Environmental Youth Forum Schedule & Films

The 2nd Annual Environmental Youth Forum

We’re beyond compact fluorescents. This is the tipping point. How can we save the World?

Dates: Wednesday, February 10 and Thursday, February 11 8:30AM – 2:30PM

Place: The Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center (click here for directions)

Buses available upon request from qualified schools.

A two-day environmental forum for ages 12 – 18 incorporating film, tabling local and national groups, and small-group workshops on the problems facing the planet, how to make the public aware, and how to change the way people think.

Pick a day, an afternoon, a morning. Films play in three theaters and seminar room all day.

Teachers will be provided with advance study guides and an advance detailed schedule with computer-ready film previews and speaker bios.

Two works-in-progress will be shown.

This program is FREE to schools and institutions.

RSVP ONLY to education@cafilm.org

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The Films

The Age of Stupid, Wednesday, February 10, 8:30AM – As the world is ravaged by storms, famine, severe rationing of water, and a complete break-down of authority, scientists and arts experts move all the world’s most valuable knowledge and art into an elevated tower in the North Sea. The director of this massive repository relates to us the small steps we took to arrive at the ultimate cataclysm. Combing mini-documentaries with a dramatic narrative, Franny Armstrong’s film is a stunning call to action.

Pirate of the Sea, Wednesday, February 10, 10:15AM – Pirate for the Sea is a biographical film about Captain Paul Watson. This documentary is a chronicle of Watson’s adventures and speeches, and it is also a search for the man behind the pirate flag. The film explores the personal and environmental history of this controversial marine conservationist.  The film documents Paul and his crew on voyages of meaningful adventure to save ocean wildlife and they have interviewed a wide variety of people who know this well-known activist. To understand his early humble beginnings, producers filmed Paul with his extended family in New Brunswick, Canada. The story continues from there, covering Watson’s time as the youngest founding member of Greenpeace. There, he organized and participated in most of their early daring campaigns against whalers and sealers. The bio-doc continues with Watson’s departure from Greenpeace over disagreements about his direct action approach. Shortly after that, he started his own organization, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and went on to sink illegal whaling ships, stopped Canadian seal hunts for ten years, permanently halted sealing in British Isles, killing of dolphins on Iki Island, Japan, and more. This documentary witnesses his latest campaigns which have been successful in saving whales from the cruel harpoons of the Japanese whalers in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary.

Garbage Dreams, Wednesday, February 10, 10:20AM – Environmental science meets sociology in this heartfelt film about the Zaballeen, the garbage pickers of Cairo Egypt. These families, who number 60,000 and have been in the garbage-picking business for generations, manage to recycle 80% of Cairo’s trash. Most developed nations are lucky to recycle 20%. Director Mai Iskander tells a human story, looking at the individual members of the Mokkatam community who have dreams of their own. Against this very human backdrop is a brewing struggle for survival, when city officials bring in several European companies to handle trash collection. Is it better to educate and elevate the Zaballeen and let multinationals handle trash, or is micro-managing a successful local entrepreneurship a potential tragedy?

Eyes of Thailand (a special screening of a film in progress) with Director Windy Borman, Wednesday, February 10, 10:30AM – One of the forgotten legacies of war is its long-term effect on the environment: bomb craters that breed malarial mosquitoes; carpet bombing that not only kills more innocent civilians than combatants, but also leaves huge swaths of deforestation; land mines and unexploded bombs that linger for decades in wait to kill or dismember a child or an animal. Windy Borman’s work-in-progress tells the story of the already endangered Asian elephant that has gone from a population of 40,000 in Thailand to just over 2,000 today due to abuse, overwork, and injuries by land mines. Soraida Salwal opened the first Asian elephant hospital in 1993 in Thailand to nurse these huge beasts to health, and for the first time fit them with artificial prosthetic legs lost by explosions. We witness her work through the elephants Motala and Mosha.

