Heart of the Sea: Kapolioka'ehukai is a moving portrait of Hawaiian legend Rell "Kapolioka'ehukai" Sunn who died in January 1998 of breast cancer at the age of 47.

Known worldwide as a pioneer of women's professional surfing, Rell Sunn achieved the stature of an icon in the Islands for her community activism.

Voting in America is a provocative collection of nine short films about why some people don't vote and how others are trying to change their minds.

Filmmaker Charlotte Lagarde

About Charlotte Lagarde
Charlotte Lagarde’s documentary Heart of the Sea: Kapolioka'ehukai (2002) about Hawaiian legend Rell Sunn was broadcast nationally on PBS (Independent Lens Audience Award 2003) and won the Audience Award at both the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Newport Beach Film Festival and Best Documentary Award at the Ashland Independent Film Festival.

Lagarde's productions Every Child Should Have a Chance (2001), Tribal Sovereignty: Unplugged (1998) and Juvenile Justice: Unplugged (1997), are distributed in public schools throughout the United States, and the latter was screened at the White House for public policy makers. Born in France, Lagarde became an American citizen in 1995 so that she could vote.

Visit filmmaker Charlotte Lagarde's non-profit production company, Swell Cinema, who’s mission is to produce documentary films with an independent vision and to educate the public about contemporary issues.

The Ashland Independent Film Festival and SOU/Extended Campus Programs present three special events:

EVENT ONE
Heart of the Sea and Voting In America documentary film double feature

EVENT TWO
Voting in America film screening and community forum

EVENT THREE
Documentary Film: A seminar with award-winning filmmaker Charlotte Lagarde

EVENT ONE
Documentary Film Double Feature
Voting in America and Heart of the Sea: Kapolioka'ehukai

Voting in America
A provocative collection of nine short films about why some people don't vote and how others are trying to change their minds. Voting in America takes you from an animated history of voting to voter registration in the Philadelphia jail system to a Navajo punk band's struggle to get out the vote. Produced by Laura Harrison and Charlotte Lagarde
Visit the Voting in America website.

Heart of the Sea: Kapolioka'ehukai
A moving portrait of Hawaiian legend Rell "Kapolioka'ehukai" Sunn who died in January 1998 of breast cancer at the age of 47. Known worldwide as a pioneer of women's professional surfing, Rell Sunn achieved the stature of an icon in the Islands for her community activism. Heart of the Sea won the Best Documentary Award at the 2003 Ashland Independent Film Festival, the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the San Francisco Film Festival and the PBS Independent Lens Audience Award.
Visit the Heart of the Sea website.

Friday, October 8th, 7:30pm
Saturday, October 9th, 7:30pm
Sunday, October 10th, 7:30pm
SOU Meese Auditorium
$8/$4 SOU Students w/valid ID and Ashland Independent Film Festival Members
Tickets at the Door

EVENT TWO
Why Vote? The Fight to Increase Voting in America
Film Screening and Community Forum

This special event will feature the provocative documentary Voting in America, a collection of nine short films by award-winning filmmakers examining why people don’t vote and innovative ways people and communities are trying to increase voter turnout across the country. Following the film, local radio talk show host Jeff Golden will lead a panel including Voting in America co-producer Charlotte Lagarde, a representative from the League of Women Voters and more, in a community discussion about voting and voter turnout efforts in Southern Oregon. The audience will be encouraged to join in. This non-partisan event takes place just days before Oregon’s voter registration deadline and volunteers will be on hand with registration forms.
Visit the Voting in America website.

Saturday, October 9th, 2 - 4:30pm
SOU Meese Auditorium
$4 general public, free for SOU students w/valid ID
Click here to register at SOU

EVENT THREE
Documentary Film: The New Activism
An Afternoon Seminar with Award-Winning Filmmaker Charlotte Lagarde

Filmmaker Charlotte Lagarde examines the new popularity of controversial independent documentary film as a tool for influencing public opinion. Fahrenheit 9/11, Outfoxed and Supersize Me are documentaries reaching audiences in record numbers. How are they making it to the big screen? Do filmmakers have to be "in your face"/controversial to make the audience care about issues? Is this advocacy or propaganda? Lagarde will feature film clips and discuss her film industry experience and then invite the audience to join in this “guerilla filmmaking” conversation.

Sunday, October 10th, 2 - 4:00pm
SOU Meese Auditorium
$10/$5 Students w/valid ID and Ashland Independent Film Festival Members
Click here to register at SOU

These events are sponsored in part by the Ashland Community Food Store and Jefferson Public Radio.