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06 server readers are SMART PROGRESSIVE INVOLVED INFLUENTIAL GOOD LOOKING \($\(9 are 06server oavertisersr Get noticed by Texas Observer folks all over the state and nation. Let them know about your bookstore, service, restaurant, non-profit organization, event, political candidate, shoe store, coffee house, boutique, salon, yoga studio, law practice, etc. Tio r G.1 :tasobsorlar ADVERTISE IN THE OBSERVER! REASONABLE RATES GREAT EXPOSURE Call 512-477-0746 and ask for Julia Malin or e-mail [email protected] ke g , \(56server reoaersr Consider advertising your business or non-profit in the Observer. GOOD FOR YOU GOOD FOR THE OBSERVER Greenscreen, continued from page 23 believe there are enough avenues for the kind of programming I like to make and that I think we should be producing. So in order to be effective in the field there are limited ways to do that. And if you don’t somehow manage to be lucky enough or good enough or know the right people to be able to work in those places, then you’re sort of forced into doingand I don’t mean to sound conceitedmediocre stuff that’s really just a waste of people’s time as far as I’m concerned. And that’s really troubling to me. DC: I think that that’s one thing that we talked about too, when we first came up with the idea for the film series: I can’t stop the war in Iraq. There are so many things; where do you start? Everything is just so screwed up. Yet, on a local level, they say 14 percent of people vote in local elections. You have so much more opportunity to effect change if you devote your time to local things. So I’m trying to shrink things down. I’m not going to worry about China becoming the next big superpower. I just can’t do anything about that. Luckily [I was able to do] the Downtown show, which was about Barton Springs, which is really important to me, and which was seen by 20,000 people. I’m not a hotshot filmmaker that’s playing at Sundance or hanging out with movie stars. At one time, I thought that maybe that was what I wanted, but I don’t care about that anymore. It’s not about my image. I’m about accomplishing something. If it’s something small, it’s better than nothing at all. To make a documentary, you’re looking at five years minimum, from beginning to end, and yeah, it might be the hotshot thing at Sundance, but then people forget about it, and the next year there’ll be another hotshot thing at Sundance. In terms of the social issues that I deal with, I deal with them in the same way as my work as a filmmaker. Producing something locally that costs a lot less money and takes a lot less time that impacts the community you live in has more of a direct impact. SM: I could have spent 10 years being an activist in the environmental battle that I feel very deeply and strongly about and probably accomplished a lot more than I have as a filmmaker [laughs], but it’s like writing a novel: Once you are invested, it’s very hard to wrench yourself away. For better or worse, it becomes a part of who you are. You can’t just abandon it. It’s a total commitment. And I don’t think people get involved in that sort of creative pursuit for any other reason than some really strong passion. Josh Rosenblatt is an Austin-based journalist who frequently writes about the arts. GREENSCREEN SCREENINGS All films will be shown at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Downtown in Austin, TX Wednesday, June 21, 7pm Historic tributes to great rivers “The River,” by Pare Lorentz Wednesday, July 19, 7pm “Wilderness River Trail,” by Charles Eggert Wednesday, August 16, 7pm TBA Wednesday, September 20, 7pm TBA JUNE 2, 2006 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 29