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What Changed?	Robben Island Singers
Return of Navajo Boy	Low Rider
Remembering Harold Washington	Chicago Football Classic

The Return of Navajo Boy Now Available for Home DVD Purchase

Groundswell is pleased to announce that The Return of Navajo Boy is now available to the general public for home DVD purchase at NavajoBoy.com and direct streaming rentals at Amazon.com.

For the first time, customers can now order a DVD of this award-winning documentary for personal use, or stream the film online through the world’s largest web retailer. Says director Jeff Spitz, “From a dusty 1950s film reel to a new documentary film and from a Sundance Film Festival premier to screenings on Capitol Hill, this story keeps opening eyes. Lots more eyes will see it now.”

Visit Amazon.com or NavajoBoy.com to order or download the film. The trailer for the film is embedded below.

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Groundswell screens “The Return of Navajo Boy” on the Rez

The Rough Rock Chapter House in Arizona recently invited Groundswell and Perry Charley to screen and discuss the film with residents.

The screening took place in the old trading post and the film was projected onto a bedsheet. Perry H. Charley, Navajo Nuclear scientist and uranium education expert appears in the new epilogue for the film. He frequently shows it to students at the tribal college, Dine College.

Above: Perry H. Charley, Director, Dine College Environmental Institute leads Q&A after The Return of Navajo Boy at Rough Rock Trading Post.

Perry uses the film to introduce audiences to the Navajo perspective on colonization, manifest destiny, and media. He leads discussions about the Navajo conceptions of healing, family history, native knowledge, research, teamwork and environmental science. Perry is a master teacher whose previous work experience includes heading the Navajo office responsible for the abandoned mines and uranium mills. Every agency that is responsible for the legacies of Uranium mining consults with Mr. Perry H. Charley. We are proud to work with Perry and his remarkable students at Dine College.

Above: Groundswell co-founder, Jeff Spitz, with the media team staff at Northern Navajo Medical Center, Shiprock, NM.

Above: Watch a slideshow of photos taken by Groundswell intern Mitch Wenkus on the recent trip to Navajo Nation.

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Groundswell Joins Forces with South Africa Partners

Groundswell is pleased to join forces with South African Partners (SA Partners), a Boston-based organization dedicated to the development of long-term partnership opportunities between the United States and South Africa.

Program areas at SA Partners bring together people here and in South Africa to support the work of redressing apartheid’s legacy and building the new South Africa. The central focus of activities is to establish mutually beneficial, long-term partnerships between South Africa and the United States. After six years, SA Partners has begun to formulate a better understanding of two-way partnerships as an important development tool.

SA Partners will be supporting Groundswell and The Robben Island Singers project in upcoming events and will also promote the trio’s CDs for sale on-site at events and online.

About South Africa Partners

South Africa Partners, Inc. (SA Partners) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of long-term partnership opportunities between the United States and South Africa. Building on the efforts of tens of thousands of individuals across the United States who supported the international movement for democracy in South Africa, SA Partners seeks to support those efforts which promote South Africa’s equitable and sustainable development, while building bridges between the two countries.

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Two Groundswell Films to Screen at The Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival

Director and Groundswell co-founder Jeff Spitz will be in the Washington DC area on April 24th to present and discuss both The Return of Navajo Boy and a preview screening of Robben Island Singers.

The first ever Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival will be held in Silver Spring, MD (just outside of Washington D.C.) from April 23-25, 2010. This multi-venue, multi-media event will bring together artists, local businesses and politicians to use socially transformative art to raise awareness of human rights and justice issues, as well as the important work of Amnesty International.

Says Groundswell co-founder Jeff Spitz, “The wide range of artists, art forms and creative human rights campaigns is inspiring. I will be on a panel with fellow filmmakers Sunday, April 25th 2:30 – 4:30 to be followed by work in progress screening for Robben Island Singers.”

More information can be found at HumanRightsArtFestival.com.

Update: Read a report from the Amnesty International Human Rights Arts Festival.

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Playing for Change: Peace Through Music

Can music change the world? Judging by the reach and impact of the Playing for Change movement, the answer to the question is a resounding “yes!”

Many of you may remember the viral Stand by Me video that made the rounds a few years ago. With tens of millions of views on Youtube alone, this “little experiment” has become an international sensation creating a veritable global Groundswell. The song transformed Playing For Change from a small group of individuals to a global movement for peace and understanding.

More on Playing for Change

Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race.

Now, musicians from all over the world are brought together to perform benefit concerts that build music and art schools in communities that are in need of inspiration and hope. In addition to benefit concerts, the Playing for Change band also performs shows around the world. When audiences see and hear musicians who have traveled thousands of miles from their homes, united in purpose and chorus on one stage, everyone is touched by music’s unifying power.

For further information, visit the Playing For Change website.

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