Jamie Thalman spent summers as a kid working on an Amish farm, designing and building a Space Shuttle Simulator for a space camp and fiddling with his mom’s Nikon F3 camera. He went on to study economics and international relations, with particular focus on international political economy and econometric analysis. Jamie has since turned to design and content creation as a way of defining and solving social and environmental problems.

He uses multidisciplinary applications of research, analytics, abroad experiences, behavioral economics and arts to development, produce, and strategically position multimedia and design projects. Economic and entrepreneurial education melded with creative experiences define his approach to purposeful creation. Jamie’s most recent work has taken the form of:

• Documentary Films and International Feature Film Co-Productions
• Still Image + Graphic Design
• Web Design + Digital Strategy
• Interior Design + Construction

Jaime is a founding member of the Los Angeles Hub.

www.hi.jamiethalman.com

Less than a year since the project’s inception, Theatre for Humans has traveled the world to peer into some of its darker corners and has returned home with the voices, stories, and hearts of many peoples.  Over the span of fourteen weeks, co-founders and project directors Susan and Terry embarked on a journey across Thailand, India, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, the DRC, Burundi, Egypt, Haiti, and Ecuador to probe a range of global issues facing women – from sex slavery and human trafficking to rape as a tool of war and female inclusion in politics.  What they plucked along the way has proven itself an invaluable wellspring for creativity and change.

For one, their research and mission attracted the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning playwright, Marsha Norman, who has signed on to write TFH’s play.  In fact, because of Marsha’ involvement with Theatre for Humans, NOMI Network, a nonprofit organization focusing on the eradication of human trafficking, asked Marsha to speak at its Awards Ceremony in New York City.  Marsha’s collaboration with TFH also prompted her participation in the Global Forum on Human Trafficking and the Not for Sale Campaign in San Francisco this past fall.

Susan and Terry, too, have been highly involved in a number of similar conferences and showcases, including the 2011 CARE National Conference, at which the conference participants received information packs featuring Theatre for Humans.  Since then, Susan and Terry have entered into discussions with CARE regarding their 2012 Conference and the future of their relationship with TFH.  Additionally, Theatre for Humans held the honorable title of a presenting sponsor of the 2011 WIFTS (Women’s International Film and Television Showcase) International Visionary Awards in Toronto, Canada.

The world has only heard the first mumblings from Theatre for Humans, and we look forward to the day the world gets to hear the many voices of TFH in full.

There is more interest in food now than ever before, yet there is almost no interest in the hands that pick our food.  This film aims to finally change a system that has resisted change for hundreds of years.

From the dawn of our nation, we’ve relied on the most vulnerable people in America to harvest our food.  While the exploitation remains, the reasons have changed.

Supermarkets are multibillion dollar corporations that mask their greed through intensive branding.  They have created a system that allows for the perpetuation of abuse, sexual harassment, and modern day slavery at the base of the supply chain.

Without the public asking the right questions, namely about labor, supermarkets have no incentive to use their market power for good.

Food Chain will shine a light on the abuses in farm labor and more importantly will explore pathways to structural change.  Through profiles of farmworkers and opinions of activists like RFK Jr., Dolores Huerta, Eric Schlosser, and Barry Estabrook, Food Chain exposes the ruthlessness of the supermarket industry and illustrates ways that consumers and citizens can change the system.

There are many problems in the U.S. that will be very difficult to solve.  This is not one of them.

Sanjay Rawal has more than a decade’s experience in developing strategy for a diverse array of projects in over forty nations, involving dozens of luminaries, Heads of State, business leaders, government officials, entertainers, and community representatives, crafting specialized initiatives focused on making a measurable impact.  Sanjay has assisted in the development, launch, and management of a number of high-profile celebrity philanthropic endeavors both domestically and abroad.  He is an award-winning filmmaker and has been quoted by major media outlets such as the New York Times, CNN, and MSNBC.  His last short documentary, Challenging Impossibility, played at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2011 and won best doc at a number of other festivals.

Sanjay Rawal

Project Name: Food Chain
Project Type: Film

Issue:
Human Rights, Farm Labor, and Food

Mission:
To shine a light on the abuses in farm labor and to explore pathways to structural change.

Website:
Coming soon!

CVF Involvement:

Creative Visions Foundation (CVF) provides Food Chain with all membership benefits.

One Love Vibrations is a grassroots initiative dedicated to inspiring all of humanity into a more “consciously aware” world of multi-cultural-creative ideals, visions, traditions, solutions, and vibrations of positive thought.

