Unzipped: An Autopsy of American Inequality Has Its World Festival Premiere In Newport Beach - And Wins!

The journey to bring our feature documentary UNZIPPED: An Autopsy of American Inequality to the big screen kicked off on October 24th, 2021 at the Newport Beach Film Festival. This is just the beginning of our larger mission to catalyze debate, awareness, and action around the already massive - and growing - affordable housing (and humanity) crisis in the United States and around the globe with this film.

When we set out to make UNZIPPED in 2018, we could never have predicted how much the world would change with the Covid-19 pandemic as we were filming ... or how much worse the affordable housing crisis was going to get. We who have lived and loved in our beautiful home of Venice, California (an "INTENTIONAL Beach community of color" - Naomi Nightingale, as quoted in the film) have been watching the outrageous and growing income inequality and lack of affordable housing (THE issues of our time, along with the climate CRISIS - which are all related) push our friends and neighbors out of their homes for years, all while gentrification continues to demolish the very soul of our town in real time. This isn't new. 

UNZIPPED follows the artists and stakeholders of Venice as they struggle to remain both housed and committed to their art, and to their/our community. We interviewed those on all sides who have been impacted by lack of affordable housing, homelessness, and rapid gentrification in our neighborhood. The overwhelming realization upon finally watching the finished film all unfold on the screen is that no matter what, we are all connected. All of us. We are ALL affected by the heartbreaking situation of families living outside on the streets, of people being evicted from their homes, of people struggling to remain in their community - and we can all do far better. We are one human family, and though some in our family are sorely lacking in empathy, it doesn't change that absolute fact. 

A fantastic crowd from Venice made the trip down to Newport Beach to see all of our hard work manifest into something beautiful there in the darkened theater of the NBFF. It was a joy to see all of the familiar faces, as well as most of the cast and crew of our movie, led by writer/director, Colin K. Gray. If you have lived in Venice for any amount of time in recent years, you will recognize many people in it, as we filmed in and around Venice for the last three years (including over 55 shoot days, 80+ interviews, and hundreds of hours of footage). It is a very heated issue, and that comes across in the film. We tried to give voice to the different opinions on these staggeringly complex issues - in search of actual, positive solutions - so that maybe Venice, CA. 90291 can be more than just a cautionary tale of how NOT to let byzantine zoning laws, developers,  and divisive rhetoric run roughshod over a town, and possibly find a way to maintain the beauty of its character. There is still time. Time to remember - and honor - that Venice is the PEOPLE'S beach.

 

Venice is one of the most vibrant and exciting places in the world, with a rich history of pop culture forming within its boundaries. Art, music, surf, skating, style, writers, and eccentrics all combined to be the creative vortex we were all drawn to. I truly believe that will never fully change, but landlords and corporations and just plain greed are trying their very best to wring the cool out of it. Well, we're not having it. Hence, this film. Hence, all the organizations and good people rallying around it to make things a little more righteous ... a hopefully a little more just, equitable, and compassionate going forward. To that end, we filmmakers have teamed up with The Illumination Foundation, an O.C. based homeless advocacy organization, as well as the co-host of our NBFF premiere. We will also be rolling out a comprehensive social impact campaign along side the film release - #RaiseTheRoof - which will support other local and national affordable housing initiatives.  We will also be donating 10% of the film’s proceeds to leading organizations active in the affordable housing, anti-displacement and homelessness spaces. 

We're also excited to announce Cargo Film and Releasing will now be representing UNZIPPED: An Autopsy of American Inequality for both domestic and foreign sales, as we all know that this issue has reached global proportions. Lack of affordable housing is a truly global crisis with over 1.6 billion people living in sub-standard housing.  UNZIPPED is a deliberately local lens on this growing national and global issue and we’re excited for it now to be shared with a worldwide audience. We're also thrilled to announce that Lucy Liu recently came on board as one of our Executive Producers, and that the incredible rap duo Run The Jewels has graciously allowed us to use their music for our opening and closing tracks ("A Report to the Shareholders/Kill Your Masters" and "Sea Legs", respectively)! 

It was so wonderful and emotional to see it all come together in such a heartfelt and beautiful way at NBFF after the eye-opening journey of working on this film. I really hope everyone will embrace our film, and I also really think it can help. The key way to gain progress on any issue is opening up the discussion, and our film is both a provocative and intimate starting point. Once communicating openly, we as a nation can begin to both heal and advance our causes in a humanitarian way. And we MUST. 

