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lauriesimons
Reviews
Brasslands (2013)
Sweeps you into an exciting musical world
Loved this movie! The Balkan music is refreshing and enlivening, and the juxtaposition of different cultures (American, Serbian, Roma) offers an interesting backdrop. Especially intriguing is the fact that this independent movie was written and directed by a collective of 10 individual filmmakers using a consensus process. The film captures the electric energy and excitement of a ten day party in a tiny Serbian village, and culminates with winners and losers in the 50th anniversary of the world's largest trumpet festival.
This film is loaded with lots of amazing horn and trumpet players- including American musicians who play just for the love of this eastern European musical style. It also takes us on an intimate journey into the homes of local Serbian people, and gives insight into their family dynamics and customs. Throughout the festival and competition it reveals some of the longstanding issues that impact people raised in different cultures but living in the same region.
An uplifting, thought-provoking glimpse into a moment of live musical history.
Paradise or Oblivion (2012)
A Stunning Documentary
We may not like to hear it, but, as Jacque Fresco points out in this stunning documentary, our materialistic society will some day be viewed as the lowest point in history. This documentary reveals a way out of the societal ills we face today: war, poverty, pollution, environmental degradation. What will happen to people in a future society that does not depend on debt and servitude, or credit and barter, to organize our way of life? This documentary explains how, by thinking differently, we can build a new sustainable and equitable lifestyle for all humans, and it provides hope and a plan to move our world-wide society from a money-based, profit-driven, planet-damaging way of life to a "resource based", humanity-driven, planet-preserving way of life.