Festival program line-up! March 1-7, 2012
Join us for the 2nd San Francisco Green Film Festival, March 1-7, 2012 – the Bay Area’s only festival dedicated to films and new forms of media that explore green issues and sustainable living.
This year’s films include local premieres of 40 films from around the globe, with 65 visiting filmmakers and guest speakers and with themes ranging from climate change to food and agriculture, land use, energy, green design, and the future of cities.
Opening Night Premiere & Party: THE ISLAND PRESIDENT with filmmakers and special guests
OPENING NIGHT PREMIERE
Thu 3.01 // 7:00 PM
SF Film Society Cinema, 1748 Post St.
*** FILM IS SOLD OUT *** PARTY TICKETS ARE STILL AVAILABLE ***
San Francisco Premiere. In person: Jon Shenk, Director; Richard Berge, Producer; Bonni Cohen, Producer; Steve Hipskind, Chief, Earth Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center.
Festival Video Story Booth [videos]
Responses to the films and ideas in the festival from audience members in the Video Story Booth:
Additional videos for responses to the films throughout the week are at www.youtube.com/sfgreenfilmfest. Can you find yourself?
Closing Night Premiere & Party: JUST DO IT with filmmakers and special guests
CLOSING NIGHT
Wed 03.07 // 7:30 PM
SF Film Society Cinema, 1748 Post St.(at Webster)
USA Sneak Preview.
In person: Emily James, Director; Laura Shacham, Assistant Producer; Jamie Henn, Co-Founder and Communications Director, 350.org
World Premiere: WHO BOMBED JUDI BARI?
Fri 03.02 // 5:00 PM
SF Film Society Cinema, 1748 Post St.
World Premiere, commemorating the 15th anniversary of Judi Bari’s death on March 2, 1997.
In person: Mary Liz Thomson & Darryl Cherney, filmmakers; Elyse Katz, Exec. Producer; Sheila Laffey, Co-executive producer; Kerry Reynolds, Videographer; Kevin Connelly, Associate Director, Earth Island Institute.
Press Release ~ 2nd SF Green Film Festival ~ March 1-7, 2012
THE 2ND ANNUAL SAN FRANCISCO GREEN FILM FESTIVAL WATCH GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY MARCH 1-7. 2012
The Bay Area’s Only Festival Dedicated to Films and Media That Explore Green Issues and Sustainable Living
Festival Returns for 2nd Year with Screenings of 40 Premiere Films From Around the Globe, Special Events, Parties, Panels, Educational Programs and More
Highlights include:
San Francisco Premieres of Bay Area Filmmaker Jon Shenk’s “The Island President”
Anthony Baxter’s “You’ve Been Trumped”
World Premiere of Mary Liz Thomson & Darryl Cherney’s “Who Bombed Judi Bari?”
Sneak Preview of Emily James’s “Just Do It: A Tale of Modern-Day Outlaws”
And Launch of “Lights! Camera! Action Steps!” Linking Festival Attendees with Leaders In Local Environmental Causes to Get Involved
URBANIZED with 'Our Future in Urban Sustainability' panel
http://www.youtube.com/embed/6jpN8kI0-pY?rel=0&hd=1
Mon 03.05 // 7:45 PM SF Film Society Cinema, 1748 Post St. URBANIZED Gary Hustwit USA/UK, 2011, 82 mins Buy Tickets Urbanized is the third part of Gary Hustwit’s design film trilogy, joining Helvetica (2007) and Objectified (2009), and frames a global discussion on the future of cities. More than half the world’s population now lives in cities and statistics say that 75% will have migrated to a an urban area by 2050. Hustwit’s captivating and lively new documentary about the design of cities examines how major urban environments are adapting to the challenges of today and tomorrow, particularly climate change and population growth. It’s a study of how a city’s visual design can impact its daily life. Through thoughtful interviews and carefully selected images, this eye-opening film looks at the challenges and promises facing some of the world’s important cities from New York and Paris to Bogota and Cape Town. We learn about and see the impact of innovative solutions including new bike lanes, walkways and housing projects.
Urbanized has been called "an idea-packed new documentary" by A.O. Scott of the New York Times, and Joshua K. Leon of Metropolis says "Urbanized posits that city dwellers must not only forge an innovative self-reliance, they must imagine higher forms of living."
urbanizedfilm.com
Preceded by: Second Hand, Isaac King, Canada, 2011, 7 mins.
