ADAM'S APPLES (released in 2005 in Germany) is the story of a neo-Nazi, Adam (Ulrich Thomsen last seen in Kingdom of Heaven and Mostly Martha) who gets out of jail and is paroled to a Christian pastor, Ivan (Mads Mikkleson), and his church in rural Denmark (it is in Danish with English sub-titles). The parolee is tough, silent, and bewildered by the pastor who at first seems eccentric, and who we discover lives in a perpetual state of denial because he is barely … [Read more...]

The 2007 theme,  “iPods, Blogs and Beyond: Evolving Media Literacy for the 21st Century” - will be explored in more than 75 conference events, including keynotes, workshops, special interest caucuses and more. Workshop titles include:   - Using Media and Technology in the Language Arts Classroom Educating Media Educators for the 21st Century Classroom --- Media Literacy in Pre-Service Teacher Education Programs Let's Write a Movie!  Teaching Language Arts Skills Through … [Read more...]

In 1971 Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard) makes his way to Philadelphia from North Carolina to apply for a job as a swimming coach at the prestigious Mainline Academy. Coach Bink (Tom Arnold) is rude and rejects him. Ellis applies for a job as a teacher in the public school system but is hired to close the decrepit Marcus Foster Recreation Center instead because young people no longer use it. As African-American kids shoot hoops in the yard, the director, grumpy Elston (Bernie Mac), whiles away the … [Read more...]

I just got home from Johannesburg, South Africa from the 5th World Summit on Media and Children and I hope to be sharing some information with you soon about that. But I wanted to take a moment and tell you about one of the finest films I have seen in a very long time: The Lives of Others. It won the Oscar for best foreign language film this year; German with English subtitles. Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mule) is a Stassi agent in East Germany in the 1980's. He is asked to bug the apartment … [Read more...]