Friends of the Earth Film Series
The University of Hawai’i Cinema Series, in cooperation with the Kokua Hawai’i Foundation, presents the Friends of the Earth Film Series on the first Sunday of each month from January to June. These films will cover all aspects of sustainable living in Hawaii including ocean conservation, energy, architecture, and food production. Each film will be followed with Q&A sessions led by local experts in each field to discuss solutions to some of the problems facing Hawaii’s future. All films will be presented in the Spalding Auditorium at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Admission is $5 for the film and discussion. On campus parking is free on Sundays. For more information please call Don Brown at 223-0130.
Sunday, January 6 at 5 PM - GMO IN HAWAII FORUM
Islands at Risk
This film takes a comprehensive look at genetic engineering in Hawai'i and how local farmers and consumers are fighting to protect their food supply. Islands at Risk is an eye-opening look at genetic engineering in our own backyard and is a new production by Earth Justice Hawai'i. Paul Achitoff, Earth Justice Honolulu, Dr. Hector Valenzuela, vegetable extension specialist for UH Manoa, Dr. Lorrin Pang, Department of Health Officer Maui County, and Kimberly Clark, Organic CSA Oahu, have been invited to discuss GMO in Hawai'i and answer questions after the screening.
Sunday, February 3 at 3 PM - OCEAN CONSERVATION FORUM
Hawaii: Message in the Waves
This is a film from the BBC Natural History Unit looking at some of the environmental challenges facing the people and wildlife of the Hawaiian Islands. Because of their size, location and social history, the Hawaiian Islands represent a microcosm of the planet and are in a unique position to tell all of us where we are going wrong and what we can do to help put things right. The film also includes an interview with Hawaii's Jack Johnson.
Sunday, March 2 at 3 PM - ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY FORUM
The Power of Community
Cuba underwent the loss of over half of its oil imports after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990...and survived. This film demonstrates how they did it. During what Cubans call "The Special Period", the island nation transitioned from large farms with reliance on fossil-fuel-based pesticides, to small organic farms and urban gardens. Cuba underwent a transition from a highly industrial society to a sustainable one--and became a living example of how a country can successfully traverse what we all will eventually have to deal with. Several Cubans expressed the belief that living on an island, with its natural boundaries, breeds awareness that there are limits to natural resources. The people of Hawaii are familiar with this idea and may be able to apply some of these ideas to our islands.
Sunday, April 6 at 3 PM - LOCALLY GROWN PRODUCE FORUM
The Real Low-Calorie Diet
This film captures a movement across Northeast Ohio to change the way we buy our food and eat. The movement is all about eating food that is grown locally, whether on a vacant lot in the city or a fifth generation family farm in the country. As the film reveals through interviews, animation, and beautiful footage of the city and countryside, the simple act of eating local honors our land, our communities, and our rich natural heritage. From climate change to nutritional issues in the inner city, the film demonstrates that many innovations to our social problems are already taking place at the grassroots level, where the real hope for our democracy lies.
Sunday, June 1 at 5 PM - SUSTAINABLE FOOD PRODUCTION
King Corn
This feature length documentary follows two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn about where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America¹s most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat-and how we farm.
The Kokua Hawaii Foundation will be hosting a locally grown dinner following the screening of King Corn to benefit the ‘AINA in Schools program. Details will be sent out in early May.
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