News
“Project Gabriel: Media In the Service of Social Justice has been announced as a 2010 Fledgling Fund Grant Recipient! January 26, 2010
Highest Common Denominator is pleased to announce that Project Gabriel: Media In the Service of Social Justice has been awarded a grant from The Fledgling Fund. Project Gabriel utilizes multiple media platforms to reach across demographics and enhance the climate for significant justice policy reform, creating the political space for politicians to propose and advocate for reform. The campaign is timely, as it launches into a tail-wind created by recent judicial and economic mandates that will require policy-makers throughout the country to confront major flaws in sentencing laws which have led to unprecedented and untenable levels of incarceration, discriminatory practices, and the trans-generational institutionalization of crime and incarceration, all of which have led to the destruction of families and communities and have failed to improve public safety. Fledgling’s grant will help this innovative project engage audiences in this critical issue.
To read more about The Fledgling Fund, please visit www.thefledglingfund.org.
THE FARM:10 DOWN on National Geographic ChannelDecember 8, 2009
THE FARM: 10 DOWN will be re-broadcast on The National Geographic Channel, December 26 9:00AM EST under the title A DECADE BEHIND BARS: RETURN TO THE FARM. Check it out if you can!
“The Farm: Life Inside Angola Prison” and “The Farm: 10 Down” are now available for purchase on DVD!December 28, 2009
Highest Common Denominator is pleased to announce the release on DVD of “The Farm: Life Inside Angola Prison” (1998) as well as its sequel, “The Farm: 10 Down” (2009). Both are now available for purchase on the HCD website.
When “The Farm” was released in 1998 it garnered many of cinema’s top awards, including the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, the LA Film Critic’s Award, the New York Film Critics Award, an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary, 2 Emmys and 4 Emmy nominations. The fully re-mastered film is now available for the first time on DVD in a special 10th Anniversary Edition.
“The Farm: 10 Down had its broadcast debut on the National Geographic Channel in June, 2009 under the title “A Decade Behind Bars: Return to The Farm.” HCD has also released the feature length theatrical version of The Farm: 10 Down.” Both DVD’s are available for purchase at the HCD Store.
When “The Farm” was released in 1998 it garnered many of cinema’s top awards, including the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, the LA Film Critic’s Award, the New York Film Critics Award, an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary, 2 Emmys and 4 Emmy nominations. The fully re-mastered film is now available for the first time on DVD in a special 10th Anniversary Edition.
“The Farm: 10 Down had its broadcast debut on the National Geographic Channel in June, 2009 under the title “A Decade Behind Bars: Return to The Farm.” HCD has also released the feature length theatrical version of The Farm: 10 Down.” Both DVD’s are available for purchase at the HCD Store.
The Road to Redemption is awarded Grand Jury Prize, Ismailia International Film FestivalOctober 31, 2009
THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION was recently awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentary and Short Films. The festival takes place every year in Ismailia, Egypt. The festival aims to promote an intercultural dialogue for a deeper understanding of others by presenting creative works to an audience and also serves to encourage filmmakers of documentary and short films to continue with their work.
HCD Co-founder and Director Chosen as IDFA Jury MemberOctober 30, 2009
Jonathan Stack, Highest Common Denominator’s Co-founder, Director and Executive Producer, has been chosen as a jury member in the Student Documentary Competition at the 22nd International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, which will take place on November 19 – 29, 2009. His fellow jury members are Yule Olaizol and Metthhijs Wouter Knol. Together, they will choose Best Student Documentary at IDFA this year.
Additionally, THE FARM: 10 DOWN will have its European premiere at the 2009 IDFA as part of the festival’s Reflecting Images: Masters program.
IDFA was founded in 1988 in order to stimulate the national and international documentary culture; since it’s foundation IDFA has developed into the largest documentary film festival in the world.
The Farm: 10 Down selected for the Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival August 3, 2009
THE FARM: 10 DOWN, produced by Highest Common Denominator Media Group and directed by Jonathan Stack, has been selected for the 2009 Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival. The festival, which highlights a collection of inspiring and thought-provoking social, environmental and adventure-related films from around the world, will take place from October 8 – 11, 2009.
A DECADE BEHIND BARS Broadcast Premiere on National Geographic Channel June 16th June 10, 2009
The sequel to THE FARM: LIFE INSIDE ANGOLA PRISON, Academy nominated and Emmy winning documentary, will be broadcast on the National Geographic Channel, Tuesday, June 16th at 8:00 p.m. EST under the title, A DECADE BEHIND BARS: RETURN TO THE FARM.Check out the teaser for the film below.
