Fractured Environments | (Read the Review!) |
"Fractured Environments" is a film series hosted by Linda Lilienfeld from "Let's Talk About Water." All films in the series were shown at the Athena Cinema, 20 South Court Street, in downtown Athens, OH (see map). Admission was free. | |
Schedule
Join us every day at 6:00 PM at the theater for informal discussions about the films, issues, and solutions posed by our program.
[Scroll down the page and discover several outstanding video clips of some of the featured films.]
| Friday, February 11, 2011 | ||
| 4:00 PM | Gasland | 107 min |
| 7:00 PM | On Coal River | 81 min |
| 9:00 PM | Spiral Jetty Powers of Ten Reading the Water |
35 min 9 min 40 min |
| Saturday, February 12 | ||
| 2:00 PM | The Girl Effect Taking Root |
3 min 86 min |
| 4:00 PM | No Impact Man | 90 min |
| 7:00 PM | Gasland | 107 min |
| 9:00 PM | Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo | 90 min |
| Sunday, February 13 | ||
| 2:00 PM | Windfall | 83 min |
| 4:00 PM | Tar Creek | 95 min |
| 7:00 PM | Gasland | 107 min |
| 9:00 PM | Rivers and Tides | 90 min |
| Monday, February 14 | ||
| 4:00 PM | Spiral Jetty Powers of Ten Reading the Water |
35 min 9 min 40 min |
| 7:00 PM | Windfall | 83 min |
| 9:00 PM | Blue Vinyl | 98 min |
| Tuesday, February 15 | ||
| 4:00 PM | The Girl Effect Taking Root |
3 min 86 min |
| 7:00 PM | Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo | 90 min |
| 9:00 PM | Gasland | 107 min |
| Wednesday, February 16 | ||
| 4:00 PM | Tar Creek | 95 min |
| 7:00 PM | No Impact Man | 90 min |
| 9:00 PM | Un mal pour un
bien An Injury to One |
23 min 53 min |
| Thursday, February 17 | ||
| 4:00 PM | Rivers and Tides | 90 min |
| 7:00 PM | On Coal River | 81 min |
| 9:00 PM | Gasland | 107 min |
Film Synopses
Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
Dir. Jessica Oreck, 90 min., U.S.A., 2009
In English and Japanese with subtitles
Saturday 12, 9:00 PM · Tuesday 15, 7:00 PM. Back to top
Sold live in vending machines and department stores, plastic replicas included as prizes in the equivalent of a McDonald's Happy Meal and the subject of the N°. 1 videogame, MushiKing, from the smallest backyard to the top of Mt. Fuji, insects inspire an enthusiasm in Japan seen nowhere else in this world. Like a detective story, the film untangles the web of influences behind Japan's captivation with insects. It opens in modern-day Tokyo where a single beetle recently sold for $90,000 then slips back to the early 1800s, to the first cricket-selling business and the development of haiku and other forms of insect literature and art. Along the way the film takes side trips to Zen temples and Buddhist Shrines, nature preserves and art museums in its quest for the inspirations that moved Japan into this fascination while other cultures developed an almost universal and profound fear of insects. It quietly challenges the viewer to observe the world from an uncommon perspective that will shift the familiar to the fantastic and just might change not only the way we think about bugs, but the way we think about life.
Blue Vinyl
Dir. Judith Helfand and Daniel Gold, 98 min., U.S.A., 2002
Monday 14, 9:00 PM. Back to top
A Toxic Comedy look at vinyl, the world's second largest selling plastic. With humor, hope and a piece of vinyl siding firmly in hand, Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand and co-director Daniel B. Gold travel from Helfand's hometown to America's vinyl manufacturing capital and beyond in search of answers about the nature of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Her parents' decision to "re-side" their house with this seemingly benign cure-all for many suburban homes turns into a toxic odyssey with twists and turns that most ordinary homeowners would never dare to take. The result is a humorous but sobering and uniquely personal exploration of the relationship between consumers and industry. Although the film reveals a complex web of alleged corporate conspiracies and the tragic loss of human life from chemical exposure, BLUE VINYL also poses a refreshingly simple question: "Is it possible to make products that never hurt anyone at any point of their life cycle when manufactured, when used, or when disposed of?"
Gasland
Dir. Josh Fox, 107 min., U.S.A., 2010
Friday 11, 4:00 PM · Saturday 12, 7:00 PM · Sunday 13, 7:00 PM
Tuesday 15, 9:00 PM · Thursday 17, 9:00 PM. Back to top
The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of "fracking" or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a "Saudi Arabia of natural gas" just beneath us. But is fracking safe When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently drilled Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is just one of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called GASLAND. Part vérité travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown.