Following the screening, join a panel of architects, designers and innovators to discuss Our Future in Urban Sustainability. In a world where we are dealing with economic instability, climate action plans, and water and fuel stresses building upon the urban environment is more than just function. The triple bottom line is now a part of the process of urban development and the choices a community and government has to make when considering growth and development. Panelists will discuss the thought process and methods they use and feel are integral when meeting all the goals and initiative for the future of a sustainable urban plan and environment. Panelists include: ~ Lee Schneider, DocuCinema [moderator] ~ Allison Arieff, 'Opinionator' columnist, New York Times; Urbanist Editor, SPUR ~ David Baker, David Baker + Partners Architects ~ Michelle Kaufmann, Michelle Kaufmann Studio ~ Raquel Rivera Pinderhughes, Professor of Urban Studies, San Francisco State University
ON COAL RIVER
Sat 03.03 // 3:30 PM SF Film Society Cinema, 1748 Post St. ON COAL RIVER Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood USA, 2011, 81 min. Buy Tickets
Ed Wiley is a former coal miner and is emblematic of the culture of the Appalachian Region – rugged, opinionated, community-minded, and unwilling to back down in the face of steep odds. Described by Variety as a story of “Hillbilly Davids” besting a “corporate Goliath”, On Coal River follows Wiley and his allies as they wage a campaign to relocate an elementary school which his granddaughter attends that is threatened by the likelihood that a pond containing toxic coal waste will engulf it when an aging retaining wall eventually fails. It also follows the story of ex-Marine Bo Webb, who is angry over the despoliation of the valley he loves by coal companies that engage in mountain top removal. The full environmental impacts of this practice, however, are felt by people like Maria Lambert and her neighbors, who have had their drinking water contaminated as a result. Giving time to both sides of the issue, the film-makers of On Coal River do an extraordinary job of capturing the struggles of ordinary people fighting to save what remains of a valley that they and their families have called home for generations. In the process, they beautifully capture the true human and environmental costs of “cheap”, dirty energy. ~ Mark Valentine
oncoalriver.com
Preceded by: The Windmill Farmer, Joaquin Baldwin, USA, 2010, 5 mins.
Co-presented with the Bay Area Video Coalition and CounterCorp Anti-Corporate Film Festival.
San Francisco Premiere: TASTE THE WASTE
Tue 03.06 // 5:30 PM SF Film Society Cinema, 1748 Post St. TASTE THE WASTE Valentin Thurn, Germany, 2010, 92 mins. San Francisco Premiere. Buy Tickets
According to Valentin Thurn's alarming, eye-opening new documentary on food waste, about half of all food globally produced ends up being thrown away, while some four billion people live in a state of constant food emergency.
In an investigation that circles the globe, Taste the Waste examines the widespread causes of this massive squandering, interviewing everyone in the food chain from consumers to food producers to politicians and administrators as Thurn uncovers the truly shocking scale of food spoilage. Our desire for perfect produce, for constantly available items no matter the season, is key, as Turin uncovers a system that seems perversely dedicated to daily destroying half of its product.
This activist documentary, which comes connected to an online effort to reform the food supply chain, also looks for solutions, interviewing dumpster divers, enlightened supermarket managers attempting to educate their customers into purchasing less harmfully sourced foodstuffs, consumer associations forming links between purchasers and smaller, local producers. If you eat, Thurn's film is of direct concern to you. ~ Vancouver Intl. Film Festival
tastethewaste.com
Preceded by: Green Ninja: Footprint Renovation, Marty Cooper, USA, 2011, 3 mins.
Screening Sponsored by Recology.
Co-Presented with Goethe-Institut in San Francisco.
San Francisco Premiere: CAFETERIA MAN ~ with 'Chew the Fat: Reinventing School Lunches' panel
Sun 03.04 // 1:00 PM SF Film Society Cinema, 1748 Post St. CAFETERIA MAN Richard Chisolm USA, 2011, 65 min. San Francisco Premiere. In Person: Richard Chisolm Buy Tickets
Follow Tony Geraci, a charismatic chef from New Orleans, on his passionate and tenacious journey to kick-start school lunch reform serving 83,000 students in Baltimore’s public schools. As the new food-service director, Geraci goes on a food crusade to change the face of child nutrition and proposes a completely different paradigm from what existed in the Baltimore school system. Battling bureaucracy and a system resistant to change every step of the way, the film explores the daunting task of making healthy and nutritious meals available to all Baltimore students. With unstoppable passion and commitment, Geraci and his team work with these inner city youth to harvest vegetables at the school’s 33-acre teaching farm nearby, to prepare and create student-designed menus and meals. His bold vision introduces meatless Mondays into the school menu, nutrition education in the classroom and a citywide culinary vocational training program. “It’s about trying to help a city heal itself using food as a vehicle,” says Geraci in the film. Voices and images of students, parents, teachers, administrators and farmers are woven throughout the film. With appearances by food activist and best-selling author Michael Pollen, First Lady Michelle Obama and Assistant White House Chef Sam Kass. Winner of the CINE Golden Eagle Award 2011. ~ Daniela Rible
cafeteriaman.com
Preceded by: Dig It!, Dona Turner, USA, 2010, 7 mins. In Person: Dona Turner.
