Events

There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America -- a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat.
The future of food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.

Set both in Latin America and the United States, the film explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. Pilger claims that the film "...tells a universal story... analysing and revealing, through vivid testimony, the story of great power behind its venerable myths. It allows us to understand the true nature of the so-called "war on terror". According to Pilger, the film’s message is that the greed and power of empire is not invincible and that people power is always the "seed beneath the snow".

For this double-bill screening, the event's co-sponsor, 2110 Center for Gender Advocacy, will be speaking about the upcoming campaign to block the Harper government's "back door legislation" that could once again lead to the criminalization of abortion in Canada. To provide context to the issues, we are screening a classic NFB documentary followed by a more contemporary film from Women Make Movies that is a series of ten five-minute interviews with women who have had abortions in the USA.

A story about peak oil in Cuba, the country's dedication to independence and how it survived crises related to resource shortages. Many Cubans express the belief that living on an island with its natural boundaries breeds awareness that there are limits to natural resources. Everyone who has worked on the documentary hopes that, seeing this film, people will see the world as another, much larger, island.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens.

In Collaboration with London Indymedia.

Resistencia offers a rare look at the Hip Hop street subculture in civil war-torn Colombia, while at the same time exploring how traditional Latino music is being infiltrated by rap.

Resistencia: Hip Hop in Colombia - Plan Colombia

Water is the liquid gold of the 21st century. While corporations urge local governments to privatize municipal water, communities around the world are organizing to ensure affordable access to this life sustaining resource. THE WATER FRONT is the story of one community's determination to fight the seemingly inevitable path of water privatization.

Screening Partner: Metropole Films Distribution.

GARBAGE WARRIOR will be preceded by the short film STILL LIVES (Anna Sarkissian / Canada / 2007 / 12 min), and experimental documentary that points a lens at the rebuilding of New Orleans. For more info visit the film's official site.

In collaboration with Journalists for Human Rights, Cinema Politica at UBC will be screening When Silence is Golden.

In 1969 Palestinian Leila Khaled made history by becoming the first woman to hijack an airplane. As a Palestinian child growing up in Sweden, filmmaker Lina Makboul admired Khaled for her bold actions; as an adult, she began asking complex questions about the legacy created by her childhood hero. This fascinating documentary is at once a portrait of Khaled, an exploration of the filmmaker’s own understanding of her Palestinian identity, and a complicated examination of the nebulous dichotomy between "terrorist" and "freedom fighter."

Each year, millions of people the world over are driven to forced displacement. From the Maldives to Brazil, and even closer to home, here in Canada, the disturbing accounts of people who have been uprooted are amazingly similar. The enormous pressure placed on rural populations as a result of the degradation of their life-supporting environment is driving them increasingly further from their way of life. The Refugees of the Blue Planet sheds light on the little-known plight of a category of individuals who are suffering the repercussions of this reality: environmental refugees.