Jens Jensen The Living Green

Film Screening & Discussion w/FilmmakerSaturday, March 8, 2014 - 2-4pm/Triton College (Performing Arts Center, Bldg R) 2000 5th Ave., River Grove/Tickets

Directed by - Carey Lundin/2013/55 minutes

This award winning documentary portrays how Danish-born Jens Jensen (1860 - 1951) rose from street sweeper, to 'dean of landscape architecture', to pioneering conservationist in troubled, early Chicago. At great risk to his family, he battles corruption and unbridled industrial expansion to bring 'the living green' into the wretched lives of Chicago's workers. Jensen leverages relationships with Frank Lloyd Wright, Julius Rosenwald, and Henry Ford  to create a conservation fervor that stopped the steel mills from industrializing an entire Indiana shoreline.

Filmmaker Carey Lundin along with Shaun Spikes of The Student Conservation Association  will attend.

Striking cinematography and an evocative soundtrack illuminate colorful witness from Prairie School architect Alfred Caldwell and an intensely reflective interview with Jensen. Today, Jensen's story inspires - we can stand up for bringing the living green in our neighborhoods and for protecting our natural lands from the threat of development.

For more information on the film, please visit the official Jens Jensen, The Living Green website.

Filmmaker Carey Lundin will be in attendance at the 3/8 screening.

The Last Ocean

Film Screening & DiscussionSunday, March 9, 2014 - 1-3pm/Holley Court 1111 Ontario St, Oak Park/Tickets

Directed By - Peter Young/2013/84 minutes

The Ross Sea Antarctica is the most pristine stretch of ocean on Earth. Scientists describe it as our last 'living laboratory', a place that can teach us about the workings of all marine ecosystems. But the fishing industry recently found its way to the Ross Sea, targeting Antarctic toothfish and unless stopped, the natural balance of this unique ecosystem will be lost forever.

The Last Ocean tells the story of the race to protect Earth's last untouched ocean from our insatiable appetite for fish, and raises the simple ethical question: do we fish the last ocean or do we protect it?

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

Let's Talk About Soil

Film Screening & DiscussionSaturday, March 8, 2014 - 3-5pm/Forest Preserve District of Cook County 536 N Harlem Ave, River Forest/Tickets

Directed By: Uli H. Streckerbach/2012/6 minutes

This animated film tells the reality of soil resources around the world, covering the issues of degradation, urbanization, land grabbing and overexploitation; the film offers options to make the way we manage our soils more sustainable.

This film will be shown with Green Gold.

Lost and Found

Film Screening & DiscussionSaturday, March 8, 2014 – 3:30-4:15pm/W. Beye Elementary School 230 N Cuyler Ave, Oak Park/Tickets

Family-friendly! Children ages 3-9+

Directed By – Philip Hunt/Based on the award-winning book by Oliver Jeffers/2008/24 minutes

 A magical tale of friendship and loneliness, Lost and Found tells the story of a little boy who finds a penguin on the doorstep of his house one morning. Although at first he is unsure about what to do, the boy becomes determined to help the penguin find his way back home, even if that means rowing a small boat all the way to the South Pole!

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

LOST AND FOUND : Extended Trailer from STUDIO AKA on Vimeo.

Miya's Sushi

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

Directed By: Brandi Fullwood/2013/6 minutes

Miya's Sushi is a short film that showcases the use of invasive species in sushi, focusing on how the culinary arts impact environmental conscious.

This short film will be shown with Sushi: The Global Catch.

Miya's Sushi from Brandi Fullwood on Vimeo.

More Than Honey

Film Screenings & DiscussionsSunday, March 9, 2014 - 11am-1:15pm/Garfield Park Conservatory, Jensen Room 300 N. Central Park Ave., Chicago/Tickets

Sunday, March 9, 2014 - 3-5pm/Willard Elementary School, River Forest 1250 Ashland Avenue, River Forest/Tickets

Director - Markus Imhoof/2013/95 minutes

Over the past 15 years, numerous colonies of bees have been decimated throughout the world, but the causes of this disaster remain unknown. Depending on the world region, 50% to 90% of all local bees have disappeared, and this epidemic is still spreading from beehive to beehive - all over the planet. Everywhere, the same scenario is repeated: billions of bees leave their hives, never to return.

