Coffee Talk details:

Movie: “SOUTHERN COMFORT”
When: Thurs. 20 Nov 2008 @ 7:00pm
Where: Classroom 2B
**FREE popcorn and juice**

Summary: A 90-minute feature-length documentary about the life of Robert Eads, a 52-year-old female to male transsexual who lives in the back hills of Georgia. “A hillbilly and proud of it,” he cuts a striking figure: sharp-tongued, bearded, tobacco pipe in hand. Robert passes so well as a male that the local Klu Klux Klan tried to recruit him to become a member.

Though his home is nestled among tranquil hills dotted with hay bales, Robert confronts a world as hostile to him as if he were an African American in the ante-bellum South. He was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, then turned away by more than two dozen doctors who feared that taking on a transgendered patient might harm their practice.

SOUTHERN COMFORT follows the final year of Robert Eads’ life. Beginning in spring, he falls deeply in love with Lola, a male-to-female. That summer, his mother and father drive ten hours to visit their “lost daughter,” a trip they know may be their last. His final dream is to make it to the Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta, the nation’s preeminent transgender gathering. Beating the odds, he addresses a crowd of 500 and takes Lola to “The prom that never was.”

The voices in SOUTHERN COMFORT are not only rarely heard, but also are commonly thought to be non-existent. A rare blend of humor, romance, and tragedy, SOUTHERN COMFORT is the first non-fiction film to intimately tell a trans-to-trans love story, set against a disturbing tale of gender bias as it unfolds before the camera.”

See you all there… Bring your friends!

PHR Coffee Talk
Movie Screening: Meth
July 7th
Classroom 2B
7 pm

METH* is a new documentary film, from director Todd Ahlberg, exploring the rising wave of crystal methamphetamine use within the gay population.

*Synopsis is available from the official website http://www.methmovie.com/

Please note that we have identified this movie as a trigger. If you are a recovering addict we encourage you to carefully consider your decision, consult with your sponsor or program guidelines, and use your best judgment before attending this Coffee Talk.

If you are unsure or need more information, please contact Troy Syverson at TroySyverson@rossmed.edu.dm

Would you provide treatment to a transgendered person?

Join us Thursday, April 3rd at 7 p.m. in Classroom 3 for our last Coffee Talk of the semester!

“SOUTHERN COMFORT is a 90-minute feature-length documentary about the life of Robert Eads, a 52-year-old female to male transsexual who lives in the back hills of Georgia. “A hillbilly and proud of it,” he cuts a striking figure: sharp-tongued, bearded, tobacco pipe in hand. Robert passes so well as a male that the local Klu Klux Klan tried to recruit him to become a member.

Though his home is nestled among tranquil hills dotted with hay bales, Robert confronts a world as hostile to him as if he were an African American in the ante-bellum South. He was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, then turned away by more than two dozen doctors who feared that taking on a transgendered patient might harm their practice.

SOUTHERN COMFORT follows the final year of Robert Eads’ life. Beginning in spring, he falls deeply in love with Lola, a male-to-female. That summer, his mother and father drive ten hours to visit their “lost daughter,” a trip they know may be their last. His final dream is to make it to the Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta, the nation’s preeminent transgender gathering. Beating the odds, he addresses a crowd of 500 and takes Lola to “The prom that never was.”

The voices in SOUTHERN COMFORT are not only rarely heard, but also are commonly thought to be non-existent. A rare blend of humor, romance, and tragedy, SOUTHERN COMFORT is the first non-fiction film to intimately tell a trans-to-trans love story, set against a disturbing tale of gender bias as it unfolds before the camera.”

Click Here to View the Flyer

Join us for our first Coffee Talk of the semester, “Why We Fight.”

“Why We Fight (2005) is a documentary film directed by Eugene Jarecki about the United States’s relationship with war. Its title is an allusion to the World War II-era newsreels of the same name, which were commissioned by the United States to justify their decision to go to war against the Nazis.”

Join us Wednesday, February 27th at 7 pm in Classroom 2B!

