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iCES Environmental Film Series
***Open to the whole University of Essex community ***
– come along and bring a friend!
When? Thursday Evenings, 7-9pm
Where? Room 6.333
Films start at 7pm followed by an informal discussion for those who care to
stay for a bit afterwards….
Feel free to bring along something to drink or eat - for yourself or to
share!
Hope to see you there!!
Autumn 2008:
November 27th Life and Debt
(2001, 86 minutes)
December 4th Blue
Vinyl (The World’s First Toxic Comedy!)
(2005, 178 minutes)
December 11th A Crude
Awakening: the Oil Crash
(2006, 82 minutes)
December 18th e2 Design
(2006, PBS, 90 minutes)
Spring 2009:
January 15th An Inconvenient Truth
(2006, 93 minutes)
January 22nd Trashed
(2006)
January 29th Darwin’s Nightmare
(2004, 106 minutes)
February 5th The Future of Food
(2004, 88 minutes)
February 12th World
in the Balance: The Population Paradox
(2004, 60 min)
February 19th Planet Earth: The Future
(2007, 143 minutes)
February 26th Invisible
(2006, 63 minutes)
March 5th Who Killed the Electric
Car?
(2006, 93 minutes)
March 12th **Double bill**
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
(2006, 53 minutes)
–and–
Escape from Affluenza
(1988, 56 minutes)
March 19th Thirst
(2004, 62 min)
The Films
November 27th:
Life and Debt (2001, dir. Stephanie Black, 86
minutes)
This documentary concerns the effects of globalization and multinational
corporations on the island of Jamaica. Set to a beguiling reggae beat, Life
and Debt takes as its subject Jamaica's economic decline in the 20th
century. The story has reverberations in the plight of other third-world
nations blindsided by globalization, like Ghana and Haiti. After England
granted Jamaica independence in 1962, the World Bank and International
Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in with a series of loans. These loans came with
strings attached --the kind that would eventually plunge the country $7
billion into debt, stranded without the resources to dig themselves out.
Although IMF officials get the chance to have their say, it's clear where
filmmaker Stephanie Black's sympathies lie--with the country's underemployed
farmers and sweatshop workers. Jamaica Kinkaid (A Small Place) penned the
narration, while the soundtrack features some of the "exports" with which
this island nation remains mostly closely associated: Bob Marley, Peter Tosh,
and Mutabaruka, who performs the title track
December 4th:
Blue Vinyl: The World’s
First Toxic Comedy
(2002, dirs. Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold, 98 minutes)
Part family comedy and part horrifying investigative reportage, Blue Vinyl
can make one simultaneously laugh and shiver with fear in the same,
deceptively low-key moments. Documentary filmmaker Judith Helfand, upset
that her parents are re-siding their house with blue vinyl, sets out (with
co-director Daniel B. Gold) to discover how vinyl is made and why, according
to some scientists, it is the most hazardous of synthetic materials. Along
the way, she meets industry representatives who tell her the key chemical
ingredient in vinyl, chloride, is no more toxic than table salt. She also
travels to Venice, Italy, to meet with families of vinyl factory workers
dead or dying from chemical exposure, and she visits an intrepid, Louisiana
attorney who has sued American vinyl manufacturers on behalf of severely
injured former employees. The tale is grim, yet the often on-screen
Helfand's approach is folksy and calm--less so when her skeptical parents
reject, in several funny scenes, even empirical data about a product they
find so convenient. (reveiw by Tom Keogh for Amazon.com)
December 11th:
A Crude Awakening – The Oil
Crash
(2006, dirs. Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack, 82 minutes)
A Crude Awakening offers the argument that the era of cheap oil is in the
past, exploring the uncomfortable realities of a world that is addicted to
fossil fuels. As Stanford professor Terry Lynn Karl explains, "More and more
oil is going to come from less and less stable places...places that actually
challenge the taking of oil in the first place." One of the more chilling
revelations concerns the discrepancy between the reserves oil-producing
nations claim they possess and the actual amount. These padded estimates
allow them to drill with impunity, leading to an abundance of wealth in the
short term and cataclysmic consequences once they've depleted their supply
of this non-renewable resource. Featuring a haunting score by Phillip Glass
and a fascinating array of rare archival footage, the film explores oil's
rocky relationship with human progress in locales ranging from ancient Baku,
Azerbaijan to dusty oilpatch town McCamey, Texas.
