Films for the next film festival

[steve]

Great documentary soon out on DVD about the collapse of the ocean's fish.

Based on the highly rated book End of the Line by journalist Charles Clover.

[steve]

Chris spotted this one:



More info:

http://www.collapsemovie.com/COLLAPSEMOVIE/

[steve]

Some films from the Showroom's docfest. First is:

Earth Days - 2008

102 minutes long. Screened at this years Sundance Film Festival.

[steve]

A 43 minute documentary about the Alberta Tar Sands filmed mostly from the air.

Presented by Greenpeace Canada.



An interview with the director:

[steve]

Under the feet of small landowners in Haynesville, USA, natural gas
has been discovered worth 1.75 trillion dollars. It’s the largest
natural gas field in the United States and maybe the world. So what
does this mean to the rural population who call this land home? The
story of “Haynesville” focuses on three lives desperate to understand
their place in the middle of this historic find. Kassi Fitzgerald, a
single mom and full-time nurse, fights for her community’s
environmental rights and tries desperately to retain their bargaining
rights at the negotiation table. Pastor Reegis Richard, an African
American preacher who “speaks to God”, struggles to better his
impoverished congregation by building a school with his proceeds from
the Haynesville discovery. And Mike Smith, a salt-of-the-earth, gun
loving, outdoorsman wrestles with the idea of giving up his pristine
land in exchange for becoming an overnight millionaire. The story of
the Haynesville gives a hard look at the volatile mix of seemingly
endless amounts of money chasing vast energy resources, and the
affects on the people caught in the fever pitch excitement of this
momentous energy boom.

[steve]

This new one by Michael Moore is not so much about the environment but the economy:

The film explores a taboo question: what price does America pay for its love of capitalism? Years ago, that love seemed so innocent. Capitalism meant productivity and security. Now, as financial institutions run amok and families lose their savings, the American dream is looking more like a nightmare. Moore takes us into the lives of ordinary people whose worlds have been turned upside down by the economy, and goes looking for explanations in Washington, D.C., Wall Street and elsewhere. He pays careful attention to the 2008 bank bailout that occurred during the waning days of the Bush administration. Was this really the best hope for America, or just another money grab by the nation's wealthiest?

[steve]

From Sheffield part of an 11 minute short entitled Abundance:



More local stuff at: http://vagabond-films.co.uk/

[steve]

A new documentary called Food Inc is out in Feb 2010.

Obviously about the US but should still be interesting.




From the web site:

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

[steve]

Dear Transition Sheffield,

I am writing to you as an environmental campaigner for the past twenty years and a volunteer, fundraiser and networker for the ecological movement, including Friends of the Earth, the Gaia Foundation and the Soil Association.

Four years ago I set out to discover who was paying the true price for the 'cheap' imported pork for sale in Britain’s supermarkets. I have produced a film called ‘Pig Business’ which documents the damaging impact factory farming is having on the quality of our food, the environment and the health and welfare of agricultural communities. We need your help to ensure the film results in less but better pig meat being the norm.

After watching the film, many environmentalists told me that they had no idea of the extent of harm that factory farming causes. Of particular interest to Transition Towns is the film's focus on local and organic farming as the solution to the increasing large scale pig farming abroad and the threat to many small scale UK farmers.

The link between meat consumption and climate change was highlighted by Lord Stern while the recent FoE report ‘Eating the planet’ showed that the world's increasing population can still be fed without intensive livestock production. We need to change the sick system now.

Films have proved to be hugely successful in focusing attention on massive injustices and forcing decision makers to change the law and businesses to improve their practices. We want to harness the existing momentum to achieve real legislative changes and increase the awareness of the average consumer. This is why we are asking you to get involved.

OUR CAMPAIGN
We are organising an event at the House of Commons to lobby MPs. It will be a chance for MPs to hear what experts are saying and commit to the legislative changes on labeling, on procurement of sustainable welfare friendly meat in schools and hospitals, and on banning imports of pig meat that are of a lower standard that UK laws allow..

Zac Goldsmith, Peter Ainsworth MP (Con), Alan Simpson MP (Lab), and Tim Farron MP (Lib) will host the event and many NGOs, including FoE will speak to the assembled MPs and journalists.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
We hope to galvanize enough popular support for MPs to really feel the pressure, by getting as many people as possible writing letters. This is the perfect time, pre- election, for MPs to show that they respond to the concerns of their constituents. Can your Transition Towns group and/or members do the two following things?:

1. Screen the film to raise awareness in the local community (we can send you a copy).

2. Write a short letter to tell your MP how you feel about the film , why it shocks you., and ask your MP for three key things:

to watch the dvd of Pig Business that we will send them – and invite them to your screening if you can hold one.

Ask your MP to attend the Pig Business event at the House of Commons on the 27th of January 2010 at 6-8pm.

To contact your MP, please click on this link: http://www.pigbusiness.co.uk/email-mp.php

Please contact us on info@pigbusiness.co.uk, or by phone 0207 584 6592 where a member of the team will be happy to answer any questions and if you are to host a screening, send you a DVD free of charge. There are three versions of the DVD, a version which was edited for fear of legal repercussions, and which appeared on More 4, and comes in a short or a long version (57 or 73 mins) or a stronger director’s cut (75 mins). Please state in your reply which version you would like to recieve and whether your screening will require a higher-resolution DVD, for larger screens.

Alternatively, to find out more about the film please visit our website: http://www.pigbusiness.co.uk. To watch the film for free on You Tube, please click here: http://bit.ly/2SNoTZ

Thank you for your help,
Kind Regards,

Tracy Worcester

[steve]

Some shorts at this web site: http://www.anitasancha.co.uk/

A Transition specific one here:
http://www.anitasancha.co.uk/videos/pas ... ransition/