






G-DOG is what the homies call the priest.
This is the story of a remarkable odd couple. There's Father Greg Boyle, a white Jesuit priest who's spent some 25 years in the toughest part of East LA, and then there's the tough, street-smart, and amazingly sweet young people – all former gang members – whom G-Dog loves and helps, and who love him in turn. For Father Greg's remedy for what he calls "a global sense of failure" for kids at-risk is radical and simple: boundless, restorative love. His unstoppable compassion has turned around the lives of thousands of Latino, Asian and African American gang members.
G-Dog works by a powerful idea: "Nothing Stops a Bullet like a Job." Over the years his Homeboy Industries in LA has become an international model for rebuilding and redirecting the lives of gang members. Kids come in off the street, rival gang members - 12,000 a year - looking for a way out of gang life. Homeboy, located in a gang-neutral area of downtown LA on the edge of Chinatown, takes them in, providing free job training, tattoo removal, counseling, yoga, fatherhood- and substance abuse classes. If they stick with it, the kids get jobs baking, cooking, serving, printing t-shirts and cleaning in the Homeboy businesses – a café, retail store, catering service, a silk screen shop – to learn the soft and hard skills to move on.
In 18 months the homies are ready to go into the world to make a positive difference. For Homeboy has an astonishing success rate – 70% turn their back on gang life, compared to a recidivism rate of 70% of other such programs. Homeboy is the one place in the 'hood that turns lives around: swapping violence for community and building for the first time a sense of the future. We see it happen in G-DOG.
"Jobs not jail"
The film is often hilarious and astonishing but it is not just a poem of sweetness and light. G-DOG chronicles a tough year in the life of Homeboy Industries. 2010 is a year of tumult, change, and pain. In today's straitened financial times, Homeboy faces a bruising battle with the bottom line: one day, as we watch, the fan is hit, and Father Greg has to shut down parts of Homeboy. It's a crushing blow, and it gets worse. East LA is always East LA; death is still out there, and sure enough it comes home to roost. Two people we've seen early in the movie are dead by the time the credits roll. The question is, Will the homies and Homeboy itself survive?
"Homeboy is a therapeutic community – a place of hope and kinship."
Greg Boyle began with the classically humble ambition of devoting
his life to the poor. Instead he became a cultural icon --
America's leading gang expert, author of a whopping bestseller, "Tattoos
on the Heart," celebrated guest on Dr. Phil and Tavis Smiley.
In 1986 Father G was assigned to the poorest parish in East L.A.'s Boyle Heights. The naïve young priest walked into the middle of a war zone, the gang capital of the country. Gang violence rocked the city in the 90s, dubbed the "Decade of Death," and Father G was astonished to find teenagers planning their funerals and not their future.
"I came from a middle-class Irish-American family," recalls Greg Boyle. "As a kid, I wouldn't have known what a gang member looked like if one hit me upside the head. I couldn't have joined a gang if I'd wanted to. I wouldn't have been able to find a gang if you'd sent me on a scavenger hunt."
But what Father G lacked in experience with gangs, he made up for it in resourcefulness - he quickly partnered with the Latino and black mothers in the rough housing projects and out of the ashes of destruction rose a phoenix of hope – Jobs For The Future - a program that provided job training and jobs, alternative schools, social programs.
As he was launching Homeboy during the worst violence, Father G said, "If we don't address where all this comes from – dysfunctional families, grinding poverty and joblessness – this stuff is going to repeat itself"
Says L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, "You cannot arrest yourself out of a gang problem. You cannot put enough people in jail or prison to solve this problem."
In an era that emphasizes being 'smart on crime,' citizens and civic leaders around the country have come to better understand the complexity of gang life. Father G's years of working in the margins have helped put a human face on gang members and the pull of gang life.
He said, "We're going to stand with the demonized until the demonization stops. And it really has. We now get fan mail where we used to get hate mail."
"No hopeful kid joins a gang."
So it is that G-Dog (Greg Boyle, G or Greg) has created a global
model for social reform - a beacon of hope for families, law
enforcement, children's advocates, and policy makers.
Greg Boyle is a charismatic visionary but he's made the dream real: Homeboy Industries has become the largest, most successful gang intervention and rehab program in the U.S. and an inspiration for helping to kids at risk whether in Toronto, Manchester, Hamburg, Rio and more.
G – DOG is a story of second chances – for kids at risk of joining gangs and for those trying to leave gang life – in more ways than one. The powerful chronicle of how young people can redirect their lives is also the story of Father Greg's own transformation. He tells us, "The day simply won't come when I am more noble and have more courage than the homeboys and homegirls I have known. In Africa they say ' a person becomes a person through other people.' There can be no doubt that the homies have returned me to myself."
Tickets are $100 (include both events), hearty appetizers and drinks