December 18th:
e2 Design (2006, PBS, 90 minutes)
Equal parts visual style and storytelling acumen, these episodes from PBS
show, e2’s second season explore the potential of the built environment to
help turn around our global climate crisis. Includes: Bogotá: Building a
Sustainable City; Adaptive Reuse in the Netherlands; Architecture 2030.
January 15th:
An Inconvenient Truth (2006, dir. Davis
Guggenheim, 93 minutes)
An Inconvenient Truth may prove to be one of the most important and
prescient documentaries of all time. As he jokingly refers to himself,
"former President-elect" Al Gore felt an urgent personal calling to draw
attention --as he had been doing throughout his political career -- to the
increasingly desperate crisis of global warming. This riveting documentary
is basically a filmed version of the PowerPoint lecture that Gore has
presented (by his own estimate, well over 1,000 times) to attentive
audiences all over the world. Considering Gore's amiable, low-key approach
to charts, graphs, statistics, and photographs that leave no room for doubt
regarding the reality (not "theory") of global warming as Earth's ultimate
environmental crisis, many viewers will be surprised by just how fascinating
and convincing this no-frills film really is. By taking the high road and
discreetly avoiding a full-on assault against the George W. Bush
administration (which has steadfastly avoided "the inconvenient truth" with
obfuscating spin control and policies favouring the oil industry), Gore
effectively rises above political differences with a stern but hopeful eye
toward a better future for our children.
January 22nd:
Trashed (2006, dir. Bill Kirkos)
Trashed is a provocative investigation of one of the fastest growing
industries in North America: the garbage business. The film examines the
American waste stream, fast approaching a half billion tons annually. What
are the effects all this waste will have on already strained natural
resources? Why is so much of it produced? While every American creates
almost 5 pounds of it every day, who is affected most? The film analyzes the
causes and effects of the seemingly innocuous act of "taking out the
garbage," while showcasing the individuals, activists, corporate and
advocacy groups working to affect change and reform the current model.
"Trashed" is an informative and thought-provoking film everyone interested
in the future of sustainability should see.
January 29th:
Darwin’s Nightmare (2004, dir. Hubert
Sauper, 106 minutes)
Forty years ago, a voracious predator was introduced into the waters of
Tanzania's Lake Victoria where it quickly extinguished the entire stock of
native fish. Its ecological impact aside, the Nile Perch became highly
prized for its tender, plump fillets, hardly meeting the demand at elegant
4-star European restaurants. Huge, empty foreign cargo planes land to export
the lake's gourmet bounty, taking out 55 tons of processed fish daily. In
their wake, they leave starving villagers to scrounge a meal out of the
discarded fish heads and rotting carcasses. With massive epidemics, raging
civil wars, crime, homelessness, and drug-addicted children, the question
becomes: what do the reportedly "empty" planes deliver to this destitute
community? The answer is as shocking as it is devastating, and Darwin's
Nightmare becomes a nightmare for all mankind. (Winner of the 2004 European
Film Awards & 2006 Academy Awards for best documentary. Warning: Adult
Themes, described by critics as both “harrowing” and “heartbreaking”)
February 5th:
The Future of Food (2004, dir. Deborah
Koons Garcia, 88 minutes)
From the prairies of Saskatchewan Canada to the fields of Oaxaca Mexico this
film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been
negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications
government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the
reason why many people are alarmed about the introduction of genetically
altered crops into our food supply. Shot on location in the U.S. Canada and
Mexico The Future of Food examines the complex web of market and political
forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek
to control the world's food system. The film also explores alternatives to
large-scale industrial agriculture placing organic and sustainable
agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today
February 12th:
World in the Balance:
The Population Paradox (2004, NOVA, 60 minutes)
It took all of human history until 1800 for the world’s population to reach
its first billion. Now we add a new billion nearly every dozen years. Over
the next half century, 98 percent of that growth will take place in our
planet's poorest regions. And as the global total swells to nearly 9 billion
by 2050, the social and environmental strains will be enormous. Through
vivid personal stories, The People Paradox reveals many startling trends. In
Japan, Europe and Russia, birth rates are shrinking and the population is
aging. But in parts of India and Africa, more than half of the still growing
population is under 25. The surprising conclusion: world population is now
careening in two dramatically different directions. In this groundbreaking,
worldwide investigation of humanity’s future, NOVA shows how decisions made
now will change the fate of everyone over the next fifty years.