After the applause died down, and the tears were wiped away, we all assembled at a restaurant nearby to celebrate and catch up, as many of us had not seen each other throughout the pandemic (it was the first indoor movie for many!). The overwhelming feeling was not one of despair, but of hope. Hope that there is still time for America to fulfill its true destiny, as a nation by and FOR the PEOPLE. A nation that cares about ALL of its citizens, including the marginalized, and not just the ones with money. UNZIPPED: An Autopsy of American Inequality holds a mirror up to our country's collective face - and right now, it's actually kind of ugly and in need of a total makeover. We have the means, we just need the will. Our planet and its People are dying in front of our eyes. It doesn't have to be this way. We can do better. We must do better. We WILL do better. 

 

JUST as I was about to send this in for global publication, we got the news that UNZIPPED won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Newport Beach Film Festival! That's the one that's voted on by the people in attendance, not the industry panel of judges, which is even cooler, because this is a film for the PEOPLE. YES. Onward. UPward. Until it's totally normal that everyone has the basic human right of housing. C'mon.

UNZIPPED will next be in competition at the American Black Film Festival November 3-28, 2021, showing virtually from Miami this year. You can register at ABFFPlay.com for free to see the film, as well as a wide range of scripted features, documentaries, and short films. Following that, we anticipate a Venice premiere and national release in early 2022. Tremendous thanks to all involved who helped to make this important film possible. Please see it as soon as you can, and let us know what you think, follow our socials @UnzippedMovie, and get more festival screening, release, and social impact information at www.UnzippedMovie.com . Our hope is that it will touch your heart and move you to become involved in the growing movement to enshrine housing as a human right. Thank you!

#RaiseTheRoof!!! 

 

Clogtown: When Home Won't Let You Stay: Art and Migration at MIA

I really needed a break from the world yesterday, and that feeling often leads me to an art museum. This might be a particularly great outing to think about these days, and everyone tends to give each other space and quiet in museums.

 I've been itching to get back to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to see the When Home Won't Let You Stay: Art and Migration exhibit since the day I saw the Ai Weiwei work Safe Passage and its thousands of life jackets adorning the pillars out in front of the museum, so that's where I headed.

This extremely emotional exhibit might not have been the exact escape I was looking for, as I was choked up when viewing much of it, but the recent string of extra excellent shows at MIA continues. It's wonderful and thought provoking, and really something to see - and reflect on.

Minnesota has the highest number of refugees per capita in the nation, a fact I didn't know until I was at this exhibit. America has always been a melting pot - that's the beauty of it! - and unless you're Native American, we're ALL from immigrant families, so I've never really understood the problem some people (usually old white men besides Bernie Sanders) have with it.

Migration has shaped our world, and we really are now one giant global village at this point. How refreshing it would be if our individual governments could act like it, right? The piece that opens the show is called Woven Chronicle, 2011-2019, by Reena Saini Kallat, and the balls of yarn show the paths of world migration, accompanied by a kind of heavy soundscape that is meant to echo the hum of global movement. Impressive.

Exodus II, 2002, by Mona Hatoum, a Palestinian refugee to the UK, consists of two suitcases linked together by human hair. It makes one wonder what someone would stuff into their luggage if you could only take along a little bit of your life. The hair humanizes the thought, and to me, made it sadder. 

Similarly, Temporary Storage: The Belongings of Juan Manuel Montes, 2017 by Camilo Ontiveros shows us the personal belongings of Montes, believed to be the first DACA recipient to be removed from the United States by Trump. Ontiveros got permission from Montes' mother to create a sculpture of his belongings tied up with rope. It's heartbreaking, as is so much of this show - but it needs to be a part of our global conversation to improve life for everyone.

Everything #4, 2004 by Adrian Piper is equally heavy. An oval mirror printed with "Everything Will Be Taken Away" is the artist forcing people to literally face this reality ... and deal with it. Piper was a New Yorker working in Berlin, when she was placed on a suspicious traveler list, and has refused to return to the States, resenting any such authority of her movement - and I don't blame her. This piece insists that we look within ... like who do we really want to be as a people? We can do so so so much better.

