Films for the next film festival

[steve]

I thought a thread with ideas for the next screenings would be useful:


This looks interesting: Mean Sea Level, a documentary on the first climate change refugees, the inhabitants of Sagar island in the Sunderbans in West Bengal.
http://sacredmediacow.com/?p=1152#comment-68667

Also IOUSA, a new film about the financial crisis, (selected for Sundance Film festival).
Trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBo2xQIWHiM

I've also now got original copies of The 11th Hour (nicely packaged in recycled card) and The Truth About Climate Change - a David Attenborough flick that might be popular.

And I think Crude Awakening might also be good one on peak oil.

[chris]

These two films on the history of oil and war look good:

Blood and Oil - The Middle East in World War I

Blood and Oil - The Middle East in World War I

Exposes Western greed and political intrigue laying the foundation for wars, coups, revolts, oppressive dictators and military interventions in today's Middle East. Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, modern Turkey and other hot spots are born as the British and French divide the "fruits of victory" in World War I.

http://dvds.inecom.com/products/consumer/bloodandoil/

£22.99 Via Amazon

And on the more recent history:

Blood and Oil

Michael T. Klare's "Blood and Oil"

The notion that oil motivates America's military engagements in the Middle East has long been dismissed as nonsense or mere conspiracy theory. Blood and Oil, a new documentary based on the critically-acclaimed work of Nation magazine defense correspondent Michael T. Klare, challenges this conventional wisdom to correct the historical record. The film unearths declassified documents and highlights forgotten passages in prominent presidential doctrines to show how concerns about oil have been at the core of American foreign policy for more than 60 years – rendering our contemporary energy and military policies virtually indistinguishable. In the end, Blood and Oil calls for a radical re-thinking of US energy policy, warning that unless we change direction, we stand to be drawn into one oil war after another as the global hunt for diminishing world petroleum supplies accelerates.

http://www.bloodandoilmovie.com/

£9.74 via Amazon

[chris]

The screening of the Story of Stuff went down very well in Burngreave -- I think it would be worth screening again.

[chris]

A film list from a poster at The Oil Drum:

• Arithmetic, Population & Energy
• A Crude Awakening The Oil Crash
• What a way to go: Life at end of empire http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/
• Money as debt http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 2583451279
• How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
• The End of Suburbia

I haven't seen Arithmetic, Population & Energy, but based on the rest of his list it's probably good...

[steve]

Arithmetic, Population & Energy by Albert Bartlett.

Great explanation of exponential functions. He's very eloquent. This would be a good choice because it's slightly different from the others.

You can view part 1on Google video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 2067161853

I also finally watched 11th Hour. This is good too. It's not so focused on climate change but more about ecology generally touching on things like planetary toxification and mass extinction. A lot of short excerpts from a wide variety of experts from David Suzuki and Richard Heinberg to Michal Gorbechov. Also has an interesting section on biomimicery.

[chris]

Some of the presentations from “The Fifth U.S. Conference on Peak Oil and Community Solutions – Plan C: Individual and Community Survival Strategies for the Energy Crisis.” might be good, links to the slides and documents from the presentations:

Megan Quinn Bachman: Conference Welcome

Pat Murphy: A Window of Opportunity

John Michael Greer: A Window of Opportunity

Pat Murphy: Beyond Sustainability – Surviving Peak Oil & Climate Change

Dmitry Orlov: The Five Stages of Collapse

John Richter: Squandered Inheritance – Living On Our Energy Income

Megan Quinn Bachman: The Long Dark Night Ahead – Humanity's Prospects at the End of the Era of Cheap Energy

Michael Brownlee: Transition – The Most Inspiring Movement in the World

Richard Heinberg: Resilient Communities – An Exercise in Strategic Thinking

http://www.communitysolution.org/08conf.html

And DVD ordering info is here ($50 for the lot):

http://www.communitysolution.org/08confdvds.html

[paul_newman]

Rob Newman (of Newman and Baddiel fame)'s History of Oil.

Entertaining presentation of Peak Oil and Climate Change.

[steve]

GrowthBusters is still in production but worth keeping an eye out for.

[steve]

The Century of the Self is an award winning series of 4 1 hour documentaries by Adam Curtis (who also produced the highly acclaimed series, The Power of Nightmares.

The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?

The Freud dynasty is at the heart of this compelling social history. Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis; Edward Bernays, who invented public relations; Anna Freud, Sigmund's devoted daughter; and present-day PR guru and Sigmund's great grandson, Matthew Freud.

I've only watched the first episode so far but it's fascinating stuff with archive footage from the Great Depression amongst other things.

I think one episode would go well with The Story of Stuff.

All four episodes can be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/details/the.century.of.the.self or via bit torrent.

[steve]

Powerdown is a book AND a DVD by Richard Heinberg. The DVD came out in 2005 but it's apparently not available at the moment.

For Heinberg fans, this DVD will be an excellent addition to your library and you may find it especially helpful in introducing the subject of peak oil to others.

Powerdown: the DVD

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