FILMS

TO CATCH A DOLLAR

Friday May 28th, 11:00 (85 minutes)
Main Auditorium, Followed by Panel: Scaling Up

Directed by: Gayle Ferraro
www.tocatchadollar.com

Professor Muhammad Yunus never wanted to be a banker and he certainly never imagined winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet his quest to help the working poor invest in themselves led to both. Known as the father of microcredit loans in Bangladesh, Yunus spent years developing the Grameen Bank, and in 1983 it became a fully licensed bank with a twist—it was owned by its borrowers—mainly poor women. Yunus is famous for saying that in developing Grameen he deliberately did the opposite of what a conventional bank would do. Today, the success of Grameen Bank has changed the lives of 7.5 million Bangladeshi borrowers and their families. Grameen is now in 38 countries and has made over 100 million microcredit loans. This is the inspiring, logic-defying yet true story of one man’s idea, a strange new kind of bank, and the millions of lives it changed. Watch Trailer

*PRIVATE SCREENING* To register e-mail:

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FOOD INC.

Friday May 28th, 18:00 (90 minutes)
Main Auditorium, Followed by Panel: Sustainable Business Models

Directed by: Robert Kenner
www.foodincmovie.com

In the Academy Award nominated film, Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.
Watch Trailer

GARBAGE DREAMS

Saturday May 29 10:55 (90 minutes)
Main Auditorium, Followed by Presentation: Director Mai iskander

Directed by: Mai Iskander
www.garbagedreams.com

Filmed over four years, GARBAGE DREAMS follows three teenage boys Adham, a bright precocious 17 year old; Osama, a charming impish 16 year old; Nabil, a shy artistic 18 year old born into the trash trade and growing up in the world’s largest garbage village, a ghetto located on the outskirts of Cairo. It is a world folded onto itself, an impenetrable labyrinth of narrow roadways camouflaged by trash; it is the home to 60,000 ‘Zaballeen’(or ‘Zabbaleen’), arabic for ‘garbage people.’ When their community is suddenly faced with the globalization of its trade, each of the teenage boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community.
Watch Trailer

A SMALL ACT

Saturday May 29th, 14:20 (90 minutes)
Main Auditorium, Followed by Panel: Social Entrepreneurs of the Future

Directed by: Jennifer Arnold
www.asmallact.com

When Hilde Back sponsored a young, impoverished Kenyan student, she thought nothing of it. She paid roughly $15 dollars per term to keep him in primary school. She certainly never expected to hear from him, but many years later, she does. Chris Mburu has been thinking of his “angel” Hilde since he was a boy. The small contribution she made paid off – Chris went all the way to Harvard. Now, he’s a respected UN human rights lawyer, dedicating his life to battling genocide and crimes against humanity. Chris decides to replicate Hilde’s generosity by starting his own scholarship fund, and he names it after her. This scholarship will educate bright kidsin his village so they can also succeed and give back. But Chris is stunned when Kenya’s public schools start failing, and only two new students qualify for sponsorship. Simultaneously, Kenya falls into ethnic-based election violence. After working on conflicts in neighboring countries, Chris knows that ignorance fuels ethnic hatred. Education has never been more important. Chris must decide what to do.
Watch Trailer

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SHORT FILM CORNER

BUYER BE FAIR

Friday May 28th, 17:30 (60 minutes), Room 4

Produced by John de Graaf and Hana Jindrova
www.buyerbefair.org

This film takes viewers to Mexico, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, the USA and Canada to explore how conscious consumers and businesses can use the market to promote social justice and environmental sustainability through product labeling, with a focus on Fair Trade coffee and Forest Stewardship Council certified wood. BUYER BE FAIR is an inspirational and balanced television special that reaches beyond the choir to present the promise of product certification to a wide audience. Watch Trailer.

PICKLES, INC.

