September 8, 2006

Paradise With Side Effects

A documentary following two women from Ladakh, or “Little Tibet”, a remote region in the Himalayas, on a “reality tour” of London to see what life in the West is really like. The tour, sponsored by the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC), exposes the women to aspects of modern urban life – homelessness, old-age homes, massive garbage dumps – that contrast sharply with the idealized media and advertising images that colonize people’s minds in the “less-developed” parts of the world.

Claus Schenk originally made this film for German and French television. It provides fascinating insights into the pressures facing non-Western people as they confront the global economy. Conversations with Helena-Norberg-Hodge, Director of ISEC, reveal the thinking that lies behind the organization’s cutting edge work.

With stunning footage of Ladakh, this is a valuable resource for anyone concerned about the spread of the consumer culture and the ensuing destruction of the planet’s cultural diversity.

This film focuses on Cuba's transition from an industrial petroleum-based society to a sustainable society, as a result of their loss of petroleum when their source, the Soviet Union, collapsed.

The goals of this film are to give hope to the developed world as it wakes up to the consequences of being hooked on oil, and to lift American's prejudice of Cuba by showing the Cuban people as they are. The filmmakers do this by having the people tell their story on film. It's a story of their dedication to independence and triumph over adversity, and a story of cooperation and hope. Several Cubans expressed the belief that living on an island, with its natural boundaries, breeds awareness that there are limits to natural resources.

TEXAS GOLD follows the adventures of one of the most dedicated – and unlikely muckrakers of this generation. Diane Wilson -- mother of five, fourth generation fisherwoman, Public Enemy No. 1 in Calhoun, County Texas. From Wall Street to the front lawn of CEO Warren Anderson multi-million dollar mansion on Long Island, all the while chased by Texas Rangers charged with bringing her to justice, Diane pursues a reckless industry with a soft drawl, dogged determination and her own special brand of southern bad-ass fisher woman humor.

TEXAS GOLD profiles the brave and ballsy actions that have earned Diane Wilson the title of "unreasonable woman": waging multiple hunger strikes, starting up a business bottling toxic water taken from a superfund site – which she creatively labeled and sold back the crude brew to the tycoons whose heedless business practices had polluted the water -- sinking her own shrimp boat on top of a toxic discharge site, and being convicted for trespassing after chaining herself to an ethyl oxide tower at her local Union Carbide plant and unfurling a banner emblazoned with "justice for the victims of the Bhopal disaster".

Chased by the Light: A Photographic Journey with Jim Brandenburg is an hour long inspiring documentary that tells the story of how one of the world's greatest nature photographers immersed himself in a Zen-like exploration of his craft and the untamed landscape of the rugged north woods.

Undertaken at the pinnacle of his career, it was a project motivated by his desperate need to renew his creativity and reconnect with natural settings that had been the primary sources of his inspiration.

For 90 days Brandenburg took only a single picture each day-one click of the shutter. The stunning images generated unprecedented reader interest as a National Geographic magazine cover story and as the best-selling book of his career.

The documentary is inspiring, the videography is stunning, the music is stirring. All combine as a feast for the senses and the soul.

This film explores the controversial issue of mountaintop removal mining by following a grassroots fight to stop the process in West Virginia.

In the misty folds of the Appalachian mountains lies Pigeonroost Hollow, in Blair, West Virginia. With its narrow creek and crawdads, its wild ginseng and raccoons, Pigeonroost looks as it might have a century ago -- a woody haven tucked away from time and technology. But for how long? And at what price?

In May 1998, Arch Coal, Inc. announced it would expand its Dal-Tex strip mine just above the small town of Blair. But lifetime residents said too many had already been bought out or chased away by the giant mine, and that Arch Coal's planned expansion was the final threat to their once-tranquil way of life. Forty families -- where there were once 300 -- stayed in Blair.

RAZING APPALACHIA is the story of their remarkable fight -- against the second-largest coal company in America, against the know-nothing state political leaders and, unhappily, against the 400 union miners whose jobs were on the line.

A New Zealander and an Irishman, quit their jobs, cash in their savings and walk 2,626 miles from Mexico to Canada along one of the longest and most challenging foot trails in the world, the Pacific Crest Trail.

Their route takes them through some of the most spectacular scenery in North America, including California's deserts, the alpine lakes and granite peaks of the Sierra Nevadas, and the massive volcanoes and temperate rainforests fo the Cascade Mountains.

Walking a challenging pace of 21 miles a day for 4.5 months, they must cross the Canadian border before winter storms hit the Cascades. The ordeal forced one of them to quit just 60 miles before the finish. This epic adventure is an exhilarating antidote to the predictability of modern life.

An emotionally charged documentary about the use and misuse of technology on the American farm. In less than fifty years the face of agriculture has been utterly transformed by synthetic chemicals which have had a serious impact on the environment and on the health of farm families. This film tells the story of two farmers, different in all details, yet united by their common goal of producing healthy food.

One of the farmers is the father of the filmmaker. Herbert Smith was a hero of his age: dedicated, innovative, a champion of the new miracle sprays of the 50s. His fate is the heart of this film. The other, Fred Kirschenmann of North Dakota, is a hero for our age. Faced with a shattered economy and the devastating environmental effects of conventional chemical farming, Fred steered his land through the transition to organic farming. Twenty years later, the Kirschenmann farm is a thriving testament to ingenuity, hard work, and a reverent understanding of nature.

Fred proves that sustainable agriculture is a viable alternative on any sized farm and that we can bring health and beauty back to the Garden.

The United States imports more oil from Canada than from Saudi Arabia, or any other country. Oil companies in Canada are now producing 50% of their oil from tar sands deposits. In Alberta, this form of oil extraction completely destroys the boreal forest, the bogs, the rivers as well as the natural landscape.

WHEN IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH? tells a David-versus-Goliath story of a small Native band battling major oil companies over development of the Peace-Athabasca delta in Alberta. Underneath one of the greatest freshwater deltas on earth is one of the richest oil deposits in the world.

This documentary examines the world's limitless thirst for oil and how a small Cree band found itself in the fight of its life. World-renowned scientist David Schindler joins the band, casting a warning about the plunder of resources.

In AMERICAN VALUES: AMERICAN WILDERNESS, a diverse group of Americans, including a teen-age daughter of Cambodian refugees, a children's book author, a cancer survivor, a Native American tribal chairman, inner city kids, and the late Christopher Reeve, among others, share their values for wilderness. Their experiences and hopes are interspersed with photography of some of the beautiful wild lands that have captured their hearts; as a place of sanctuary for animals and plants, the source of clean air and water, a place for challenge and spiritual renewal, and as a legacy for future generations. A labor of love for Christopher Reeve, the late actor donated his time and energy to this film - one of his last on-screen appearances before his death in October 2004.

"The independent project, produced and distributed by Missoula, Montana-based High Plains Films, features "ordinary Americans" in spectacular natural settings talking about what the idea of wilderness means to them. The real-life cast of American Values is deliberately diverse, challenging Outside and Adventure magazines' portrayal of nature as the domain of Tactel- and Lycra-clad Yuppies. Native Americans, Latinos, African Americans, and the children of Cambodian refugees reminisce about their experiences in wilderness and how important open spaces "as free from human intervention and oversight as possible" are to their identity and quality of life. At the end of its quiet, captivating hour, American Values has redefined wilderness as neither a commodity nor a luxury, but a public good that belongs to us all."