The Garden, Wednesday, February 10, 10:30AM - In the wake of the So. Central L.A. riots after the Rodney King decision in 1991, the city bought 14 acres of unused land from a developer. The residents, mostly poor Latino and African-American individuals and families, created the largest community garden in the country, and it fed many of poorest families in the country. But a few years ago, in a city-politics backroom deal, the 14 acres were ceded back the developer. The farmers fought the resulting eviction. The film shows the way in which good ecology can drive a wedge between people when it’s not handled well. To Doris Bloch, the farm’s founder, it isn’t complicated at all. “Land, people, food — it’s a pretty simple idea.” But, today after several years of a court battles, bitter divisions between communities of blacks and browns, and an eventual victory by the developer, the 14 acres remains bulldozed … and undeveloped.

Big River, Wednesday, February 10, 1:30PM – Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis have traded their combine for a canoe, and they’re setting out to uncover the ecological consequences their little acre of corn sent into the ‘Big River’ downstream. The follow-up to the wonderful doc King Korn.

The End of the Line (a keynote screening), Thursday, February 11, 8:30AM & 10:30AM- Rupert Murray’s startling documentary gives us the bad news about what we thought was an inexhaustible source of food, the world’s oceans. Murray doesn’t give us dire predictions. What the film talks about in an almost-thriller format is what has already irrefutably happened. Codfish, so common and plentiful, was already nearly extinct in 1992. The list goes on. What will we eat in the future? The answer is staring us in the face.

Tapped, Thursday, February 11, 10:10AM - Water is the new oil. A sweet, natural, refreshing substance that seems to be communally owned is being bought up slowly all over the world by multinational corporations. The bottled-water industry was just the shot over the bow in this increasingly frantic war to control tomorrow’s water shortages. Brief news hysteria about “spring” water actually being tap water ignored the reasons behind buying something that’s not a lot better than what we get through our kitchen sinks’ faucets. Director Stephanie Soeching probes the water problem from corporate control right down to petrochemical plastic bottles. Stephanie Soeching has been invited to attend.

Collapse, Thursday, February 11, 10:15AM & 1:30PM - Director Chris Smith loves society’s outcasts. In American Movie he profiled a jobless young man who was obsessed with producing a feature-length horror film on his own. Collapse is a bit more somber, but just as entertaining—in the way a thriller is. Michael Ruppert is a former policeman turned independent investigative reporter who publishes a newsletter, “From the Wilderness.” Ruppert doesn’t have any inside ear to the palaces of power nor an investigative news team. He relies on the same information you or I could get from the internet. Ruppert however, is a radical thinker. He predicted the Wall Street collapse a year before economists. He is especially passionate about “peak oil,” the theory that the world’s oil reservoirs reached their peak years ago and are now on a steep decline. His perceptive analysis of this passion alone is frightening and fascinating. The film presents Ruppert’s flow of opinion unedited and unjudged. The audience can take it or leave it. Roger Ebert said: “I don’t know when I’ve seen a thriller more frightening. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the screen. Collapse is even entertaining, in a macabre sense. I think you owe it to yourself to see it.”

The Forest for the Trees with Director Bernadine Mellis and lawyer Dennis Cunningham, Thursday, February 11, 10:20AM - How much activism is needed to change the world and how much is too much? Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior is often used by corporations as an example of  how environmental activists are outlaws. The radical environmental movement’s Earth First! shouts “No compromise in defense of Mother Earth.” EF activist Judy Bari challenged the lumber industry but also championed lumber workers’ families. In 1990, her car was bombed and three hours later the FBI arrested her as a terrorist, claiming she was transporting a bomb when it went off. East Bay lawyer Dennis Cunningham took on her case and fought for 12 years to get a court date. In addition to illuminating the painfully short yet extraordinary life of Judi Bari, the film is about Dennis Cunningham’s struggle with legal labyrinths and his personal life. The film was directed, shot, produced, and edited by Cunningham’s daughter Bernadine Mellis. Mellis’s access to the personal side as well as political side of the issues gives us a fascinating look into the case of Judi Bari v. the FBI. Invited guests, director Bernadine Mellis and lawyer Dennis Cunningham.

The Charcoal People, Thursday, February 11, 10:30AM - Nigel Noble’s film is blunt. The charcoal people are uneducated migrant workers who live on the edges of Brazil’s rainforest and make charcoal from wood using portable kilns. They don’t see their families for years. They endure blazing heat and choking smoke to earn $2 a day, most of which they send back to their families. What is their market for their charcoal? Pig iron, which in turn becomes steel for the automobile industry. The world’s infatuation for the heavily built, truck-bodied SUV in the 1990s and early 2000s accelerated the charcoal and steel industries. While Noble’s film mostly focuses on the workers themselves, his last aerial shot of the rainforest makes no bones about the destruction that supply and demand creates and the burden it imposes on the environment and an exploited population.

