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Wednesday, February 10:
The Age of Stupid (keynote screening), 8:30-10:00 am As the world is ravaged by storms, famine, severe rationing of water, and a complete breakdown of authority, scientists and arts experts move all the world’s most valuable knowledge and art into an elevated tower in the North Sea. The director of this massive repository relates to us the small steps we took to arrive at the ultimate cataclysm. Combing mini-documentaries with a dramatic narrative, Franny Armstrong’s film is a stunning call to action.
Pirate for the Sea 10:15-11:47 am Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: A very tame name for this activist organization watching the seas for illegal industrial fishing and habitat destruction and often ramming large vessels. Sea Shepherd is being featured as part of PBS series Animal Planet. Started in 1978 by Paul Watson as an off-shoot of Greenpeace, the various ships of Sea Shepherd have been responsible for 200 voyages to disrupt the illegal fishing and seal industries. Their goal is to protect all marine mammal life. A crew member of the latest ship, the Steve Irwin, will be speaking after Pirate for the Sea, the bio pic of Captain Watson.
Garbage Dreams 10:20-11:40 am Environmental science meets sociology in this heartfelt film about the Zaballeen, the garbage pickers of Cairo Egypt. These families, who number 60,000 and have been in the garbage-picking business for generations, manage to recycle 80% of Cairo’s trash. Most developed nations are lucky to recycle 20%. Director Mai Iskander tells a human story, looking at the individual members of the Mokkatam community who have dreams of their own. Against this very human backdrop is a brewing struggle for survival, when city officials bring in several European companies to handle trash collection. Is it better to educate and elevate the Zaballeen and let multinationals handle trash, or is micro-managing a successful local entrepreneurship a potential tragedy? Speaker: Marin Sanitary Service with Joe or Patty Garbarino They will speak after Garbage Dreams. Joe Garbarino Jr. established Marin Sanitary in 1948. His daughter Patty is now president of the corporation and was named to the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame in 2008.
The Garden 10:30-11:50 am In the wake of the South Central L.A. riots after the Rodney King decision in 1991, the city bought 14 acres of unused land from a developer. The residents, mostly poor Latino and African-American individuals and families, created the largest community garden in the country, and it fed many of poorest families in the country. But a few years ago, in a city-politics backroom deal, the 14 acres were ceded back the developer. The farmers fought the resulting eviction. The film shows the way in which good ecology can drive a wedge between people when it’s not handled well. To Doris Bloch, the farm’s founder, it isn’t complicated at all. “Land, people, food — it’s a pretty simple idea.” But, today after several years of a court battles, bitter divisions between communities of blacks and browns, and an eventual victory by the developer, the 14 acres remains bulldozed … and undeveloped. Directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy (Our Town). Speaker: Bob Linden: Host of the syndicated show Go Vegan from Los Angeles. Bob will be speaking after the film “The Garden” as an LA citizen involved with the political fight the film chronicles. Bob will also give a one hour seminar in the afternoon of the 10th on why being a vegan is not only healthy but necessary for the future.
Eyes of Thailand 10:30-11:45 am With Director Windy Borman One of the forgotten legacies of war is its long-term effect on the environment: bomb craters that breed malarial mosquitoes; carpet bombing that not only kills more innocent civilians than combatants, but also leaves huge swaths of deforestation; land mines and unexploded bombs that linger for decades in wait to kill or dismember a child or an animal. Windy Borman’s work-in-progress tells the story of the already endangered Asian elephant that has gone from a population of 40,000 in Thailand to just over 2,000 today due to abuse, overwork, and injuries by land mines. Soraida Salwal opened the first Asian elephant hospital in 1993 in Thailand to nurse these huge beasts to health, and for the first time fit them with artificial prosthetic legs lost by explosions. We witness her work through the elephants Motala and Mosha. Speaker: Windy Borman: Director of the in-progress feature Eyes of Thailand. Windy’s film tells the story of Sorada Salwala who runs an animal hospital for Asian Elephants who are abused neglected and have lost limbs from unexploded land mines. She will show clips from the film and talk about the work of Sorada Salwala.
Thursday, February 11:
The End of the Line (keynote screening) 8:30-10:00 am Rupert Murray’s startling documentary gives us the bad news about what we thought was an inexhaustible source of food -- the world’s oceans. Murray doesn’t give us dire predictions. What the film talks about in an almost-thriller format is what has already irrefutably happened. Codfish, so common and plentiful, was already nearly extinct in 1992. The list goes on. What will we eat in the future? The answer is staring us in the face.
