Can’t sleep, can’t drive? Watch movies til sunrise!

We hope this will provide a healthy and safe alternative to driving all the way out to Sterling, VA or Gaithersburg, MD. We hope to get some comedians for the first ½ hour like the last time, (And we’re taking applications). Nothing like a little laughter at 2:30 in the morning to wake you up.

All movies are chosen by the audience and include everything from indie films, to documentaries, to comedies, and dramas.

• Date: Starting Sunday, September 5th (also known as “late Saturday night”) and continuing the first Sunday of every month.
• Time: 2:30 AM – 6:30 AM
• $5 to $10 suggested donation.
• RSVP on Facebook!

We are also looking for insomniac volunteers to help us! Please email nilanga@bloombars.com if you can lend a hand.

Join us at BloomBars on Tuesday August 31st for a participatory performance art installation, screening of THE COAT HANGER PROJECT, Q&A with filmmaker Angie Young, and to take home your own copy of the film!

About the film:
“Since the passage of Roe vs. Wade in 1973, anti-choice forces have been making it their mission to dismantle women’s reproductive freedom. They came together, brilliantly strategized, pooled their resources, and slowly but steadily they have been implementing their attack. Their weapons: money, the legal system, the government, the media, the church, and – this is the scariest of all – you.”

Although legalized through Roe vs. Wade, abortions have become increasingly less accessible, due to restrictive state laws and a reduction in government funding. The Coat Hanger Project examines the current state of reproductive rights legislation and explores what life was like for women prior to Roe vs. Wade.

• Date: Tuesday, August 31st
• Time: 6:30 – 8:30 pm
• Donation: $10
• RSVP on Facebook!
• NOTE: This film contains graphic images. Viewer discretion advised!

Enjoy a full day of BloomBars events to honor Columbia Heights Day: Saturday, August 28th!

Join BloomBars on Columbia Heights Day for a full day (and night) of programming to celebrate our community and all that it has to offer!

We’ll be open all day, with belly dance, yoga, capoeira, salsa, tap dance, samba, Storytime, Open Mic, live music, and even Sunrise Cinema (Movies all night!). Basically, we’re fitting our entire week of programs into one day!

• Events start at 9:00 am and keep going till 6:30 am on Sunday! View the complete schedule below.
• All ages are welcome for every event.
• Suggested Donation: $10 per event.
• RSVP on Facebook
• More info on Gregg Hammond/Amber Dutton/Rob Reid

Columbia Heights Day Schedule:

9:00 – 10:00 am – Belly Dance
10:00 – 11:00 am – Yoga
11:00 – 12:00 pm – Capoeira
12:00 – 12:45 pm – Children’s StoryTime with Mahogany Books
1:00 – 5:00 pm – Columbia Heights Media Project will be interviewing residents for a hyperlocal documentary
2:00 – 4:00 pm – The Garden: Open Mic: Special afternoon session
4:00 – 5:00 pm – Cuban Salsa & Tap Dance Jam
5:30 – 6:30 pm – Brazilian Hour! Samba lesson and performance.

8:30 – 10:30 pm – Live performances by local guitar & folk musicians Ralph Wittenberg, Amber Dutton, and Greg Hammond to benefit Guitars not Guns

And it doesn’t stop there!

2:30 am – 6:30 am – Sunrise Cinema: Don’t drink & drive! Watch movies until sunrise. Let us know if you’d like to help. We’re looking for comedians and film curators.

View Details on Facebook!

Tuesday, August 24th at 6:30 pm

This Tuesday, BloomScreen Presents: MOSA (2010, 15min) By Ana Moreno

This narrative film explores a young woman’s struggle after being a victim of “corrective rape.” A common practice in South Africa, lesbian women are constantly raped with the belief that they will be cured from homosexuality. After running away to London, Mosa takes on new opportunities to start a new life but after feeling objectified once again, she breaks through and finally decides to live on her own terms.

Before and after the film, we will have an open discussion for the audience with the filmmaker herself, Ana Moreno, appearing live via Skype Video to answer questions and talk further about her film.  Although not at BloomBars in person, the audience will have the opportunity to talk to and interact with the filmmaker in real time.

Website: MOSA
Date: Tuesday, August 24th
Time: 6:30 pm
Suggested Donation: $10
RSVP on Facebook!

View the Trailer:

About BloomScreen Indie Film Night:

Each week, join fellow film buffs for a screening followed by a discussion with talking points about the film. We’re also working to bring in filmmakers, directors, and subject matter experts whenever possible to aid in discussions and answer your questions.

BloomBars is a donation-based organization. The suggested donation for this event is $10.

Have a suggestion for a film? Know a local filmmaker who wants to screen their work? Want to lend a hand? Email julie@bloombars.com with your suggestions.

Film Screening and Discussion of “Chocolate City”
TONIGHT! Tuesday, August 10th at 6:30 pm

Join fellow film fans in a screening of local filmmaker Ellie Walton’s film, CHOCOLATE CITY and a panel discussion afterwords about development and responsible growth in our city.