It Starts with Me: The Time is Now and 2day=2morrow, USA, 2011, 1 min. In Person: student film winners of the 2011 Pollution Prevention Video Contest, sponsored by the Department of Toxic Substances Control and SFGFF. Short awards presentation will precede the screening.
Screening will be followed by Chew the Fat: Reinventing School Lunches panel. After watching Cafeteria Man please just us and filmmaker Richard Chisolm for a panel discussion around agriculture and the challenges of eating locally and sustainably within our current system. We will talk with panelist who are meeting those challenges while dealing with the established norms of institutions and systems geared in the opposite direction. We hope to provoke a conversation that will motivate those in their community to ignite or flame the movement around food security, health, and sustainability. Panelists include: ~ Karen Brown, Creative Director, Center for Ecoliteracy ~ Richard Chisolm, director, Cafeteria Man ~ Helen de Michiel, www.lunchlovecommunity.org ~ Christina Goette, MPH, Sr. Health Program Planner, San Francisco Department of Public Health ~ DeAnthony Jones, 2010 Brower Youth Award Winner ~ Rivka Mason, School Garden Teacher, Berkeley Unified School District ~ Willa Murphy, Student Activist, Senior, Sir Francis Drake High School, Founder & President, Drake Youth Politics Club
San Francisco Premiere: FUTURE OF HOPE
http://www.youtube.com/embed/9LcmmeZ-V3g?rel=0&hd=1
Wed 03.07 // 5:30 PM SF Film Society Cinema, 1748 Post St. FUTURE OF HOPE Henry Bateman UK/Iceland, 2010, 75 min. San Francisco Premiere. Buy Tickets
In 2008, Iceland’s entire banking system collapsed in the wake of the global financial crisis. As a consequence, the country’s economic and political systems were shaken to their core. Future of Hope tells the story of how a cross-section of Icelandic society decided to use the crisis as an opportunity to reconsider the country’s economic development path. Featuring imaginative use of animation, a killer soundtrack (featuring artists from Iceland, Ireland, and the UK, including Damien Rice), and Iceland’s ruggedly beautiful landscape, the film chronicles a grassroots movement determined to reinvent the Icelandic society and economy around the principles of sustainable development. Can organic farming, renewable energy, and green technology be the anchors of a new economy? Can a country with the oldest sitting parliament reinvent its model of democracy to create greater transparency and more accountability? With the emergence of the Occupy movement and the teetering of the Euro-zone economies, the issues being debated in Iceland’s parliament and on the streets of Reykjavik are now finally part of a global conversation. Filmed in 2010, the Future of Hope is in some ways prescient and tells a remarkable story of collapse, recovery, redemption, and reinvention to which the rest of the world should pay attention. - Mark Valentine
www.futureofhope.co.uk
Preceded by: National Parks Project: Sirmilik, Zacharias Kunuk, Canada, 2011, 10 mins.
Screening sponsored by New Resource Bank and Presidio Graduate School.
Co-presented with the Business Council on Climate Change [BC3].
URBAN ROOTS
Tue 03.06 // 8:00 PM SF Film Society Cinema, 1748 Post St. URBAN ROOTS Mark MacInnis USA, 2011, 93 min. In Person: Mark MacInnis Buy Tickets
Against all odds, in the boarded-up shops, empty lots and defunct factories, seeds of change are taking root in Detroit. With the most vacant lots in the country, citizens are reclaiming their spirits by growing food. A small group of dedicated citizens have started an urban environmental movement with the potential to transform not just a city after its collapse, but also a country after the end of its industrial age. Urban Roots shows dedicated Detroiters working tirelessly to fulfill their vision for locally-grown, sustainably farmed food in a city where people - as in much of the county - have found themselves cut off from real food and limited to the lifeless offerings of fast food chains and grocery stores stocked with processed food. The people of Detroit have taken on the enormous task of changing this for themselves, and to understand their story is to understand how we can change it for us all. It’s a story that in the most difficult of places, new hope emerges. This growing movement of urban farmers is changing the way people think about food-and life in the "D". It took men like Henry Ford, William Durant, and Lee Iacocca to build this city, but it's taken a bunch of strong willed self-taught urban farmers to save it. ~ Vancouver Intl. Film Festival
“Urban Roots is an inspiring film about the emergence of urban farming in Detroit; it shows what’s possible after the collapse of the industrial era and how we begin building a sustainable future for all.” - Leonardo DiCaprio.
www.urbanrootsamerica.com
Preceded by: Animal Beatbox, Damon Gameau, Australia, 2011, 2 mins
Screening sponsored by East Bay Regional Park District.
Co-presented with Green For All.
