Beyond the Copyright Wars: Fair Use, Free Speech, and Reframing the Policy Debate

Pat Aufderheide will be speaking on recent research in fair use at an event organized by the Columbia Communications Colloquium and co-sponsored by Columbia University Libraries and the Kernochan Center of Law, Media, and the Arts at Columbia Law School.  The event is free and open to the public, so if you’re in the New York area on October 27th at 2:00 pm, we’d love to see you there!  Read more...

2011 Human Rights Film Series: How To Die In Oregon, The Redemption of General Butt Naked, and Not In Our Town: Light In The Darkness

The 2011 Human Rights Film Series continues with  "How To Die In Oregon" screening at 5:30pm in the Katzen Arts Center on October 6th, followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Peter Richardson. "The Redemption of General Butt Naked" will screen at 5:30 pm at Katzen on October 13, followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Daniele Anastasion and Eric Strauss and a special guest. "Not In Our Town: Light In The Darkness" will screen at 5:30 pm at Katzen on October 20, followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Patrice O’Neill and a special guest. All screenings are free and open to the public - so bring friends and family! Read more...

Media That Matters™ in NYC

The Center is proud to be a presenting partner for Media That Matters™, Arts Engine’s outstanding curatorial project of the world’s best short films on some of the most important topics of our time.  This year’s collection will have its debut in New York City on October 27, 2011. Pat Aufderheide will present a workshop for young people and teachers on making fair use work for you. For more information on this year’s collection of shorts, and panels & workshop events please visit at mediathatmattersfest.org, or email at festival@artsengine.net.

CSM Releases New Report—Social Justice Documentary: Designing for Impact

Human Rights Film Series

The Center for Social Media and the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, have launched the twelfth annual Human Rights Film Series! We have three outstanding films remaining, two of which premiered at Sundance this January. We have also confirmed filmmakers for all screenings and will host additional AU experts to discuss the issues. Add these films to your calendar!

Documentaries at TIFF

Doc Conference at TIFF: Doc Makers' Insights and 3 Minute Docs

The three year old documentary conference at Toronto International Film Festival offers an unusual opportunity for reflection in the middle of one of the busiest industry hot spots of the year. Read more...

Pull Focus: Julia Reichert & Steve Bognar

Getting Into The Story: A Master Class with Marshall Curry

Documentarian Marshall Curry visited AU last week to screen his film, "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front", as part of the Center’s Human Rights Film Series. While on campus, Curry taught a Master Class to film students in the School of Communication. The topic of Curry’s presentation was story, and he provided the class with plenty of personal anecdotes to highlight his points. Read more...

Reclaiming Fair Use

Early reviews, blog comments and tweets about Reclaiming Fair Use have been flooding in. Check them out on the book’s very own Facebook page. Library Journal said that the book “deserves to be read by scholars, bloggers, documentarians, journalists, and everyone else, since we are all touched daily by copyrights." Learn more...

Washington University St Louis, Inside Higher Ed and Fair Use

Pat Aufderheide was quoted in an Inside Higher Ed article about a fascinating case of fair use enabling the hilarious and critical work of a Washington University St Louis student who lampooned the university's own PR. Read the article here

Featured Fair Use Video Remix: Too Many Dicks On The Daily Show 

Jonathan McIntosh, creator of Right Wing Radio Duck and Buffy vs Edward: Twilight Remixed, has made another fantastic new remix video that employs the fair use principles in the Code of Best Practices for Online Video. Read more...

DMCA Exemptions

Fair Use Question of the Month

This month's fair use question comes from a filmmaker who wants to use photos and letters from a now-deceased man in his film but cannot find the copyright owner. You can find this question and more in Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi's new book, Reclaiming Fair Use. Read More...

Fair Use Video of The Month

ONA11: Journalism on the Digital Edge, with Lessons for all Media-that-Matters Makers

The annual meeting of the Online News Association is a hot ticket for anyone who wants to know how to combine media for social purpose and cutting-edge technological practice.  While some parts of the journalism profession are mired in hand-wringing, the folks solving problems about circulating information that informs people about their world at the digital edge are having too much fun and moving too fast to look back. Their experience is useful to anyone concerned with media that matters. Read more...