Ana Nogueira
A journalist and first-time filmmaker. She worked as a
producer for the national daily radio and TV news program Democracy Now! in the United States for four years and later as a correspondent for the show. She is a founding member of the New York City Independent Media Center, its newspaper The Indypendent,
and the global Indymedia network which was a pioneer in
citizen-produced journalism.
Nogueira was born in South Africa and
lives in the United States.
Eron Davidson
A long-time media activist and film maker. He has
produced several short videos that have helped to galvanize excitement
for various community organizing projects in the United States.
Davidson
was born in Israel, and lives in the United States.
In this award-winning documentary, the first-time directors take a
detailed look at the apartheid analogy commonly used to describe the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Narrated by Alice Walker (author of The Color Purple), Roadmap to
Apartheid is as much a historical document of the rise and fall of
apartheid in South Africa, as it is a film about why many Palestinians
feel they are living in an apartheid system today, and why an increasing
number of people around the world agree with them.
While not perfect, the apartheid analogy is a useful framework by
which to educate people on the complex issues facing Israelis and
Palestinians. The film delves into those issues, comparing the many
similar laws and tools used by both Israel and apartheid-era South
Africa.
The audience will see what life is like for Palestinians in the
West Bank, Gaza Strip and inside Israel while gaining a deeper
understanding of the conflict with the help of respected analysts on the
subject. Combined with archival material and anecdotes from South
Africans, the film forms a complete picture as to why the analogy is
being used with increasing frequency and potency.
“Roadmap To Apartheid is very powerful and compelling, and the visuals of house demolitions are appalling. Religion is repeatedly misused by politicians. Yet one of the lessons of Jewish history is that God is always on the side of the oppressed. Another is that those who dehumanize others, dehumanize themselves. Israelis will pay a heavy price for their callous mistreatment of Palestinians.”
- ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU
"The most educational film to sum up what's going on in the Occupied Territories...an absolute must for trying to understand this madness"
- Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film






Inspired by the works of Anatole France, GULF STREAM UNDER THE ICEBERG follows three love stories that take place during the Renaissance (circa 1664); the 19th Century (circa 1883);
and during modern times (circa 1990). Influenced by legendary fairy tales, Oriental myths, the Talmud and the medieval books of Cabala, Award-winning director Yevgeny Pashkevich’s second feature is a kaleidoscopic and hypnotic affair.
“Gulf Stream Under the Iceberg”, is a visually moving story that leads you into a magical and self-absorbing story about Adam´s first wife, Lilith - a femme fatale metaphor of how humankind tries to run away from Eden and strive to become sinless, yet ultimately ends up trapped in its own unconsciousness.
Like Lars Von Trier and Peter Greenaway, Pashkevich’s second feature since his festival hit The Days of A Man is undoubtedly an impressive spellbinding experience that offers the freedom of choice to quietly participate and visit your own unconscious and magical adventure that is GULF STREAM UNDER THE ICEBERG.


