August 18, 2006
Darwin’s Nightmare
(2004, 107 mins)
Directed by Hubert Sauper
Some time in the 1960’s, in the heart of Africa, a new animal was introduced into Lake Victoria as a little scientific experiment. The Nile Perch, a voracious predator, extinguished almost the entire stock of the native fish species. However, the new fish multiplied so fast, that its white fillets are today exported all around the world. Meanwhile, huge hulking ex-Soviet cargo planes come daily to collect the latest catch in exchange for their southbound cargo….Kalashnikovs and ammunitions for the uncounted wars in the dark center of the continent.
This booming multinational industry of fish and weapons has created an ungodly globalized alliance on the shores of the world’s biggest tropical lake: an army of local fishermen, World bank agents, homeless children, African ministers, EU-commissioners, Tanzanian prostitutes and Russian pilots.
August 19, 2006
Soylent Green
(1973, 97 mins)
Directed by David Fleischer
In 2022, New York City is a town bursting at the seams with a 40-million-plus population. Food is in short supply, and most of the population’s food source comes from synthetics manufactured in local factories — the dinner selections being a choice between Soylent Blue, Soylent Yellow, or Soylent Green. When William Simonson (Joseph Cotten), an upper-echelon executive in the Soylent Company, is found murdered, police detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) is sent in to investigate the case. Helping him out researching the case is Thorn’s old friend Sol Roth (Edward G. Robinson, in his final film role). As they investigate the environs of a succession of mad-from-hunger New Yorkers and the luxuriously rich digs of the lucky few, Thorn uncovers the terrible truth about the real ingredients of Soylent Green.
August 20, 2006
Silent Running
(1972, 89 mins)
Directed by Douglas Trumbull
Bruce Dern stars as the caretaker of a greenhouse located on a group of space stations that are sent into orbit. The Earth has been stripped clean of foliage, and the greenhouse contains the last remaining greenery from the planet. Dern’s staff includes three human beings and a brace of endearing robots named Huey, Dewey, and Louie. When word arrives from the Powers the Be that the greenhouse is to be destroyed (the space station is more valuable to man when hauling cargo and not “preserving the ecology of the universe”), Dern decides to ignore the order. He also decides to kill his colleagues, “circle the wagons” with Huey and Dewey, and fend off all outside attempts to eliminate his ecological paradise.
August 25, 2006
Gimme Shelter
(1970, 90 mins)
Directed by David and Albert Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin
Followed by a Q&A session with director Albert Maysles.
The landmark documentary about the tragically ill-fated Rolling Stones free concert at Altamont Speedway on December 6, 1969. Only four months earlier, Woodstock defined the Love Generation; now it lay in ruins on a desolate racetrack six miles outside of San Francisco.
Before an estimated crowd of 300,000 people, the Stones headlined a free concert featuring Tina Turner, The Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers and others. Concerned about security, members of outlaw biker gang The Hell’s Angels were asked to help maintain order. Instead, an atmosphere of fear and dread arose, leading ultimately to the stabbing death of a fan. What began as a flower-power love-in had degenerated into a near riot; frightened, confused faces wondering how the Love Generation could, in one swift, cold-blooded slash, became a generation of disillusionment and disappointment.
December 6, 1969: the day the Sixties died.
August 26, 2006
Contested Streets: Breaking NYC’s Gridlock
(2005, 70 mins)
Directed by Stefan Schaefer
Plus…
The Water Underground
(2006, 30 mins)
By The Center for Urban Pedagogy
To be preceded by a panel discussion featuring Transportation Alternatives and others at 8pm.
Contested Streets explores the history and culture of New York City streets from pre-automobile times to the present. This examination allows for an understanding of how the city – though the most well served by mass transit in the United States – has slowly relinquished what was a rich, multi-dimensional conception of the street as public space to a mindset that prioritizes the rapid movement of cars and trucks over all other functions.
Central to the story is a comparison of New York, London, Paris and Copenhagen. Interviews and footage shot in these cities showcase how limiting automobile use in recent years has improved air quality, minimized noise pollution and enriched commercial, recreational and community interaction. London’s congestion pricing scheme, Paris’ BRT (bus rapid transit) and Copenhagen’s bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure are all examined in depth. New York City, though to many the most vibrant and dynamic city on Earth, still has lessons to learn from Old Europe.
Water Underground takes you below the surface of New York City to the immense grid of pipes designed to carry water in various states of grossness. They bring us water for drinking, washing our clothes, and putting out fires. This same water carries away our dirt, our soapy water, and our s**t – the s**t of eight million New Yorkers. Where does it go? What happens to it along the way? Who stays clean and who gets dirty?
August 27, 2006
Princess Mononoke
(1997, 134 mins)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
With an introduction by Claire Danes.
Princess Mononoke is the mythological tale of a war between encroaching civilization and the beast gods of the forest. In a remote mountain village far away in Northern Japan, the young warrior Ashitaka, is forced to kill a monster to protect his village. Too late, he discovers that the boar-like creature he killed is a protector-god of the forest. In killing the demon boar, Ashitaka has brought upon himself a curse, its sign: a twisted scar on his right forearm that is slowly spreading.
Ashitaka journeys to the land of the Tatara clan where he hopes to uncover the mystery of the curse before it takes his young life. Along the way, he becomes involved in the bitter fight between two warring factions of humans and a race of forest-gods trapped in the middle.
