October 02, 2011
VIFF films: Hello Cool World Picks!
By
Katherine Dodds
TODAY ONLY! SURVIVING PROGRESS - Sun, Oct 2nd 4:15pm at the VOGUE THEATRE
Harold Crooks, co-director of Surviving Progress at VIFF.
FINAL VIFF SCREENING:
Sun, Oct 2nd 4:15pm
Visa Screening Room at the Vogue Theatre
Tickets available at the door. Q&A with directors.
This weekend marked the opening of the Vancouver International Film Festival and once again Granville Street has been taken over by crowds of film buffs and movie aficionados eager to see a diverse collection of newly released films from the world.
Two films are of particular interest to Hello Cool World's ongoing work around social change.
SURVIVING PROGRESS, a film by Harold Crooks and Mathieu Roy based on Ronald Wright's bestselling book A Short History of Progress. The documentary, which was executive produced by Mark Achbar (The Corporation) and Betsy Carson (Waking the Green Tiger) provides a subversive diagnosis of mankind's unique abilities and the danger they've brought to the world.
The film opens with a suggestive scene of primates performing elementary human tasks for a simple reward of fruit, and directors Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks focus on the crucial differences and similarities between our genetic forebears and us. Unlike them, we have, as a behavioural scientist puts it, the ability to “probe for unobservable phenomenon to explain the observable.” This is the key to science, philosophy, mechanics, industrialization and the rest of our “progress.” But like the apes, we are defined by primeval impulses that, when married to our unique intelligence, can produce disastrous results. Climate change, brutal depletion of natural resources, economic inequality and an alienation from the natural world--is the price of our native intelligence too high?
WAKING THE GREEN TIGER - The rise of a green movement in China - World Premiere Oct 7, 11
Director Gary Marcuse at VIFF.
WAKING THE GREEN TIGER (In English and Chinese with English subtitles)
By declaring that nature must be conquered in the name of progress, Chairman Mao ushered in an era of environmental degradation for China. As glimpsed in archival footage (some of it seen outside China for the first time), citizens were mobilized to raze forests and slaughter animals. These rash actions laid waste to ecosystems and triggered a famine that killed tens-of-millions. Now, a new generation of environmentalists composed of activists, journalists, filmmakers and former politicians strives to preserve their natural wonders, educate their compatriots and encourage public debate. Gary Marcuse's stirring documentary celebrates the leaders of China's new revolution as they take aim at a hydroelectric dam project.
VIFF SCREENINGS:
Fri, Oct 7th 9:30pm
Empire Granville 7 Th 4
Tue, Oct 11th 12:20pm
Empire Granville 7 Th 1
BUY TICKETS HERE.
PLUS, NEW SHORT FILM "THE COCONUT" BY 65_REDROSES DIRECTOR NIMISHA MUKERJI
Shani Banerjee, star of "The Coconut".
2010 SUPER CHANNEL FEATURE DOCUMENTARY AWARD
2009 OMNI CULTURAL DIVERSITY AWARD
Gemini-nominated director/producer Nimisha Mukerji unleashes her new short The Coconut - an intimate family portrait that follows the misadventures of twenty-two year old Shani Banerjee who is an aspiring singer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Shot on HD, the film takes an unflinching look into the life of a struggling artist who repeatedly goes against the wishes of her family in order to carve out a career for herself in the music industry. Torn between her dream to record an album and the financial burdens of finishing her education, Shani decides to drop out of university to write music and gain “life” experience. Moving back home she finds herself faced with more familial obligations than she had at university. Her father has lost his job, and her mother, who has Multiple Sclerosis, is paralyzed from the neck down and completely dependent on home care. As Shani desperately tries to follow her dreams, the relationships in her life begin to unravel and music becomes a reflection of the responsibilities that she cannot escape.
VIFF SCREENINGS:
The Coconut preceeds Carl Bessai's feature film Sisters&Brothers
Wed, Oct 5th 9:15pm
Visa Screening Room at the Vogue Theatre
Tue, Oct 11th 1:30pm
Visa Screening Room at the Vogue Theatre
BUY TICKETS HERE.
Tag(s):
Film Launch
Recent Blogs by Katherine Dodds:
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On October 09, 2011 at 10:46 PM Peter Moss wrote:
Is Surviving Progress available on DVD yet?
On October 09, 2011 at 11:13 PM Katherine Dodds wrote:
No not yet -- it's just starting its festival run - stay tuned!
Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.
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