Please join us for our next Coffee Talk Film Viewing: Voices in Exile

“Voices in Exile,” which chronicles the struggle of the Tibetan people for their culture and for their very lives, is the most important film you can see this year…a mini-masterpiece”

-Norman Shoaf, City Editor, Antelope Valley Press

When: Thursday, November 15 at 7 p.m.

Where: Classroom 2A

Popcorn will be served. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Click here to view the Flyer.

Please join us tomorrow, Thursday September 11 at 7 p.m. in Classroom 1 for our first Coffee Talk of the Semester: The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib.

We will be showing the film, with a short discussion afterwards. Also, you will have the opportunity to sign an online petition.

Popcorn will be served.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Please join us on Wednesday, July 18 at 7:30 p.m. in Classroom 1 for our second Coffee Talk of this semester: “Gaza Strip.”

A refreshingly unfettered look at the Israeli-Palestinian situation in the occupied territory, Longley’s documentary is a unique experience, a film which gives a voice to a population largely ignored by the mainstream media. Shot almost entirely in a cinema vérité style and presented without narration, the film focuses on ordinary Palestinians rather than politicians and pundits. GAZA STRIP is an extraordinary and painful journey into the lives of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip struggling with the day-to-day trials of the Israeli occupation.

In January of 2001, Longley traveled to the occupied territory. His plan was to stay for two weeks to collect preliminary material for a documentary film on the Palestinian Intifada. It was during his stay that Ariel Sharon was elected as Israeli Prime Minister. As violence erupted around him, Longley threw away his return ticket and filmed for the next three months, acquiring nearly 75 hours of footage. GAZA STRIP follows a range of people and events following the election, including the first major armed incursion into “Area A” by IDF forces during this intifada. More observation than political argument, GAZA STRIP offers a rare look inside the stark realities of life under Israeli military occupation.

Click here for a PDF version of the flyer.

Thanks to everyone who made it to the Coffee Talk: Darfur Diaries last night.

For those of you who did not have a chance to send an email to President Bush to speak out against rape and sexual violence in Darfur, please click here now.

We look forward to seeing all of you again at our next Coffee Talk!

Please join us on Thursday, June 28 at 7 p.m. in Classroom 1 for our first Coffee Talk of this semester: “Darfur Diaries.”

After decades of oppression, marginalization and increasing violence at the hands of the Sudanese government, the Sudanese Liberation Army in Darfur (the western region of Sudan) took up arms in 2003. The government and allied militias, known as Janjaweed, answered the rebellion with large-scale murder of civilians, mass rapes of women and girls, and destruction of villages—resulting in one of the world’s largest current political and humanitarian crises.

In October, 2004 three activists snuck across the Sudanese border into rebel-held territory to document the atrocities in Darfur. They returned with some of the first footage exposing the massive war crimes being perpetrated by the Sudanese government.

“Let us use [Darfur Diaries] as a wake-up call.” – Paul Rusesabagina

Click here for a PDF version of the flyer.

Please join us on Thursday, March 15 at 7 p.m. in Classroom 2A for our first Coffee Talk of this semester: “Where a hospital becomes a war zone.”

We will be watching a movie titled, “Baghdad: A Doctor’s Story,” and discussing it afterwards.

Popcorn will be served. We look forward to seeing you there!

Here is the description:

Baghdad: A Doctor’s Story
Filmed exclusively by an Iraqi doctor, This World reveals the terrible conditions of a civilian emergency room in Baghdad.

Al Yarmouk Hospital is in the most dangerous area of Baghdad.
Sectarian violence is tearing the city apart and ambulance crews go from one dangerous mission to another.
Talking on camera is dangerous, but here patients and doctors speak out.
Wherever they go, the doctor is there with his camera.
“People don’t know what is going on in Iraq,” he says, “they can’t hear the Iraqi people screaming.”
In the constant stream of news reports from Iraq, the voice of ordinary people seems to have been lost.
In this film, we hear from them directly… and get a harrowing insight into everyday life in Baghdad.

For a longer description, visit here.