Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Film Screening & DiscussionSunday, March 9, 2014 - 12:30pm-2:30/River Forest Public Library 735 Lathrop Ave, River Forest/Tickets

Directed By - Angela Sun/2013/82 minutes

Thousands of miles away from civilization, Midway Atoll is in one of the most remote places on earth. And yet its become ground zero for The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, syphoning plastics from three distant continents. In this independent documentary film, journalist/filmmaker Angela Sun travels on a personal journey of discovery to uncover this mysterious phenomenon. Along the way she meets scientists, researchers, influencers, and volunteers whom shed light on the effects of our rabid plastic consumption and learns the problem is more insidious than we could have ever imagined.

For more information on the film, please visit the official documentary website.

Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Trailer from Angela Sun on Vimeo.

Sacred Economics

Film Screenings & Discussion2014 Festival Opening Event - Green Carpet Gala: Friday, March 7, 2014 - 7-9:30pm/19th Century Club 178 Forest Ave., Oak Park/Tickets

Directed By - Ian MacKenzie (Based on the book by Charles Eisenstein)/2012/12 minutes

Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, revealing how the money system has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity, destroyed community, and necessitated endless growth. Today, these trends have reached their extreme - but in the wake of their collapse, we may find great opportunity to transition to a more connected, ecological, and sustainable way of being.

This film will be shown with Story of Solutions.  The event will feature food, drink and stimulating discussions on the idea of "shift."

For more information on the film, please visit the official documentary website

Saving Pelican 895

Film Screening & Discussion

Saturday, March 8, 2014 - 2-3:15pm/W. Beye Elementary School 230 N Cuyler Ave, Oak Park/Tickets

Sunday, March 9, 2014 - 12:30-2pm/Brown Cow Ice Cream Parlor 7347 Madison St, Forest Park/Tickets

Family Friendly!  Children ages 10-14+

Directed By - Irene Taylor Brodsky/2011/40 minutes

Nearly 9,000 birds were found in the oily waters of the Gulf Coast in the wake of the 2010 BP oil spill.  One of them was a young pelican coated by oil near his nest in Louisiana. Saving Pelican 895 is the story of the 895th bird to be rescued and rehabilitated by a dedicated team of wildlife experts and every day people, many of whom travel the world responding to oil disasters. The tale of a single animal and the compassionate people deployed to save him, Saving Pelican 895 shows how the process of saving one life restored a degree of humanity for the rest of us.

For more information on the film, please visit the official documentary website.

The Soil Solution

Film Screening & DiscussionSaturday, March 8, 2014 - 7-9:15pm/First United Church 848 Lake St, Oak Park/Tickets

Directed By - Carol Hirashima, Jill Cloutier/2013/29 minutes

What if an answer to climate change was found beneath your feet? The Soil Solution explores the fascinating world of soil and documents the ranchers, farmers, and scientists who conserve, protect, and regenerate our natural resource. Healthy soil may provide a biologically-based, low cost solution to global climate change. We speak with those on the cutting edge of soil science who are ushering in a new system of farming and ranching that works with nature, instead of against it. These methods have the potential to provide us with nutritious food, improved health, cleaner water, and a healthier planet.

This film will be shown with Do the Math.

For more information on the film, please visit the official documentary website

The Story of Solutions

Film Screening & Discussion2014 Festival Opening Event - Green Carpet Gala: Friday, March 7, 2014 - 7-9:30pm/19th Century Club 178 Forest Ave., Oak Park/Tickets

Directed By - Louis Fox/2013/9 minutes

The Story of Solutions, released in October 2013, explores how we can move our economy in a more sustainable and just direction, starting with orienting ourselves toward a new goal. In the current ‘Game of More’, we’re told to cheer a growing economy – more roads, more malls, more Stuff! – even though our health indicators are worsening, income inequality is growing and polar icecaps are melting. But what if we changed the point of the game?

This film will be shown with Sacred Economics.  The event will feature food, drink and stimulating discussions on the idea of "shift." What if the goal of our economy wasn’t more, but better – better health, better jobs and a better chance to survive on the planet? Shouldn’t that be what winning means?

