Brett Williams and Tim Gera: NICKEL CITY SMILER

Nickel City Smiler directed by Brett Williams and edited by Tim Gera was featured in the Buffalo News. The article A story of anguish and hope: Film tells a tale of Buffalo’s Burmese residents through the eyes of one refugee was published on April 11, 2011. Nickel City Smiler is a documentary about a proud Burmese refugee named Smiler and all the dreams and burdens he carries with him in his busy life on Buffalo’s West Side.

It’s a documentary with a catchy title — “Nickel City Smiler” — about a proud Burmese refugee named Smiler and all the dreams and burdens he carries with him in his busy life on Buffalo’s West Side.

The story of the Burmese in Buffalo is told through the sometimes anguished thoughts and words of Smiler Greely, and the 103-minute film is a gritty look at the plight of Burmese refugees here.

“Nickel City Smiler — From the Jungle to the Streets” will be shown at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Market Arcade as part of the current 10-day Buffalo Niagara Film Festival.

Why should the plight of the Burmese be so important in Buffalo?

Partly because the Burmese and other refugees represent the only slice of growth in an otherwise hemorrhaging population.

“Ninety-eight percent of the individuals that moved into the city of Buffalo for the past two years were refugees,” said Donna Pepero, who heads the Refugee School Impact Program in the Buffalo schools. “They’re filling these empty houses on the West Side, all over Buffalo.”

To view the entire article, please visit: http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article389709.ece.

Stefani Bardin: M2A™: THE FANTASTIC VOYAGE

Stefani Bardin’s M2A™: The Fantastic Voyage project was featured last month at the Eyebeam Art + Technology Center.  M2A™: The Fantastic Voyage, takes viewers on a journey through the human digestive system by way of the M2A™ and the SmartPill. A quick Google search on these “creative” tools led me to texts about chronic constipation and gastrointestinal bleeding. Oh dear. Gastroenterology, the branch of medicine concerned with diseases of the stomach, intestines and associated organs, uses both devices. As Bardin explained it, the M2A™ (pictured above) is a hard capsule pill endoscope that, after being swallowed, takes pictures of what it sees in the GI tract. The SmartPill is softer and records pressure, pH levels, and temperature. The data is transmitted to a receiver worn by the patient, which is then uploaded to proprietary software and translated into graphic reports. Both pills are naturally excreted from the body. Strangely, neither device has been used to study how different foods affect the human body. Not until now, anyway. After five years of searching for a licensed physician to work with her, Bardin finally found a partner in Dr. Braden Kuo, a gastroenterologist with Harvard Medical School. Kuo will work together with Bardin as he leads the first ever clinical study to use the M2A™ and SmartPill to look at how the human body responds to processed versus whole foods. Bardin’s project for Eyebeam could make gastroenterological history.

View the full article at Art21.

BEYOND/IN WNY in BUFFALO NEWS

Meet PSBlbot creator Cayden Mak
Meet the artist

By Colin Dabkowski
News Arts Writer

Published: October 15, 2010, 12:00 AM

One of the most curious and fascinating personalities in this year’s Beyond/In Western New York art exhibition is not even human.

Meet PSBIbot, a digital invention of artist and University at Buffalo graduate student Cayden Mak, one of the organizers of the citywide interactive scavenger hunt known as “play/share beyond/in.” The game, which begins its two-week-long run Saturday, is meant to give art fans new ways to explore and appreciate the dozens of art exhibitions and installations spread throughout the city as part of the show. (more…)

PLAY/SHARE BEYOND/IN: Next Round

The next round of  play/share beyond/in will begin on Saturday, October 16 at the Burchfield Penney Art Center and will continue to October 30.

play/share beyond/in is a technology-driven scavenger hunt exploring the history and culture of Western New York though a series of interactive missions. Using SMS-enabled mobile phones the game brings players through the galleries and installations in the  Beyond/In Western New York 2010 exhibition, as well as other sites of historical, ecological, or cultural interest.

Sign up at play/share beyond/in.
Check out our Facebook page.
RSVP to the play/share beyond/in Game Launch on Facebook.
Find out what it’s like to play as featured in the Buffalo News.

Announcing the play/share beyond/in Game Badges.
The Top 10 FAQs, things you wanted to know about play/share (but were afraid to ask).
Have we mentioned the Prizes?
It’s the Final Countdown, Player Support.

On Thursday, September 23, 2010  play/share beyond/in launched a special mission to coincide with Didier Paquette’s astounding walk atop the Liberty Building.

Check out the photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/psbibot/sets/72157624645903168/
Check out the Buffalo News Article on Meet the Artist:
http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/beyond/article220450.ece

SERENDIPITOR by Mark Shepard Nominated for TRANSMEDIALE AWARD 2011

transmediale is an annual festival for art and digital culture, held in Berlin, Germany.  During the summer of 2010, transmediale and CTM (club transmediale) received submissions for the transmediale Award 2011.  Out of over 1000 submissions, Serendipitor by Mark Shepard was nominated as one of seven finalists who showed innovative art works that contributed to the technical society.  The winner will be announced on February 6, 2011 at the Awards Ceremony.

