2014 MUSIC AND FILM FESTIVAL
Program and Performer Information
Thursday, February 27, 2014 – 7:00 pm
FROM THE HEART OF THE WORLD: The Elder Brother’s Warning
A BBC Documentary, Directed By Alan Ereira
The Kogi, last survivors from the world of the Incas and Aztecs, inhabit an isolated pyramid 18,000 feet above sea level. They call it “The Heart of the World” and their sacred duty is to protect it. In 1990, however, something was wrong. Snow stopped falling and the rivers were not so full. If their mountain was ill, then the world was in trouble. Experience their sincere message to us, their “younger brothers.”
Q & A with the filmmaker via Skype from Paris.
Live Music: Leaf Arrow Storytellers, Joe Cross (Caddo/Potawatani) and Donna Couteau (Sac/Fox).
Friday, February 28, 2014 – 7:00 pm
PEACEABLE KINGDOM: The Journey Home
A Tribe of Heart Documentary by Jenny Stein and James LaVeck
A riveting story of transformation and healing, the film follows the story of five farmers, an animal rescuer and a humane police officer who each embark on a journey of awakening conscience. This film shatters stereotypical notions of farmers, farm life, and farm animals themselves.
Q & A with filmmaker James LaVeck.
Live Music: Adagietto/Presto by Richard Pearson Thomas, composer/pianist & Naho Parrini, violinist.
Saturday, March 1, 2014 – 7:00 pm
BIDDER 70
Produced & Directed
By Beth Gage and George Gage
In 2008, as the government tried to gift the energy and mining industries thousands of acres of pristine Utah wilderness via a widely disputed federal auction, college student Tim DeChristopher decided to monkey-wrench the process. BIDDER 70 tells the story of this peaceful warrior who won the auction with no intention to drill.
Q & A with Deborah Cipolla-Dennis, founding member of The Dryden Resources Awareness Coalition (DRAC), that spearheaded the successful effort to prohibit oil and gas drilling, including fracking, in Dryden, NY.
Live Music: La Vita Duo, classical guitarist Giacomo and soprano Jeanai La Vita performed for the UN Stockholm Convention Concert on the Environment in Geneva, Switzerland.
Sunday, March 2, 2014 – Matinee – 3:00 pm
BAG IT
Directed by Suzan Beraza, Produced by Michelle Hill
Special Event for Families and Children
Bag It is a touching and often flat-out funny
film, where we follow “everyman” Jeb Berrier, an average American who decides to take a closer look at our cultural love affair with plastics, and its impacts on the ocean, wildlife, and our health.
Q & A with Jeb Berrier via Skype.
Special Live Music for Kids.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014 – 7:00 pm
TAKING ROOT: THE VISION OF WANGARI MAATHAI
Directed & Produced by
Lisa Merton and Alan Dater
Wangari Maathai -
Photo gallery.
NobelPrize.org.
Nobel Prize
Outreach AB
This film tells the dramatic story of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Wangari Maathai from Kenya, whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights and defend democracy.
Q & A with Lauren Berger, Green Belt USA, the organization Wangari Maathai founded.
Live African Music & Dance.
Thursday, March 6, 2014 – 7:00 pm
THE CITY DARK
Produced & Directed by Ian Cheney
The filmmaker asks a simple question - do we need the stars? Exploring the threat of killer asteroids in Hawaii, tracking hatching turtles along the Florida coast, and rescuing injured birds on Chicago streets, Cheney unravels the myriad implications of a globe glittering with lights.
Q & A with the filmmaker.
Live Music: “Ain’t it a Pretty Night” from, Susannah by Carlisle Floyd, sung by Lindsay Rider, soprano.
Friday, March 7, 2014 – 7:00 pm
SHELLSHOCKED: SAVING OYSTERS TO SAVE OURSELVES
Produced & Directed By Emily Driscoll
This film follows efforts to prevent the extinction of oyster reefs, which keep our oceans healthy. Today, because of overfishing and pollution, these reefs are ‘the most severely impacted marine habitat on Earth.’ Scientists, officials, artists and environmentalists fight to bring oysters back to former oyster capital of the world, New York Harbor.
Q & A with filmmaker and The Harbor School Students who are growing the oysters.
Live Music: La Vita Duo – Classical guitar and soprano.
Saturday, March 8, 2014 – 7:00 pm
ALUNA – THE AMERICAN PREMIERE
Produced & Directed by Alan Ereira
© Aluna The Movie & The Tairona Heritage Trust.
A follow-up to From the Heart of the World by Alan Ereira which was shown at the beginning of the festival. Learn what the Kogi are telling us today about the state of our world.
Q & A with the filmmaker via Skype from Paris.
Live Music: Leaf Arrow Storytellers, Joe Cross (Caddo/Potawatani) and Donna Couteau (Sac/Fox).
Sunday, March 9, 2014 – 3:00 pm
FELT, FEELINGS AND DREAMS
By Andrea Odezynska
His documentary that takes us into the lives of Kyrgyz women, showing how they overcame poverty and made their villages more sustainable through traditional crafts.
Breathtaking mountain ranges are the backdrop of some of the reenactments of Kyrgyz folklore and fables interwoven throughout.
Q & A with Filmmaker.
Live Music: Kyrgyz musicians from Central Asia.
Closing Reception: Special Fashion Show, Organic Clothing designed by Sydney Greenley-Kois
New Musical for Children: A Cow Named Cow
A Cow Named Cow is an original musical farce for children (and their parents) with book and lyrics by Michael MacKenzie Wills (creator/writer/director of the MAC Award winning Operation Opera, and the New York Times recommended kid’s show The Adventures of Superbunny), music by C. Colby Sachs (composer of the notorious Amy Fisher: The Musical), and based on the “You Color It” storybook series A Cow Named Cow by award winning author Amber L. Spradlin.
With hummable songs and catchy lyrics, A Cow Named Cowteaches us the importance of friends and family. When Cow is separated from his herd he meets both friend and foe and has to use teamwork to come up with a plan to stop a villain from taking over the world. This comedy is aimed to please both parents and children of all ages.
Encompass New Opera Theatre creates and produces adventurous new music drama and opera that explores our place in the universe and the inter-connection of nature through compelling human stories. Angel of the Amazon, about protecting the rain forest,The Astronaut’s Tale, and The Theory of Everything, exploring quantum physics and indigenous cosmology were produced in its Science & Arts program.
The Environmental Education Fund provides training, mentoring and resources to help individuals and organizations plan and hold an environmental festival. Creative mediums such as film help to spread awareness and the discussions following the films often inspire collaborations that lead to solutions. A new awareness is key to solving our complex environmental crisis.
www.EnvironmentalEducationFund.org