Dear Friends and Colleagues,

     We are writing to you because we, as independent filmmakers, find ourselves feeling an emotional need to express, through the medium of art, our thoughts and feelings about the tragic events that have taken place over the past two weeks. We are therefore inviting over 100 filmmakers to contribute work ranging in length from 1 to 10 minutes that responds in some way to these recent events.
     Our goal is to exhibit the resulting work in as many venues as possible, and in three different ways: 1) as an installation piece on video monitors in the context of museum and gallery spaces, 2) as a curated program of short films to be shown at art house theaters, cinematheques, microcinemas, and alternative screening spaces, and 3) as a feature-length omnibus film to be shown in theaters, on television stations, and on video.
     The following venues have already expressed an interest in exhibiting the work: the Independent Film Channel, World Artists Video, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Northwest Film Forum, The Austin Film Society, Pacific Film Archives, the Rafael Film Center, the Grand Illusion Cinema, the Red Vic Movie House, the Fine Arts Cinema, and the Robert Beck Memorial Cinema.
     We are asking interested filmmakers to submit their pieces no later than December 1st. We encourage work in any format that can be done quickly and cheaply. All of the contacted filmmakers are people we know personally and whose work we admire or filmmakers recommended by others and for whom we were given contact information. If, like us, you are feeling a need to express yourself in these troubling times through art, and if, like us, you believe that a collective response can be more powerful and effective than isolated individual responses, then we urge you to join us in our effort and to contribute a short film or video.
     Any and all proceeds will be donated to non-profit organizations working for world peace. Please let us know if you are interested in participating, and feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Also, if you know of anyone who is not on the list below and who would be interested in submitting work, please contact us.

     Peace & Best Wishes,
     Jay Rosenblatt and Caveh Zahedi