2016 Film Descriptions
24 Hour Drum
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UBCO
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All the Time in the World: Disconnecting to Reconnect 88 min. 2014www.allthetimeintheworld.ca
Director: Suzanne Crocker Story Editor: Nettie Wild In search of a new perspective, a family of five leaves the comforts of home to live in the remote Yukon wilderness during the long northern winter and amidst the considerable surprises that the rawness of nature provides. The parents leave their jobs and take their three children (ages 10, 8 and 4) to spend nine months living in a small cabin with no road access, electricity, running water, Internet, TV or phone. Clocks and watches are also conspicuous by their absence. This family-friendly film explores the idea of disconnecting from our hectic, technology-laden lives in order to reconnect with each other and our natural environment. The film is noteworthy for offering the unique perspectives of the children as they connect with both their parents and nature. “Heartwarming and breathtaking” Most Popular Canadian Documentary, Vancouver Int'l Film Festival |
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Okanagan College
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American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs
83 min. 2013 http://americanrevolutionaryfilm.com/about-the-film/ Good Docs Director: Grace Lee Grace Lee Boggs is a 99-year-old Chinese American writer, activist, and philosopher. Rooted for more than 70 years in the African American movement, she has devoted her life to an evolving revolution that encompasses the contradictions of America’s past and its potentially radical future. Grace's lifetime of vital thinking and action traverses major U.S. social movements of the last century; from labour to civil rights, to Black Power, feminism, the Asian American and environmental justice movements and beyond. Angela Davis, Bill Moyers, Danny Glover and others help shape this story. “Revolution”, Boggs says, “is about the ability to transform oneself to transform the world”. Best Feature, Toronto Asian Film Festival & Woodstock Festival; Audience Award,Wisconsin Film Festival |
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Okanagan College
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Becoming Bulletproof 82 min. 2014
http://becomingbulletproofmovie.com/Splash/Becoming_Bulletproof.html
superfilms.tv Director: Michael Barnett Joy and persistence triumph over adversity in this award-winning documentary about a diverse group of people from across North America who come together in a camp every year to make a movie. On this occasion, it will be a Western called Bulletproof and the entire point is that it should be fun regardless of the challenges each person faces. Barnett’s documentary brings us face to face with our prejudices and misunderstandings. This is not the story of someone else who may have a disability; it is our story of who we are or may become. Becoming Bulletproof is a film about striving to live fully through artistic endeavour and raises important questions about the exclusion and marginalization of people with different abilities. This life-affirming film has much to teach us about embracing the great diversity of humanity. Best Documentary, Hollywood Film Festival ; Audience Choice Award, Heartland Film Festival |
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Okanagan College
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Bringing it Home 53 min. 2013
http://bringingithomemovie.com/press McNabb/Connolly Directors: Linda Booker & Blaire Johnson A father’s search to find the healthiest building materials leads him to the completion of the first hemp house in the US. Hemp with lime, hempcrete, is a non-toxic, energy efficient, mildew, fire and pest resistant building material. Although it is grown in 31 countries, growing hemp remains off-limits to almost all U.S. farmers. Industrial hemp is a non-psychoactive plant that provides the raw materials for thousands of sustainable products which can improve nutrition, stop deforestation and offer hope in a time of global warming. Bringing it Home tells the story of hemp, past, present and future, and a global industry that includes textiles, building materials, food products, bio-plastics, auto parts and more. Jury Award, Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival; Director's' Choice Award & Best Environmental Film, Sedona International Film Festival |
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OkanaganCollege
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Coastal Tarsands: Journey to Deleted Islands 78 min. 2014
www.coastaltarsands.ca Filmmaker: Richard Boyce Join Richard Boyce on a cinematic kayak journey to BC’s north coast where the Enbridge Corporation is determined to bring Alberta tarsands bitumen by a pipeline 1,170 km long across the Rocky and Coast Mountain Ranges to Kitimat. The filmmaker takes us to the maze of islands and narrow passages that were deleted in the $350 million Enbridge advertising campaign video. This is precisely where hundreds of supertankers loaded with millions of barrels of diluted bitumen will have to navigate through treacherous waters to reach Asian markets if the project proceeds. Coastal Tarsands takes a look at the coast, its natural features, weather, currents, wildlife and the people who live there. |
