Postmortem: The Carbon Rush

I’m sorry I didn’t alert you to this one in time for its two screenings at the Vancouver International Film Festival.
The Carbon Rush unveils the carbon trading market created by the Kyoto Protocol of 1997: it’s now a multi-billion dollar business!

Amy Miller’s film looks well beyond the marketing and illusions created by the polluting multi-nationals and their governments.  Eucalyptus plantations are found to be displacing people, if not outright killing them, with local government support.  Buying land “to conserve nature” is made possible with these credits and pushes indigenous people off their ancestral homes into slums and misery.  India’s recycling system is being undermined by “Refuse-derived Fuel” projects that wouldn’t have the funding to even begin if not for carbon credit trading.  And there’s more, all around the world…

The sad reality is that carbon trading simply allows the big polluters to continue business as usual while the supposed off-sets undermine ways of life and rarely actually reduce carbon dioxide emissions at all.

It’s a shell game and this film shows us how it’s done, with the UN leading it all.

The Mayans predicted something similar to this thousands of years ago…Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth is a film that explains what was predicted and how that looks today.  Since the The Carbon Rush is over (unless it is added by VIFF for another screening near the end of the festival), I recommend Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth: watch for my review coming soon!

I Remember (Je me souviens)

I went expecting a lot more and was frankly disappointed.  It has so much potential since the material is rich (mining town in ’49 with a corrupt Premier and Clergy), but despite the lovely B&W print, it simply falls short.

The characters simply don’t develop as they could and the personal relationships they develop and dissolve just aren’t convincing to me.  And the ending is just too contrived.

The humour is dry and sprinkled throughout, so it was fun and I had hope throughout.  But ultimately, this is one movie that I do not plan to Remember.

Click here for more info and tickets.

Viff ’08: Canadian Images: Drux Flux

This very short film is a barrage of images that meld art with politics leading up to the second world war.

For me, it linked all the propaganda of the time together: Nazi, American, Russian, British.  It also spoke loudly about how this propaganda was meant to fool one and all…a message so important and relevant still today.

It’s part of the A Dérive program of shorts; click here for more information and tickets.

Viff ’08: Cinema of Our Time: Il Divo

Despite the content (murder, mafia, corruption, etc), this is a fun film.  I know I missed many nuances and humorous insights, but even so, it was very enjoyable to see the evil bastards make such fun of themselves.

That this film won the Jury Prize at Cannes this year is no surprise.  The unique way of chronicaling the corruption that ran rampant in Italy’s essentially one-party system for 44 years is not only engaging and in-depth, it’s completely convincing and at times I wondered if this was a documentary.  It far surpasses many of the mockumentaries I’ve seen about political crime in its intensity (does Italian law not allow for silence-inducing lawsuits as it does in Canada and the US?) and even its humour.

There are a couple of more chances to improve your Italian and your understanding of how government works in democracies…click here for more information and tickets.

Viff ’08: The Ark: The Limits of What We Know

Ah Africa…so beautiful and so much culture and history.  Too bad white Europeans fucked it all up.

This film is a series of shorts with a common theme: what we now call Zimbabwe.  They also have a common presentation style that will be familiar to anyone that has been exposed to the areas of Africa colonized by the British.

This is a Canadian film though, so it’s unfortunate that the style of film-making is so colonially British.  Or maybe it’s an attempt to be authentic.  In any case, if you change the soundtrack, you’ve got a gorgeous tourist film.  But the soundtrack will offer many interesting pieces of information, despite the film’s title.

My favourite scene features an acrobatic dung beetle; lions, elephants, hippos, giraffes, buffalo, warthogs, zebras and more are also well featured.

But the film rarely features the voices of the uncolonized – the Shona and Ndebele.  It does tell a bit of their story, both past and present, but this is filtered through contempory colonized people, black and white.

One thing that struck me was that western clothes have truly devastated indigenous ways of dress.  My own experience in West Africa taught me that the ones we give to “charity” often end up in Africa, which, although expensive for most, are sold for so cheap it doesn’t make economic sense to make clothes in the traditional ways.  But this isn’t in the film, nor is any reference to the AIDS epidemic.

This is a nature film…sit back and relax and enjoy the view.  Click here for more info and tickets.

Viff ’08: Dragons & Tigers: Orz Boys

I’ve already found a “best film that won’t be shown after the Fest, almost guaranteed:” Orz Boyz.  This is a great movie and a great surprise, since I rarely enjoy the Asian films brought to this Fest because I have radically different taste than Tony Rayns.  But since Shelly Kraicer has been co-curating the Dragons & Tigers series, there are gems that I can really enjoy and Orz Boys is one of them.

The two stars are poor young boys that have mostly been abandoned by their families.  Their bond goes much deeper than having almost no one else in their life and the film grows our relationship with them beautifully.

