Today on Voices from the Frontlines:

Conversation with Yves Piat, director and screenwriter

“Nefta Football Club–nominated for best short film for Academy Award

Nefta Football Club–nominated for best short film (live action) for Academy Award.

Eric Mann, in-studio conversation with Yves Piat, director and writer of Nefta Football Club, nominated for Academy Award for short film, live action. In the south of Tunisia at the border with Algeria, two football fan brothers bump into a donkey lost in the middle of the desert. Strangely the animal wears headphones over its ears. The brothers journey to discover the significance of the white powder in its backpack while the donkey’s original masters desperately try to find it as well. This sets the scene for the brothers magical resolution of the mystery.

This is a clever, very funny, thoughtful, film set in Tunisia, along with another nominated film, Brotherhood by Meryam Joobeur that Eric has also viewed.

The Great Hope for a Free Student Pass on MTA Buses and Trains

Eric reports from the recent MTA meeting and the exciting motion for free student passes introduced by MTA board member Hilda Solis with support from Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Councilman Mike Bonin with the initiative of by LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner and LAUSD board members. This builds on the Bus Riders Union’s 20 year campaign for free public transportation for all MTA bus and train passengers. If this is passed in June it could be a great gift to students and parents and a chance to dramatically increase MTA ridership and dramatically decrease Greenhouse gases. We need Voices listeners to join the Bus Riders Union Free Public Transportation Coalition.