meerkat media » Goings On

Zlatne Uste and “Brasslands” Trailer at Rooftop Films

bryan — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:50:23 +0000

Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band, the subject of our new in-progress feature documentary “Brasslands”, will be performing this Friday, July 9th, as the opening act to a presentation of Kickstarter-funded films at the Rooftop Films Summer Series. The trailer for “Brasslands” will be screening as well!

Join us on top of the Old American Can Factory for an evening of music and films!

Friday, July 9, 2010
8:00 PM Doors
8:30 PM Zlatne Uste
9:00 PM Films

On the roof of The Old American Can Factory
Gowanus / Park Slope
232 Third St. @ 3rd Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11215
F/G to Carroll St. or M/R to Union

Support BRASSLANDS on Kickstarter

meerkat media — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 08:50:25 +0000

Support our latest documentary Brasslands on Kickstarter! We’re looking to raise $10,000 in donations by July 4th, to fund the creation of our latest meerkat dream: Make a feature length, character driven documentary about the worlds biggest trumpet festival.

The tiny Serbian town of Gu?a explodes with brass cacophony as half a million fans descend upon the world’s biggest trumpet festival. This year’s 50th festival anniversary promises to be an event of epic proportions, showcasing the musical pride of a region still recovering from decades of political upheaval. At stake is a singular moment in history when people from opposite sides of the globe are forced to confront the origins of their cultural identities in very different ways. Brasslands is the story of an unlikely American brass band’s journey across the Atlantic, their music, and just below the surface the human stories that play to this Balkan soundtrack.

Learn more, watch the trailer and donate: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/460169879/brasslands

STAGES screens in Brooklyn

meerkat media — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:55:15 +0000

Join us for a FREE hometown screening of our collaboratively created feature documentary STAGES as part of the Brooklyn Independent Cinema Series.

Monday, July 5th at 7pm @ BARBES

376 9th St (at 6th Ave)
Park Slope, Brooklyn

More information here: http://www.brooklynindependent.com/

Brasslands Party/Fundraiser featuring Zlatne Uste!

meerkat media — Mon, 17 May 2010 12:55:43 +0000

Do you like DANCING, MUSIC, FILM, GOOD FOOD & DRINKS?

* WHAT: Concert Fundraiser Spectacular
* WHERE: DCTV Firehouse, 87 Lafayette St., Manhattan
* WHEN: Thursday, June 3rd, 7PM – Midnight
* WHO: You and all your friends
* $15 – 25 suggested donation at the door.

Come feast and dance the night away at our joint fundraiser to support America’s favorite Balkan brass band and a new feature documentary from MEERKAT MEDIA!

Meerkat Media is chronicling ZLATNE USTE –- an all-American Balkan brass band -– as they travel to Serbia in August 2010 to play in competition at Gu?a, the biggest, craziest trumpet festival in human history. For 10 insane days, half a million people from all over the world will invade a tiny Serbian village for the 50th anniversary of a festival that dwarfs puny American music festivals like Coachella and Burning Man, surviving half a century of political turmoil to represent the triumph of the musical spirit.

We need your help to send the band to Serbia as American representatives of this infectious music, and to fund our exciting documentary examining the cross-cultural implications of this historic event.

Kick off the journey with us and enjoy a full evening of Balkan dancing, food and drink, donation prizes, and a sneak peek at the film trailer and other works by Meerkat Media.

Featuring the amazing sounds of Zlatne Uste and unbelievable beats of Veveritse. Hosted by DCTV at the landmark historic firehouse in downtown Manhattan.

Please come on by for a taste of the irresistible Balkan beat and for a chance to support independent filmmaking!

STAGES screens at the Nashville Film Festival

jay — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:26:42 +0000

Our award winning feature documentary STAGES is having it’s TN premiere at the prestigious Nashville Film Festival!

It will be screening on Friday April 6th at 3:00pm and Sunday April 18th at 7:15pm

Buy tickets and learn more here

STAGES screens at the Nashville Film Festival

meerkat media — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:24:15 +0000

Our award winning feature documentary STAGES is having it’s TN premiere at the prestigious Nashville Film Festival!

It will be screening on Friday April 6th at 3:00pm and Sunday April 18th at 7:15pm

Buy tickets and learn more here

STAGES Screens at the San Diego Latino Film Festival

meerkat media — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:45:23 +0000

STAGES is screening as an official Selection at the San Diego Latino Film Festival.

More information here:

http://www.mediaartscenter.org/site/apps/kb/cs/contactdisplay.asp?c=dfLIJPOvHoE&b=1420437&sid=efLLJWMALcKJITOtEjG&r=1

STAGES Screens at the Portland Oregon Women’s Film Festival

meerkat media — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:42:03 +0000

Join us for the Oregon premiere of STAGES at the Portland Oregon Women’s Film Festival!

More info here:

http://www.powfest.com/

The Other Side of the Water at DCTV: Benefit for Haiti

jay — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:30:00 +0000

Jeremy Robins & Magali Damas | 72 min | 2008
Fri, 02/12/2010 – 7:30pm
DCTV, 87 Lafayette Street, NYC

In the wake of Haiti’s devastating earthquake, we will be screening The Other Side of the Water with a Q&A featuring Jeremy Robins and Magali Damas, followed by a special performance by DJARARA.

The Other Side of the Water follows a group of young immigrants who take an ancient music from the hills of Haiti and reinvent it on the streets of Brooklyn. The journey of this unlikely band, DJARARA, offers a unique insight into the Haitian-American experience — a rare glimpse into a world of music, spirituality, and cultural activism.

All proceeds will go directly to Doctors Without Borders and to the band’s families in Haiti.

Jeremy Robins (director, co-producer) is a media educator and filmmaker whose work includes The Cause of Pierre Toussaint, a documentary on a 17th Century Haitian former slave who is now being considered for sainthood by the Catholic church. He has worked for POV, as a field producer for MTV’s True Life, and as a DP on shows for PBS and the Hartley Film Foundation. He teaches production classes at DCTV and has led documentary projects with NYC public high school students since 1998. He has also written for The Independent Film & Video Monthly and the Brooklyn Rail.

Magali (Magi) Damas (co-producer) has worked the past fifteen years in video production, festival organization, and civic activism. She co-produced The Cause of Pierre Toussaint, and as an Associate Producer at West Indies Productions in Haiti from 1998 to 2002, has helped to produce and promote over forty music videos, commercials, and documentaries. She’s currently the video coordinator for HaitiXchange.com, and works in a variety of production roles for Metrovision Production Group, NYC. She helped organized Haiti’s second largest festival “Gelee,” in Les Cayes, as well as a Rara festival in Paillant. She works tirelessly to promote Haitian culture both here and in Haiti.

DJARARA is a traditional Haitian processional band keeping the ancient art of “rara” music alive in America. The band started in 1990 as a spontaneous explosion of cultural pride after the election of populist leader Jean Bertrand Aristide, and has since been at the heart of the Haitian community of New York. DJA-Rara performed on “Wyclef Jean Presents the Carnival”, and their 2007 song “Why” was called one of the top carnival songs of that year by Afropop Worldwide. Playing every Sunday night of the summer in Prospect Park, often leading processions of over 10,000 people, the band is one of the unique treasures – and best kept secrets – of the city.

Presented by DCTV and Shooting People

‘Wee Dark Hours’ makes its west coast debut!

alexis — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:36:36 +0000

Annie Novak and Alexis Powell’s little meerkat short, “Wee Dark Hours” is screening as part of the Birds of a Feather show at Sixth Street Gallery in Vancouver, WA. If you live in the area, go check it out, along with all the other bird-related art!