A very heavy and similar piece to the life jackets outside MIA is Le Mer Morte (The Dead Sea), 2015 by Kader Attia. The clothing strewn across the floor represents the 1 million people who fled across the Mediterranean Sea in 2015, with 3,753 missing and believed to be dead. The blue clothing items help you visualize the people who have washed ashore ... the HUMAN BEINGS that died looking for a better life. Incredibly sad, this one is tough to take in. (As are the many video installations of people speaking of their harrowing experiences throughout this show).

Xaviera Simmons says of her piece Sundown (Number Twelve), 2018, "Black people, especially those who descend from American chattel slavery, have been in a constant state of migration since the country's formation." Her piece shows a character in colonial dress with an African mask, holding a photograph of people during the "Great Migration" (1890-1930), and was one of my favorite works in the exhibit. "Sundown" refers to towns that were not safe for black people after dark. The work kind of sums up that entire experience and history in one beautiful image.

Simmons also presents the text painting, Found The Sea Like The River, 2018 which features excerpts from Christopher Columbus' diaries when he was exploring the New World. It focuses heavily on the nature, and conveniently leaves out the violence and terror these explorers rained down on the indigenous people that already lived here. I'm ALL for Indigenous Peoples Day over Columbus Day, so I dug this one. (And I'm firm on calling it  Lake Bde Maka Ska too).

Do Ho Suh presents Hub-1, Entrance and Hub-2, Breakfast Corner, 26-7, Sungbook-dong, Sungboo-Ku, Seoul, Korea, 2018 as interactive pieces that depict the process of migration, "where each step of the process is like crossing another threshold." I didn't really get it until I read the blurb, that says it evoked memories of Suh's childhood home, and that the translucence is like the hazy memories from other times. Cool.

I loved the works by Aliza Nisenbaum, who MIA invited to have a residency to work with groups in the Minneapolis Whittier neighborhood. Her bright pieces, full of color and life, depict everyday life in the immigrant communities surrounding the museum. Nimo, Sumiya, and Bisharo Harvesting Flowers and Vegetables at Hope Community Garden, 2017 shows the Somalian women who care for this garden. Beautiful.

Nisenbaum's La Talaverita, Sunday Morning NY Times, 2016 portrays a lazy Sunday morning in a Mexican community in Queens, NY. There is such beauty in the everyday, if only we can be more aware of it.

Angel Exterminador/Exterminating Angel, 2015 by Guillermo Galindo is an actual section of the Mexican-United States barrier. As awful as that thing is, Galindo turns the sculpture into an instrument that can be played by the artist or other performers. His intent was to make more noise than the anti-immigrant factions out there ... and rightly so.

An entire giant wall is taken up by Artifacts found from California to Texas between 2013 and 2015/Artefactos encontrados entre California y Texas de 2013 a 2015, 2013-2015 by Richard Misrach was another real heavy one.

Misrach photographed the remnants left behind by travelers throught the desert trying to get to the border ... clothes, water bottles, bikes, toys ... that once again serve to humanize the immigrant experience - and maybe make it a bit easier to put yourself in their shoes.

My very favorite part of the entire exhibit was The American Library, 2018 by Yinka Shonibare, 2018. A whole room is filled with cloth covered books, with the names of American immigrants  or members of The Great Migration within the U.S. who have made their marks on American life stenciled there on the spines in gold foil.

There is a website that invites you to sit down and read the stories of the names on these books - or to write your own. The interactive quality makes it feel like a real library, and it was fascinating to sit and listen to a few of the stories that make up America. It was jolting, however, to find that it does not include Native Americans, ignoring the cultural contributions of our original inhabitants - sort of like our government does.

I zoomed in to show the detail on the gorgeous books, and was delighted to find that the spot I zoomed in on held the names of Yoko Ono, Joe Hill, and Bob Marley - all personal favorites of mine without even looking. I could have spent the entire afternoon just looking at the spines, and thinking about all of the wonderful people that have created our country by leaving theirs. This room allowed me to leave the exhibit with hope, rather than despair. What a beautiful way to acknowledge all of the glorious tapestry of lives and nations that have combined into this one ... may we honor it also in our own everyday lives.

The exhibit concludes with CarryOn Homes - Living Room, 2020. It's a cozy space strewn with pillows (handmade from clothing linked to the artists) that allows attendees to sit and relax, and find some calm from the difficult realities they just viewed. Interviews are played on the screen from members of the CarryOn Homes art collective, telling their stories of being artists and immigrants from all over. There are resource books there too, so that immigrants and refugee communities can come together with shared connections. It's all very thoughtful, and again, offers some hope.

