The AFI Fest returned to Hollywood for live, in-person screenings and events, although there was also a virtual component for watching many of the feature, documentary, short, indie, studio, and foreign productions that Los Angeles’ largest annual film festival is presenting in 2021. Some of the screenings were accompanied by talent who introduced and/or spoke about their films when they were shown at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood. Here are reviews of some of the films I saw:

THE REAL CHARLIE CHAPLIN – The Reel and Real Little Tramp

My favorite film at AFI this year was The Real Charlie Chaplin, co-directed by Peter Middleton and James Spinney, who co-wrote the almost 2-hour biopic with Oliver Kindeberg. The highest compliment I can pay this documentary that traces the rise and fall and rise of the eponymous screen comic is that Real is worthy of its subject who, of course, was one of motion pictures’ great pioneers.

Retired Army and Air Force Reserve Sergeant Adrienne Hood waited five years and five months to prove to a jury that Columbus Division of Police officers Zachary Rosen and Jason Bare used excessive force causing the death of her son, Henry Green V, during the summer of 2016. 

After the first full day of deliberation on Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Columbus, the three men and five women on the jury claimed they could not reach a consensus. US District Judge Edmond A. Sargus, Jr., instructed them to return the next day and try again. Two jurors left the courtroom in tears.   

The following morning the only Black juror explained to the judge that she and other jurors felt pressured by some of the jurors. She insisted that she was not going to change her vote. Sargus sent her back to the jury room to work toward a consensus one more time. 

 

The AFI Fest returned to Hollywood for live, in-person screenings and events, although there was also a virtual component for watching many of the feature, documentary, short, indie, studio, and foreign productions that Los Angeles’ largest annual film festival is presenting in 2021. Some of the screenings were accompanied by talent who introduced and/or spoke about their films when they were shown at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood. Here are reviews of some of the films I saw:

MEET THE PRESS FILM FESTIVAL AT AFI FEST

According to the AFI’s website: “In partnership with NBC’s Meet the Press, these short documentaries spotlight compelling stories about pressing issues facing our society with conversations moderated by NBC News journalists.” Meet the Press, of course, is the long running TV program where newsmakers are questioned by a moderator and a panel of journalists hold forth on topics of the day. Accordingly, all of the nonfiction films screened at AFI Fest in collaboration with Meet the Press were topical in nature, and this is the fifth year that MTP participated as a media partner of AFI.

Thursday November 18, 2021 at 8 pm EST
The Green Party Peace Action Committee (GPAX) will be presenting this webinar with speakers directly involved in these struggles followed by Q & A.  

The webinar comes at a critical time when the system is tightening its grip and people are looking for creative ways to fight back. The Extinction Rebellion is blocking streets in New York City and the Veterans for Peace are doing Civil Disobedience-CD in Las Vegas over “killer Drones.” Direct actions are taking place across the country with a coalition of dozens of environmental organizations doing mass CD in Washington DC with over 600 arrested and Indigenous leaders occupying the Bureau of Indian Affair. Protesters have blocked the Miami Port to demand an end to Haiti deportations and continuing actions are taking place to stop Line 3. 

The grassroots Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission (OCRC) slammed Ohio Republicans on Tuesday following the release of their updated congressional map proposal which would make 13 of the Ohio’s 15 congressional districts favor the GOP in a state already trending conservative and more MAGA.

The OCRC and other voting rights activists say the updated map was tweaked behind closed doors and rushed into an Ohio Senate vote which easily passed. (The updated map pictured above left.)

“The passed map fails to uphold any of the basic tenets of a fair map – it does not keep our communities together in representative, sensible districts. It does not reflect how we vote, giving the GOP 80% of our seats in a state where they win just 54% of the vote,” said OCRC spokesperson Katy Shanahan to the Free Press. “It dilutes the power of communities of color to elect representatives of their choosing. It does not live up to the promise or demands of our reform nor the letter of the law.”