Human Rights through a Different Lens.

Skylight, Remezcla and UnionDocs’ monthly screening series highlights documentary films as a way to to expand dialogue around the intersection of human rights and art.  Each screening is followed by a partner-moderated discussion between the filmmaker, movement actors, and the audience where we debate the conventional framework for human rights and challenge the definition of what constitutes human rights media.

Skylight, Co-presenters of BK@24fps

For over 30 years, Skylight has been committed to producing artistic, challenging and socially relevant media to strengthen human rights and the quest for justice. Through the use of media, technology and digital tools, we seek to engage, educate and increase understanding of human rights and social justice amongst the public at large, educators, and  policy makers. Skylight is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.

Remezcla, Co-presenters of BK@24fps

Remezcla started as a grassroots project among writers and creatives. We shared one common point of view: there were so many great stories about new Latin music, culture, and events that no one was covering. Traditional Latin media was not for us. We were called “alternative,” but to us, what we were covering was our new mainstream. Along the way we met so many like-minded friends in other cities and countries that it sparked a movement. Answering “What is Remezcla?” is difficult for me because what started in living rooms and coffee shops among friends has grown to be so much more; today we reach millions of readers and have built a brand that goes beyond our publication.

Though the vision has evolved, we are still very grounded in our mission to be the most progressive media brand that puts emerging Latin culture on the map. The right way.

Recently in the Series

Video Clips from the Series

Past Events

Justifiable Paranoia: National Bird & Aaron Brown

with Sonia Kennebeck and Curtis Wallen

We welcome Curtis Wallen and Sonia Kennebeck for an evening of JUSTIFIABLE PARANOIA for this month’s iteration of the BK@24fps series with Skylight Pictures. Wallen will describe his Aaron Brown project, reflecting on identity protection on the internet, before we screen Kennebeck’s latest feature. Deemed “elegantly unsettling” by The New York Times , National Bird follows the dramatic journey of three whistleblowers who are determined to break the silence around one of the most controversial current affairs issues of our time: The secret U.S. drone war. From Executive Producers Wim Wenders, and Errol Morris, the images in this film haunt the audience and bring a faraway issue close to home. Discussion with Wallen and Kennebeck will follow, moderated by Melvin Estrella.

Broadening the Lens on Indigenous Resistance

with Julie Bridgham, Angelo Baca, and Matt Peterson

In this session we lay out the main ideas for the coming year;  what are roles for human rights filmmaking in the face of our deeply divided country, and how do we build and strengthen human rights media in this new era?  Reflecting the historic organizing and resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline spearheaded by the Standing Rock Sioux people we will highlight several media makers who have been involved in this resistance. We are interested in discussing the relationship between human rights media making and the organizing of resistance movements.  What does this collaboration look like and how does it work?  Who has final cut, and who has content control? In what way is media used to further the organizing, and does it help to bridge ideological divides?

Next Steps Now II

with Skylight, POV, Cinema Tropical, Meerkat Media Collective and WITNESS

After an inspiring meeting following the results of the election, we felt it important to keep energy and momentum up around motivating filmmakers, and artists to organize, share resources, and keep the dialogue going about how to respond in our current political moment.

In the past couple of weeks there has not been much comfort from the incoming transitional news. Taking this into account we feel it is more important than ever to build on our list of COLLECTED IDEAS at the first NEXT STEPS NOW and advance forward. We have boiled the list down to a few overarching categories that we will cover at our follow up session along with a team of filmmakers, activists, and local organizations to parse each of these topics: BUBBLE BURSTING, PROTEST & MAKE VISIBLE, CHANGING PERSPECTIVES, SHARE & SUPPORT. Discussion will be moderated by Melvin Estrella and include representatives from Opportunity Agenda, The New Media Advocacy Project, the Black Documentary Collective, Skylight Pictures, Witness, and UnionDocs.

Next Steps Now

with Jon Alpert (DCTV), Matt O’Neil (DCTV), Pamela Yates (Skylight Pictures), Yvette Alberdingkthijm, (WITNESS), Melvin Estrella (Independent, The Moth)

In light of the election results and to transform our panic and fear into resolve and action, we invite filmmakers and documentary producers to gather. Now more than ever we need to come together to organize, connect, and brainstorm the steps forward for media-makers seeking to be a part of shaping our collective vision of the future. The price of admission is an idea committed to paper.

Skylight Pictures, DCTV, WITNESS, Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, and UnionDocs, (and open to other orgs and independents… hit us up) will gather to share specific and short examples of past projects, ideas, and frameworks that might offer inspiration in this dark and confusing moment. These will be reminders of how the work we do can make an impact and a critical conversation about where we’ve missed the mark. We expect a highly participatory event, an open mic of ideas, to strengthen us and start a new process.

Organized as a part of the BK@24FPS human rights documentary series, this evening will be open to participation from all and will incorporate voices from all over the NYC documentary community including Jon Alpert (DCTV), Matt O’Neil (DCTV), Pamela Yates (Skylight Pictures), Yvette Alberdingkthijm, (WITNESS), Melvin Estrella (Independent, The Moth), UnionDocs and more. Come ready to share, talk, decompress, process, and activate ideas for the future.

Jackie Robinson

with David McMahon and Sarah Burns, moderated by Sridhar Pappu

Jack Roosevelt Robinson rose from humble origins to cross baseball’s color line and become one of the most beloved men in America. A fierce integrationist, Robinson used his immense fame to speak out against the discrimination he saw on and off the field, angering fans, the press, and even teammates who had once celebrated him for “turning the other cheek.” After baseball, he was a widely-read newspaper columnist, divisive political activist and tireless advocate for civil rights, who later struggled to remain relevant as diabetes crippled his body and a new generation of leaders set a more militant course for the civil rights movement.

Jackie Robinson, a two-part, four-hour film directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon tells the story of an American icon whose life-long battle for first class citizenship for all African Americans transcends even his remarkable athletic achievements. “Jackie Robinson,” Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “was a sit-inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides.” We’ll be screening a special 90-minute cut of the film along with filmmakers in attendance for discussion moderated by Sridhar Pappu.

Blunderbuss Magazine, Jan 6-12

Listsed on the NYC Resistance Calendar, Jan. 6 – 12.“