LGBTQ organization that focuses specifically on youth impacted by the juvenile justice system, began the first of their anti-discrimination training seminars for the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD). The training comes as a result of an investigation and subsequent consent decree by the United States Department of Justice mandating sweeping reforms and trainings throughout NOPD.

We made our way to the 2012 Sundance Film Festival this past week in Park City, Utah to get a sense of where the state of independent cinema is going this year. What films we will be talking about? What issues are on the forefront of documentarians’ minds?

What follows are five lessons we learned while slogging through snow, striking up conversations with strangers on the shuttle busses, talking with filmmakers and seeing every film they’d let us.

The State of Independent Cinema is Strong

President Barack Obama gave education a fair share of attention during the State of the Union address last night.

The talking points:

Fereshteh Toosi is an interdisciplinary, Chicago-based artist who works with art you can interact with. While designing a community garden accesible to people with disabilities, she began her latest project: Garlic & Greens. Inspired by her interest in growing food and cultural migration, Garlic & Greens aims to capture soul food stories in Chicago.  She also teaches art at Columbia College Chicago. Turnstyle contributor Whitney Henry-Lester spoke to Toosi about her new project and the documentation of soul food.