Actualités

by Stefan Gill

On September 14, at the Scottish Rite Theater, a few dozen film denizens gathered for the final night of the Lights. Camera. Help. film festival under a very inauspicious mood. The rain, ever rare in the dry Austin atmosphere, began its weekend-long parade, which only highlighted another strange occurrence -- an unrealized bomb threat at Ut, which cleared the campus of its 50,000+ students. So on the final night of the 4th annual nonprofit-themed fest, which focuses on the good and triumph of humanity, there were many examples to counter such statements of good.

But any idea of giving into the negative was wiped away by the keynote address by Turk Pipkin, an actor who became a filmmaker with a heart for the humanitarian world. Noticeably tall and vocal, it is quickly obvious that he puts his passion for the good of humanity first, and his life as a...

Typically I'm a staunch believer in the cinéma vérité style of documentary filmmaking, with little if any involvement on the filmmaker's part so I can feel immersed in the story. On the other hand, there's Austin filmmaker Turk Pipkin, who narrates and is seen in his documentary films including Nobelity, One Peace at a Time and now Building Hope. His latest film often focuses on The Nobelity Project, an Austin-based nonprofit led by the filmmaker and his wife Christy Pipkin. The Nobelity Project partnered with a remote low-income African community with great results for the local primary school, and so Pipkin promised to help build Mahiga Hope High, the first high school for the community, while connecting Kenyans with American supporters.

In Building Hope, viewers learn that in Kenya, primary school is free and mandatory but families have to pay their teenagers to attend high school. Making matters worse are the gaps in qualified teachers,...

The film is a compendium of the problems of the world, and its proficiency and downfall derive from an attempt to seemingly cover and show them all. This is the second globally conscious production by actor-writer-director Turk Pipkin. While shooting “Nobelity” (his previous feature), Pipkin was told by a Nobel Prize winner that things in this world might not be as bad as they seem, but that’s not the message conveyed in this film. Spanning the world and covering such areas of international distress as poverty, water shortages, politics and population control (there is a “condom king” who institutes a program of “Cops and Rubbers”), as well as the ever-volatile issues of global warming and health care, the film presents the problems and the solutions, showing many people who are truly trying to make a difference. Individuals interviewed run the gamut of professions and backgrounds, each person managing to...

Date/Time:  Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - 7:30pm - 9:30pm Location:  Paramount Theatre More info:  Visit external web page.

Who knew you could support Haitian relief efforts by going to the movies? The Paramount Theatre has teamed up with Turk and Christy Pipkin's locally based nonprofit group The Nobelity Project to present a special screening of Turk Pipkin's 2009 documentary One Peace at a Time on Wednesday night. The Austin filmmaker/activist will introduce the film and participate in a Q&A afterward.

I haven't yet seen One Peace at a Time, but I did see and review Pipkin's previous film Nobelity, which was the foundation for The Nobelity Project. It was worth seeing at the Paramount, because the film looked and sounded so gorgeous. If this documentary interests you, this is your chance to watch it at its best.

All proceeds from the screening will benefit Architecture for Humanity's Haiti Reconstruction fund,...