Stanford Center for Internet and Society

The American Indian Film Festival has honored River of Renewal by choosing it for the festival's opening night. The World Premiere will occur Friday, November 7th at 7:00 pm at the Landmark Embarcadero Center Cinema, One Embarcadero Center, San Francisco. Advance Tickets are available through the American Indian Film Festival (415) 554-0525.

The documentary film River of Renewal tells the story of the crisis in the Klamath Basin where competing demands for water, food, and energy have pitted farmers, American Indians, and commercial fishermen against each other. Remarkably, this conflict over resources has led to a consensus for conservation. The outcome may be the largest dam removal project in history and the restoration of a once vital river basin.

Will the future witness the extinction of salmon in what was once North America's third greatest salmon-producing river? Or the restoration of the Klamath as a home for life?

River of Renewal shows one of the great rivers of America in crisis while telling the story of a "sidewalk Indian" who discovers his roots among the Klamath River tribes. Jack Kohler comes to the mouth of the Klamath River to make a film about the 1978 Salmon War, the subject of a play in which he had acted as a Yurok gillnetter. Then an event occurs at the headwaters that brings the conflict over salmon into the 21st century. Farmers protest the federal cut-off of irrigation water due to a judge's ruling under the Endangered Species Act to protect three fish species, including coho salmon. In Klamath Falls, Oregon in May, 2001, Kohler observes civil disobedience by farmers in violation of federal law. Bypassing the ESA, the Bush Administration orders the unlimited release of water to farmers in 2002. Later that year, 80,000 spawning salmon die in the Klamath estuary. That disaster leads to the collapse of the salmon fishery off the California and Oregon coasts several years later. The polarization of Klamath Basin communities gives way to conflict resolution and consensus building in view of the potential decommissioning of Klamath Basin hydroelectric dams that cut salmon off from hundreds of miles of spawning habitat. Recognizing that their livelihoods all depend on the health of the river, stakeholders who had been antagonists agree to share the water and to demand the removal of the dams.

Klamath River photo by Clinton Steeds: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cwsteeds/1534860001/

Prepare for an exciting, enlightening ride around the world and across the Universe!

Acclaimed filmmaker Paul Devlin's brother, Mark Devlin, PhD, leads an international team of astrophysicists from the Arctic to the Antarctic to launch a revolutionary telescope on a NASA high-altitude balloon. No less than the origins of the Universe are at stake on this risky scientific adventure that seeks to answer humankind's most basic question, How did we get here?

Mark and his tenacious team get personal, philosophical, even religious as BLAST! reveals the human side of scientific pursuit – enormous sacrifices, maddening incongruities, catastrophic failures and transcendent triumphs.

The film is the first, definitive documentary on the life of the legendary jazz vocalist. In Anita's own words, we hear the tale of a musical genius who broke race barriers and lived her life boldly, unconventionally without ever looking back. She overcame great adversities including a 15 year long heroin addiction, rape, and alcoholism. Anita's life epitomized the story of survival by a female American master.

The film showcases rare and never before seen vintage performances and archival interview footage where Anita speaks candidly with television icons who include Dick Cavett, Bryant Gumble, David Frost and Harry Reasoner. The film also includes interviews from vocalists Annie Ross and Margaret Whiting, Jazz Impresario George Wein, award winning arrangers, including Johnny Mandel, Bill Holman, Russell Garcia and many others. Other interviews include actor/producer John Cameron Mitchell, acclaimed writers Jim Gavin and Will Friedwald and other friends from different times in Anita's life. It is a tribute to the singer, considered by many one of our Country's rare, national treasures.

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Ask Not is a rare and compelling exploration of the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The film exposes the tangled political battles that led to the discriminatory law, and profiles charismatic young activists determined to abolish it. As wars in the Middle East rage on, Ask Not reveals personal stories of gay Americans who serve in combat under a veil of secrecy.

How did a rebel public defender from Boulder, Colorado, throw a monkey wrench into America’s "death machine"? Slip into a juror’s seat as David Wymore and other nationally recognized criminal defense attorneys bring their fight against the death penalty to the front line: the courtroom.

Casting a revelatory and often uncomfortable light on our justice system, The Life Penalty shakes the ethical and moral foundations of capital punishment in the contemporary United States. Featuring two Bob Dylan songs including the never before released "Ballad of Donald White".

The Powder & the Glory tells the story of two of the first highly successful women entrepreneurs in America, Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein. One hundred years ago these women immigrated to the United States and, starting with next to nothing, created what is today the $150 billion global health and beauty industry. They lived and worked only blocks apart but by design they never met. They were fierce rivals.