Blood Into Wine is the widely anticipated documentary that shares th story of Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer front man Maynard James Keenan and his mentor Eric Glomski as they pioneer winemaking in the hostile deserts of Arizona. Featuring Tim & Eric, Patton Oswalt and Milla Jovovich. Directed by Ryan Page & Christopher Pomerenke. 110 mins.
*Thing With No Name* shares the stories of two Zulu women with full-blown AIDS as they face the challenges of antiretroviral drug therapy. We watch as these women fight for survival with great humor and strength, but over time the grave impact of the disease begins to erode their drive. This film highlights how critical resources and support are to these women, and give us hope that much can still be done.
The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the US National Committee for UNIFEM (UNIFEM/USNC) was launched in June of 2009. UNIFEM is the United Nations Development Fund for Women, and it works on women’s rights and development issues across the globe. We are committed to expanding support and raising funds within the United States for UNIFEM. Through our efforts we hope to encourage ourselves and others to become involved in advancing women’s rights around the world.
If interested in learning more, please send us an email atsanfranbayarea@unifem-usnc.org.
*About the Film Series:*
This monthly film series will look at women’s rights and development issues. Each month, a film that touches on one of the four themes of UNIFEM (The United Nations Development Fund for Women) will be selected. These four themes are:
– enhancing women’s economic security and rights,
– ending violence against women,
– reducing the prevalence of HIV and AIDS among women and girls, and
– advancing gender justice in democratic governance in stable and fragile states.
After each film, a discussion will be held that focuses on the issue being highlighted and what local Bay Area organizations are doing to address that issue.
Birgit Ulher was born 1961 in Nuremberg. She studied the visual arts, which still have an important influence on her music. Since moving to Hamburg in 1982 she has been involved in free improvisation and experimental music. Since then she has ?established a distinguished grammar of sounds beyond the open trumpet? (jazzdimensions.de). She performs solo, with dancers, working ensembles, and one-time collaborations with musicians from around the world.
She has been organising the festival of improvised music Real Time Music Meeting for over ten years. Music performances in Europe, USA and the Middle East, together with UNSK (Birgit Ulher / Martin Küchen / Lise-Lott Norelius / Raymond Strid), the Trio PUT (with Ulrich Phillipp and Roger Turner), Nordzucker (with Lars Scherzberg and Michael Maierhof), Heiner Metzger, Jürgen Morgenstern, Martin Klapper, Tim Hodgkinson, Dorothea Schürch, Rhodri Davies, Robyn Schulkowsky, John Edwards, Michael Zerang, Damon Smith, Lou Mallozzi, Gino Robair, Martin Blume, Ute Wassermann, Albert Márkos, Sven Ake Johansson, Gene Coleman, Ernesto Rodrigues, Heddy Boubaker, Tim Perkis, Nate Wooley, Bryan Eubanks, Tanaka, Ariel Shibolet, Christoph Schiller and Sean Meehan. Website: http://birgit-ulher.de
Gino Robair is an American composer, improvisor, drummer, and percussionist. In his own work (as a soloist and in improvisation ensembles), he plays prepared/modified percussion, analog synthesizer, ebow and prepared piano, theremin, and bowed objects (polystyrene, customized/broken cymbals, faux daxophone, metal). Although Gino is often referred to as a jazz musician, he grew up playing both rock and concert music. Gino Robair was an editor of Electronic Musician magazine, and runs Rastascan Records. Website: http://www.rastascan.com
Bill Hsu works with electronics and live animation systems. He has performed in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He is a founding member of the Beanbender’s collective, which organized over 150 concerts of new music in the San Francisco Bay area. He teaches and does research at San Francisco State University. Website: http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~whsu/art.html