Persistence of Vision

MPI is proud to announce that The Cartel, Bob Bowdon's unrelenting and eye-opening look at the failure of our K-12 schools, enjoyed a highly successful screening Saturday at the Hoboken International Film Festival.

Bob Ingle, the Trenton Bureau Chief for Gannett New Jersey newspapers, raved about the film:

The audience was spellbound at the jaw-dropping corrupti0n and waste that has resulted in New Jersey's property taxes being the worst in the nation and our kids getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop. The audience laughed as the NJEA president tried to explain why tenured teachers seldom are fired no matter how bad they are. They snickered at Corzine's education commissioner, Lucille Davy, who couldn't explain why charter school applications are turned down. They saw Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts tell reporters there are no sacred cows in Corzine's budget then saw Corzine brag about adding more education money, probably headed for some rat hole.

There were the kids crying because they lost out in the lottery to get one of the open seats at a good charter school. They laughed as the film demonstrated if car manufacturers were assigned districts like schools some people would have no choice but to buy a Yugo.

This film is like a sharp stick in the eye. It should be seen by anyone who votes or pays taxes in New Jersey or plans to. More than that, it should be seen by Davy, Corzine and the members of the Legislature who stand behind this fraud of a "thorough and efficient system" of education.

My guess is Corzine lacks the courage to sit for it. It will be shown at more film festivals, then theaters then dvd. Watch it before you vote.

Coming soon: The Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, where The Cartel has just been named an official selection. The festival runs from June 25-28; details will be posted here when they become available.

The Cartel has been named an official selection of the 2009 Jersey Shore Film Festival. It will screen on the evening of July 8 -- and we'll post times and venues and ticket information once it becomes available.

The Cartel ran away with the Audience Award at last month's Hoboken International Film Festival--and is coming soon to the Jersey Shore Film Festival and the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival. Check out audience reactions in the clip above.

Meanwhile, critics keep raving.

The Hudson Reporter says that filmmaker Bob Bowdon "can connect the dots."

In a review that ran in seven papers across New Jersey, Trenton bureau chief for Gannett City Newspapers, Bob Ingle, says "Reading about [the problem] is one thing. Seeing it makes you want to yell at the screen."

And Canada's Society for Quality Education says, "While this documentary looks at American education, there are still enough parallels to Canadian education that might make it worthwhile viewing. Let's hope the Toronto Film Festival and other Canadian film venues think so too. While school kids in Canada are force-fed "An Inconvenient Truth", this one looks as if it might shake things up on the education scene."

Watch for this important film coming to a theater near you.

"Liberty on the Big Screen" Roundtable - Part 1 from America's Future Foundation on Vimeo.

Last march, the America's Future Foundation hosted a roundtable discussion entitled Liberty on the Big Screen. MPI fellow and 2081 director Chandler Tuttle joined Duncan Scott (Duncan Scott Productions), Maura Flynn (documentary producer, publicist, and board member at American Film Renaissance), Michael Pack (Manifold Productions) and Tanja Stumberger (research associate at the Cato Institute) to talk about recent movies that promote the values of freedom, and to assess how the 2009 Oscar nominations stack up against free market values.

Check out the video above.

This Saturday, The Cartel will screen at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival. The screening is at 10 pm at the Philadelphia Soundstages, 1600 N. 5th Street. Director Bob Bowdon will host a Q&A afterward. Get tickets here.

The Jersey Film Festival has named The Cartel a featured film, and has given it a select slot on opening night. The film will screen at 8 pm at the Axelrod Theater, at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Monmouth County, 100 Grant Avenue, Deal, NJ. There will be a director Q&A afterward. Buy tickets here.

Additional screenings at the Jersey Shore festival will take place on July 14, at 8 pm, also at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Monmouth County, and on July 15 at 7 pm at the Showroom, 708 Cookman Avenue, Asbury Park.

Be there!

The Stoning of Soraya M. opened in select theaters on Friday. Don't miss this moving and terribly important film about an Iranian woman who was stoned to death after being falsely accused of adultery. It's a reminder to us all how important individual rights and the rule of law are -- and of how the absence of freedom translates into a devaluing of human life.

Every nine seconds, an American teen drops out of high school. But it doesn't have to be that way. Ten9Eight, an inspirational new film underwritten by the John Templeton Foundation, shows us how entrepreneurship is helping urban kids transcend their impoverished backgrounds--creating hope, teaching lessons, and generating all kinds of opportunity. Sign up to learn more-- and watch for this film in a theater near you.