The Forest for the Trees 10:20-11:20 am How much activism is needed to change the world and how much is too much? Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior is often used by corporations as an example of how environmental activists are outlaws. The radical environmental movement’s Earth First! shouts “No compromise in defense of Mother Earth.” EF activist Judy Bari challenged the lumber industry but also championed lumber workers’ families. In 1990, her car was bombed and three hours later the FBI arrested her as a terrorist, claiming she was transporting a bomb when it went off. East Bay lawyer Dennis Cunningham took on her case and fought for 12 years to get a court date. In addition to illuminating the painfully short yet extraordinary life of Judi Bari, the film is about Dennis Cunningham’s struggle with legal labyrinths and his personal life. The film was directed, shot, produced, and edited by Cunningham’s daughter Bernadine Mellis. Mellis’s access to the personal side as well as political side of the issues gives us a fascinating look into the case of Judi Bari v. the FBI. Speaker: Dennis Cunningham: Attorney Cunningham is in for the long term cases defending civil rights, starting in 1969 with the 12-year case against the government killings of Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. But in 1992 Cunningham joined the team defending Earth First! when Judi Bari was arrested by the FBI after a bomb went off in her car. That case, which went after the FBI and the Oakland police for smearing Bari, is the subject of Bernadine Mellis’s film Forest for the Trees. The case was finally brought to trial in 2002, and won.
Tapped 10:10-11:30 am Water is the new oil. A sweet, natural, refreshing substance that seems to be communally owned is being bought up slowly all over the world by multinational corporations. The bottled-water industry was just the shot over the bow in this increasingly frantic war to control tomorrow’s water shortages. Brief news hysteria about “spring” water actually being tap water ignored the reasons behind buying something that’s not a lot better than what we get through our kitchen sinks’ faucets. Director Stephanie Soeching probes the water problem from corporate control right down to petrochemical plastic bottles. Stephanie Soeching has been invited to attend.
Greenlit 1:30-2:15 pm The film chronicles the efforts of an independent film production as the filmmakers attempt to "go green". After environmental consultant, Lauren Selman, is brought on to green The River Why, indie producer Miranda Bailey decides to follow the process and learn more about what exactly that means. The documentary explores the effects of the film business on our environment. Both entertaining and humorous, the film is filled with compelling and important facts about filmmaking and sustainability and shows that Kermit was right- it ain't easy being' green.
Collapse 10:15-11:40 am Director Chris Smith loves society’s outcasts. In American Movie he profiled a jobless young man who was obsessed with producing a feature-length horror film on his own. Collapse is a bit more somber, but just as entertaining—in the way a thriller is. Michael Ruppert is a former policeman turned independent investigative reporter who publishes a newsletter, “From the Wilderness.” Ruppert doesn’t have any inside ear to the palaces of power nor an investigative news team. He relies on the same information you or I could get from the Internet. Ruppert however, is a radical thinker. He predicted the Wall Street collapse a year before economists did. He is especially passionate about “peak oil,” the theory that the world’s oil reservoirs reached their peak years ago and are now on a steep decline. His perceptive analysis of this passion alone is frightening and fascinating. The film presents Ruppert’s flow of opinion unedited and unjudged. The audience can take it or leave it. Roger Ebert said: “I don't know when I've seen a thriller more frightening. I couldn't tear my eyes from the screen. Collapse is even entertaining, in a macabre sense. I think you owe it to yourself to see it.”
The End of the Line (second screening) 1:30-2:30 pm Rupert Murray’s startling documentary gives us the bad news about what we thought was an inexhaustible source of food -- the world’s oceans. Murray doesn’t give us dire predictions. What the film talks about in an almost-thriller format is what has already irrefutably happened. Codfish, so common and plentiful, was already nearly extinct in 1992. The list goes on. What will we eat in the future? The answer is staring us in the face.
The Charcoal People 10:30-11:50 am Nigel Noble’s film is blunt. The charcoal people are uneducated migrant workers who live on the edges of Brazil’s rainforest and make charcoal from wood using portable kilns. They don’t see their families for years. They endure blazing heat and choking smoke to earn $2 a day, most of which they send back to their families. What is their market for their charcoal? Pig iron, which in turn becomes steel for the automobile industry. The world’s infatuation for the heavily built, truck-bodied SUV in the 1990s and early 2000s accelerated the charcoal and steel industries. While Noble’s film mostly focuses on the workers themselves, his last aerial shot of the rainforest makes no bones about the destruction that supply and demand creates and the burden it imposes on the environment and an exploited population.
Collapse (second screening) 1:30-2:30 Director Chris Smith loves society’s outcasts. In American Movie he profiled a jobless young man who was obsessed with producing a feature-length horror film on his own. Collapse is a bit more somber, but just as entertaining—in the way a thriller is. Michael Ruppert is a former policeman turned independent investigative reporter who publishes a newsletter, “From the Wilderness.” Ruppert doesn’t have any inside ear to the palaces of power nor an investigative news team. He relies on the same information you or I could get from the Internet. Ruppert however, is a radical thinker. He predicted the Wall Street collapse a year before economists did. He is especially passionate about “peak oil,” the theory that the world’s oil reservoirs reached their peak years ago and are now on a steep decline. His perceptive analysis of this passion alone is frightening and fascinating. The film presents Ruppert’s flow of opinion unedited and unjudged. The audience can take it or leave it. Roger Ebert said: “I don't know when I've seen a thriller more frightening. I couldn't tear my eyes from the screen. Collapse is even entertaining, in a macabre sense. I think you owe it to yourself to see it.”