One Love Vibrations’ goals are the following:

• To help educate local, bio-regional, and global communities via constructive information on sustainable, economical, social, spiritual, and political alternatives to co-create a more harmonic life.
• To cultivate global community through the use of multi-media tools such as music events, an independent film, documentaries, program broadcasting via world wide web/DVD/Podcasting/online radio/satellite/cable, and various periodical publications/books and magazines.
• To help promote individuals and organizations who bring the global community together closer to the guidelines of cooperation, compassion, tolerance, sustainability, and accountability.
• To network together with organizations, businesses, and individuals involved in similar missions to co-create unified movements of awareness in education, entertainment, and media.

Harold Bustamonte

Project Name: One Love Vibrations
Project Type: Media

Issue:
“Conscious Awareness”

Mission:
To inspire all of humanity into a more “consciously aware” world of multi-cultural-creative ideals, visions, traditions, solutions, and vibrations of positive thought.

Website:
One Love Vibrations

CVF Involvement:

Creative Visions Foundation (CVF) provides One Love Vibrations with all membership benefits.

Creative Visions Foundation is please to present the winner of the first ever Dan Eldon Film Festival at Pacific Palisades High School. This year’s winner is “The Recital” a film by a young director named Tyler Newman.

Click the Links below to check out the other Finalists

In One Instant

by Johnny Frohman

https://vimeo.com/41168812

Fallen

by Tyler Schaefer

https://vimeo.com/41169037

Struggle to Survive

by Albert Czarnik

https://vimeo.com/41169129

A film about endurance, The Runner gained momentum and attention this past year. With an influx of invitations to screen the film and to host forums, Saeed and his team have not only felt the industry’s interest materialize but have in fact watched their own goals and missions crystallize. Rooted in their purpose, Tourist with a typewriter continues to work toward two objectives: to produce original, creative, personal, and humanistic documentaries that highlight compelling human rights stories and solutions and to increase responsibility and ethical concerns within the mainstream documentary industry by challenging the current state of output.

This year’s journey brought Saeed and his team to StoryDoc, an organization that specializes in providing background and know-how for co-production documentaries in the international scene.  Having taken special interest in The Runner, renowned documentary guru, Tue Steen Muller, invited the film to screen at next year’s development program, as an inspirational and motivational example for other documentary filmmakers in development.

Additionally, not only did the Irish Film Board and the Sundance affiliated Arab Fund for Arts and Culture recognize The Runner for its many strengths, but also the Sheffield International Documentary Festival, the Edinburgh Pitch, and SunnySide of the Doc invited Tourist with a Typewriter to pitch and present the film for their markets and forums.  Over the past year the film has also gained a number of invaluable supporters, including Goldsmiths University of London, Sandblast, Amiel and Melburn Trust, Samuel Rubin Foundation, and TED, to name a few.

As the final product takes shape, it’s clear that the film has not made it here on just adrenaline or endurance, but thanks to the tireless passion of its team.  We here at CVF can’t wait to see The Runner cross that finish line.

Learn more about The Runner and Tourist with a Typewriter and get involved.

The Sustainable Life Project (SLP) nurtures young people to develop personally and professionally, cultivating and equipping themselves with the skills, confidence, and relationships to successfully pursue their goals.

This past year, SLP began training interns, and upon completion of the program, Tender Greens hired two youths as bussers and one youth as a cashier under the Tender Greens’ Chef in West Hollywood.  As of next year, the new interns will assist with work in “Frogtown,” a fully functional, urban farm created with the support of the Elysian Valley community.

Further enhancing sustainability, SLP has initiated a training program for current Tender Greens Chefs.  Producing continuous generations of trainers, the Chefs travel to local urban farms to learn how to farm and how to mentor future foster youths.

The Dan Eldon Gallery is pleased to present “Between the Bombs: 2002 – 2011.” This is Eddie O’Connell’s first-ever exhibition of his photos and art pieces, following his return back to the United States from an extended period abroad. His

work over

the last 10 years provided unique access to capture the lives of people in countries like Bosnia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria who many of us give little thought to – between news headlines. In 2011, Eddie traveled to western Iraq, southern Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia either just prior to, during or in the wake of historical events in each country. In this exhibit he adds emotional essays and contemporary music to each piece to help subjects, viewers and himself emerge from the shadows of their stereotypes and corresponding isolation. Join us as we give voice to those Eddie encountered on his road less traveled, who live, love, laugh and dance – Between the Bombs.

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