Taking Root
Dir. Alan Dater and Lisa Merton, 80 min., U.S.A., 2008
Saturday 12, 2:00 PM · Tuesday 15, 4:00 PM. Back to top
Planting trees for fuel, shade, and food is not something that anyone would imagine as the first step toward winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet with that simple act Wangari Maathai, a woman born in rural Kenya, started down the path that reclaimed her country's land from 100 years of deforestation, provided new sources of food and income to rural communities, gave previously impoverished and powerless women a vital political role in their country, and ultimately helped to bring down Kenya's twenty-four-year dictatorship. TAKING ROOT tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy--a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration.
Preceded by THE GIRL EFFECT, a three-minute internet call for action.
No Impact Man
Dir. Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein, 93 min., U.S.A., 2009
Saturday 12, 4:00 PM · Wednesday 16, 7:00 PM. Back to top
Author Colin Beavan, in research for his next book, began the No Impact Project in November 2006. A newly self-proclaimed environmentalist who could no longer avoid pointing the finger at himself, Colin leaves behind his liberal complacency and vows to make as little environmental impact as possible for one year. No more automated transportation, no more electricity, no more non-local food, no more material consumption--no problem. That is, until his espresso-guzzling, retail-worshipping wife, Michelle, and their two year-old daughter are dragged into the fray. What began as one man's environmental experiment quickly becomes an experiment in how much one woman is willing to sacrifice for her husband's dreams. NO IMPACT MAN provides both a front-row seat into the experiment that became a national fascination and media sensation, and a behind-the-scenes look at the marital challenges that result from Colin and Michelle's radical lifestyle change.
On Coal River
Dir. Francine Cavanaugh & Adams Wood, 81 min., U.S.A., 2010
Friday 11, 7:00 PM · Thursday 17, 7:00 PM. Back to top
ON COAL RIVER takes viewers on a gripping emotional journey into the Coal River Valley of West Virginia, a community surrounded by lush mountains and a looming toxic threat. The local school happens to be alongside an active strip mine. Children are at risk. The film follows a former coal miner, Ed Wiley, and his neighbors in a David-and-Goliath struggle for the future of their valley, their children, and life as they know it. When the local government refuses to act, Ed embarks on a quest to have the school relocated to safer ground. With insider knowledge and a sharp sense of right and wrong, Ed confronts his local school board, state government, and the notorious Massey Energy for putting his granddaughter and his community at risk. Along the way, Ed is supported by his neighbors Bo Webb and Judy Bonds, who help Ed bring attention to the dangers at Marsh Fork Elementary, hoping that if they save the school, they can save the valley. Shot over a 5-year period, ON COAL RIVER follows the transformation of these remarkable individuals as they fight for the valley they love and for future generations, making dramatic changes against all odds.
Powers of Ten
Dir. Charles and Ray Eames, 9 min., U.S.A., 1977
Friday 11, 9:00 PM ·
Monday 14, 4:00 PM. Back to top
POWERS OF TEN takes us on an adventure in magnitudes and wholeness. Starting at a picnic by the lakeside in Chicago, this famous film transports us to the outer edges of the universe. Every ten seconds we view the starting point from ten times farther out until our own galaxy is visible only as a speck of light among many others. Returning to Earth with breathtaking speed, we move inward--into the hand of the sleeping picnicker--with ten times more magnification every ten seconds. Our journey ends inside a proton of a carbon atom within a DNA molecule in a white blood cell.
Reading the Water
Dir. Niklas Sven Vollmer, 40 min., U.S.A., 2007
Friday 11, 9:00 PM · Monday 14, 4:00 PM. Back to top
READING THE WATER is an experimental "home video" and personal-poetic essay that mobilizes the coast of Maine--the sandbox of Vollmer's youth and his marine biologist and naturalist professor-photographer father's area of expertise--as a metaphor for exploring the depths and masculine relationships and family ecosystem sustainability across three generations of men. The work also acts as a love letter to Vollmer's son and father.