Part of CFI’s Green Initiative Sponsored by:
Environmental Youth Forum: Social Environmentalism 2009Where are the connections between promoting a green planet, social justice, eliminating poverty and war? The forum will present some of the newest and best thinking about active environmentalism as well as films that take a different, fresh approach to greening the planet. Expanded environmental concerns such as population, green jobs, green lending, and the issues surrounding “war litter” like unexploded bombs, land-mines and bomb craters that give rise to mosquitoes and the diseases they carry. Panelists for Thursday, May 21Local Solutions for Global Problems
Panelists for Wednesday, May 27Global Concerns and How to Change the National Consciousness on the Environment
The Films
New Additions!A special preview of the soon to be released
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Angie Coiro (moderator) is currently hosting 
For 25 years, John Antonelli, in association with The Mill Valley Film Group, has been producing award-winning documentary films for theatrical distribution, cable TV, PBS, syndication, and for an impressive list of corporate clients. For the past six years, Antonelli has been producing, directing and writing segments for Global Focus: The New Environmentalists a half hour program narrated by Robert Redford that is broadcast on PBS stations, The Sundance Channel and in a number of international markets. It has won numerous awards at environmental film festivals worldwide.
Teryn Norris is a leading young writer, researcher, and policy advocate. In 2008, Teryn founded and directed the 
Julia Rhee is a first generation movement builder and has been training students across the country on issues grounded in racial justice, anti-oppression, and building student power for the past seven years. She joined the 
Sharon Smith works with 
Lauren Thorpe has been organizing in this growing movement for climate action for over 3 years now. Her roots come from campus organizing at the University of New Hampshire where she created a green fund that has grown to provide financial backing for student initiatives to reduce the campus carbon footprint. From there she joined with the Sierra Student Coalition to organize the first 5-day march for climate solutions through the state of New Hampshire ending at the State House. She was the liaison to the presidential candidates during the national campaign Step It Up that organized hundreds of actions in all 50 states on Nov 4th. She went on to organize campaigns for the League of Conservation Voters and worked for the Obama Campaign in rural Vermont. She is currently the northern California global warming organizer for Greenpeace focusing on building power to get strong national climate legislation pass before the UN Climate negotiations in 2009.
Alan Snitow (moderator) is an independent film producer and director based in Berkeley. His nationally broadcast films with co-director Deborah Kaufman include Thirst about community resistance to water privatization, Secrets of Silicon Valley about the downsides of Silicon Valley and high tech industries, and Blacks and Jews about inter-ethnic conflict. Snitow is a former KTVU news producer and KPFA News Director. He is a board member of the California Media Collaborative, a think tank developing the next generation of media to support reporting on state and local issues. He is also on the board of Food and Water Watch, a Washington-based policy group working on issues of management, ownership and control of natural resources and food safety. His book, Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water–with Deborah Kaufman and Michael Fox–was published by Jossey Bass in 2007.
Nancy McFadden is Senior Vice President of Public Affairs for PG&E Corporation. She is responsible for managing the company’s federal, state and local government relations, and philanthropic and community initiatives, while helping guide its efforts to be a national environmental leader. McFadden served for eight years in the Clinton Administration as deputy chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore. The Washington Post named her one of the “go-to people” in the Clinton Administration for her significant record of accomplishment. She is a Bay Area native, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Women’s Foundation of California, the California Climate Action Registry, the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy, and the Council for Environmental and Economic Balance.
Andrew Lyons is Vice President (West) of 
Weezie Yancey-Siegel is one of the four national founders of 
Patsy Northcutt, a Producer/Director/Editor, owns a film and video production company, 
Jørgen Vos is Director of Product Management at 
Thirst :: Thursday, May 21 8:50AM 
The Greening of Southie :: Thursday, May 21 8:50AM 
3 Short films on the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize Recipients :: Thursday, May 21 9:00AM 
Rethinking Plastics Presentation :: Thursday, May 21 9:30AM 
Burning the Future :: Thursday, May 21 9:30AM (featured at MVFF 2008) 
Recipes for Disaster :: Thursday, May 21 10:05AM 
Power of Community: Cuba and the Peak Oil Crisis :: Thursday, May 21 10:15AM
The Nuclear Comeback :: Wednesday, May 27 9:00AM 
Fuel :: Wednesday, May 27 9:30AM 
Bomb Harvest :: Wednesday, May 27 10:10AM 
Earth Days :: Wednesday, May 27 9:15AM 