Recap of 2007 Festival
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In the run-up to Tales From Planet Earth, the Center for Culture, History and Environment (CHE) has sponsored a series of film screenings to engage participants from the university and wider Wisconsin communities in considering the power of film to inspire action. We invited filmmakers to screen recently completed works or works-in-progress in order to receive critical audience feedback and to strategize about how to leverage their films to produce social change. Each of the films screened in this series is returning for a showing in the 2009 Tales from Planet Earth.
Our first movie night was a screening of a new documentary about the planetary food crisis, The Hunger Season, on Sunday, October 19, 2008. Approximately 100 people joined us for the first-ever public screening of the film. Following the film, audience members joined the filmmaker, Beadie Finzi, as well as local hunger experts and activists for discussion of hunger issues over a "Wisconsin Meal in Swaziland" dinner, consisting of the cornmeal profiled in the film. The evening closed with a panel discussion about hunger and about ways for people to get involved with hunger activism.
Overall, we collected $300 in donations for local and global hunger relief efforts! Our thanks to everyone who came out to join us for this first event, as well as to all of our panel members, volunteers, discussion facilitators, and to First United Methodist Church of Madison for graciously hosting the event! The screening was co-sponsored by the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, the Center for Culture, History and Environment (CHE), Working Films, and First United Methodist Church with support from the Bradshaw Knight Foundation, Didion Milling, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Letters and Sciences, Morgridge Center for Public Service, and the Agroecology program.
Web site: http://www.hungerseason.org/
Our second movie night was a rough cut screening of Catherine Gund's new film What's On Your Plate? This fun and engaging documentary follows two New York City teens exploring their food choices and the food system in this country. Almost 50 people provided valuable editorial feedback to Catherine, which she will use as she completes the final cut for the film in time for a screening at this fall's Tales from Planet Earth. In addition, Catherine was able to screen her film for students from Sherman Middle School in order to figure out how best make the final cut of the film appeal to youth, which comprise such an important target audience of the film. This screening was co-sponsored by the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, Aubin Pictures, Tales from Planet Earth, Working Films, REAP Food Group, and the Morgridge Center for Public Service.
Web site: http://www.whatsonyourplateproject.org
On Monday, March 23rd, over 100 people joined us for a festive screening (complete with live music and amazing tamales!) of Alex Rivera's Sixth Section at Madison's Centro Hispano. Rivera's profile of the efforts of Grupo Unión - a coalition of Mexican immigrants who work in New York state in order to support their community of Boqueron, Mexico - gives proof to his belief that American immigrants, far from being a silent and exploited underclass, are empowered and increasingly organized members of American society. The lively bilingual discussion following the film capped a day of radio interviews, appearances at UW-Madison classes, and discussions with community leaders about the status and future of immigrant labor and communities in the United States. The event was co-sponsored by the Nelson Institute Center for Culture, History and Environment (CHE), Centro Hispano, UW-Madison's Program in Latin American Caribbean and Iberian Studies (LACIS), Working Films, the Wisconsin Humanities Council, the Morgridge Center for Public Service, Bradshaw Knight Foundation, Community Action of Latin America (CALA), Unión de Trabajadores Inmigrantes (UTI), Interfaith Coalition for Workers Justice (ICWJ), and Latinos Unidos for Change and Advancement (LUCHA).
Web site: http://sixthsection.com/
On May 11th, filmmaker Judith Helfand, who helped conceive of Tales from Planet Earth and created our 2007 festival opener Everything's Cool, returned for two spirited rough cut screenings of her new film Cooked, which examines the July 1995 heat wave in Chicago responsible for the deaths of more than 700 people. In the first screening, almost 25 researchers from UW-Madison's Centers for Climatic Research (CCR) and Sustainable and Global Environment (SAGE), as well as members of the Dane County Emergency Management Service, provided useful feedback about the scientific and policy aspects of the film related to climate, public health, and emergency preparedness. In the second screening, approximately 30 people joined us at Porchlight for an intimate and productive (albeit technically problematic!) screening to discuss the social networking and community justice aspects of the film. The invaluable comments from these screenings will help Judith refine her film for a fine cut screening at Tales from Planet Earth this fall. Our thanks to everyone at CCR, SAGE, and Porchlight for being such gracious and helpful hosts for these screenings and to all audience members for their feedback!
The screenings were co-sponsored by the Nelson Institute's Center for Culture, History and Environment (CHE), Working Films, Wisconsin Humanities Council, the Bradshaw Knight Foundation, Morgridge Center for Public Service, and Porchlight.