Aubin would like to begin this update with a very special Happy Birthday (today!) shout out to Amor producer/director Daresha Kyi! We are looking forward to another fantastic year of creativity and collaboration with her.

While winter has been slowly but steadily working its way onto the streets of NYC, we at Aubin avoided the cold by embarking on an adventure in the warmth of Mexico to film for Amor Puro y Duro. You can read all about it below. To keep you  feeling cozy, we're sharing some stunning film stills from the ever-amazing  American Rhapsodyand we're including a surprise update from Not Just Passing Through (an Aubin throwback from 1994!). 

Also in our January update are some "Things We Love," some timely reading recommendations in the "Aubin Anthology," and, of course, Aubin's continued saga of "Lost & Found." 
 

Inside the world of
American Rhapsody

 Film stills from 1915: The White Sheet 
Photo Credit: Akasha Rabut
  Pictured above: Nikia Newman 


  Pictured above: Garrett Bradley, Zac Manuel, Russell Green



American Rhapsody wrapped up several successful film shoots this fall (filming in New Orleans and Raceland, LA) for three of its twelve short films currently in production. 

To the left are film st ills from "1915: The White Sheet." This first in the series  re-approaches D.W. Griffith's 1915 film, "Birth of A Nation" through the manipulation of a seemingly mundane object. Filming for "1915" took place on one of the largest sugarcane plantations in Raceland. 

The cast for this section included members from the nationally organized social club The Buffalo Soldiers, who pay homage to the undertold stories of African American histories in the U.S. military through community service. The original Buffalo Soldiers were part of the first six segregated all-black regiments of the U.S. Army during the Civil War (including two cavalry units) and were also some of the first park rangers to patrol the American West.
 
"1915: The White Sheet " is only one film out of a very diverse series under the umbrella of American Rhapsody.  We hope to pick up filming again in 2016 as we continue to fundraise to support the creation of all twelve films in the series. 

We are honored  to announce that we have received a grant from the the Ford Foundation in support of this project! Furthermore, the Library of Congress has officially committed to archive the original works for permanent retention while also making the 35mm prints available for public view!

If you are interested in supporting the creation of American Rhapsody, please send us an  e-mail !


On the move with Amor Puro y Duro
 
Greetings  from Mexico City and Tepoztlán! 

Daresha and Catherine rang in the new year entranced in the magical world of Chavela Vargas.

Our director/producer duo spent their time in Mexico interviewing friends and admirers of the chanteuse, including author and close confidant Maria Cortina, singers Tania Libertad & Eugenia Leon, and political pioneer Patria Jimenez Flores, the first openly lesbian/gay member of Mexico's l egislature in the country's history.

Warm nights were spent listening to mariachi music, catching up with old friends, and walking down the familiar streets on which Chavela herself once played.

The experience left us all the more enthused and excited to continue our project - it truly is a labor of love - and we enter 2016 with a renewed spirit and more beautiful footage.

You can learn more about our project on the film's 
website  or by watching our newly updated trailer to your right. 

Our fundraising efforts are in full swing in the new year and you can donate to Amor by clicking here.


AMOR PURO Y DURO-Public Trailer
AMOR PURO Y DURO-Public Trailer

Not Just Passing Through available online!

Not Just Passing Through began as a collaborative project between Jean Carlomusto, Dolores Pérez, Catherine (Saalfield) Gund, and Polly Thistlethwaite.  NJPT delves into  the construction and uses of lesbian history. The video consists of four segments, each illustrating different social, cultural, and political events and organizations in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Highlighted are: the Lesbian Herstory Archives, Asian Lesbians of the East Coast, and the Wow Café, all working to construct lesbian-centered history, art, and politics.

First released in 1994, the film has just been added to CUNY's Graduate Center Archives and a newly digitized version has been published on both YouTube and Vimeo!  NJPT  is also available to own via the Aubin Pictures  site.



Not Just Passing Through
Not Just Passing Through



BO RN TO FLY
nominated for Best Documentary!
 
BORN TO FLY was selected for Video Librarian's 2015 "Best Documentaries" list, which will be published in their Jan/Feb 2016 issue. And we're in good company! Check out this  list of all the "Best Docs":

Banksy Does New York
Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity
The Internet's Own Boy
Seeds of Time
Stop

If you still haven't seen BORN TO FLY,
click here to see all the ways you can fly along!

A Few Things We Love...

SHUGS & FATS

Funny slapstick and nuanced social commentary in under three minutes. How? The foundation is character, according to the Award-winning creators of  Shugs and Fats , the 2015 "Gotham Best Breakthrough Series" in Short Form.  With an episode around two and a half minutes, every second counts. No Film School spoke with show creators Nadia Parvez Manzoor and Radhika Vaz, as well as director Alex Mallis on how starting with well-thought-out characters succeeded in creating the hilarious short series about two Hijabis on a quest to reconcile their long held cultural beliefs with "liberated" Brooklyn.



Tropical Light is a text/image work  by Catherine Lord (writer and Aubin Board Member!) that centers on the Caribbean island of Dominica.  An archive project,  Tropical Light  hijacks the memory books of Dr. Henry Alford Alfred Nicholls, a plantation owner, amateur botanist, physician, and tireless self-promoter relegated to the margins of the British empire at the turn of the twentieth century. T ropical Light  obsessively retains the good doctor's filing system, thus exposing the skeleton of colonial thought, while inserting contemporary, critical, and somewhat idiosyncratic material.

LALIBELA CIRCUS FUNDRAISING

Former  Streb superstar Hope Clark has launched a campaign to raise funds to create a more sustainable performing arts show and livelihood for  Lalibela Circus in Ethiopia. The circus conjures incredible feats of athleticism in a stone building with a dirt floor where teachers are so dedicated they teach without being paid.
Learn more about their fantastic work and if you have a few dollars to spare, consider 
donating to help support a strong foundation for the performing arts at Lalibela.
Lalibela Circus Project Promo
Lalibela Circus Project Promo

AUBIN ANTHOLOGY





By Timothy Williams and Mitch Smith

Our hearts go out to the Rice family and all those facing heartache in Cleveland, OH. The vote against indicting the officer who shot Tamir Rice is a heinous crime, and yet another example of the importance of the #BlackLivesMatter movement and all those across the nation who are working for racial justice. 
 Curriculum for White Americans to Educate Themselves on Race and Racism-from Ferguson to Charleston



Aubin Pictures Lost & Found!

We are saddened by the loss of so many beautiful pines 
but are happy to see that NYC finally found winter!
   

You can support Aubin Pictures while you shop!
 
Aubin Pictures is now registered with Amazon Smile - it's just like Amazon only .5% of each purchase go towards a 501(c)3 of your choice! Click here to get started:  http://smile.amazon.com/ch/13-3912334 .