23rd Annual International Festival - “Protecting the Earth and Our Future”

Northeast Regional Center - April 3-5 and April 7

International Festival Schedule of Activities

Tuesday, April 3

Film: “Oil on Ice” (57 min.)
9:30 a.m., NE 130
“Oil on Ice” is a vivid, compelling and comprehensive documentary connecting the fate of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to decisions America makes about energy policy, transportation choices and other seemingly unrelated matters. Caught in the balance are the culture and livelihood of the Gwich’in people and the migratory wildlife in this fragile ecosystem. -fron www.oilonice.org

Film: “Argentina: Hope in Hard Times” (74 min.)
7 p.m., NE 130
For many years Argentina was a poster child for the policies of Wall Street, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. But instead of the boom that was promised, their economy collapsed. Argentines stormed supermarkets for food. The police gunned down 30 people in just one day. Where people could have turned on one another in fear and desperation, they turned to each other in mutual support. These are their inspiring stories of a failed economy and distrusted politicians, of heartache and hard times, of a resurgence of grass roots democracy, and an irrepressible spirit of community told in colorful, resonant detail.
- from www.movingimages.org

Wednesday, April 4

Film: “Silent Killer: The Unfinished Campaign Against Hunger” (56 min.)
9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., NE 130
“Silent Killer” begins in the 100-degree heat of South Africa's Kalahari Desert. Three members of the Khomani San tribe – commonly called Bushmen – search for, and find, the Hoodia, a cactuslike plant with appetitesuppressant properties. The razorthin San use the cactus to fend off hunger, but now, a pharmaceutical firm has patented the appetitesuppressant properties of Hoodia and is using it to make a diet product for obese Americans and Europeans. The Hoodia is a metaphor for a world where some people have too much food, but millions of others have far too little.

Can we end hunger or will it always be with us? Why should we try? What will it take? What are we doing now? How do U.S. efforts to end hunger compare with those of other developed countries? Can biotechnology play a role, and if so, how? Is hunger just a problem of distribution or do we still need to produce more and better crops? These are the questions addressed in Silent Killer.” Compelling stories and characters raise and answer these questions in a powerful, exquisitely photographed documentary that will get people talking again about an international crisis that keeps haunting the world.
-from www.silentkillerfilm.org

Film: “Argentina: Hope in Hard Times” (74 min.)
7 – 8:14 p.m., NE 130
For many years Argentina was a poster child for the policies of Wall Street, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. But instead of the boom that was promised, their economy collapsed. Argentines stormed supermarkets for food. The police gunned down 30 people in just one day. Where people could have turned on one another in fear and desperation, they turned to each other in mutual support. These are their inspiring stories of a failed economy and distrusted politicians, of heartache and hard times, of a resurgence of grass roots democracy, and an irrepressible spirit of community told in colorful, resonant detail.
- from www.movingimages.org

Thursday, April 5

Study Abroad 101: A World Awaits You!
11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., NERC
Did you know that the College has its own study abroad programs in Costa Rica and London? Did you know that you can study through the College in dozens of countries around the world? Join Professor David Prejsnar, coordinator for International Education, and students who have studied abroad to get the basics on how to "experience the world" while a student at the College. Light refreshments will be served.

Film: “An Inconvenient Truth” (100 min.)
12:30 p.m., NE 130
Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world’s scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.

If that sounds like a recipe for serious gloom and doom think again. From director Davis Guggenheim comes the Sundance Film Festival hit, “An Inconvenient Truth,” which offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. That man is former Vice President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election, reset the course of his life to focus on a last ditch, all- out effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change.

In this eye-opening and poignant portrait of Gore and his "traveling global warming show," Gore also proves himself to be one of the most misunderstood characters in modern American public life. Here he is seen as never before in the media funny, engaging, open and downright on fire about getting the surprisingly stirring truth about what he calls our "planetary emergency" out to ordinary citizens before it's too late.

With 2005, the worst storm season ever experienced in America just behind us, it seems we may be reaching a tipping point and Gore pulls no punches in explaining the dire situation. Interspersed with the bracing facts and future predictions is the story of Gore's personal journey: from an idealistic college student who first saw a massive environmental crisis looming; to a young Senator facing a harrowing family tragedy that altered his perspective, to the man who almost became President but instead returned to the most important cause of his life convinced that there is still time to make a difference.

With wit, smarts and hope, “An Inconvenient Truth” ultimately brings home Gore's persuasive argument that we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue rather, it is the biggest moral challenges facing our global civilization.
-from www.climatecrisis.net

Film: “Argentina: Hope in Hard Times” (74 min.)
7 p.m., NE 130
For many years Argentina was a poster child for the policies of Wall Street, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. But instead of the boom that was promised, their economy collapsed. Argentines stormed supermarkets for food. The police gunned down 30 people in just one day. Where people could have turned on one another in fear and desperation, they turned to each other in mutual support. These are their inspiring stories of a failed economy and distrusted politicians, of heartache and hard times, of a resurgence of grass roots democracy, and an irrepressible spirit of community told in colorful, resonant detail.
- from www.movingimages.org