About Serendipitor
Serendipitor is part of the Sentient City Survival Kit (a collection of artifacts for survival in the near-future sentient city).  Serendipitor is an alternative navigation app for the iPhone that helps you find something by looking for something else.  It combines computer generated walking directions for movement and action in attempt to produce short detours and small slippages within an otherwise optimal and efficient route directing movement through the city.

For more information on Serendipitor, please visit: http://survival.sentientcity.net/serendipitor/

PLAY/SHARE BEYOND/IN in Buffalo News

Terrific Buffalo News ArtsBeat review of the Intermedia Performance Studio’s Play/Share Beyond/In event this weekend as part of the 2010 Buffalo Infringement Festival. Congrats!

Buffalo Infringement Fest on WBFO

BUFFALO, NY (WBFO) – The 6th Annual Buffalo Infringement Festival kicked off this past weekend in Allentown, celebrating the city’s rich arts & cultural scene. WBFO’s Lauren Mook (DMS BA ’09) spoke with the Festival’s organizers, musicians, performers, and attendees about what makes this festival so unique.

To view the WBFO News article, please go to: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wbfo/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1681228.

MIKE BOUQUARD featured in UB Reporter

Our very own Mike Bouquard, DMS technical staff and instructor, is profiled in this week’s UB Reporter! Read about him here: http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/2010_04_07/profile.

STEFANI BARDIN featured in UB Reporter

DMS instructor Stefani Bardin is featured in the UB Reporter discussing her food-related media projects and the Food and Emerging Media Speaker Series she curated this semester.

“Food is the new black,” says adjunct media study instructor Stefani Bardin. And she should know. With national movements focusing on local food, slow food, organic food and non-genetically modified food under way, Bardin is attempting to further the public dialogue with food as the primary subject of her artwork and curriculum. [go to the full article...]

Check out "The Film Stage" Blog founded by JORDAN RAUP and DAN MECCA

Founded by Jordan Raup and Dan Mecca, two Media Study students, The Film Stage (www.thefilmstage.com) is a blog that follows film industry news. Here’s a note from Jordan:

Fellow UB Students,

Do you want to keep up-to-date on all film industry news as well as exclusive interviews, articles, contests, features, podcasts, and reviews? The Film Stage was started by two UB Media Study students, Jordan Raup and Dan Mecca a year and half ago and it has grown now with over 20 writers from all over the world covering many major film festivals from Cannes to Sundance to Toronto. Many of our writers are heavily involved in filmmaking as well. It is a great venue to meet and discuss people that love cinema. Check out all the ways you can follow us below.

The Film Stage site
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter
RSS Feed
Subscribe to our Podcasts in iTunes
Google Buzz

We hope you enjoy all of our content and look forward to many film discussions!

Jordan Raup | Editor-In-Chief | The Film Stage | 585-217-1809 |
www.thefilmstage.com

STEFANI BARDIN featured in Buffalo News

Stefani Bardin was featured in last Sunday’s “Life” section of the Buffalo News as “Cook of the Month”. She discusses food, media and her excellent fish tacos recipe! Check out the full story and video clip here.

SARAH ELDER awarded Civic Engagement & Public Policy Fellowship

Professor Sarah Elder is among the the first fellows to receive UB’s Civic Engagement and Public Policy research initiative award.

Quoted from the UB News Center:

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The University at Buffalo has named the first fellows to be funded by the university’s Civic Engagement and Public Policy (CEPP) research initiative, one of eight areas identified in the UB 2020 Strategic Plan as the embodiment of a particular tradition of excellence at the university.

They will establish projects to address social justice issues linked to dramatic climate change in the town of Emmonak, Alaska; to urban agriculture and food security in Buffalo, N.Y.; and to schemes for publicly financing economic-development programs in Chester, Pa.

The fellows are Sarah Elder, professor, Department of Media Study, and adjunct professor of anthropology; Christopher Mele, PhD, associate professor, Department of Sociology; and Sara Metcalf, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Geography.

….

Elder, an internationally celebrated, award-winning ethnographic filmmaker is known in particular for her 25 years of documentary work among Alaskan Eskimos and other indigenous Arctic peoples. She will conduct a project titled “Surviving Climate Change: Impacts, Responses, Strategies and Resilience in an Alaska Native Village.”

Using documentary video and ethnographic fieldwork, the project will research and document the economic and social consequences of climate change in the remote Yup’ik Eskimo village of Emmonak, Alaska, which sits on the Yukon River and the Bering Sea coast.

Read the full press release here: http://www.buffalo.edu/news/10741.

Toward the Sentient City on the BBC

Toward the Sentient City, an exhibit curated by Professor Mark Shepard, featured on the BBC’s “Digital Planet.” Listen here.