Friends Of Film Fundraiser for Haiti Relief Efforts
Cocktail Party/Outdoor Screening - private residence, Pacific Palisades
MINIMUM DONATION - $40
6pm - cocktails/food/socializing, 8:15 film
SUN CITY PICTURE HOUSE
Directed by David Darg; Produced by Bryn Mooser
After watching the last of the old colonial movie theaters destroyed in the earthquake, a young Haitian man enlists the help of a priest and two young aid workers to build Haiti's only movie theater on a hill above a tent city. This is the joyful and moving story of a community torn apart by disaster then united in a singular vision.
"A beautiful film that will renew your faith in fellow man." - Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
Friends Of Film
Social Justice Series
(accepting submissions now)
Levantine Cultural Center
5998 Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Plenty of free street parking on Pico after 6 pm
Second screening
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Social "hour" 7 pm - films to screen when dark, around 7:50pm
TAGUT
(´Fog´in Tashelhit) (17 minutes)
Directed by Melanie Reynard - IN ATTENDANCE!
Reynard follows the non-profit organization Dar Si-Hmad based in Ifni, Southwest
of Morocco who launches a fog-collecting project in June 2011 in order
to provide drinking water to Amazigh communities living in the
Anti-Atlas Mountains and relieve women from fetching water an average of
3.5 hours per day.
BEIRUT RISING

Directed by Soula Saad - FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE!
Saad documents the beginning of a spontaneous and non
sectarian outcry for peace and justice in a makeshift tent camp in the
middle of Beirut.
Best Documentary Film at Women International Film & Televisionvisionary
Awards.
Admission is $5 - food/drinks for purchase on site
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Social "hour" 7 pm - films to screen when dark, around 7:40pm
Two short documentaries
WITH MY OWN TWO WHEELS

Directed by Jacob Seigel-Boettner and Isaac Seigel-Boettner
For many Americans, the bicycle is a choice. An expensive toy. An eco-conscious mode of transportation. For countless others across the globe, it is much more.
For Fred, a health worker in Zambia, the bicycle is a means of reaching twice as many patients.
For Bharati, a teenager in India, it provides access to education.
For Mirriam, a disabled Ghanaian woman, working on bicycles is an escape from the stigma attached to disabled people in her community.
For Carlos, a farmer in Guatemala, pedal power is a way to help neighbors reduce their impact on the environment.
For Sharkey, a young man in California, the bicycle is an escape from the gangs that consume so many of his peers.
With My Own Two Wheels weaves together the experiences of these five individuals into a single story about how the bicycle can change the world—one pedal stroke at a time.
JOBS FOR RENT
Directed by Michelle Paster
Jobs For Rent follows the emotional and financial journeys of three 20-somethings establishing their careers. Ride along with the overachieving lawyer, struggling artist, and wandering Starbucks employee, knowing you are not alone in the process. Do you want to borrow a job?
Admission is $5 to benefit Bikes Not Bombs
www.BikesNotBombs.org
-------------------------------------------------------
PAST EVENTS
Friends Of Film to honor
Jonathan Lynn
May 13, 2011

with a Lifetime Achievement Award
at a VIP cocktail party and outdoor screening of the short documentary
WITH MY OWN TWO WHEELS
Directed by Jacob Seigel-Boettner and Isaac Seigel-Boettner

For many Americans, the bicycle is a choice. An expensive toy. An eco-conscious mode of transportation. For countless others across the globe, it is much more.
For Fred, a health worker in Zambia, the bicycle is a means of reaching twice as many patients.
For Bharati, a teenager in India, it provides access to education.
For Mirriam, a disabled Ghanaian woman, working on bicycles is an escape from the stigma attached to disabled people in her community.
For Carlos, a farmer in Guatemala, pedal power is a way to help neighbors reduce their impact on the environment.
For Sharkey, a young man in California, the bicycle is an escape from the gangs that consu
me so many of his peers.
With My Own Two Wheels weaves together the experiences of these five individuals into a single story about how the bicycle can change the world—one pedal stroke at a time.
Friends Of Film

Foreign Film Oscar(R) Submission Series
Screenings at
Laemmle Theaters, 1332 2nd Street
Santa Monica, CA, 90401
Saturday, Dec 18th, 11am - LA PETITE CHAMBRE (Switzerland’s submission) - Note: Saturday