THE FARM: 10 DOWN Will Screen at 92nd St Y Tribeca June 18, 2009
Co-presented by the Woodstock Film Festival and the 92nd St Y, THE FARM: 10 DOWN has its New York City premiere on July 8, 2009. Please join us at the 92nd St Y Tribeca for this screening. Jonathan Stack, director of the film, and Bishop Tanniehill, former prisoner and subject of the film, will be present at a Q&A following the screening.
THE FARM: 10 Down Premieres in NYC to a Sold Out Crowd!July 10, 2009
THE FARM: 10 DOWN had its NY Premiere at the 92YTribeca on Wednesday, July 8th, co-presented by the Woodstock Film Festival. The sold out event had people sitting on the floor in the front and sidelines of the theatre, a captivated audience watching as the lives of 4 inmates at the maximum security Angola prison unfold before them. The screening was followed by a lengthy and in-depth Q&A session with filmmaker Jonathan Stack and former inmate Eugene “Bishop” Tanniehill, moderated by WFF’s co-founder and executive director Meira Blaustein. Bishop, a devout Christian and skilled 
preacher who 
recently walked out a free man after 50 years in prison, shared a passionate and captivating serman with the audience. His wife, who he met soon after leaving prison, sat in the audience and was moved as everyone else in the room was. Jonathan answered the audiences’ various questions, providing his unique insight into a private world that most of us know very little about. Following the packed screening, guests and filmmakers mingled and carried their conversations to the bar in the 92YTribeca. Overall, the event was wonderfully successful! We’ll see you in Woodstock!Meira Blaustein, Co-Founder/Executive Director, Woodstock Film Festival
Plum TV Interview with Jonathan and Ashanti June 3, 2009
While at the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride, Jonathan Stack and Ashanti Witherspoon gave an interview about THE FARM: 10 DOWN, the sequel to the award-wining film THE FARM. 10 DOWN played at the Mountain Film Festival, and Plum TV interviewed Jonathan and Ashanti about the making of the film and the impact of film on the prisoners in Angola Prison, and the prison itself.
Click on the link to watch the interview. PLUMTV
Sundance Institute/Skoll Foundation Award Grant to Highest Common Denominator Media Group May 26, 2009
Sundance Institute and Skoll Foundation announced on May 26th the final five grant recipients of the STORIES OF CHANGE: SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN FOCUS THROUGH DOCUMENTARY initiative, a three-year partnership designed to enable the creation of new, feature-length independent documentary films that frame, examine and amplify social entrepreneurship as an innovative approach to meeting the challenges of our time. Highest Common Denominator’s film CONNECTED was among those awarded for its story of Nigerian entrepreneur Aloy Chife and his unrelenting and successful effort to shrink Africa’s digital divide, using information technology to transform people’s lives. Production on the film will begin in May, 2009. Stay tuned as our story develops…
PREMIERE SCREENING of Jonathan Stack’s THE ROAD TO REDEMPTIONOctober 17, 2008
ROAD TO REDEMPTION, produced by Highest Common Denominator Media Group and directed by Jonathan Stack, premiered on Friday, October 17th, 2008 at the WINDOWS To The WORLD Film Symposium, a program of the Monterey Institute of International Studies and the Naval Postgraduate School, announced Mara-Michelle Batlin, executive producer of the film. The film offers a raw depiction of the broken lives of former female combatants in Liberia’s long and brutal civil war. The war tore apart families, neighborhoods, villages, and a country, and has left a national legacy of pain and distrust. Jonathan Stack’s intimate journey with them captures the courage and dignity with which these women seek their own path to forgiveness and redemption – to, in the words of one, “become a human being”.
The Road to Redemption selected for the IDFA September 30, 2008
THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION has been selected for the 21st edition of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, which will take place from 20 – 30 November 2008. The film will be screened to an international audience as part of the festival’s Reflecting Images: Masters program and will be eligible for the IDFA Audience Award. The film was produced by the Highest Common Denominator Media Group and directed by Jonathan Stack. Film screening times have yet to be announced.
Jonathan Stack merges Gabriel Films with Highest Common Denominator Media GroupJanuary 12, 2008
Highest Common Denominator Media Group and Gabriel Films have combined their resources to leverage the power of storytelling to inspire and bring about social change. Filmmaker Jonathan Stack has partnered with photographer David Deniger and international policy expert Mara-Michelle Batlin to explore innovative media formats that expand the power of storytelling. HCDMedia may support other creative efforts by directors and independent filmmakers as their storytelling advances its mission and illustrates the highest common denominator that exists throughout humanity. HCDMedia is producing several projects, including the just-released ROAD TO REDEMPTION, and a follow-up to the award-winning THE FARM, ANGOLA, USA entitled, THE FARM: 10 DOWN, to be broadcast on the National Geographic Channel in spring 2009.