There was again a wall of thoughts and comments from people who have come through the exhibit, asking "What does HOME mean to you?" Even a quick glance lets you know that this show is making people think. I saw one that asked in the current climate, with everyone freaking out over the pandemic and hoarding things and being forced to quarantine, and not travel, and not attend events ... that maybe now Americans can stop and think about how life is for refugees. Now we're all being forced to do (and not do) things we don't want to do ... how does it feel? Maybe all of this will cause a big swell of empathy when everyone FINALLY realizes that we are all one, and all in this together. I hope so anyway.

As you're coming or going to the exhibit, there is a gigantic photo (5,776 of them!) wall by Ai Weiwei, depicting the thousands of refugees crossing the Mediterranean ... the same ones that wore the life jackets hanging on the columns outside.

The faces again show the actual humanity involved in these nightly news stories, and let you know that world policies affect real people, people just like you and I.

People that COULD be you and I real soon here if some massive progress isn't made in the fights against climate crisis, looming wars, famine and disease. Think about it ... just like this excellent social studies class of an art show asks you to.

Thank you to MIA for giving us yet another beautiful, important show that exemplifies that spirit of art being the hammer that shapes the world. Well done!

When Home Won't Let You Stay: Art and Migration is at MIA now through May 24, 2020.

The Light Of Venice

We were recently shooting down on the Boardwalk for our documentary, 90291: VENICE UNZIPPED, when I finally really got down and looked at the wonderful tiles embedded in the benches all along Ocean Front Walk. Each depicts a classic time and place in Venice, and show what has always made our Community special and unique.

I know many of us feel that is all being threatened these days on several fronts, and that we often feel helpless to create positive change and reject the negative ... but we're not. We all have a voice, and you can exercise yours this weekend during the Venice Neighborhood Council elections by showing up to vote for the people that deeply care about the spirit of Venice, and wish to preserve it - not merely profit from it.

I can't be there for everything happening in Venice this weekend, as I'm in Minnesota taking care of things for my ailing Mother, so I extra get that feeling of helplessness ... but I can at least tell you what I think. There have been nefarious forces at work for some time on both the VNC and the Venice Chamber of Commerce, and I really think it's time to clean house in both of those organizations. You may recall the stories about the Chamber not letting Venice Pride use the Venice Sign for the annual sign lighting and party over strictly personal beefs and shady accounting. Well, now they've gone ahead and lit the sign rainbow ahead of Pride - not allowing them to have the countdown or anything - and the "scheduled maintenance" they said they were doing on the sign for the month of June appears to be another lie. Venice Pride had to go ahead and order their own sign as a backup plan, so now there will be a double rainbow during tomorrow's Pride celebration! Pride will never go down without the FUN.

The Chamber also scheduled their "Flower Fest" for the exact same day as Pride, and got the Art Crawl to join them. The Chamber/Flower Fest situation is what started all of the issues with Venice Pride, as the Chamber didn't have enough money in their budget to make it happen last year, so resorted to ever shadier tactics (which they wrongly accused Venice Pride of, hypocritically - and there's plenty of documentation to prove it) to throw the event - that pretty much no one attended. I don't have time to get into all of it here and now, as I'm dealing with pressing family things here, but I will tell you that you can trust me on the fact that I wouldn't cast a single vote for anyone who endorses the Venice Chamber hijinks. Or anyone that values property value or development over Community, creativity, and empathy. Who I WOULD vote for are who the people who share my deep desire to preserve that special light of Venice are voting for:

Community Officer: Jim Robb/Brian Averill
Outreach: Joselyn Williams
Chair of Land Use and Planning Committee: Alix Gucovsky
Vice President: Grant Turck (!!!!!!)
President: Ira Koslow

There are more categories to vote for, and I don't have time to get all the way into it now ... but for those I would definitely err on the side of the longer they have lived in Venice, the more chance they get my vote. Because they simply care more and GET IT more. There is a an all day (10-6) BBQ on Sunday at 1301 Main Street hosted by Robb, Averill, and Gucovsky that you can hit up before or after you vote - or both. Get to know the people that love and care about Venice and want to be stewards of what our late great poet, Philomene Long called "the light of Venice" ...

That the light of Venice

not be extinguished

Nor diminished

nor simply maintained.

But that that light burn, burn, burn

into a boundless luminosity!  

