movies

In which I stumble upon one of the most happenin’ environmental conferences in the country

Last weekend I abandoned my cot in the supply closet at the Grist office to get out of Seattle for a spell and see the world. Specifically, I went to help celebrate a friend's birthday down in Eugene, Oregon, and go to a Clumsy Lovers show in Corvallis.  Sadly, the band's bass player had strep, but I did discover that Corvallis' Sunnyside Up bakery makes a tasty and cleverly-named treat called the "you're doin' a heckuva job brownie (with raspberries)." Hopefully a portion of its hefty $2.25 price tag goes towards ameliorating the heckuva disaster response that continues in New Orleans today ...

The even more exciting part of last weekend's adventure, though, was the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference going on at the University of Oregon campus in Eugene.  Though my emergence from the dark grey raincloud known as Seattle had me sporting the classic President-Bush-squinting-into-the-sun look all weekend, I somehow managed to spot a flyer for the conference and showed up just in time to see excellent keynote addresses by two figures that Grist readers are familiar with:

Academy Awards nominees include several green films

So what do perch, penguins, Pocahontas, and Participant Productions have in common (other than alliteration)? Oscar.

This Sunday night, the 78th Annual Academy Awards will feature a bevy of nominated films with environmental themes -- from pesky perch to egotistic energy execs to badgered, um, badgers.

If you couldn't care less about the movies and you're more into people watching, check out this week's Grist List to see what eco-swag green celebs will be receiving.

For the rest of you, the nominees are ...

Al Gore: Coming to a theater near you

An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary about Al Gore's quest to raise the alarm about global warming (covered in Grist here), has been picked up by Paramount and will be distributed worldwide -- it opens in the U.S. on May 26.

Gore and Powerpoint? I smell March of the Penguins numbers here people! (Amusingly, the movie poster actually features penguins -- as opposed to, you know, Al Gore.)

Media Shower: The inauguration

What do you get when a significant number of your posts are about the same topic? You're asked to write a weekly column! Thus, I introduce "Media Shower," whereby I'll shower you (ha ha) with musings on the intersection of media and the environment. While I'll focus on television, film, video games, and the internets, no medium will be off-limits. Specifically, I'll be exploring ways that TV shows, movies, etc. are being used to help the cause. To that end, I give you Jeff Skoll.

Al Gore and electric car star in films unveiled at Sundance

At 25 years of age, Sundance is the country’s premier festival of independent film. But a lot has changed over that quarter century. Well, actually, one thing has changed: m-o-n-e-y. There’s a ton of Hollywood cash spent at Sundance, and I could see it everywhere I looked last week. The “VIP” corporate parties on Main […]

Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival

Are you an aspiring filmmaker hoping to have your work reviewed by Grist one day? Or perhaps you love watching movies about your favorite subject: the environment! If so, the 8th Annual Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival will be taking place March 23 - 26 in Leavenworth, WA.

For a sense of what this year's event will be like, you can watch a video, consisting of footage from previous festivals.

Two new eco-movies on the way from Participant Productions

Speaking of Participant Productions, I just discovered they have two more environmentally themed films in development:

1) Luna

Luna is based on the true story of Julia Butterfly Hill, a drifter turned environmentalist who galvanized the movement in the early 90's to save the redwood trees in Northern California from deforestation.

Julia Hill was a young woman without direction or purpose whose travels brought her to Northern California and the quiet majesty of the ancient Redwood trees. At that time, junk bond king Charles Hurwitz was leading a campaign to clear cut the redwoods via his newly acquired company Pacific Lumber to ensure maximum profits. Eager to protect the trees she had come to love, Julia agreed to work with a small environmental agency called Earth First to stage a tree "sit" which involves living up in the trees for days at a time to prevent the trees from being cut down.

Days became months and months turned into years, as Julia refused to come down from her tree until she knew the Redwoods would be protected. She braved fierce weather, injury and attacks from lumber men to save her tree, Luna, and the old growth trees around her. Julia's struggle drew massive media attention and she became an eloquent spokesperson for the Redwoods and the environmental movement.

2) Electric Dreams

Based on the book by Caroline Kettlewell, Electric Dreams tells the story of a rag tag group of rural students beating all odds to win a competition to create an electric car. Led by an idealistic new teacher and a garrulous shop instructor, the kids work together to convert a 1985 Ford Escort into an electric vehicle they call "Shocker." To the surprise of the community, Shocker takes the winning prize, beating out the better-funded and well-bred schools nearby. The students come away having learned about engineering, alternative energy, and about themselves.

For a complete list of movies coming soon, in theaters, on DVD, and in development, visit the Participant Productions website. Good stuff.

ClimateCrisis.net

All films by Participant Productions are accompanied by a "campaign" and campaign website. So too with An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary that "weaves the science of global warming with Mr. Gore's personal history and lifelong commitment to reversing the effects of global climate change."

As Dave mentioned, An Inconvenient Truth is debuting at Sundance this month, where I expect viewers to be directed to ClimateCrisis.net. Here we find the ubiquitous carbon-footprint calculator, ways you can make a difference, information about the campaign and movie, and a list of scientific advisors that includes Rosina Bierbaum, Eric Chivian, Henry Kelly, James McCarthy, Mario Molina, Michael Oppenheimer, Ellen Thompson, and Lonnie Thompson.

Coming this March

Fans of the Meatrix will be pleased to learn that the sequel will be released this March. Check out the sneak preview.

And for those of you who're interested in the musical preferences and the like of Moopheus, visit his MySpace page. (And for those of you into the MySpace thang, add Grist to your friends list!)