For Your Oscar Consideration - UNZIPPED: An Autopsy of American Inequality

 UNZIPPED: An Autopsy of American Inequality is in consideration for the Academy Awards and the deep consideration starts TODAY! Please pass this along to any and all Academy members that you know, as I really can't think of many more important topics than making sure our fellow humans are housed. It's THE most basic human right, yet we allow so many of our citizens to sleep out on the streets in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It's just not right. And we all need to be talking about it until we can really be called a decent civilization, by providing the very least anyone can ask for - shelter. It was an honor and a privilege to help produce this film, and our team, led by director Colin Gray, is all in on doing whatever we can to help make it a world where the most basic needs are being met ... by raising the roof!

 

Many, if not most, Academy members live in Los Angeles and can see the massive and outrageous problem of people living on the streets every day. One can complain about it, or one can do something about it. We chose the latter by making this film. The intent we set out with was to at least start the conversation to find solutions, rather than look the other way, as so many do when faced with this situation. 

A good starting point with any tough subject is always EMPATHY. The NIMBY people who don't care what happens as long as they don't have to see houseless HUMANS in their neighborhood don't seem to realize how quickly it could be them. You lose a job, a family member gets an illness, your rent gets raised, and BOOM.  I've seen it happen to more than one person I know, and no one is as stable as they think they are. We have to start CARING more, because we truly are all in this together. 

 

 

We held a screening at Beyond Baroque on Monday night for Oscar voters to consider UNZIPPED: An Autopsy of American Inequality as a worthy competitor for the Academy Awards, and to raise awareness for our #RaiseTheRoof Impact Hub.  This is a resource that goes beyond the film to help people find help and resources in their area, as well as for those who want TO help and OFFER resources. It was clear that this topic truly affects us all, and it's high time we all did something about it. That is why we're pushing hard for an Oscar nomination. It's not about any personal glory for any of us. but a means to get the word out on a much larger scale, not only about the film, but the ISSUE - and the ways we can all work together to ENSURE that Housing is enshrined as a basic human right. Because it is. 

UNZIPPED is also a finalist for the Anthem Awards in the Awareness and Media category, and we'd be so honored if you would help this project by voting for us there too (anyone can, no need to be in the Academy!). It's nice that we're in the Awareness category, because that's exactly what we're trying to raise - along with roofs. Please vote here - https://celebrate.anthemawards.com/PublicVoting/#/2024/humanitarian-action-services/awareness-media-categories/. Thank you!

I know there are a lot of qualified documentaries, and a lot of very deeply important topics covered, but I really wonder which affect Los Angeles more than our homeless pandemic? Or the world, for that matter. I think about the Olympics coming up in L.A. in 2028, and wonder how they'll erase the inescapable sadness that is the homeless situation all over town? How they'll justify housing an entire Olympic Village for the athletes when they can't find affordable housing for our full time citizens? It's pretty heavy.  I'm currently in Minneapolis taking care of family, where it is starting to get cold. There are major homeless encampments in the city, and people with signs for help at freeway exits and busy intersections all around the Twin Cities and their suburbs. It's the holiday season, and I just don't know how any of us can feel good about any of us sleeping out in the cold. It's truly time to RAISE THE ROOF (that is a hot link for you to follow and get involved!!) for everyone, and I hope so much that you can all help us make it a reality where everyone has safe shelter and enough to eat. This is America, and we need to do far better by our People. We CAN. And we MUST.

UNZIPPED is available to watch now on Amazon Prime and Vimeo, and eligible for you to consider it for the Academy Awards right NOW! Thank you so much for helping us to #RaiseTheRoof!!! We truly appreciate it, and so will all the people we can help together. 

Season's Greetings to All! I miss you, Venice!

More Love!

If you read my last post, you'd know that I've been having a hard time with all the hateful rhetoric going around these days, never mind the actual violence. I decided to really make a point of searching out and  focusing on the LOVE that I know exists in everyone, and talk about that instead. When you make these choices, the world seems to arrange itself accordingly. Like when first thing this morning I saw David Busch sitting on the sidewalk in front of Mystic Journey on Abbot Kinney, offering "Free Love" to anyone passing by.

Well, I of course took him up on not only a "More Love" piece (which is a "command"), but also the chance to sit down on the curb there with him to hear what he had to say about the state of our city and country's affairs these days. I asked what he'd been up to lately, and he simply replied, "Love". Awesome.

We discussed the homeless "problem" here in Venice, and the only problem he sees is the persecution of people by authorities simply because they can't afford a proper house - because of an affordable housing crisis here in Venice that we all feel. He considers the sweeps on the homeless down at the beach a form of terrorism, and so do I. It's all about fear, and we both cannot understand why people who need the most help in one of the richest cities in the world, really aren't getting barely any. We talked about Venice being a "Cultural Wetlands" - which I loved - and how it's biodiversity of both people and creativity are being severely endangered ... and how we'll both fight to preserve it.

This will all be discussed in depth tomorrow night at the Venice Neighborhood Council meeting held at Westminster School at 7 p.m., where they will attempt to come up with "Homelessness solutions." David Bush will be there, perhaps with the best solution of all ... More Love.