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Ki Low Na Friendship Centre
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Connected by Coffee 70 min. 2014
http://connectedbycoffee.com/
Stone Hut Studios Filmmakers: Aaron Dennis & Chelsea Bay Dennis The film follows two North American coffee roasters on a journey across Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua to listen to the stories of the people who grow their coffee. On the way they meet with soldiers who have become growers, powerful women who are controlling their own destinies and many small-scale farmers joining together to form cooperatives. This film serves as a starting point to educate coffee drinkers about the basics of fair trade, cooperatives, social justice, shade grown, organic, the conflict in fair trade and the new challenges of dealing with coffee rust. In the context of historical injustices of global politics and international trade, the film asks some tough questions. |
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Okanagan College
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DamNation 88 min 2014
http://damnationfilm.com/
IndieCan Directors: Travis Rummel & Ben Knight This powerful film odyssey across the US explores the sea change in attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the growing awareness that our own future is bound to the life and health of our rivers. Dam removal has gained acceptability. Where obsolete dams come down, rivers bound back to life, giving salmon and other wild fish the right of return to primeval spawning grounds after decades without access. Diverse interests are coming together to find more cost-effective options to meet power, shipping, irrigation and other needs. Restoring rivers helps to preserve tribal customs, recover fish stocks, revitalize waterfronts, improve recreational opportunities and render watersheds more resilient to climate change. DamNation’s majestic cinematography and unexpected discoveries move through rivers and landscapes altered by dams, but also through a metamorphosis in values, from conquest of the natural world to knowing ourselves as part of nature. Audience Choice, South by Southwest Festival; Audience Award, Mountain Films in Telluride |
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Okanagan College
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A Dangerous Game 90 min. 2014
www.adangerousgame.org Director: Anthony Baxter A Dangerous Game is the sequel to Baxter's award-winning documentary You’ve Been Trumped!. It is about the environmental, cultural, historical and human costs of golf, a game that has been hijacked by the rich and powerful. Documenting the stories of people and communities in Scotland, Croatia and the US who are standing up against developer tycoons like Donald Trump, this film clearly shows how economics, politics, human rights, and the environment intersect. A Dangerous Game showcases hope, dignity, struggle and triumph as people and communities stand up to protect themselves, their communities and the environment. |
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Okanagan College
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Food Stamped 62 min. 2011
http://www.foodstamped.com/
trailer: https://vimeo.com/31749550 Summit Pictures Shira and Yoav Potash Food Stamped is an informative and humourous documentary film following a couple as they attempt to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet on a food stamp budget. Shira teaches healthy cooking classes to elementary school students in low income neighbourhoods, most of whom are eligible for food stamps. In an attempt to walk a mile in their shoes, Shira and Yoav embark upon a challenge to eat on roughly one dollar per meal for a week. Through their adventures they consult with members of U.S. Congress, food justice organizations, nutrition experts, and people living on food stamps to take a deep look at America’s broken food system. Jury Feature Prize, San Francisco Independent Film Festival; Best Documentary, Lighthouse International Film Festival |
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Okanagan College
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Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story 74 min. 2014
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Okanagan College
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Koch Brothers Exposed 60 min. 2014
http://www.bravenewfilms.org/koch2014
Brave New Films Director: Robert Greenwald The film tells stories about the political machinations of billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to influence US politicians to pass laws in line with their extreme Libertarian ideology, often with heartbreaking consequences for others. Koch-founded groups masquerading as grassroots organizations (“astroturf groups”) have poured millions of dollars into campaigns targeting the Environmental Protection Agency. They have financial interests in the tar sands and generously fund right wing think tanks such as the Fraser Institute and climate change deniers. Tactics include voter suppression. In spite of this, some people have fought back and defeated candidates funded by this diabolical duo. |
