Got an e-mail propaganda from "Knocking" director

by Gerard 9 Replies latest jw friends

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  Gerard

  It goes like this:

  ---

  KNOCKING Update

  February 2009

  In this issue:

  KNOCKING...

  -- Plays the Vatican

  -- In Schools

  -- Re-Runs

  -- On DVD

  KNOCKING PLAYS THE VATICAN

  News reports have said that Pope Benedict has a cousin in Australia who is one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Perhaps the Pope wanted to know more about his cousin’s religion. KNOCKING was recently broadcast in Italy, Italian-speaking Switzerland, Monaco and – Vatican City! No word yet from Vatican residents on how much they liked KNOCKING.

  In addition to Italy, KNOCKING has been broadcast in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Greece, Israel and the United States.

  The DVD of the film is available in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

  Visit www.knocking.org to order

  KNOCKING IN SCHOOLS

  Video clips of KNOCKING have been seen in nearly 600 middle schools, high schools and community colleges across the United States this past school year. PBS and the Independent Television Service selected KNOCKING to be part of the “Community Classroom” series that distributes free video clips from the film to schools along with lesson plans. KNOCKING was used to help students learn about tolerance through the experiences Jehovah’s Witnesses faced in Nazi Germany, before the U.S. Supreme Court in winning rights to minister door-to-door, and in hospitals while seeking medical alternatives to blood transfusions.

  Here’s what some educators had to say about KNOCKING:

  "A wonderful tool to spark discussion in my classroom."

  "An untold story. Most of my students had never known about this history."

  "We loved working with the educational material and it prompted us to get our own copy of the DVD to see the full film."

  (The Community Classroom program only uses a few scenes from KNOCKING to illustrate the lesson plans. Students do not view the film in its entirety)

  If you would like your local middle school, high school or community college to use KNOCKING in the free Community Classroom program, please send an email to: [email protected]

  Be sure to put “Community Classroom: KNOCKING” in the subject heading and provide your name, contact info, city and school.

  KNOCKING RE-RUNS

  A PBS station in the Washington, DC area recently re-broadcast KNOCKING. All of the 360 PBS affiliate stations across the United States are independently operated and can re-broadcast PBS documentaries at their discretion. If you would like another broadcast in your area (or if it was shown at an inconvenient hour the first time around), please contact your local PBS station and request it. You may find the contact info for your local station at this link:

  http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/index.html

  KNOCKING ON DVD

  Please tell a friend about KNOCKING on DVD. See the full director’s cut of the film (longer than what was broadcast on PBS) along with 3 hours of extra video material and a 48-page accompanying study guide.

  Available in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Closed Captioned in English. Subtitled in Spanish and Portuguese.

  To order English

  http://www.knocking.org/

  To order Spanish

  http://www.llamando.org/
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  Well, the video didn't make Joel famous as he had hoped. It didn't lead to praise from JW's and the gay community- quite the opposite from the gay community. He still made it, has to market it, ride that horse as long as he can.

  If it weren't for the ex-JW community, I imagine the film would have flopped. I doubt there's really much of an interest in schools across the nation. Sounds like spin to me. I would assume the rest of his email is spin.

  I met Joel Engardio at the Chicago screening of KNOCKING. I thought the video was fair and couldn't help but make JW's look weird, as much as he tried to make them seem normal. Joel was sincere about this film, but it was really a tribute to his JW mother and he hoped to run down the middle of the road about JW's so his own gay community would praise him. The middle wasn't good enough for them, they hated it because it did not expose the doctrines, practices of the JW's- similar of former JW's, and the JW's themselves were not told to have an opinion by Mother, so they mostly didn't watch it.
• 

  drew sagan

  I pretty much agree with OnTheWayOut. It pretty much seemed to me that Joels main goal was to use this subject as a way to try and break into the film business. Didn't really work out that way. It was a mediocre film, the style did not match the subject, and it ended up being shallow and bland.

  The biggest failure of the film (from strickly a techinical film making standpoint) is that Joel confuses "Jehovah's Witnesses" the adverage member with "Jehovah's Witnesses" the billion dollar religious corporation.

  To show the lives of a few members is not to examine the entire reigion. There was almost no discussion whatsoever in the film of the Watchtowers theology, teachigns, ect.

  I like to compare his film to the film that appears around the same time about the mormons. It aired on PBS in two parts and was extremely comprehensive. It followed the entire movement, talked with current members and those who have left, and was just a good film all around.

  But to just profile some members leaves out all of the history of the group, and you really can't even begin to understand the JWs apart form their history.

  In the way Joel has marketed his film he has tried to make it appear that it is a comprehensive view, but in reality it is very narrow.
• 

  Mary

  Poor Joel.......I was wondering why he wasn't nominated at the Oscars this year.

  
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  rebel8

  The Vatican? How pathetic.

  And PS.....why is the movie title always CAPITALIZED? Another touch of tackiness.
• 

  BizzyBee

  Sounds like it was a film that could not find its audience. Not surprising.

  Reading between the lines, the e-mail doesn't really have much positive to say about the film itself. It is being shown, the Pope's cousin might be a JW, the kids get an AV experience instead of a pop quiz, but no one is clamoring after the film.
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  rebel8

  What would happen if we had a public screening of the Dateline episode exposing the jw molestation scandal......across the street from Crooklyn headquarters? Oh.....it would be called religious persecution!
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  OUTLAW

  "An untold story. Most of my students had never known about this history." ............Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!...........The story still remains untold........."Miricle Wheat".."Beth Serim".."Vacinations".."The Pedophile Scandel".."The United Nations Scandel"..Ect..Ect...............................And.....No mention in the movie that God is going to Destroy his ass at Armageddon!!..This movie won`t save him!...................................Where`s the Clip I gave him to put in the Movie,of Johnny Depp Riding my Snow Thrower??!!..No wonder the movie is a Frigg`n Flop!!

  
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  rebel8

  Well I'm sure some of you have seen this article about the pope's jw cousin. <gag>

  I think this woman is lying: "...the Pope had encouraged her for following her faith. He told me, 'You are doing the work that we should do,' referring to her church's missionary work. He said [you have] halls that are not too big, that are full. We have cathedrals, churches, and chapels that are empty."
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  Jankyn

  My sense of it is that poor Engardio just wants to be loved. Sorry, ma, I'm gay---but look at the great movie I made about your religion! Will you love me now?

  Won't work, but I understand his impulse. It's a hard thing to come to grips with when your parents don't love you--or at least, love you less than they love a publishing company.