"Simple Simon" is the story of 18 year-old Simon, a boy with Asperger’s syndrome whose life is turned upside-down when his brother Sam is dumped by his girlfriend. To make his life work, Simon needs structure. He needs things to follow a certain pattern - with the same schedule, the same meals, the same clothes - week in week out. Sam is the one who’s always taken care of Simon. Making him food in the shape of circles and helping him understand humans.
But with Sam depressed over the breakup with his girlfriend everything changes and Simon’s world turns into chaos. Wanting things to get back to normal, Simon gives himself one mission - to find Sam a new girlfriend. Unfortunately Simon knows nothing about love and doesn’t understand.
"Just in time for THE HOLIDAYS, a heart-warming film that will bring out the full emotional gamut." - Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
Dec 26th, 2010 - 11:00 am
Norway's submission
THE ANGEL
Screening made possible with partial support of Scandinavian Film Festival
Of Los Angeles www.scandinavianfilmfestivalla.com
European Languages and Movies in America, www.ELMA.org
and Norway's Consul General's Office

Directed by Margreth Olin
THE ANGEL is a story about women. About carrying and inheriting Mummy´s traumas. When addiction rules all your decisions.
Lea grows up in a home characterized by lack of protection. From being a cheerful, curious little girl, Lea changes dramatically when her mother Madeleine returns to her ex-boyfriend Ole. The death dance between the two adults harms the child growing up between them.
Dope enables Lea to hold out everyday life with her family. Then Lea gives birth to her daughter Sonja. She wishes to break with her family and start a new life. She wants to take care of her child and give her the protection she herself never got. But Lea soon realizes that she lacks the ability to do so. Consequently, she has to make an impossible decision.
"A hard riveting film that hits like a NFL linebacker...makes plans for an after screening drink, you might need it." - Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
Jan 2nd, 2011, 11am
THE NETHERLANDS' submission
TIRZA

Directed by Rudolph van den Berg
Jörgen's world is crumbling. Forced into early retirement and harassed by his ex-wife, the only part of his life which makes sense - raising his beloved daughter, Tirza - is shattered when she disappears on holiday in Namibia. After weeks of terrifying uncertainty, Jörgen goes searching for her, but the heat, his drinking and bad memories combine to unhinge him. His only ally is a child prostitute called Kaisa. Together they journey into the wilderness on Tirza's trail to discover her fate.
Jan 8th, 2011, 11am
PUERTO RICO's submission
MIENTE
Digital Projection

Directed by Rafi Mercado
Miente follows the story of Henry, an introverted young artist who, seeking to escape the banality and violence of urban life, begins to blur the distinction between fantasy and reality.
Jan 9nd, 2011, 11am
AZERBAIJAN's submission
THE PRECINCT

Directed by Ilgar Safat
The story is set in Baku. A famous photographer has to choose between accepting a valuable job offer in Africa or marrying his fiancee - a young , talented sculptor inspired by images of ritual dances.
RSVP to
to Bob@FriendsOfFilm.com
Bob Sharka’s *Pick of the Week*
Drop us a note if you'd like to be considered for this - Bob@FriendsOfFilm.com
TROUBADOURS
Feb 4, 2011
Fresh off the hot trail of the 2011 Sundance Film festival comes TROUBADORS, a remarkable doc that journeys into the heart of the late 60’s and early 70’s singer-songwriter scene in Los Angeles with some of the biggest names of the time - Carole King, James Taylor, Jackson Brown, Elton John, the list goes on and on, one name bigger than the next.
Los Angelinos in particular will probably recognize the film’s title as Doug Weston’s club on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood that spurned the illustrious careers of so many ….
Hearing these living legends talk about the times brought a smile to my face from ear to ear and tears to my eyes.
Filmmaker Morgan Neville, a very polished music documentarian (among other things), pieces together some incredible archival footage with present day interviews to produce an absolute gem, a not-to-be missed chronicle of this most memorable period…
TROUBADOORS opens this Friday at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 in West Hollywood for a one week run
- Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
IF I WANT TO WHISTLE, I WHISTLE
Jan 5, 2011

"Distributor FILM MOVEMENT picks up another foreign gem, this time Romania's Oscar(r) submission for best foreign film...you'll feel the prison conditons in the air." - Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
TRUE GRIT
Dec 24, 2010