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Okanagan College
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The Malagasy Way 84 min. 2014
www.adygasy.com
Director: Lova Nantenaina “The Chinese make everything and the Malagasy fix everything.” The people of Madagascar pride themselves on producing things out of nothing; tires transformed into shoes, oil lamps made out of light bulbs, wheelbarrows fashioned from scrap metal. You see ingenuity, not underdevelopment, in their practices. A return to a conservationist lifestyle that encourages recycling, fraternity and self-reliance makes perfect sense. Will the world pay attention? Filmmaker Nantenaina Lova venerates the family business, the clever artisan, the resourceful craftspeople and those who possess the ability to create using everyday objects. The Malagasy Way is a poetic, music-filled and proverb-packed lesson in creativity and resistance. |
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Okanagan College
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The Man Who Stopped the Desert 64 min. 2010
http://www.1080films.co.uk/project-mwsd.htm
Director: Mark Dodd As early as the 1970s, desertification began to creep southwards in the land between the Sahara Desert and the forests of tropical Africa. By the 1980s the region suffered from regular droughts and starvation. People fled to the cities and many villages became deserted. Yacouba Sawadogo, a farmer living in northern Burkina Faso, decided he would remain steadfast against the desert. By reviving and adapting an ancient farming technique known as Zai, Yacouba began to grow crops successfully on previously abandoned land. Yacouba's hardest battle was not with the elements, but with the people around him. On every side he faced opposition to his techniques. Many thought his ideas were crazy. Over time, his successes became legendary |
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Okanagan College
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Marmato 88 min. 2014
http://www.marmatomovie.com/
Calle Films Director: Mark Gieco If Colombia is the focal point of the new global gold rush, then Marmato, a mining town with over 500 years of mining history, is the new frontier. Gold, estimated to be worth 20 billion dollars, is being mined in traditional ways by the locals who risk their lives daily in return for modest salaries from local businessmen. When the Colombian government opens the mining industry to foreign investment in 2006, hopes are high for more lucrative employment. It doesn’t take long for disillusionment to set in as a Canadian company, Medoro, promptly buys up 88% of the mines in the area and initiates an allegedly “eco-friendly” open-pit mining scheme that entails mass relocation of homes and, eventually, extensive layoffs. Filmed over six years, Marmato is a beautifully shot portrait of the lives of some of the miners who confront and defy Medoro. |
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UBCO
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On the Side of the Road 85 min. 2014
http://www.naretivproductions.com/
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/65278501 Naretiv Productions Filmmaker: Lia Tarachansky Tarachansky grew up in Israel's largest settlement, Ariel. When the second Intifadah broke out in 2000 her family moved to Canada where, for the first time, she met Palestinians and heard their stories. In this film, Tarachansky looks at Israelis’ collective amnesia of the fateful events of 1948 when the state of Israel was born and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became refugees. She follows the transformation of Israeli veterans as they uncover repressed memories of the war that changed the region forever. Tarachansky then turns the camera on herself and travels back to her settlement where that historical erasure gave birth to a new generation, blind and isolated from its surroundings. In 2009 the Israeli government proposed a law that forbade mourning this history. Attempting to shed a light on the country’s biggest taboo, she is met with outrage and violence. Indie Fest Film Award; International Independent Film Award |
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Okanagan College
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Open Sesame: The Story of Seeds 88 min. 2014
http://www.opensesamemovie.com/
Director: M Sean Kaminsky One of the world’s most precious resources is at risk. Seeds are essential to life, providing the basis for everything from fabric to food to fuels. Approximately 90 percent of the fruit and vegetable varieties that existed 100 years ago no longer exist today. Corporations are co-opting seed genetics using patent laws. Today, corporate-owned seed accounts for 82% of the world-wide market. Many heritage grains are near extinction. Seeds that were lovingly nurtured over hundreds of years have been lost forever. Maintaining seed biodiversity allows us to breed new varieties that are resistant to pests and thrive in temperature extremes in a changing climate. Open Sesame follows the challenges and triumphs of seed activists as they work to save this precious resource. |