Greenlit, Thursday, February 11, 1:30PM - The film chronicles the efforts of an independent film production as the filmmakers attempt to “go green”. After environmental consultant, Lauren Selman, is brought on to green “The River Why”, indie producer Miranda Bailey decides to follow the process and learn more about what exactly that means. The documentary explores the effects of the film business on our environment. Both entertaining and humorous, the film is filled with compelling and important facts about film making and sustainability and shows that Kermit was right- it ain’t easy being’ green.

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RSVP ONLY to education@cafilm.org

My Flesh and Blood

Susan Tom has spent three decades creating a family founded on the idea that, given the proper support and encouragement, every child can fulfill their potential. Her eleven adopted special needs children are an inspiration to everyone who comes into contact with them (www.stomfamily.com).

The CFI Education Department’s A Place in the World program is a yearlong curriculum that guides two groups of 100 high-school students from diverse backgrounds around the Bay Area through a series of carefully selected international films that address universal coming-of-age issues. This past November Susan Tom spoke to students about the issues of adoption, special needs children, and education in America.

2nd Annual Environmental Youth Forum

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The Age of Stupid will be shown on February 10, 2010 at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center during CFI Education’s 2nd Annual Environmental Youth Forum.

The End of the Line will be shown on February 11, 2010 at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center during CFI Education’s 2nd Annual Environmental Youth Forum.

MY Place Oakland World Premiere – October 6

CFI Education’s filmmaking/storytelling project MY Place Oakland completed filming in August. Post production is done and the “world premiere” will be held at the Zaentz Media Center in Berkeley on October 6. This event is by invitation only.

Filmmakers will be presented with a DVD copy of all the films finished in the project. 

The workshops were facilitated by the staff from the Center for Digital Storytelling.

MY Place Oakland participants (left to right): Curtys Taylor, Nae Nae Smith, Kamantai Fungula, Kash Gaines, De’Mario Williams, Persiah Alcorn, Brijanai Collins, Corey Skinner, Jr.

 

D Tour by Jim Granato

CFI Education is proud to be a part of Community Cinema, a ground-breaking public education and civic engagement initiative featuring monthly screenings of films from Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens.

Pat Spurgeon has big dreams to make it as an indie rock musician. Just as his career is about to take off, he suffers an incredible setback when one of his kidneys begins to fail. Follow Pat on his emotional search for a living organ donor. But can he balance his health with a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle? 

D Tour director Jim Granato spoke to Tamalpais High school students on September 28 at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center.

CFI Education Director John Morrison (left) with students from Tamalpais high school and D Tour director Jim Granato (center).

New Movie Lab: How to Get It Done

NEW MOVIE LAB
How to Get It Done
Saturday, October 10, 2:00pm
Location: The Marin Youth Center
(Third Street between A and B Streets)

Five working young filmmakers discuss how they get their films made and what young filmmakers need to know about the perils and pitfalls of a film’s afterlife in the festival and distribution markets. There will be film clips and ample time for questions and answers.

Local filmmakers Logan and Noah Miller (Touching Home) and Michael Eisenmenger, executive director of the new Community Media Center of Marin will be our anchor panelists. Three young international directors from the festival will round out this multi-faceted presented.

Click here for the flyer (PDF). 

3rd Annual CFI Teacher Education Seminar

Thursday, September 10, 8:15 am to 3:00 pm

at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center 

Downtown San Rafael, 4th Street between A and B Streets

Seminar Admission is FREE — Your school site must pay for a substitute

The Most Dangerous Man

Jermal

On September 10, there will be a combined sneak preview/teacher seminar of selected Mill Valley Film Festival offerings during the Screenings for Schools program. On the 10th, teachers will have the opportunity to preview clips, learn more about the Mill Valley Film Festival Student Screening selections, and collaborate with other educators around making the festival come alive for our students as part of our curriculum. The CFI Education Teacher Outreach Team consists of Bay Area teachers, SFSU professor Mark Phillips, and CFI Education Director John Morrison, who together plan opportunities for students and teachers to use film effectively in their classes.