Rivers and Tides
Dir. Thomas Riedelscheimer, 90 min., United Kingdom, 2001
Sunday 13, 9:00 PM · Thursday 17, 4:00 PM. Back to top
RIVERS AND TIDES depicts the magical relationship between art and nature while painting a visually intoxicating portrait of famed artist Andy Goldsworthy. Gorgeously shot and masterfully edited, the film follows the bohemian free spirit Goldsworthy all over the world as he demonstrates and opens up about his unique creative process. From his long-winding rock walls and icicle sculptures to his interlocking leaf chains and multicolored pools of flowers, Goldsworthy's painstakingly intricate masterpieces are made entirely of materials found in Mother Nature--who threatens and often succeeds in destroying his art, sometimes before it is even finished. (several possible clips)
Spiral Jetty
Dir. Robert Smithson, 32 min., U.S.A., 1970
Friday 11, 9:00 PM · Monday 14, 4:00 PM. Back to top
This film, made by the artist, Robert Smithson is a poetic and process minded film depicting a "portrait" of his renowned earth work--SPIRAL JETTY--as it juts into the shallows off the shore of Utah's Great Salt Lake. A voice-over by Smithson reveals the evolution of his monumental work. "This site was a rotary that enclosed itself in an immense roundness. From that gyrating space emerged the possibility of the Spiral Jetty. No ideas, no concepts, no systems, no structures, no abstractions could hold themselves together in the actuality of that evidence. My dialectics of site and non-site whirled into an indeterminate state, where solid and liquid lost themselves in each other. It was as if the lake became the edge of the sun, a boiling curve, an explosion rising into a fiery prominence. Matter collapsing into the lake mirrored in the shape of a spiral. No sense wondering about classifications and categories, there were none."
--Smithson, from his article, "Spiral Jetty," 1970
Tar Creek
Dir. Matt Myers, 95 min., U.S.A., 2009
Sunday 13, 4:00 PM · Wednesday 16, 4:00 PM. Back to top
TAR CREEK is the story of the worst environmental disaster you've never heard of: the Tar Creek Superfund site. Once one of the largest lead and zinc mines on the planet, Tar Creek is now home to more than 40 square miles of environmental devastation in northeastern Oklahoma: acid mine water in the creeks, stratospheric lead poisoning in the children, and sinkholes that melt backyards and ball fields. Now, almost 30 years after being designated for federal cleanup by the Superfund program, Tar Creek residents--including a majority of the Quapaw Tribe--are still fighting for decontamination, environmental justice, and ultimately, the buyout and relocation of their homes to safer ground. As TAR CREEK reveals, America's Superfund sites aren't just environmental wastelands; they're community tragedies, too. Until the community fights back.
Un mal pour un bien
Dir. Angelo Vermeulen, 23 min., Belgium, 2007
In Dutch and French with English subtitles
Wednesday 16, 9:00 PM. Back to top
UN MAL POUR UN BIEN is a documentary that focuses on the aftermath of the avian flu threat in the National Botanical Garden of Belgium during the summer of 2006. Up until then vast geese populations resided in this botanical garden. However, the birds both disrupted the local ecosystem and posed a potential health hazard because of avian flu. Consequently, drastic measures were taken to reduce their numbers. A ban on feeding by visitors was imposed and part of the geese population was--allegedly--gassed and eradicated. The film follows a micro-community of regular visitors who are strongly attached to the animals. Throughout the film they fiercely debate the relationship between man and the natural world, intolerance and aggression. They divulge alternative scenarios to handle the problems and contrive their own ecological analyses. It is evident that they are appalled by the events, and some try and show recorded traces of the apparent annihilation. Interestingly, this seems to be a widespread global phenomenon. Local pressure groups and action committees recurrently emerge to battle similar events in other countries. The rhetoric is often extremely anthropocentric and characteristically borrows vocabulary from the Holocaust.
Windfall
Dir. Laura Israel, 81 min., U.S.A., 2010
Sunday 13, 2:00 PM · Monday 14, 7:00 PM. Back to top
What do we really know about wind power? We are told it's "green energy" and reduces our dependency on foreign oil. That's exactly what the people of Meredith in upstate New York thought when a wind developer offered to supplement this farm town's failing economy with a farm of their own--that of 40 industrial wind turbines. Attracted at first to the financial incentives, some of the townspeople grow increasingly alarmed as they find out about side effects they had never anticipated. Their organized response demonstrates how citizens can effect their own environments through the political process. WINDFALL exposes the dark side of wind energy development and the potential for highly profitable scams. With wind development in the U.S. growing annually at 39%, WINDFALL is an eye-opener for anyone concerned about the future of renewable energy.
An Injury to One
Dir. Travis Wilkerson, 53 min., U.S.A., 2002
Wednesday 16, 9:00 PM. Back to top
AN INJURY TO ONE provides a corrective--and absolutely compelling--glimpse of a particularly volatile moment in early 20th century American labor history: the rise and fall of Butte, Montana. Butte, home of massive copper mining and hence saddled with a legacy of environmental destruction, provides the back drop to this chronicle of the mysterious death of Wobbly organizer Frank Little--a story whose grisly details have taken on a legendary status in the state. Much of the extant evidence is inscribed upon the landscape of Butte and its surroundings. Thus, a connection is drawn between the unsolved murder of Little, and the attempted murder of the town itself.