Friday May 28th, 11:00, Room 4

Directed by: Nitza Gonen and Dalit Kimor, Global Voices

In the Israeli Arab village of Tamra, in Galilee, eight widows challenge social conventions and establish the Azka Pickle Cooperative, seeking financial independence for themselves and their children. With little formal education and no work experience outside of the home, the women face endless hurdles in expanding their business start-up–while their personal lives reflect the joys and sadness of family weddings, bereavement, and loneliness. Watch Trailer

The Rural Internet Kiosk

Friday May 28th, 13:00, Room 4

The Rural Internet Kiosk project was developed by Jitu Patani, who has a vision of bridging the digital divide by providing the last mile access to rural or remote communities. As well, we seek to ensure that marginalized citizens such as women and youth also have access to technology that will ensure their active participation in society at large. We are helping Africa move towards the Millennium Development Goal of Bridging the Digital Divide by year 2015.

A short documentary featuring ICT development in Africa with emphasis on how the Rural Internet Kiosk (RIK) is changing the way rural Africa communicates. The Rural Internet Kiosk is 100% solar powered and is connected to the Internet via Satellite using Astra2Connect VSAT technology. Watch Trailer

A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES

Friday May 28th, 16:00, Room 4

Produced & Directed by Leo Chiang

Their homes destroyed, their voice discovered. In a New Orleans neighborhood called Versailles, a tight-knit group of Vietnamese Americans overcame obstacles to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, only to have their homes threatened by a new government-imposed toxic landfill. A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES is the empowering story of how the Versailles people, who have already suffered so much in their lifetime, turn a devastating disaster into a catalyst for change and a chance for a better future. This powerful documentary will have its national television broadcast on PBS in May 2010 as a part of the Independent Lens series. Watch Trailer

PROJECT KASHMIR

Saturday May 29th, 13:00, Room 4

Directed by: Senain Kheshgi and Geeta V. Patel

Though more alike than they are different, Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Hindus remain divided by religious allegiances in the global diaspora. Little information exists to support dialogue between the two groups, and many members of the community have given up hope for peace. The hatred has already begun to trickle down into the minds of the next generation.PROJECT KASHMIR was created out of a desire for dialogue between these two divided communities. Filmmakers Senain Kheshgi, a Pakistani American, and Geeta V. Patel, an Indian American, investigate the war in Kashmir and find their friendship tested over deeply rooted political, cultural, and religious biases they never had to face in the U.S.

Guided by an anonymous telephone informer and three brave Kashmiris, the filmmakers navigate the treacherous maze of occupation, insurgency, unrest, censorship, and religious animosity, slowly finding themselves pulled apart by their own identification with opposing factions. Beautifully shot by Academy Award-winner Ross Kauffman, the film captures the stunning beauty of Kashmir, while expertly interweaving deeply moving personal stories of Kashmiris with those of the two American women who strive to reconcile their ethnic and religious heritage with the violence that haunts their homeland.

PROJECT KASHMIR explores war between countries and war within oneself, while juxtaposing moving personal stories of Kashmiris who have never known a world without war. For some questions, the film reveals, there is never just one truth. Watch Trailer

NEW MEDIA EXPO

GFSC attendees will have the opportunity to see and experience the following new media social projects in the New Media EXPO hall, located in the lobby on March 28th-29th:

Pax Warrior is a Hybrid New Media product for the educational and training markets that extends the nascent “Interactive Documentary” form to incorporate decision based simulation and collaborative learning tools. We know that’s a mouthful – so if you like you can just call Pax an engaging way to learn about history, civics, citizenship, social studies and current events.

Darfur is Dying is a narrative based simulation where the user, from perspective of a displaced Darfurian, negotiates forces that threaten the survival of his or her refugee camp. It offers a faint glimpse of what it’s like for the more than 2.5 million who have been displaced by the crisis in Sudan.

Food Force is an Educational game published by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in 2005. Due to its content, it is consid- ered a serious game (game with educational purpose). Players take on missions to distribute food in a famine-affected country and to help it to recover and become self-sufficient again. At the same time they learn about hunger in the real world and the WFP’s work to prevent famine.

PeaceMaker is a government simulation game which simulates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Labelled as a serious games, it is often pitched as “a video game to promote peace”. The player choose to be either the Prime Minister of Israel or the President of the Palestinian National Author- ity, and must resolve the conflict games, it is often pitched as “a video game to promote peace”.