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Okanagan College
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Reaching Blue: Finding Hope Beneath the Surface 22 min. 2014
http://www.reachingblue.com/
Global Reef Films Filmmakers: Ian Hinkle and Andy Robertson An oyster farmer, a writer and an ocean scientist share their thoughts about a coastal way of life under threat, where stories from our past give the inspiration to face the challenges of the future. Twenty-two cinematographers contribute beautiful imagery from deep-sea submarines, advanced ocean research vessels and drone cameras, to expose the changes our coastal waters face. Do we have the wisdom and resilience required to understand ocean change before time runs out? |
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Okanagan College
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The Revolutionary Optimists 54 min 2013
http://revolutionaryoptimists.org/ Collective Eye Films Director: Nicole Newnham & Maren Grainger-Monsen The Revoluntionary Optimists draws us into the world of two 11-year olds with no access to clean drinking water, a girl forced to labour in a brick-making operation, and a teenage dancer on the precipice of accepting early marriage to escape from her abusive family. Lawyer turned change-agent, Amlan Ganguly, does more than simply rescue children living in Calcutta’s slums. He empowers them to transform their own neighbourhoods and lives as they organize to get clean water, go to school, reduce malaria infections and learn to dance. |
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Okanagan College
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The Secret Trial 5
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Okanagan College
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Shameless Propaganda 72 min. 2014
https://www.nfb.ca/distribution/film/shameless_propaganda
NFB Director: Robert Lower This feature film examines its own genre, the documentary, which has often been called Canada's national art form. Released in the year of the NFB's 75th birthday, Shameless Propaganda is filmmaker Robert Lower's take on the boldest and most compelling propaganda effort in our history (1939-1945) in which founding NFB Commissioner John Grierson saw the documentary as a "hammer to shape society". The films produced until 1945 by the NFB are distilled here for the essence of their message to Canadians. Using only these films and still photos from that era, Lower recreates the picture of Canada they gave us and looks for the Canada we know today. What he finds is by turns enlightening, entertaining and unexpectedly disturbing. |
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UBCO
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Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa
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Okanagan College
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Tribal Canoe Journey 5 min. 2015
Carswell Productions Filmmaker: Ed Carswell This film captures a rare event that happened in 2014 on a warm July evening in the K'omoks Estuary, BC. As part of the annual Tribal Canoe Journey, massive dug-out canoes arrived in the estuary and were invited ashore by Chief Rob Everson and the K'omoks First Nation. Over the last 150 years, First Nation societies suffered many hardships and some of their traditions were outlawed. The canoe journey tradition was revived in 1986 and now sends a strong message to preserve culture, language, and our coastal waters. |
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Okanagan College
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The Voice of the Seeds 31 min. 2011
Director: Rodrigo Otero Heraud Andean farmers eloquently express their feelings towards their seeds which they have been nurturing for several thousand years. They also share what they think of GMOs. As one campesina says, “Seeds have perennial, eternal life, we sow them for food year after year but we retain some to keep life going on endlessly. GMOs seem to me like genocide...” |
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Okanagan College
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Haida Raid 2The land of Haida Gwaii is threatened by the building of a giant pipeline and the arrival of oil tankers. Two brothers take matters into their own hands to find a solution, and end up getting some supernatural help from Raven. See: http://haidagwaiicoast.ca/ for more details |
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UBCO
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Unrepentant 80 min. 2006
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/unrepentant-kevin-annett-canadas-genocide/
Producers: Kevin Annett and Louis Lawless Unrepentant documents Canada's dirty secret - the planned genocide of aboriginal people in church-run Indian Residential Schools - and a clergyman's efforts to document and make public these crimes.
