If you are going to the Dallas Video Festival and interested in fair use, come visit me on Sat. 8.12!

The Center Social Media at American University showcases and analyzes strategies to use media as creative tools for public knowledge and action, focusing on social documentaries for civil society and democracy, and on the public media environment that supports them. For several years the growing power of the major studios and media conglomerates have put a stranglehold on legitimate uses of copyrighted materials through exhorbitant licensing fees and other tactics that have had a chilling effect on artists wishing to use copyrighted material to comment on cuilture. They have been leading the defense in the media wars on fair use and copyright issues as they apply to independent media makers. This panel, led by Agnes Varnum of the Center, helps clarify the murky water of licensing and fair use issues and gives social filmmakers tips and strategies for navigating the minefield of copyrighted materials.

Rest of the info at Dallas Video Fest…