Some of the film clips presented at the teacher seminar include Horse Boy, the story of a family’s journey as they travel through Mongolia in search of a mysterious shaman to heal their autistic son; Jermal, an Indonesian film about a young boy on an Oil Derrick searching for his father; Mine, a documentary about saving animals in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; The Most Dangerous Man in America, a documentary about daniel Ellsberg; Skin, the story of a dark0skinned girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era; Zombie Girl: the Movie; a documentary about a 12 year old girl who makes zombie films; and Music for the Revolution, a documentary detailing the cohesion of music and the civil rights movement. 

This is a great opportunity to learn more about the California Film Institute, see the films with other teachers from a variety of district and disciplines, and get your fix of good film in advance of the Mill Valley Film Festival. Your school will need to provide a substitute for the day since you will be out of class. Please RSVP to Michael Levinson, preferably via email at mlvenson@tamdistrict.org or by phone at his classroom at Tamalpais High School, 415-388-3292 ext. 5029.

Mill Valley Film Festival Screenings for Schools Oct. 8 through Oct. 18

With just an RSVP from interested teachers, the education program of the California Film Institute hosts 6-8 screenings of Festival films during the school day selected to appeal of students and be relevant of a variety of courses. As schedules permit, directors, writers or actors will be present to answer questions from the students following the film.

Looking forward to seeing you!!

CFI Education Teacher Outreach: John Morrison, Mark Phillips, Abigail Levine, Emily Satterstrom, Bettina Hughes, Alan Charne, Mary Jane Jones, Michael Levinson

Click here for the flyer (PDF).

MY Place in Oakland

 MY Place Oakland participants: Kamantai Fungula, De’Mario Williams and CDS teacher Rasheed Ali.

MY Place, a CFI Education program promoting media literacy through the art of digital storytelling, recruited 8 youths to participate in the first Oakland MY Place workshop. The workshop was facilitated by the Center for Digital Storytelling with KTOP as the editing facilities partner.

The first day of the workshop consists of students and teachers getting to know each other through icebreakers and writing prompts. CDS teachers Gayle Nicholls-Ali, Rasheed Ali and Amy Hill helped the students writer their stories and record their voice-overs. Students brought photos and spent a day with CFI Education volunteers shooting short video clips of their neighborhoods to enhance their stories. The next day, the students spend their time editing their films using Final Cut Express. By the end of the workshop. participants leave with the basics of filmmaking and editing to share with the world their amazing stories.

Front L to R: Curtys Taylor, Shindozjanae Smith, Kamantai Fungula, Persia Alcorn and Brijanai Collins. Back L to R: Kash Gaines, De'Mario Williams and Corey Skinner, Jr.

A world-wide premiere of their films will be shown at the Zaentz Media Center in Berkeley in September. Family and friends of the filmmakers are invited to this special event.

Important aims of this program are to promote self-esteem and through their films, connect filmmakers to their community.

In April, MY Place workshops are held in Marin for the Canal Community and Marin City and in San Francisco with the Mission, Hunter’s Point and Tenderloin neighborhoods.

MY Place Films

After the jump are other incredible MY Place films. Please enjoy.

My Place films “World Premiere”

CFI Education’s filmmaking/storytelling project My Place Marin and My Place San Francisco completed filming in April. Post production is done and the “world premieres” will be held for the Marin films at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael on June 1 at 4pm preceded by a reception for the filmmakers: (in the photo from left to right, back row first) Lead teacher Allison Myers, Tizyana Tiayara Michele Ford, Danielle Cox, Kevin Martinez, teacher aide Carrie, Ramona Polk, April Williams, teacher aide Laura.

My Place San Francisco will premiere at the 9th Street Independent Film Center in San Francisco June 10 at 4pm preceded by a reception.Two of the SF My Place filmmakers are below Elizabeth Tesoro (right) and Sean Williams (left).

Filmmakers will be presented with a DVD copy of all the films finished in the project. We encourage people to come and see these incredible and touching stories.

The workshops were facilitated by staff from the Center for Digital Storytelling.