Beekeeping expert Naaman Gambill and John Hansen, Vice President of the Cook County/Du Page Beekeepers Association will be present at the Garfield Conservatory screening. Plus, local beekeepers will bring handmade honey to sample at each screening.

No bodies are found in the immediate surroundings, and no visible predators can be located. Should we blame pesticides or even medication used to combat them? Maybe look at parasites such as varroa mites? New viruses? Travelling stress? The multiplication of electromagnetic waves disturbing the magnetite nanoparticles found in the bees' abdomen? So far, it looks like a combination of all these agents has been responsible for the weakening of the bees' immune defenses.

For more information on the film, please visit the office More Than Honey website.

Musicwood

Film Screening & DiscussionSaturday March 8, 2014 - 7-9pm/School of Rock, Oak Park 219 Lake St, Oak Park/$5 Tickets

Directed By - Maxine Trump/2012/80 minutes

Musicwood is an adventure-filled journey, a political thriller with music at its heart. An unusual band of the most famous guitar-makers in the world (Bob Taylor of Taylor guitars, Chris Martin of Martin Guitars and Dave Berryman of Gibson Guitars) travel together into the heart of one of the most primeval rainforests on the planet. Their mission: to negotiate with Native American loggers and change the way this forest is logged before it’s too late for acoustic guitars.

Dominic Frigo, a guitar and piano teacher and musician, along with Gary Cuneen, founder of Seven Generations Ahead, and Bruce and Erika Horigan, of Horigan Urban Forest Products, will be on hand to lead a lively post-film discussion.  Plus, enjoy a mini-concert and zero-waste refreshments. Musicwood is a culture clash of staggering proportions. Native Americans who’ve been given a notoriously raw deal from the US government are distrustful of the white man telling them what to do. Enter Greenpeace, a radical environmental group, and soon all are battling over a forest that is the last of its kind on the planet.

As the tug-of-war over natural resources unfolds, acoustic virtuosos such as Kaki King, Yo La Tengo, The Antlers, and Steve Earle offer some of the most profound insights in the form of a soundtrack, which doubles as the heartbeat of this debate.

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

The New Environmentalists

Film Screenings & DiscussionsPre-Fest Screening Event: Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - 3:30-4:30pm /University of Illinois at Chicago - Latino Cultural Center 803 S. Morgan St., Lecture Center B2/Tickets

2014 Festival Closing Event: Sunday, March 9, 2014 - 6-9pm/Unity Temple 875 Lake Street, Oak Park/Tickets

Directed By - Will Parrinello/2013/28 minutes

Robert Redford narrates this multiple Emmy Award-winning series featuring inspiring portraits of passionate and dedicated activists. These are true environmental heroes who have placed themselves squarely in harm’s way to battle intimidating adversaries while building strong grassroots support. The New Environmentalists share a common goal – safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution, while fighting for environmental justice in their communities.

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

"The New Environmentalists - from Chicago to The Karoo" 30 second trailer from Mill Valley Film Group on Vimeo.

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.

Revolution

Film Screenings & DiscussionsPre-Fest Screening Event: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - 6:30-8:45pm/Columbia College Chicago - Film Row Cinema1104 S. Wabash Ave. Chicago/Tickets

Pre-Fest "View and a Brew" Screening Event: Thursday, March 6, 2014 - 7-9:15pm/Wire 6815 W. Roosevelt, Berwyn/Tickets

Directed by - Rob Stewart/2012/85 Minutes

Revolution is a film about changing the world. The true-life adventure of Rob Stewart, this follow-up to his acclaimed Sharkwater documentary continues his remarkable journey; one that will take him through 15 countries over four years, and where he'll discover that it's not only sharks that are in grave danger – it's humanity itself.

In an effort to uncover the truth and find the secret to saving the ecosystems we depend on for survival, Stewart embarks on a life-threatening adventure. From the coral reefs in Papua New Guinea and deforestation in Madagascar to the largest and most destructive environmental project in history in Alberta, Canada, he reveals that all of our actions are interconnected and that environmental degradation, species loss, ocean acidification, pollution and food/water scarcity are reducing the Earth's ability to house humans. How did this happen, and what will it take to change the course that humanity has set itself on?

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