By Cate Lecuyer
Staff writer
March 24, 2008 06:49 am BEVERLY — Going green is coming to the big screen for the city's first Eco Film Festival in downtown Beverly and at Endicott College. The nine films, most of them documentaries, address environmental issues from global warming to alternative energy to America's dependence on corn. For the most part, organizer Lisa Lillelund tried to pick movies with a positive, hopeful message for the future. "I found some of the problems with environmentalism is the topic is kind of doom and gloom and depressing," she said. Lillelund, a self-employed clean energy advocate who advises companies on green initiatives, said she believes the festival will be a fun way to engage the community in environmental issues. "We hope it will invigorate the downtown and highlight what Beverly has to offer," she said. The city recently saved $250,000 by encouraging more people to recycle and also wants to build a new high school that runs on 50 percent sustainable energy. There's been a renewed interest in the solar panels on the hill behind the high school, and some of the proceeds from the festival's gala event will benefit that city-owned Solar Now project. Solar Now volunteer Fred Hopps, who also helped organize the festival, said it's one of many ways to educate the public about environmental concerns that will shape the future. "The Eco Film Festival is a good way to get people aware of critical messages they may not have stopped to think about," he said. One of the most important messages, he said, is that unlike global warming, an oil crisis is happening now and people need to make immediate changes. "People don't relate to (global warming)," Hopps said. "They think 'Who cares about polar bears?' or 'I'm going to be dead.'" But diminishing oil reserves and rising fuel costs are affecting lives now, and finding a solution will continue to be a key issue over the next 50 years, he said. "The more people who know what the issues are, the better we're going to be in the future," he said. In Beverly, Lillelund said many people are starting to take an interest, and she hopes the film festival will motivate even more people. "There's definitely a movement," she said. "I wouldn't say it's huge, but it's growing."
Eco Film Festival Saturday, April 5 r 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Screenings of films at Wylie Conference Center at Endicott College and displays in the "Green Lounge" featuring children's films, stories and activities, and products, services and organizations that advocate for the environment. Tickets are $8 per film, or $50 for a weekend pass. Children's films and activities are $5. r 6:30 to 10 p.m.: Gala Movie Screening of the film "Kilowatt Ours" followed by a cocktail party with hors d'oeuvres and music. Tickets are $100, which includes two drinks and a donation of $20 to Solar Now, or $250, which includes a VIP Weekend Film Pass with reserved seating, two drinks at the gala, an art and wine reception, and a donation of $50 to Solar Now. Sunday, April 6 r 10 a.m.: Guided tour of Solar Now solar and wind site in Greenergy Park by Beverly High School. r 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Screenings of films downtown at Beverly Public Library and Montserrat College of Art r 5 to 7 p.m.: Art and wine reception at Montserrat. For more information, visit www.ecofilmfestival.us.
Films offered r "A Crude Awakening" r "Kilowatt Ours" r "King Corn" r "The Unforeseen" r "Everything's Cool" r "Garbage" r "The View and the Vision" r "Who Killed the Electric Car?" r "An Inconvenient Truth" About the films "A Crude Awakening": An unforgettable and shocking wake-up call, this documentary offers the rock-solid argument that the era of cheap oil is in the past. Relentless and clear-eyed, this intensively researched film drills deep into the uncomfortable realities of a world that is both addicted to fossil fuels and blissfully unaware of the looming "peak oil" crisis. "Kilowatt Ours": In response to Vice President Dick Cheney's energy policy speech in which Cheney makes the claim that America needs nearly 1,900 new power plants in the next 20 years to meet projected electricity demands, filmmaker Jeff Barrie takes viewers on a journey from the coal mines of West Virginia to the solar panel fields of Florida as he discovers solutions to America's energy-related problems. "King Corn": Almost everything Americans eat contains corn. High-fructose corn syrup, corn-fed meat and corn-based processed foods are the staples of the modern diet. Two college friends plant an acre of corn in a rural northern Iowa county where their great-grandfathers grew up and follow their harvest into the world attempting to understand what they — and all of us — are really made of. "The Unforeseen": A story that follows the career of an ambitious Texas farm boy turned real estate developer whose growing subdivision threatens a fragile limestone aquifer and a naturally spring-fed swimming hole, and the community fights back. In the conflict that ensues, we see in miniature a struggle that today plays out in communities across the city. "Everything's Cool": A toxic comedy offering a look behind the scenes at some of the prophets and players attempting to engage the public in understanding what's going on with global warming. It's also about the climate of disinformation that's enabled America to be so slow in addressing climate change issues. "Garbage": From organic waste to the stuff they flush down the toilet, the plastic bags they use, to the water they drink out of the bottles, this film tracks three months of garbage saved by the McDonalds, an average urban family. "The View and the Vision": The winds of change have been blowing in Denmark for generations and presently supply 25 percent of its energy needs through clean technologies. Watch this short documentary of local filmmaker Liz Argo's visit to Denmark to get a sense of how communities can thrive from local power. "Who Killed the Electric Car?": A documentary that intends to answer the titular question by determining the various degrees of liability of Detroit, the oil companies, inadequate battery technology, The California Air Resources Board, consumer apathy, the federal government and hydrogen fuel cells. "An Inconvenient Truth": With the savvy of a trial lawyer — and, yes, good humor — former Vice President Al Gore presents the case for anthropogenic climate change (global warming caused by humans) with devastating clarity. Source: www.ecofilmfestival.us
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