First-hand testimonies from residential school survivors are interwoven with Kevin Annett's own story of how he faced firing, de-frocking, and the loss of his family, reputation and livelihood as a result of his efforts to help survivors and bring out the truth of the residential schools. This saga continues, as Annett continues a David and Goliath struggle to hold the government and churches of Canada accountable for crimes against humanity, and the continued theft of aboriginal land. Unrepentant took nineteen months to film, primarily in British Columbia and Alberta, and is based on Kevin Annett's book Hidden from History: The Canadian Holocaust. The entire film was a self-funded, grassroots effort, which is reflected in its earthy and human quality. |
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Okanagan College
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Quebekoisie 81 min 2013
http://mofilms.ca/en/boutique/quebekoisie/
Mélanie and Olivier decided to cycle the North Shore of Quebec, Canada, to better understand the complex relationships that exist between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. This quest for identity would push them to travel deep inside themselves and to faraway lands. Their encounters, both planned and spontaneous, include the surprising tale of an Innu man in search of his ancestors in Normandy, and the heart-wrenching story of the sister of Corporal Marcel Lemay, who was killed during the 1990 Oka crisis. |
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Okanagan College
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The Family Farm 70mins 2014
http://rotatingplanet.com/films/the-family-farm/ Trailer: https://vimeo.com/107501264 The Family Farm explores the farm to table process through the lens of Canadian small farmers and identifies the systematic barriers they face in running a profitable farm. In its journey across the country, the film blends extraordinary shots of the Canadian farm landscape with discussions of the challenges and setbacks small farmers endure, as well as the turning points and breakthroughs that have allowed them to achieve success. As these intimate accounts are shared, traditional images of family farmers are redefined as we grow to see these individuals not only as farmers, but as teachers, botanists, and mechanics who open our eyes to the issues that continue to threaten small farmers as well as the importance of buying local and organic foods |
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Okanagan College
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Tashi and the Monk 39mins
http://tashiandthemonk.com/ On a remote mountaintop a brave social experiment is taking place. Buddhist Monk Lobsang was trained under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, but 8 years ago he left behind a life as a spiritual teacher in the United States to create a unique community in the foothills of the Himalayas which rescues orphaned and neglected children. 5 year-old Tashi is the newest arrival. Wild and troubled, Tashi is struggling to find her place amongst 84 new siblings. Can the community’s love and compassion transform Tashi’s alienation and tantrums into a capacity to make her first real friend? |
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Okanagan College
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Granny Power 78mins
http://www.grannypowerthefilm.com/ Trailer: https://vimeo.com/89467996 Granny Power is a documentary about a very original activist movement – the Raging Grannies. Spanning 10 years, the film follows several passionate, activist grandmothers and their “gaggles” as they fight for peace, social justice and the environment. The film spans the present and the past of the Raging Grannies movement: from its beginnings 25 years ago in Victoria, B.C., to its present as an international movement. The film is also a window on important issues that concern us all: our role as citizens as we grow older, the challenges of aging, the inevitability of death. Remaining active and finding a voice as elderly women, these grannies are deflating clichés about aging and proving that life can be lived to its fullest, in every way, to the end. |
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Okanagan College
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Take Back Your Power
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Okanagan College
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The Paddler Movie 46 mins 2015
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thepaddlermovie/the-paddler-movie Purdy made a commitment on January 1, 2011 to hand off a healthy planet to future generations. As a major part of his promise, he has paddled every single day since, approaching 1,500 days of getting on the water. Why? Because the health of the planet—including places he loves, like the British Columbia coast—are at stake. That journey and what hangs in the balance are the subjects of the documentary, The Paddler. The film shows the community of Tofino, B.C., one of the many that could be impacted greatly by further environmental degradation caused by the fossil fuel industry. |
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Okanagan College
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Proportional Representation Short Films
Fair Vote: http://www.fairvote.ca/resources/
Why we need PropRep 2 mins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG_X285UODA&feature=player_detailpage&list=PLE0dYpVCw9bYWQIuI1pr0L-ptCk5EpWYn
Disproportional Representation 6mins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=sSd4p1jq9HE&list=PLE0dYpVCw9bYWQIuI1pr0L-ptCk5EpWYn
First past the pizza: 6mins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYTE3dtCLwY
Why we need PropRep 2 mins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG_X285UODA&feature=player_detailpage&list=PLE0dYpVCw9bYWQIuI1pr0L-ptCk5EpWYn
Disproportional Representation 6mins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=sSd4p1jq9HE&list=PLE0dYpVCw9bYWQIuI1pr0L-ptCk5EpWYn
First past the pizza: 6mins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYTE3dtCLwY
