For more information: www.ORT.org www.fearlessplanet.com dgold@fearlessplanet.com
 

What Makes DC Public Charter Schools Special

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Every year, the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board ranks their schools’ performance in a three tier system — Tier One being the highest. We interviewed 30 students from 15 of the 2018 Tier One schools to get their perspectve of the schools of which they attend. No teachers. No principals. No parents. Only the raw reactions from the students themselves. These are the Tier Ones of 2018.

 
The 2018 SXSW Audience Award-winning feature film debut by Gabriel Silverman, Fiona Dawson & Jamie Coughlin, TransMilitary follows the Emmy-nominated short film Transgender, at War and in Love. Around 15,500 transgender people serve in the U.S. military (notably the largest transgender employer in the U.S.), where they must conceal their gender identity because military policies ban their service. TransMilitary chronicles the lives of four individuals (Senior Airman Logan Ireland, Corporal Laila Villanueva, Captain Jennifer Peace & First Lieutenant El Cook) defending their country’s freedom while fighting for their own. They put their careers and their families’ livelihoods on the line by coming out as transgender to top brass officials in the Pentagon in hopes of attaining the equal right to serve. The ban was lifted in 2016, but with President Trump now trying to reinstate it, their futures hang in the balance again. Rent/Buy: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/transmilitary/id1440682681?mt=6&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
 

In December 2017, the first permanent independent international criminal court in history stands on the brink of having the jurisdiction to hold national leaders accountable for the illegal use of force against other states. The 1998 Rome Statute established the International Criminal Court, an international court that has jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes as well as the crime of aggression. But, the States Parties to the ICC could not agree to the definition of the Crime of Aggression until 2010, when a diplomatic breakthrough in Kampala, Uganda finally produced consensus on the international legal definition of the crime. From Nuremberg in 1945 through Tokyo, Rome, The Hague and Kampala, this film tracks the legal and moral debate more than seven decades in the making. History can be made in New York in 2017 when the States Parties of the International Criminal Court have the opportunity to activate the court’s jurisdiction over the Crime of Aggression.

 

The New York Times: This short documentary shares the challenges of a transgender military couple, who are banned from serving openly. Produced by: Fiona Dawson Read the story here: http://nyti.ms/1SYzliC Click here to follow us: vimeo.com/newyorktimes Watch more videos at: nytimes.com/video Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/nytvideo

*Nominated for a 2016 National Emmy

*Winner of White House News Photographer's Association - 2016 First Place for Best Documentary

 

A Preview of my upcoming documentary exploring the 30+ acre dumpsite in Nairobi, Kenya and the lives of those directly affected by its existence - positive and negative.

Flipping the Script

A short documentary on an ex-Vice Lords Gang Chief, his after-school boxing/mentoring program and "changing the norm" in Chicago West Side community, North Lawndale.

*Winner of 2013 Chicago/Midwest Emmy

*Winner of 2014 Illinois Press Photographer's Association Student Best of Multimedia - Group: First Place

"There were several ex-con turned community activist stories entered this year in pro and student categories. First place was the best. This story feels very real, the main character is fully developed and the challenges he faces are clear. The dialog between the coach and the boys with the BB gun is riveting and revealing." -- IPPA