"A sure-fire frontrunner for some Oscar(r) nods, including best cinematography."
- Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
RABBIT HOLE
Dec 17, 2010

"Best actress category is always one of the toughest to call but NIcole Kidman's top-notch performance makes it one less headache....she nails it."
-Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
THE FIGHTER
Dec 10, 2010

"Bad hairdoos and a few bad Boston accents aside, THE FIGHTER is, round for round, one of the year's best..... Christian Bale gives a supporting performance guaranteed an Oscar nom."
BARNEY'S VERSION
Dec 3, 2010
"The buzz about Giamatti is well-deserved but Rosamund Pike steals the show up giving Oscar-esque performances in the best actress category.....a true delight and one of this year's films not to be missed."
THE KING'S SPEECH
Nov 26, 2010
"An absolute monster on the festival circuit, this one is chock full of well-deserved Oscar(r) hopefuls."
127 HOURS
Nov 19, 2010
"James Franco as the trapped hiker leaves you squirming in your seat....a strong contender for Best Actor this awards season."
MARWENCOL
Nov 12, 2010

Jeff Malmberg writes, directs, edits (and even drives the team’s bus, it seems) in this multi-award-winning film festival fave making its well-deserved theatrical release across North America.
Subject Mark Hogancamp – who was beaten to near death – must pick up the pieces of his life opting to retreat to his backyard to create a 1/6 scale world of the people he had previously known before suffering brain damage.
First time doc director Malmberg – a storyteller to watch - directs with such style and astute eyes, revealing the nuances in Hogancamp’s life very much the same as Hogancamps' very-own miniature creations; with fine detail, one better than the next.
New York has already embraced MARWENCOL, giving it a second week run (at least) at the IFC Center before heading to L.A. on Nov. 12th
JOLENE
11/5/2010

A solid indie film, starring Jessica Chastain, one of the freshest faces to hit the screen this year in her breakout role. ..Some fine perfs from seasoned vets, including the versatile Frances Fisher (perfectly cast as a prison guard who falls deep for Jolene), Chaz Palminteri, and Dermot Mulroney -make Dan Ireland’s pic a pleasant little surprise, indeed.




NESHOBA: THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
A multiple award-winning film on the film fest circuit, NESHOBA, THE PRICE OF FREEDOM follows a southern town still divided after over 40 years. Parents and teachers alike should take note of this documentary gem that hits like a heavy-weight champ, offering families a terrific supplement to the standard ho-hum American History classes we’ve all had. -
Filmmakers Micki Dickoff and Tony Pagano recount a sad period from America’s past that we should all be ashamed of - the murder of three men, two Jews and an African American in Mississippi in ’64 - and its present day search for justice
Neshoba, The Price Of Freedom, distributed by First Run Features, continues its national run, opening Friday Sept. 10 in Los Angeles.www.FirstRunFeatures.com
Friends Of Film to head to Iceland for the
Reykjavik Film Festival Sept 23 - Oct 3, 2010
by Deborah DePauk
Life, indeed, is strange. We've been to many film festivals around the world but it has taken us until year seven of the RIFF to catch this one. Certainly one of the more obscure spots on the festival circuit, Reykjavik combines glaciers, fabulous films with the Northern Lights in this hip capital city of 200,000.
THE RIFF has a quite diverse program that is now released.
http://en.riff.is/




