Events

“Still We Ride” with Filmmakers Andrew Lynn and Elizabeth Press

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

Fresh from their European tour, filmmakers Andrew Lynn (creator of Troy Bike Rescue) and Elizabeth Press (aka EP, producer at Democracy Now!) present Still We Ride, a documentary film that takes an up-close look at New York City’s ongoing attempts to squash the monthly free-forming Critical Mass bike ride. The screening is a fundraiser for […]

An Evening with Citizen Reno

Stream of consciousness political comedy from the creator of Rebel Without a Pause, Reno In Rage and Rehab, The god Show, and other stage and screen classics. Reno is a solo comedic performer whose evening-length shows have had several runs Off-Broadway, both commercially and at non-profit venues and tour regularly to the leading regional theaters, […]

Cardboard Chaos Presents: “When the Levee Breaks”

Once  again Cardboard Chaos hits the road in its annual tour to help shut down the U.S. Army School ofthe Americas. The show features Uncle Sam’s Little Global Circus and their provocative mix of circus, puppetry, political satire and original music. When the Levee Brakes looks at the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina in the […]

Presenting Diane Wilson

Calling All Unreasonable Women (and the men who support them)! The author of An Unreasonable Woman tells the true story of one woman’s fight to save her town and her way of life from deadly industrial chemicals.

Tom Lopez of ZBS Media

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

As heard on National Public Radio, Tom Lopez will be exploring 35 years of creative independent audio production ranging from comic-cosmic adventures, science fiction and mystical mysteries- some with spiritual wisdoms woven within. Tom will be sharing secrets of his award-winning radio productions and playing some of “the greatest hits” of ZBS Media’s history. A […]

Gringo-thon: The Films of Greg Berger

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

Greg Berger's award-winning films and lectures address critical social and political issues concerning grassroots movements in Mexico, as well as relations between the United States and Mexico.  His films include serious, raw documentaries from the front lines  of Mexico's radical progressive movements as well as humorous fiction satirizing transnational political issues characterized by “Gringotón,” Berger's […]

“Operation: Dreamland” with Filmmaker Garrett Scott

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

Occupation: Dreamland is an unflinchingly candid portrait of a squad of American soldiers deployed in the doomed Iraq city of Fallujah during the winter of 2004. A collective study of the soldiers unfolds as they patrol an environment of low-intensity conflict creeping steadily towards catastrophe. Filmmakers Garrett Scott and Ian Olds were given access to […]

“Aftershock: American Voices,” Presented with Members of SUNY Albany’s Campus Greens and Campus Action

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

Shot in Washington DC on January 20, 2005, Aftershock: American Voices (Bob Grey, Anne Derwent) chronicles counter inaugural events. It is an inspirational piece featuring such anti-war notables as Celeste Zappala, of the Gold Star Families For Peace and independent journalist Amy Goodman. The film also features performance pieces by Billionaires For Bush and the […]

Journalist Dahr Jamail of Iraq Dispatches

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

In late 2003, weary of the overall failure of the US media to accurately report on the realities of the war in Iraq for the Iraqi people, Dahr Jamail went to the Middle East to report on the war himself, where he has spent more than one year in Iraq as one of only a […]

Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival: “Al Otro Lado”

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

Thousands of people try to cross the Mexico/U.S. border every year. Al Otro Lado (To the Other Side) directed by Natalia Almada, tells the human story behind illegal immigration and drug trafficking between the U.S. and Mexico through the eyes of Magdiel, a 23-year-old fisherman and aspiring composer who dreams of a better life. For people […]

Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival: “Awake Zion”

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

Awake Zion (Monica Haim) is a documentary that explores the unsuspecting connections between Rasta, Reggae, and Judaism, through one woman's beat-laden adventure into the meaning of identity. All the way back to the alleged sultry affair between the Jewish King Solomon and the African Queen of Sheba, Jewish influence is evident in the spiritual history […]

Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival’s Kathy Brew Presents: “Ryan,” “Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night,” “Phantom Limb”

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival co-director Kathy Brew visits The Sanctuary For Independent Media to present a selection of shorts. Ryan is a 2004 Oscar®-winning animated short by Chris Landreth, produced by the National Film Board of Canada. It is a biography of Ryan Larkin, former animator for the NFB. Larkin was in his heyday […]

Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival: “Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan,” “Children of the Decree”

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan (Petr Lom, 2005) is the first film to document the custom of bride kidnapping, an ancient marriage tradition in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet Republic in Central Asia. When a Kyrgyz man decides to marry, he often abducts the woman he has chosen. Typically, he and several friends hire a car, stake […]

Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival: “Home,” with Filmmakers Jeffrey Togman and Pierre Defendini

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

Home (2005) will be presented by director Jeffrey Togman and cinematographer Pierre Defendini. On a gang-controlled, dead end street, Sheree Farmer is raising her six children alone. With the help of Mary Abernathy, a former fashion industry executive turned community activist, Sheree struggles to buy her first home and escape her violent and drug-infested Newark […]

Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival: “Land Mines: A Love Story”

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

Dennis O'Rourke's latest documentary Land Mines: A Love Story (2004) is part observational and part essay – driven by a polemic that is both angry and subtle, and a damning portrayal of the human costs of war. Land Mines is a compelling anti-war film set in Afghanistan, a country that has become synonymous with conflict. It […]

Steve Kurtz of the Critical Arts Ensemble Speaking on “Art and Discipline”

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

This lecture was built upon the following premises: first, any action within the cultural landscape performed from a minoritarian position will be perceived by authority as contestational act; and second, once challenged any or all of a variety of disciplinary agents will be sent to restabilize the discourses of the status quo through the managing […]

Prison Activist Robina Courtin and “Chasing Buddha”

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

Chasing Buddha (2000) is a documentary by acclaimed Austrian filmmaker Amiel Courtin-Wilson about Robina Courtin, an Australian ex-Catholic, ex-political activist and feminist who has been a Buddhist nun since 1978. Teaching Buddhism around the world, she shatters the stereotype of a Buddhist nun, her intense and direct style leaving an indelible impression on everyone she […]

“Tying the Knot” with Filmmaker Jim de Séve

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

Jim de Séve's 2004 documentary Tying the Knot digs deeply into the meaning of marriage today. From an historical trip to the Middle Ages, to gay hippies storming the Manhattan marriage bureau in 1971, this eye-opening exploration of the embattled institution looks at rights, privilege and love as gay activists and right-wing politicos lock horns […]

“The Trouble With Music” with Author Mat Callahan

The Sanctuary 3361 6th Ave, Troy, United States

Mat Callahan's The Trouble with Music (2005) explores the crisis facing music. The signs are everywhere, from the saturation of public space by tuneful trivia to the digital downloading controversy. Quantity has replaced quality. The number of units sold is now the criteria by which music is judged and high-gloss, mass-produced, low-content music is everywhere. […]

“Quantum Leaps” with Video Curator Astria Suparak

Quantum leap, a physics term deriving from the mid 1900s indicating significant and swift advances (originally via a sudden shift in energy within an atom), became the title of an early 1990s American television series featuring a time traveling, body-swapping, do-gooder scientist. In 2006 this inspirational screening of new video follows suit, cataloguing heroes, compressing […]

Stay Informed

Sign up with your e-mail address to keep up to date with events, workshops and other announcements from The Sanctuary.

Sign up for our Newsletter

Don’t worry, we ❤️ privacy and won’t sell your information, ever—and you may unsubscribe at any time.

About The Sanctuary

We use art and participatory action to promote social and environmental justice and freedom of creative expression.

Learn More