The reality of their situation, despite the animation, rings very true and honest.  But it isn’t superficial and allows us to see many sides of kids that are often just written off.  Sure, they act in many of the ways that society expects of them, but this film allows us to see that the pain they feel is real, that children do understand and accept responsibility (even if unwanted), and that common parenting (strict, harsh, non-compassionate) is uncommonly harmful, whether it comes from parents, grandparents or the state.

This film made me laugh and cry; the first-time director has created a winning score from Taiwan with English subtitles…but it only screens twice at the beginning of the fest!  Friday, Sept 26 @ 7pm and Saturday, Sept 27 @ 4:30pm…click here for more info and tickets.

Food? Health? Hope? … sound relevant to your life?

The World According to Monsanto is a compelling new film that plays at the Vancity Theatre August 1-4, 6-7 @ 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm.

This film shows conclusively how governments around the world have directly supported the biotech industry lead by Monsanto, often by former Monsanto employees and associates.  The research seems to have been done online (I hope Apple and Google have paid dearly for their regular product placements in the film); the comprehensiveness and thoroughness of the research reaches back many decades and brings us to the present dilemma: the genetic contamination of almost all food on the planet.

As Segudino, a Oaxacan farmer states, if Monsanto succeeds, everyone will be dependent on the multinationals.  Although many farmers in Oaxaca continue to farm as their ancestors did, the contamination of transgenic corn is seriously threatening the genetic stock of corn that can be traced back 500 or more years.

Just like PCBs, which were also created by Monsanto, transgenic species travel on the wind and the air to contaminate everywhere they travel, which is everywhere on the planet.

Another favourite segment shows Vice President George Bush, Sr. state: “we’re in the dereg business.”

The film is easy, almost fun, to watch, despite the condemning content.  If the exposure of deceit, smear, conspiracy, and fascism in this film doesn’t activate you, maybe you’re eating Roundup Ready (pop)corn.

If you care about the Food you eat, your and your family’s Health, and Hope for the planet’s future, check out the trailer, Monsanto’s website, and then get down to the Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour St. @ Davie)…but don’t forget to ask about the popcorn!

Check your Dreams!

At the Pacific Cinematheque: For the Bible Tells Me So + Czech Dream

From Dec 7th to Dec 13th (first film starts at 7:30pm each night)

Czech Dream caught my attention from the get go: scenes of food lineups in the Communist era turn into lineups of greedy consumers in these Capitalist times.

Two student filmmakers achieve what many only hope: a reality film that examines important issues. The beating they take at the end of it all (you’ll have to view the trailer to see it, it’s not pretty) shows just how deep into the consumer psyche they reached.

From concept to grand opening, the film documents the decisions capitalists make, in this case when creating a “hypermarket” (think big box). One of the many twists is that they also ask tough questions, to themselves, to the advertising agents, and to the consumers. The process is very revealing.

Generally speaking, Czech people seemed very similar to “Canadian” folks: polite, unassuming and living in the shadow of a capitalist giant. Maybe one day we’ll see a Canadian Dream manifest at a meadow near you…

VIFF ‘07: Climate for Change: Keepers of Eden

This film could also be titled Colonization 101: how indigenous people and their territory are destroyed by Western greed.

Pick any place on earth and the Huaorani people’s story could be told, from creation to today (or extinction). First, the creator creates all, people learn to live peacefully, then a resource is found (in this case oil) and contamination, disease, liquor, domestic violence, and both cultural and physical death follow.

The area in which the Huaorani live is the most bio-diverse region on the planet. There are more species living in each 2.5 hectare area than in the entire continent of North America. The photography is stunning: the birds, insects, jungle…check out the size of the tree near the end of the film!

Texaco and Shell have spilled more oil, which has not even been attempted to be cleaned up, than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez. And surprise, surprise, the constitution of Ecuador protects the right of oil and mineral exploration above all else.

But the people fight back and that is the inspiration of the film. Traditionally, the Huaorani fight to the death and those that haven’t died already from cancers (or haven’t sold out), are committed to end the exploitation. And, as usual, they are led by their women.

Remaining Screenings:
Sunday, Oct 7th @ 9:15pm: Empire Granville 7 Theatre 2

VIFF ‘07: Canadian Images: White Vans

This 13 minute short packs a hefty punch…right in the eye of the next bike thief!

Local filmmaker Aren Hansen helps us feel the pain and loss that is much more than a bike stolen: a wide range of people who have suffered the loss of their loved one share how it affected them as well as their vengeful fantasies.

Ending up as a advertisement to return an abandoned blue bike to its rightful owner (it was left behind by a thief who stole the filmmaker’s bike), we see lots of great shots of East Van as well as slam poetry and a wonderful stakeout that puts important perspective on the bigger issues.

Shown with 8 other Canadian shorts.

Screenings:
Wednesday, Oct 10, @ 9:15pm: Pacific Cinematheque
Thursday, Oct 11, @ 4:00pm: Pacific Cinematheque