WITNESS: Camera Everywhere

Peter Gabriel, the co-founder of WITNESS defined our time as “the age of transformative technology”. Indeed, new technologies have placed weapons in everyone’s hands, and made human rights movements a party where everyone is invited. With smart phones, social media and Internet, voices can now travel faster than light. Read more...

Open Video Conference: Easier, Cheaper, More Reliable Ways to Make and Share Video

At the Open Video Conference 2011, developers met artists met academics met lawyers. And everyone wanted to figure out how to build the tools—technical, policy, educational—to foster an open media ecosystem. Read more...

Localore Launches at the PRPC Conference

On PBS MediaShift, CSM Senior Fellow Jessica Clark recaps discussions about innovation and inclusion at the Public Radio Programming Conference, and the launch of Localore, Association of Independents in Radio’s million dollar competition for producers to collaborate with public stations to “go outside” of their normal reporting routines and platforms and connect with communities in new ways. Read more about Localore in Current and the Nieman Journalism Lab or apply today!

Center for Environmental Filmmaking and Filmmakers for Conservation present the 7th Annual Fall 2011 Film Series

Hosted by Chris Palmer and Justine Schmidt continues in October, with Anna Cummins speaking on plastic marine pollution in “Synthetic Sea, Synthetic Me” on October 11th, PETA executive Dan Mathews discussing how PETA uses film and stars to promote its cause on October 18th, and filmmaker Dave Gardner discussing overpopulation and sharing clips from his new film GrowthBusters--Hooked On Growth on October 25th. Read more...

14th UNAFF (United Nations Association Film Festival)

The 14th UNAFF (United Nations Association Film Festival) from October 21-30, 2011 Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, San Francisco and Stanford University celebrates the power of documentary films dealing with human rights issues, the environment, racism, women’s issues, universal education, war and peace. The theme for this year is EDUCATION IS A HUMAN RIGHT. Get the details...

11th Annual DC Labor FilmFest

One of the only film festivals in the world dedicated to films about work and workers, the Labor FilmFest is in its 11th year bringing together workers, activists, directors and stars - including Michael Moore, Barbara Kopple, Jane Fonda, Robert M. Young, Ramin Bahrani and more since launching in 2001 -- in a unique annual celebration of labor culture and the struggle for economic and social justice. The DC Labor FilmFest is organized by the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO, and co-presented with the
American Film Institute and the Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute. The festival kicks off October 4th with a screening of Locked Out at Busboys & Poets. Read more...

Lost In Detention

With the Obama Administration continuing to hit record levels of deportations – more than one million since taking office – a growing backlash among immigrant communities, particularly Latinos, is beginning to jeopardize the President’s 2012 re-election efforts.   In “Lost in Detention,” FRONTLINE, the Investigative Reporting Workshop and correspondent Maria Hinojosa investigate Obama’s immigration enforcement policies, with a penetrating look at who is being detained and what is happening to them. The film will air on October 18th on PBS FRONTLINE.  On October 19th, Please join American University's School of Communication for a screening of the film and panel discussion from 6:30 to 8:00 at Wechsler Auditorium. Read more...

VisionMaker Film Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska

This Fall, September 30-October 6, join Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc. (NAPT) for the
fourth biennial VisionMaker Film Festival. Screenings to be held in Lincoln, Neb., at the Mary Riepma
Ross Media Arts Center and the Sheldon Museum of Art, as well as Film Streams in Omaha, Neb. For more information, visit www.nativetelecom.org/festival

Community Cinema Explores the Power and Beauty of American Sign Language Poetry with a Screening of Deaf Jam

Community Cinema, presented by the Independent Television Service (ITVS), WHUT, Busboys and Poets, Washington DC Jewish Community Center, and the Center for Social Media at American University are excited to present this month’s screening of Judy Lieff’s Deaf Jam, the story of deaf teen Aneta Brodski’s bold journey into the spoken word slam scene.  Deaf Jam will be screening at Busboys and Poets on October 22 at 5:00 pm. To learn more and to RSVP to the event, click here.