An upcoming film festival wants to provide an antidote to relentless waves of bad news.
With 40 social justice and environmental documentary films screening at the 11th annual World Community Film Festival at Langara College, Feb. 10 to 12, its organizers hope to entertain and inspire.
It shows how small actions can make a big difference, said festival coordinator Erin Mullan. These kinds of films can make people feel less powerless and like they have the potential to make a real difference in their community and their world.
B.C.s largest social justice film festival opens with a keynote address by leading peak oil educator Richard Heinberg, followed by Just Do It, an insiders look at climate change activism in the U.K.
Mullan is particularly excited about the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»premiere of Just Do It, which reveals how the activists tactics and ways of organizing inspired the Occupy movement.
In both cases, theyre tapping into concerns that people have about the environment, about climate change, and about social inequality around wealth, Mullan said. So its a really interesting, entertaining and inspiring film because they actually make a positive difference.
She says Raw Opium, which challenges assumptions about addiction and questions the war on drugs, is also sure to mesmerize.
Given the fact that our federal government is about to do a massive criminalization of drug use, setting mandatory minimum sentences for possession of small amounts of things... its very timely, Mullan said.
As an organic master gardener, Mullan is keen on Urban Roots, which follows the efforts of Detroit residents in turning abandoned downtown lots into oases of produce previously considered food deserts where you couldnt buy fresh foods for miles. It screens as part of a Saturday afternoon program featuring films about food and farming. Other programs that day focus on Latin America, pipelines and the politics of oil, and Sunday afternoon includes two films on happiness in addition to a focus on Palestine and Israel.
Filmmakers will attend documentaries that include the locally made Clean Bin Project and The Pipedreams Project. The three filmmakers behind Pipedreams kayaked from Kitimat to Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»along the coastline that could be affected by an oil spill should Enbridges bid to connect the Alberta tar sands to the coast proceed, bringing crude oil super tankers to B.C.s North Coast for the first time.
Audiences can also view three shorts made by Langara College documentary film students, Feb. 11, and find information about activist organizations and fairly traded goods at the social justice bazaar.
The World Community Film Festival kicked off in Courtenay on Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Island this weekend. Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»is the national travelling festivals second stop. CoDevelopment Canada, a non-profit international development agency based in B.C., and the World Community Education Society produce the festival.
For more info, see codevfilmfest.org.
Twitter: @Cheryl_Rossi
