Booklist Awards Starred Reviews to Two Titles

The August Booklist Online Video Review, published by the American Library Association, featured four recent Video Project releases, including two given the highest "Starred Reviews":

BIG VOICE
Follows a challenging year in the life of a determined public high school choir director, demonstrating the transformative value of arts education programs.
 
"Starred Review. Enlightening…this thoughtful film shares insights on the power of the arts and the work of a personable, dedicated choir director…." - Booklist

THE BABUSHKAS OF CHERNOBYL
Journeys into the Chernobyl Dead Zone several decades after the nuclear disaster to find a small community of elderly survivors along with scientists and others.
 
"Starred Review. Captures a land that time forgot and the world has avoided…." - Booklist

The two other  Video Project films reviewed in Booklist are:

FLY BY LIGHT
Follows four teenagers for a year as they seek to overcome the violence in their lives by participating in a peace education program.

"Powerful...An inspiring look at challenges facing many inner-city youth...who 'create a new path by connecting to a world outside their neighborhoods’." - Booklist


OYLER: ONE SCHOOL, ONE YEAR
How a "community school" helped turnaround a poverty-stricken neighborhood, part of a growing national movement to help better meet the basic needs of poor children.

"Candid... takes viewers on a personalized 184-day tour of (Oyler School)... a full-time facility that offers daily nutritious meals, health care, and other services." - Booklist

American Psychology Association to Screen two Films

Two Video Project films were selected for screening at this week's American Psychology Association (APA) Annual Convention in Denver — HEALING A SOLDIERS HEART and FREE THE MIND.

Here are the APA's descriptions of the two films in the convention program, and links to order:

HEALING A SOLDIERS HEART

This documentary follows four Vietnam veterans with severe symptoms of PTSD who go on a courageous journey back to Vietnam to face the emotional demons that have been haunting them for close to 40 years. This profound story addresses healing, loss, and the rediscovery of the human soul. It is about forgiveness and psychospiritual catharsis. As one soldier stated, “When the pain comes back, our hearts come back.”

FREE THE MIND

Can your rewire the brain through contemplative neuroscience? An extraordinary film featuring the pioneering work of Richard Davidson, PhD, University of Wisconsin–Madison, about the potential of mindfulness meditation in treating preschool children and war veterans in overcoming effects of trauma.