I look forward to hearing that the right people were elected, and that Pride was the best ever this year! Cheers, fun, and LOVE to all Venetians!!! 

*And do check out the marvelous benches, as well as the book about them - Art Tiles At Venice Beach!

The 40th Anniversary Venice Art Walk!

The forecast said rain for Sunday, and that would be a major drag for the 40th anniversary edition of the Venice Art Walk to benefit our Venice Family Clinic ... but the sun came out just in time, and the day was glorious in every way.

We were shooting artists and families for our documentary 90291: VENICE UNZIPPED, so it was extra great that the rain stopped, like PHEW. I didn't get around to as many artist studios as I usually do, because we were shooting, but I did get to race through the Google campus to see the silent auction part of the day. There didn't seem to be as much art in there as most years, but I didn't have as much time either, so all was well - and there was plenty of art to be seen.

The Gold's Gym parking lot was decked out as a family fun zone, complete with a rainbow balloon arch to welcome you, as we were looking for real rainbows in the sky.

So many local (and global) artists support the Venice Art Walk, and the Venice Family Clinic supports so many artists - and regular people too. Health care is such an issue in this country, and that we have a resource that looks out for everyone - regardless of income - is a special gift, and really the point of the entire event and day.

I had just been to the wonderful We Rise L.A. opening night a couple nights before, so my head was full of art that actually matters, and was happy to see that the artists representing Venice were also using their heads and talents to make their points.

There was a lot of great work, and I just quick snapped shots of the ones that I'd want to have in my own home, like the California Bear.

I met a woman named Kim Schoenstadt at a party the night before, and she told me her work would be in the Art Walk, so I looked for it and found it there. It's pretty cool, as it's kind of paint by number, and you buy the outline, then fill it in yourself for an interactive piece. Cool, right?

There was work by people you see on the streets of Venice every day, and there was work from people that aren't living anymore. There were things with low opening bids from up and comers, and there were real expensive pieces by dudes like Ed Ruscha.

The signature artist this year was Laura Owens, whose work was not only up for auction, but adorned all the official tote bags this year.

This year they had a bunch of Art Walk artists do their own version of a dog sculpture, and the individually decorated hounds were also up for auction.

There are always a lot of cool people roaming around the Venice Art Walk, but probably the coolest this year was Flea, who was not trying to blend in with his entirely purple outfit, yellow shoes, and pink hair.  Californication personified!

Andy Moses had a piece that reminded me of really good Spin Art, and it made me think of his dad, Ed, who we lost last year.

One of my favorite pieces inside was one that said "Good Night, Sleep Tight" with words made of a collage of hotel/motel ephemera from a Crosby, Stills, and Nash tour. How cool, and it also touched my heart because that is what our Mom has always said before we went to sleep.

The Beer Garden area was crowded and jumping, with people happy to be outside enjoying the sunshine and art.

I had to race off to meet back up with my film crew, but quickly stopped off to see the great work by M.B. Boissonnault in her studio. We had interviewed her for our documentary earlier in the day, as one of our favorite Venice artists and a woman with great things to say. There was a constant flow through her studio, so our visit was brief, but gratifying. Thanks, M.B.!

From there it was a short walk over to the studio of Tanja Skala and Greg Falk, who were our next subjects to film for an interview. I always love my visits to this husband/wife team and the incredible studio of theirs that they built themselves from scratch. Skala always does a riveting, profound performance piece for the Art Walk, which are always a highlight of the day for me each year. This year found Skala and her friend acting as doctors, giving prescriptions of "Empathy Pills" to the patients that came through.

They sat in front of a periodic table of human emotions, and as you stood in front of it, you really got that of all of the emotions that we feel, empathy is the one most needed in this world right now.

That is true for our film also, and in interviewing Skala and Falk (with his amazing work upstairs that includes a speed wheelchair made from skateboard parts! Giving back!) we realized what a good summation it also is for our project. In examining income inequality, homelessness, gentrification, and art in our community, the number one thing most needed right now IS empathy.

That is also true of the Venice Art Walk itself. Artists of all levels contribute to the event to give back to the clinic that helps other members of their community in a beautiful example of yes, Empathy.

I didn't get to see as much art as I would have liked this year, but what I did see was beautiful and moving ... and all for a wonderful cause! It was also great to see so many locals out and about enjoying art in and about the heart of Venice.

Thank you to the Venice Art Walk crew for another excellent year of art and empathy! Love.