Breakthrough had the pleasure of chatting with award-winning filmmaker Onir. He is most notable for directing and co-producing his first film, “My Brother Nikhil.” It was the first mainstream Hindi film specifically addressing homosexuality in the context of human rights and HIV/AIDS.
Breakthrough is a proud Co-Producer of a new series of films called “I AM” by Onir that [...]

August 23, 2010 by Jitin | Tags: Abhimanyu, Add new tag, Asia Society, b-listed, bollywood, breakthrough, Engendered, Facebook, HIV/AIDS, homepage, homosexuality, human rights, I AM films, I VIEW Film Festival 2010, independent Indian cinema, Juhi Chawla, My Brother Nikhil, Omar, Onir, Rahul Bose, Sanjay Suri, social media, Tribeca Film Center, Twitter, UN Development Program, Yash Raj Film | No Comments »

A young teacher from a modest home in Sweden sent a small donation through a school’s global education fundraiser. Years later, Hilde Back, a Holocaust survivor, discovers that her small act actually changed the lives of hundreds of children in Kenya, by changing the course of one man’s life, Chris Mburu.
We were excited to talk [...]

July 12, 2010 by Priya | Tags: A Small Act, Ban ki-Moon, Bill Gates, Chris Mburu, documentary, education, ethnic violence, genocide, HBO, HBO docs, Hilde Back, Hilde Back Education Fund, Holocaust, homepage, human rights, Jennifer Arden, Kenya, Network for Good, poverty, Sundance Film Festival | 1 Comment »

In an exclusive interview, founder of the Girl Child Network Worldwide, Betty Makoni tells us about her organization, her mission and where she thinks the global women’s rights movement is going.

June 8, 2010 by Annie | Tags: b-listed, b-side chats, Betty Makoni, breakthrough, Child Labor, Girl Child Network, sexual abuse, women's rights, zimbabwe | No Comments »

We had the opportunity to talk to one of the busiest (and youngest) bloggers on the web, Julie Zeilinger, sole founder of the Fbomb, a feminist blog for teenagers. Let us rephrase: while the blog may be run by a teenager and posted from a teenage perspective, the content is relevant for any feminist young [...]

April 8, 2010 by Stefani | Tags: adolescence, b-side chats, breakthrough, Feminism, Feministing, Jezebel, Julie Zeilinger, social media, the Fbomb, under-21 club | No Comments »

In an exclusive interview, Alive and Kicking CEO, Will Prochaska, tells us about how they bring jobs, play and health awareness to countries in Africa.

March 19, 2010 by Annie | Tags: Alive and Kicking, b-listed, b-side chats, breakthrough, HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS prevention, homepage, Kenya, Right to Play, Tackle Africa, Will Prochaska, Zambia | No Comments »

We spoke with Mark Horvath, who began documenting homelessness in November 2008. He travels around the country with a camcorder asking people enough questions for two-three minutes of unedited footage. Though short, the videos reveal heaps about the homeless giving the people most affected a face, name and voice. He posts them on invisiblepeople.tv.
In this [...]

March 10, 2010 by Stefani | Tags: b-side chats, breakthrough, hardlynormal, homelesness, homeless, invisiblepeople.tv, Mark Horvath | No Comments »

We caught up with Nancy Lublin, entrepreneur and CEO of Do Something, a brilliant nonprofit aimed at mobilizing teenagers to volunteer. Lublin was straighforward on why Do Something is so popular with young people (they have close to 56,000 fans on Facebook), their approach to fast changing technology (why they don’t have an iPhone app), and [...]

January 21, 2010 by crissy | Tags: Activism, b-listed, b-side chat, do something, Nancy Lublin, teen, web, youth | No Comments »

We met artist Kenseth Armstead at a Breakthrough gathering, where he told us about his fascinating project Spook 1781.
The project is about James Armistead Lafayette, a black soldier/spy in 1781. He was a sneaky, brilliant, genius, slave who ended up fighting in the revolution and being one of the main reasons our country exists as [...]

August 20, 2009 by crissy | Tags: artist, b-side chat, human rights, installation, James Armistead Lafayette, Kenseth Armstead, Race, Spook 1781 | 1 Comment »

Kate Clinton, a well known comedian and political-humorist, has taken her stand-up (now going on in Provincetown, MA) viral with her YES on K8 and CommuniKate blogs. Delivering her thoughts on everything from Bruno to Obama, this comedian/video blogger let us know why she chose to take her stand-up to the web to get her comedy and political-know-how [...]

July 29, 2009 by crissy | Tags: blogging, comedian, comedy, commentary, communiKate, I Told You So, kate clinton, polical, Provincetown, stand up, video blog, YES on K8 | No Comments »

We interviewed performance artist and writer, DJ Spooky: That Subliminal Kid, on his latest project starting on Monday at MoMA here in NYC, where he is remixing controversial film Birth of a Nation. This event titled, MoMA Presents: DJ Spooky’s ‘Rebirth of a Nation” exposes and confronts the history of racism in this country.
Our [...]

June 19, 2009 by crissy | Tags: Birth of a Nation, film, Moma, Paul Miller, politics, Racism, rebirth of a nation, technology | No Comments »