Arts Center Presenting

An Indie Film Series

BRIDGEPORT — “Flicks and Food,” the independent film series being offered by Black Rock Art Center, will screen Independent America during its next program. A collaboration of Catch A Healthy Habit and Black Rock Art Center, the series presents rarely seen provocative documentary films with a nutritious whole foods dinner.

Married couple Hanson Hosein and Heather Hughes hit the road and traveled 13,000 miles through 32 states in search of “Independent America.” Their resulting documentary will be shown on Wednesday, May 24. A gourmet whole foods dinner will be served at 6 pm with the film following at 7.

Tickets are $6 for the film and $20 for both the dinner and film. For information or reservations visit BlackRockArtCenter.com or call 203-367-7917.

Independent America leaves viewers thinking about terrorism, globalization, corporate scandal, and divisive politics in America today. The filmmakers produced the film while abiding by two rules in their research and development of the movie: they avoided interstate highways, and only shopped at “mom & pop” stores. The result was their documentary, Independent America: The Two Lane Search for Mom and Pop.

Recently another “mom and pop,” Devore’s Bakery, closed its doors in Fairfield after decades of serving locals, while a block away Starbucks prepares to open up its 3,000th branch. The invasion of “big box” stores is slowly littering the Fairfield County area with less and less distinction of locally controlled and produced products. The results as depicted in the film are devastating to local communities.

Independent America shows the people who are fighting for their right to remain independent in a land that is smothered by Big Box stores and fast food chains. The film uncovers a growing discontent across the country as Mr Hosein and Ms Hughes speak to economists, activists, political leaders, union members, entrepreneurs and concerned Americans from various walks of life. The question that they want North Americans to leave with is: How do they spend their money?

The filmmakers have over a decade of broadcast experience. Heather Hughes spent six years working for NBC News and MSNBC, subsequently becoming an independent producer and writer in Tel Aviv. Hanson Hosein is a documentary producer and a television news journalist. In 2004, he produced NBC’s coverage of the US handover of power from Baghdad. In 2003, he was an NBC correspondent in the Middle East.

Mr Hanson won an Emmy for his NBC Nightly News Coverage “The Fall of Kosovo,” and he has won an Overseas Press Club Award. Mr Hanson was NBC News’ Middle East producer and Internet correspondent, based in Tel Aviv from 1997 to 2001. Previous to that, he was a producer for NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw for three years in New York.