GMO OMG

Film Screenings & DiscussionsSaturday, March 8, 2014 - 10am-12:15pm/Lake Theatre 1022 Lake St, Oak Park/$6 Tickets

Saturday, March 8, 2014 - 10am-12:15pm/Humboldt Park Fieldhouse  1400 N. Sacramento Ave., Chicago/Tickets

Director – Jeremy Seifer/2013/90 minutes

GMO OMG director and concerned father Jeremy Seifert is in search of answers. How do GMOs affect our children, the health of our planet, and our freedom of choice? And perhaps the ultimate question, which Seifert tests himself: is it even possible to reject the food system currently in place, or have we lost something we can’t gain back?

Post-film discussion at Lake Theatre will be facilitated by Jim Slama, Founder of Family Farmed and Good Food Festivals.  The Humboldt Park event will be facilitated by Joan Levin of IL Right to Know GMO and includes a sustainable food resource fair.

These and other questions take Seifert on a journey from his family’s table to Haiti, Paris, Norway, and the lobby of agra-giant Monsanto, from which he is unceremoniously ejected. Along the way we gain insight into a question that is of growing concern to citizens the world over: what's on your plate?

For more information on the film, please visit the official trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynyB2fNn8kQ

Green Gold

Film Screening & DiscussionSaturday, March 8, 2014 - 3:00-5:00pm/Forest Preserve District of Cook County 536 N Harlem Ave, River Forest/Tickets

Directed By - John D. Liu/2012/48 minutes

Environmental filmmaker John D. Liu documents large-scale ecosystem restoration projects in China, Africa, South America and the Middle East, highlighting the enormous benefits to people and planet of undertaking these efforts globally.  This documentary is not just a tale of hope, it's evidence of hope - it's proof that we do not need to give in to apathy and despair. Instead, we see we have the simple solutions right in front of us.

This film screening and discussion, hosted and moderated by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, will be preceded by a brief nature walk around the forest preserve grounds.

The film takes you to China, Jordan, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Bolivia, and features the PRI's own Geoff Lawton, who adds impetus and technical know-how to John's impressive toolbox. It's the story of healing landscapes at scale, and, with it, restoring life, livelihoods, security and a future. For more information on the film, please visit the official documentary website.

Growing Cities

Film Screenings & DiscussionsPre-Fest Screening EventTuesday, February 18, 2014 - 7-9pm/Dominican University - Lund Auditorium /Tickets

Saturday, March 8, 2014 - 2-4pm/ICA Greenrise 4750 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago/Tickets

Sunday, March 9, 2014 - 3-5pm/West Suburban Temple Har Zion 1040 N Harlem Ave, River Forest/Tickets

Directed By - Dan Susman/2013/60 minutes

In their search for answers, filmmakers Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette take a road trip and meet the men and women who are challenging the way this country grows and distributes its food, one vacant city lot, rooftop garden, and backyard chicken coop at a time. Join them as they discover that good food isn’t the only crop these urban visionaries are harvesting. They’re producing stronger and more vibrant communities, too.

Meet activists from the film at the River Forest screening: special guest panelists Harry Rhodes, Executive Director of Growing Home, and Ken Dunn, Founder and Director of The Resource Center and City Farm will appear.

Harmony

Film Screening & DiscussionSunday, March 9, 2014 -  12:00-2:30pm/Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church 405 South Euclid, Oak Park/Tickets

Director - Stuart Sender/April 2012/90 minutes

Based on his book and narrated by HRH Charles, the Prince of Wales, HARMONY captures on film in a way we’ve never seen before, an authentic leader on critical global issues. For the better part of three decades, The Prince of Wales has worked side by side with a surprising and dynamic array of environmental activists, business leaders, artists, architects and government leaders. They are working to transform the world, address the global environmental crisis and find ways toward a more sustainable, spiritual and harmonious relationship with the planet.

A light lunch will be served prior to this screening.

From organic farms, to the rainforests of British Columbia, to rare footage of HRH interviewing Al Gore about climate change in 1988 - Harmony introduces viewers to a new and inspiring perspective on how the world can meet the challenges of climate change globally, locally and personally.

Harmony looks at the root causes of the global problems we face and offers solutions. HARMONY paints a picture of an awareness that is arising in people around the globe across boundaries of geography, race religion and socio-economic status. At a moment when we hear daily about challenges on an unprecedented planetary scale, Harmony proposes a way forward and provides the audience with a new perspective on the need to change our relationship with the planet. Harmony is a global call to action.  We invite viewers to get involved and join those who are working to restore balance in their lives and on the planet. Harmony is narrated by HRH The Prince of Wales and produced and directed by award winning filmmakers with Academy Award and Directors Guild nominations to their credit.

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

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.