For more information on the film, please visit the official documentary http://storyofstuff.org/movies/the-story-of-solutions/ website

Sushi: The Global Catch

Film Screening & DiscussionSunday, March 9, 2014 - 3-5:00pm/River Forest Public Library 735 Lathrop Ave, River Forest/ Tickets

Directed By - Mark Hall/2012/75 minutes

Sushi, a cuisine formerly found only in Japan, has grown exponentially in other nations, and an industry has been created to support it. In a rush to please a hungry public, the expensive delicacy has become common and affordable, appearing in restaurants, supermarkets and even fast food trailers. The traditions requiring 7 years of apprenticeship in Japan have given way to quick training and mass-manufactured solutions elsewhere. This hunger for sushi has led to the depletion of apex predators in the ocean, including bluefin tuna, to such a degree that it has the potential to upset the ecological balance of the world’s oceans, leading to a collapse of all fish species.

For more information on the film, please visit the official documentary  website

Sushi: The Global Catch - Trailer from Sakana Films on Vimeo.

Tiny: A Story About Living Small

Film Screening & DiscussionSaturday, March 8, 2014 - 1:00-2:45pm/Forest Park Public Library 7555 Jackson Blvd, Forest Park, IL/Tickets

Directed By - Merete Mueller and Christopher Smith/2013/62 minutes

What is home? And how do we find it? The film follows one couple’s attempt to build a “tiny house” from scratch, and profiles other families who have downsized their lives into homes smaller than the average parking space. Through homes stripped down to their essentials, the film raises questions about good design, the nature of home, and the changing American Dream.

Come to this Chicago Premiere screening! 

TINY is a coming-of-age story for a generation that is more connected, yet less tied-down than ever, and for a society redefining its priorities in the face of a changing financial and environmental climate. More than anything, TINY invites its viewers to dream big and imagine living small.

For more information on the film, please visit the official documentary website

Toxic Hot Seat

Film Screening & DiscussionSunday, March 9, 2014 - 3pm-5:15pm/Oak Park Public Library 834 Lake Street, Oak Park/Tickets

Directed By - James Redford,Kirby Walker/2013/91 minutes

TOXIC HOT SEAT follows a courageous group of firefighters and mothers, journalists and scientists, politicians and activists as they fight to expose a shadowy campaign of deception that left a toxic legacy in our homes and bodies - a campaign so cunning, it's taken nearly 40 years to unravel.

Local Tie! Chicago Tribune reporter, Sam Roe, representing the Pulitzer prize-winning team behind this film, will attend this screening.For more information on the film, please visit the official documentary website.

Trashed

Film Screening & DiscussionsPre-Fest Screening Event:Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - 5:45-8pm/University of Illinois at Chicago - Gallery 400 400 S Peoria St, Chicago/Tickets

Saturday, March 8, 2014 - 6-8:15pm/Roosevelt University 425 S Wabash Ave., Chicago, Room 611/Tickets

Directed By - Candida Brady/2012/97 minutes

The multi-award winning documentary Trashed, starring Jeremy Irons, looks at the risks to the food chain and the environment through pollution of our air, land and sea by waste. The film reveals surprising truths about very immediate and potent dangers to our health. it is a global conversation from Iceland to Indonesia between the film star Jeremy Irons and scientists, politicians and ordinary individuals whose health and livelihoods have been fundamentally affected by waste pollution.

Visually and emotionally the film is both horrific and beautiful: an interplay of human interest and political wake-up call. But it ends on a message of hope: showing how the risks to our survival can easily be averted through sustainable approaches that provide far more employment than the current 'waste industry'.

For more information on the film, please visit the official trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z2s_klZkFg

Urban Roots

Film Screenings & DiscussionsPre-Fest Screening Event: Saturday, March 1, 2014 - 2-4pm/Sacred Keepers Sustainability Lab 4445 S. King Dr., Chicago/Tickets

Sunday, March 9, 2014 - 3-5:15pm/St. Martin's Episcopal Church 5700 W Midway Park, Chicago/Tickets

Directed By- Mark MacInnis/2011/93 minutes

Produced by Leila Conners (The 11th Hour), Mark MacInnis and Mathew Schmid, the film follows the urban farming phenomenon in Detroit. Urban Roots is a timely, moving and inspiring film that speaks to a nation grappling with collapsed industrial towns and the need to forge a sustainable and prosperous future.

Joining the discussion in Bronzeville will be Orrin Williams, Executive Director, Center for Urban Transformation; Johnnie Owens, Centers for New Horizons; and Sherry Williams, Founder, Bronzeville Historical Society.

For more information on the film, please visit the official documentary website.