Filmmakers Kearns and Hudson return to Pacific Palisades Film Festival with their latest work in progress!
He was born Ezekiel Montanez.
He was a teenager when he recorded his first international hit, “Let's Dance"
The song took him to the top of the charts and, at the height of the Civil Rights struggle, on tour through the Deep South with Sam Cooke, Smokey Robinson and Clyde McPhatter. He’d play a major role in The Beatles story, headlining a UK tour with the group amid the first stirrings of Beatlemania-- and brawling with John Lennon in an incident that became rock ‘n’ roll legend.
This period alone would guarantee Chris Montez a place in musical history, but he had yet to undergo an unprecedented transformation with a new style, new look and new hits with Herb Alpert and A&M Records. With songs like “Call Me” and “The More I See You,” Chris Montez was reinvented as a smooth innovator of the lounge sound: samba-based, jazz-influenced standards that kept the flavour of his Latin roots and set the stage for his later transition into one of the first international Latin pop stars.
In the years to follow, his hit songs would be covered by artists including Frank Sinatra and The Ramones. They’d earn a place in movie history in films like Frantic and, most memorably, Animal House, while Chris Montez remained a vital force, bringing his music to longtime fans and new audiences around the world, from Japan to Europe to the American heartland. Today, he continues to expand his horizons and blaze new trails in other musical genres, including ranchero, jazz and the blues.
PLUS THE SHORT FILM
A .45 AT 50TH
11 minutes
Directed by Joshua Bell and John Cromwell
FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE!
Very Limited Tickets for the festival are $100 - includes two parties/outdoor screenings
Friends Of Film
Foreign Film Series
Saturdays and Sundays Dec 12, 13, 19, 20, 2009
Sunday, January 17, 2010
11:00 am
Laemmle Theaters,
1332 2nd Street
Santa Monica, CA, 90401
Admission is free with RSVP to Bob@FriendsOfFilm.com
We'll be screening Oscar(R) submissions from different countries during this series
Sunday, Jan 17, 2009 - Austria's Official Entry - 11 am
RSVP to Bob@FriendsOfFilm.com
FOR A MOMENT FREEDOM

Directed by Arash Riahi
Fast-moving and packed with action, "For a Moment Freedom" tells of the odyssey of three Iranians/Kurdish groups of refugees: a married couple with a child, two young men with two children, and two men who are friends despite the differences between them. They have all managed to escape from Iran and Iraq, but now they are stuck in the Turkish capital; although freedom is at last almost within their grasp, first they have to wait in a dubious hotel, hoping each day that their applications for asylum will be approved. This enforced break in their journey towards independence is characterised by both hope and utter uncertainty.
FILMMAKER and special guests in attendance!
Saturday, Dec 19, 2009 - Slovakia's Official Entry - 11 am
RSVP to Bob@FriendsOfFilm.com
BROKEN PROMISE
Directed by Jimi Chlumski

Broken Promise is based on a true story of a Jewish boy, Martin Friedmann, born in 1926 in Western Slovakia, who escaped deportation to a concentration camp thanks to his extraordinary soccer talent and some coincidently favorable circumstances.
Sunday, Dec 20, 2009 - Bulgaria's Official Entry - 11 am
RSVP to Bob@FriendsOfFilm.com
THE WORLD IS BIG AND SALVATION LURKS AROUND THE CORNER
Directed by: Stephan Komandarev

The story about a Bulgarian boy who grows up to be a German man. After a car accident Alex can't even remember his name. In an attempt to cure him from amnesia, his grandfather Bai Dan comes over to Germany and organizes a spiritual journey for his grandson back into his past, to the country where he came from. In changing places, time and transport, crossing half Europe, they play backgammon, the simplest, and yet the most complex of all games. That game leads Alex to the realizations of who he is, and that game is symbolic to the story. Destiny is the dice we hold in our own hands and life is a game on the edge between chance and skill.
Saturday, Dec 12 - POLAND'S OFFICIAL ENTRY - 11 am
REVERSE
Directed by Boris Lankosz

Reverse, a debut feature by 36 year-old director Borys Lankosz won the Golden Lions award at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia.
Set in the 1950s, it shows the terror of the Stalinist period in a very evocative way, black comedy style. The story centers on a woman in her early thirties, whose mother tries to find a husband for her and whose grandmother rates the prospective candidates. One day she meets a man, whose presence changes the lives of the three women.
Reverse received six other awards, including those for Best Actress (Agata Buzek), Best Cinematography and Best Soundtrack
Sunday, Dec 13 - THE NETHERLANDS OFFICIAL ENYRY - 11 am

Send us a screener/press kit
Bob Sharka
Friends Of Film
1137 Charm Acres Place
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272