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By Jill Yesko, University Relations
Contact (336) 334-3890
Posted:8-26-08
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Eight documentary films exploring issues from coal mining in Appalachia to access to water supplies around the globe will be shown begining Aug. 28.
All films will be shown Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Weatherspoon Art Museum and are free and open to the public. Complementary parking is available in the rear of the building. A led discussion follows each film.
The films are:
• Aug. 28: “The 11th Hour.” The title refers to the last possible moment when change is possible. Leonardo DiCaprio narrates this film featuring more than 50 leading scientists, thinkers and leaders from around the world. The film is a call to action for all concerned citizens of Planet Earth.
• Sept. 25: “King Corn” is a movie about two friends, one acre of corn and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. Watch Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends who move to America’s heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of neighbors, genetically modified seeds and herbicides, the duo plant a bumper crop of America’s most-subsidized grain as they reap the consequences of what they sow.
• Oct. 23: “Thirst.” Is water a human right for all people or is it a commodity to be bought, sold and traded in a global marketplace? “Thirst” tells the stories of communities from Bolivia to the U.S. that are asking this fundamental questions.
• Nov. 13: “Oil on Ice” documents the controversy surrounding drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This visually stunning film takes a journey through this pristine landscape teeming with wildlife at risk of being destroyed.
• Jan. 29: “Waste = Food” explores the revolutionary “cradle to cradle” concept through interviews with its leading proponents, architect William McDonough and ecological chemist Michael Braungart. Their ideas are increasingly being embraced by major corporations and governments worldwide.
• Feb. 26: “Black Diamonds” charts the escalating drama in Appalachia over the increase in mountaintop coal removal. These mammoth operations have covered more than 1200 miles of headwater streams with mining waste and demolished thousands of acres of hardwood forest and flattened hundreds of mountain peaks.
• March 26: “Invisible” tells the story of how man-made chemicals are building up in our bodies and are being passed from mother to child. Scientists think these hormone-disrupting substances are causing havoc with the reproduction systems and neurological health of animals and humans.
• April 23. “Wal-Town.” Six student activists, 36 Canadian towns and one giant corporation. A group of students calling themselves Wal-Town cross Canada armed with thousands of fliers aimed at exposing what they claim are the evils of one of the world’s largest corporations.
The film series is sponsored by the UNCG sustainability committee, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Deep Roots Market, Earth Fare, Indelligence, the Proximity Hotel, REI, the Sierra Club, Sweet Basil and Tate Street Coffee House.
For more information contact Sarah Dorsey at (336) 334-5610 or sbdorsey@uncg.edu. For information about sustainability at UNCG visit http://sustain.uncg.edu.
University Relations
Location: 500 Forest Street
Mailing Address: PO Box 26170, Greensboro, NC 27402-6170
Telephone:336.334.3783
Fax:336.334.4602