The filmmaker, Ellie Walton, and Ms. Rose, a character in the film, will be in attendance at the screening and will join us after the screening for a conversation about displacement in the district.

CHOCOLATE CITY follows the story of 400 low-income families of the Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg housing projects in Southeast who lost their homes in 2002 to make room for a new, mixed-income development funded in part by a $34.9 million HOPE VI federal grant.

Filmed and directed by local filmaker Ellie Walton and British journalist Sam Wild, Chocolate City doesn’t seek to deal with gentrification comprehensively. There are no statistics, no historical perspective, and no comparisons to other cities. The documentary merely offers a human portrait of a community pushed out of their homes, both through their immediate experiences and through the interpretation of playwright Anu Yadav, who developed a one-woman performance based on their story.

In this, the 46-minute piece is engaging and thought-provoking, ably balancing first-person commentary, Yadav’s performance, and imagery of District neighborhoods in the midst of frenzied construction and change.

Date: Tuesday, August 10th
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Donation: $10
RSVP on Facebook

Film Screening and Discussion of “Chocolate City”
TONIGHT! Tuesday, August 10th at 6:30 pm

Join fellow film fans in a screening of local filmmaker Ellie Walton’s film, CHOCOLATE CITY and a panel discussion afterwords about development and responsible growth in our city.

The filmmaker, Ellie Walton, and Ms. Rose, a character in the film, will be in attendance at the screening and will join us after the screening for a conversation about displacement in the district.

CHOCOLATE CITY follows the story of 400 low-income families of the Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg housing projects in Southeast who lost their homes in 2002 to make room for a new, mixed-income development funded in part by a $34.9 million HOPE VI federal grant.

Filmed and directed by local filmaker Ellie Walton and British journalist Sam Wild, Chocolate City doesn’t seek to deal with gentrification comprehensively. There are no statistics, no historical perspective, and no comparisons to other cities. The documentary merely offers a human portrait of a community pushed out of their homes, both through their immediate experiences and through the interpretation of playwright Anu Yadav, who developed a one-woman performance based on their story.

In this, the 46-minute piece is engaging and thought-provoking, ably balancing first-person commentary, Yadav’s performance, and imagery of District neighborhoods in the midst of frenzied construction and change.

Date: Tuesday, August 10th
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Donation: $10
RSVP on Facebook

TONIGHT! Screening starts at 6:30 pm, followed by a live Skype Discussion with the Executive Director of Conscious Youth Media Crew, Debra Koffler!

A CHOICE OF WEAPONS is a narrative film about environmental and housing issues by San Francisco area youth that premiered at the 2009 LA Film Festival.

‘A Choice of Weapons’ takes place in one of San Francisco’s hardest neighborhoods as we follow the lives of youngsters struggling to survive the inner city.

D’Angelo and Marcus are two brothers heading in opposite directions in life: one, a hustler, the other, a budding filmmaker. But life takes a dramatic turn for D’Angelo when he must face death and confront the realities of his ‘hood: evictions, poverty, environmental hazards and vengeful violence.

Faced with pressing problems but also with the powerful examples of community activists, will D’Angelo choose the way of the gun or the way of the camera?

After the film, we’ll have a live Skype discussion with Debra Koffler, the executive director of the Conscious Youth Media Crew- the organization that enables at-risk youth to produce films (including this one!)

Date: Tonight! August 3rd
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Donation: $10/person
RSVP on Facebook

A Choice of Weapons – Trailer from Max Benitez on Vimeo.

This Tuesday, join BloomBars in a screening and discussion of the film, “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits are Spinning Us to Death.”

Based on the best-selling book, ‘War Made Easy’, exposes a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq.

(2007, 73 min.) US
Director:  Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp
Narrated By: Sean Penn

Date:                Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Donation: $10

Visit War Made Easy online to learn more about the film, or watch the trailer below.

About BloomScreen:

After the positive response to our recent screening and discussion of “American Outrage,” BloomBars is happy to announce a weekly screening and discussion of local, independent, foreign, and documentary films.

Each week, join fellow film buffs for a screening followed by a discussion with talking points about the film. We’re also working to bring in filmmakers, directors, and subject matter experts whenever possible to aid in discussions and answer your questions.

Have a suggestion for a film? Know a local filmmaker who wants to screen their work? Want to lend a hand? Email info@bloombars.com with your suggestions.

Attention Film Fanatics!

After the positive response to our recent screening and discussion of “American Outrage,” BloomBars is happy to announce a weekly screening and discussion of local, independent, foreign, and documentary films.

Each week, join fellow film buffs for a screening followed by a discussion with talking points about the film. We’re also working to bring in filmmakers, directors, and subject matter experts whenever possible to aid in discussions and answer your questions.

Have a suggestion for a film? Know a local filmmaker who wants to screen their work? Want to lend a hand? Email info@bloombars.com with your suggestions.

This Week’s Film: Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai

(2008, 81 min.) US

Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy.

Director: Alan Dater and Lisa Merton
Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Time: 8:00pm – 9:30pm
Suggested Donation: $10

RSVP on Facebook

Learn more about ‘Taking Root’ on PBS.org or watch the trailer below.