February 19th:
Planet Earth: The Future (2007,
BBC/Sir David Attenborough, 143 minutes)
Weaves together key - and controversial - arguments from the world's most
important environmental commentators (ex., Tony Juniper, Jonathan Porritt,
Sir David Attenborough, etc…) about what the future may hold for the most
endangered wild animals and places - and ultimately ourselves.
February 26th:
Invisible (2006, dir. Roz Mortimer, 63 minutes)
We think of the Arctic as a pristine wilderness, and when scientists went to
collect breast milk from Inuit mothers, they were expecting to find the
purest milk anywhere on earth. But the levels went off the scale. The milk
of the Inuit mothers was loaded with chemicals migrating from the south.
Invisible tells the story of how man-made chemicals are building up in our
bodies and being passed from mother to child. In this beautiful and
thought-provoking film, artist and film maker Roz Mortimer leads us on a
hypnotic journey to the High Arctic. Using historical texts and contemporary
first person accounts, Mortimer explores the traditional relationship Inuit
have to the earth and gently challenges our Western relationship to science
and knowledge. This poetic and visually stunning film weaves epic scenes of
contemporary Inuit life with startling throatsinging performances and staged
tableaux vivants set within the frozen Arctic landscape.
March 5th:
Who Killed the Electric Car?
(2006, dir. Chris Paine, 93 minutes)
It begins with a solemn funeral…for a car. By the end of Chris Paine's
lively and informative documentary, the idea doesn't seem quite so strange.
As narrator Martin Sheen notes, "They were quiet and fast, produced no
exhaust and ran without gasoline." Paine proceeds to show how this unique
vehicle came into being and why General Motors ended up reclaiming its
once-prized creation less than a decade later. He begins 100 years ago with
the original electric car. By the 1920s, the internal-combustion engine had
rendered it obsolete. By the 1980s, however, car companies started exploring
alternative energy sources, like solar power. This, in turn, led to the
late, great battery-powered EV1. Throughout, Paine deftly translates hard
science and complex politics, such as California's Zero-Emission Vehicle
Mandate, into lay person's terms. And everyone gets the chance to have their
say: engineers, politicians, protesters, and petroleum spokespeople--even
celebrity drivers, like Peter Horton, Alexandra Paul, and a wild man
beard-sporting Mel Gibson. But the most persuasive participant is former
Saturn employee Chelsea Sexton. Promoting the benefits of the EV1 was more
than a job to her, and she continues to lobby for more environmentally
friendly options. Sexton provides the small ray of hope Paine's film so
desperately needs. Who Killed the Electric Car? is, otherwise, a
tremendously sobering experience.
March 12th
**Doublebill**
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (2006, dir. Faith Morgan,
53 minutes)
–and–
Escape from Affluenza (1988, dirs. Vivia Boe & John de Graaf, 56 minutes)
The Power of Community: Shimmering
with life like a cornucopia of colorful vegetables, this vibrant, hopeful
film brings to light one of the most important stories of the last two
decades – how a small island nation responded to a sudden and dangerous drop
in oil supplies. When Cuba’s hefty subsidies of oil, food and other goods
ceased after the Soviet Union collapsed and the U.S. tightened its embargo,
Cubans suffered terrible hardships. In a ‘peak oil’ crisis similar to one
the entire world will soon face, electric power became intermittent,
transportation nearly stopped, parts were unavailable, and without
fertilizers and tractors, food production declined to precarious levels. But
Cuba bounced back. This inspiring film offers us a living model of
sustainability, as Cubans tell the remarkable story of their nation’s
recovery and its transition to organic agriculture, renewable energy,
effective mass transit, lowered consumption, better health, and stronger
communities.
Escape from Affluenza: Declare your
independence from stuff! This humorous and highly informative film follows
courageous life-style pioneers from Seattle to the Netherlands as they
simplify their lives, connect to their communities, and help the
environment. In the process they discover a true joy in living and recover
from our culture’s epidemic of over-consumption, debt, stress, time famine,
and the other painful symptoms of ‘affluenza’.
March 19th:
Thirst (2004, dirs. Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman, 62
min)
Is water part of a shared "commons", a human right for all people? Or is it
a commodity to be bought, sold, and traded in a global marketplace? Thirst
tells the stories of communities in Bolivia, India, and the United States
that are asking these fundamental questions, as water becomes the most
valuable global resource of the 21st Century. A character-driven documentary
with no narration, Thirst reveals how the debate over water rights between
communities and corporations can serve as a catalyst for explosive and
steadfast resistance to globalization.
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