During the past two and half years photographer/director Eric Minh Swenson has created over 200 short documentaries about Southern California artists, as well as assembling thousands of images which record art events–installations, openings, art walks, fairs–from Ventura to San Diego. His mini-documentaries are works of art in themselves, allowing the artists and their work to speak directly to the viewer.

FDL Movie Night interviews director/photographer Eric Minh Swenson about his work chronicling art and artists in Southern California. Swenson has gained unprecedented access to artists, collectors, curators, gallerists, and art world denizens from San Diego to Ventura. His photos and interviews are revealing portraits of both the Southland and the artistic impulses–shaped by the area’s geography, climate, history, and cultures–that express themselves here. His growing body of work–over 200 short film about Southern California art to date, and thousands of photos– is unique, far ranging and in depth. The art scene in any city has yet to be documented this extensively.

The Revolutionary Optimists takes us into the poorest neighborhoods of Kolkata (Calcutta), India where lawyer-turned-activist Amlan Ganguly has created a multi-faceted program, Prayasam, which empowers children to improve their communities. With some families working in the brickfields carrying 1500 bricks a day to earn $1.45–and many of children facing the same (lack of) employment options–Amlan creates schools and afterschool clubs that empowers the children and give them the opportunity to dream and to make those dreams into a reality.

In the short documentary From Silence to Recognition, father and son filmmakers David Hughes Duke and John Duke explore a painful part of the history of Emory University and its Jewish students: the consistent abuse of Jewish students in the University’s School of Dentistry which lead to a 65% flunk-out/withdrawal rate over the thirteen years that John E. Buhler was the Dean of that department.

What does it mean to be Jewish today? What viewpoints and political outlooks are truly Jewish and who gets to decide?

This dilemma sets Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman’s 2011 film Between Two Worlds off on a wide-ranging journey through modern Jewish culture. This journey begins at the 2009 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the oldest and most popular festival of its kind.

Here’s a preview of our Monday Night Movie — Pink Ribbons, Inc. Join us tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, hosted by Lisa Derrick.

Dustin Lance Black’s play 8 -based on the trial transcripts of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the landmark case which pitted marriage equality against its conservative foes, is one of the most important works of modern theater. A federal appeals court refused to allow the release of the trial videotapes because the trial judge, Vaughn Walker, had promised the pro-Prop 8 defendants that the videos would only be used by the court. 8 shows the arguments that justify bans on marriage for gay and lesbian couples, the testimony on marriage history from expert witnesses, and the arguments used to justify the ban on marriage equality.

We’re planning to combine’s tonight’s movie, featuring the terrific play, “8″ — about the Proposition 8 Trial and an all-star cast — with a welcome party for all our current, new and about-to-become members. So if you’ve been thinking about becoming a member of Firedoglake and haven’t signed up yet, this is a great time to do so.

A smart and poignant documentary, Phunny Business: A Black Comedy tells the story of All Jokes Aside, one of the most influential comedy clubs in the United States, which during its nine year run in Chicago became proving ground for some of the biggest names in comedy. In 1990, on a trip to Los Angeles Raymond Lambert, an MBA working in Chicago for entrepreneur Chris Gardner (The Pursuit of Happyness), visited The Improv on Mo’Bettah Mondays, the club’s black comedy showcase night.

Tonight we have a special double feature. Co-directors Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman will discuss their Academy Award nominated film If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front for the first two-thirds of Movie Night before Sam leaves us, and in the final half hour we’ll delve into Racing Dreams, a look at three ‘tween NASCAR hopefuls during a season of the World Karting Association races, which Marshall directed.