January 4 Noon Panel Discussion: Sustainable Princeton Bring a bag lunch and meet the residents, business owners and others who are leading the charge to make Princeton more sustainable. Join a working group and join the movement. Those bringing re-usable lunch containers will win a prize.
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ponsored by Princeton Public Library, the Princeton Environmental Film Festival uses film as a medium to encourage discussion about the environment, raise awareness “Garbage Moguls”
“So Right, So Smart”
“No Impact Man”
“Red Gold”
about environmental concerns and stimulate community action to develop and make more sustainable choices and create more livable communities.
4 p.m: “Crash: A Tale of Two Species” Produced by PBS as an episode of the “Nature” series, this film investigates the symbiotic relationship between the Red Knot and the Horseshoe Crab, and discusses the prospective ways in which human intervention could alternately bolster or destroy that connection. 55 minutes
The festival, which is planned by library staff and community members, includes screenings
7 p.m. “Fresh” The farmers, thinkers and business people who are reinventing our food system are celebrated here. Among the main characters are urban farmer-activist Will Allen, who received a MacArthur Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur Joel Salatin; and supermarket owner David Ball. 72 minutes
of documentary films and related programs featuring filmmakers, community activists, entrepreneurs, scientists and others working on a broad range of environmental issues.
January 5
January 2
Noon “Endangered Generation” Family Program Directed by Princeton High School senior Alex Kasdin, this documentary is receiving its premiere screening. New Jersey fifth-graders, the director of the Mercer County Wildlife Center, the director of the New Jersey Chapter of the Nature Conservancy and acclaimed children’s wildlife TV show creators Chris and Martin Kratt discuss the importance of educating children about the environment and endangered species and instill in children a desire to save these animals and these habitats. Kasdin has long been devoted to helping endangered species. She views this film as a first step in her long journey through conservation. 21 minutes A post-screening discussion will feature filmmaker Alex Kasdin.
5:45 p.m. Performance: Steve Hiltner and the Sustainable Jazz Trio Festival Opening Party Princeton’s own Steve Hiltner is an environmentalist as well as a longtime jazz saxophonist and composer. His trio entertains at the opening reception for the film festival. Watch some previews of festival films and enjoy light and local refreshments while listening to Hiltner and friends. 7:30 p.m. “The Age of Stupid” This drama-documentary-animation hybrid stars Pete Postlethwaite as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, watching archive footage from 2008 and asking “Why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?” Franny Armstrong wrote and directed the film, which tells six separate stories of demise caused by the effects of global warming and ignorance about its severity decades earlier. 89 minutes
Princeton Public Library
3:30 p.m. “Veer” America’s fast-growing bicycling culture, in Portland, is explored in this film through profiles of five adults whose lives are inextricably tied to bicycling and the bike-central social groups they belong to. 93 minutes A post-screening discussion will feature filmmaker Greg Fredette.
Noon “The Garden” A community garden in South Central Los Angeles, the largest of its kind in the U.S., is sold to a wealthy developer for millions less than fair market value. The farmers, mostly immigrants from Latin America, fight back. The film was nominated for an Academy Award last year. 80 minutes
January 2 – 17
10 a.m. Philly Zoo on Wheels Family Program The Philadelphia Zoo’s outreach program brings zoo staff with a lively presentation on conservation and endangered species. A few live animal friends will join them.
1 p.m. “Earth” Family Program Suitable for ages 5 and older, this film narrated by James Earl Jones tells the story of three animal families (polar bears, elephants and Humpacked whales) and their amazing journeys across the planet with rare action, unimaginable scale and impossible locations. 90 minutes
2 p.m. “The New Metropolis” Two short documentaries, one set in Pennsauken, NJ, use personal stories to highlight the efforts of some of America’s first suburbs to reverse their long decline. 53 minutes.
The Princeton Environmental Film Festival is organized by library staff with the help of a community planning committee: Susan Conlon, Karla Cook, Liz Cutler, Jeff Domanski, Carol Dreibelbis, Jaime Ewalt, Chad Fath, Margaret O’Gorman, Alex Kasdin, Lindsey Kayman, Kai Marshall-Otto, Diane Landis Hackett, Janice Hall, Janie Hermann, Steve Hiltner, Wendy Kaczerski, Fran McManus, Herb Mertz, Dorothy Mullen, Karen K. Nathan, Martha Perry, Elyse Pivnick, Jamie Quirk, Athena Sarafides and Palmer Uhl.
4 p.m. “Bhutan: Taking the Middle Path to Happiness” Imagine a country where happiness is the guiding principle of government, people see all life as sacred and the source of their happiness, and there is an abundance of clean and renewable energy. This is Bhutan. Can it really exist? 57 minutes. A post-screening discussion will feature Karen Mintz, a filmmaker who is finishing production on a feature-length documentary about Bhutan, writer Sonam Ongmo and Princeton geosciences professor Lincoln S. Hollister.
Support
The festival is made possible through funding provided by The Nathan Cummings Foundation, Church & Dwight Co., Inc., Bert G. Kerstetter and Highsmith. Thanks to the following for their support American Jewish Committee of Central New Jersey bent spoon ice cream Boys and Girls Club Bike Exchange Community Green Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey The D&R Greenway Farmer Steve’s Popcorn Hometown Princeton The Hopewell Project Isles John Witherspoon Middle School Environmental Club
Labyrinth Books The Nassau Inn OASIS (Organizing Action on Sustainability In Schools) Olives Olivine Princeton Day School EnAct Club Princeton Environmental Commission Princeton Environmental Institute Princeton High School Environmental Club Princeton Living Well The Princeton Record Exchange
Princeton Regional Schools Princeton Tour Company - Biking and Walking Tours Princeton University Office of Sustainability Sierra Club, Central New Jersey Group Small World Coffee Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association Suppers Program Sustainable Princeton TerraCycle Terra Momo Restaurant Group Whole Earth Center of Princeton
Festival Contact: Susan Conlon / 609.924.9529, ext. 247 / sconlon@princetonlibrary.org
January 3 1 p.m. “Deep Down: A Story From the Heart of Coal Country” As America’s energy consumption rises, the extraction and burning of coal has dramatically altered the Appalachian landscape, economy and culture. This film, a work-in-progress, follows a town in Eastern Kentucky as the community and landscape begin to change dramatically through mountaintop removal mining. 60 minutes A post-screening discussion will feature filmmaker Sally Rubin and Terry Ratliff, who is featured in the film.
All Princeton Environmental Film Festival events are free and open to the public
2 p.m. “Ingredients” Bebe Neuwirth narrates this 2009 feature-length documentary directed by Robert Bates about the American food crisis. From the urban food deserts of Harlem to the diversified farms of the Hudson River and kitchens of celebrated chefs, the journey reveals the people behind the movement to bring good food back to the table and health back to communities. 73 minutes
3:30 p.m. “Woven Ways” Filmed amid the dramatic landscapes of Navajo lands in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, this multifaceted documentary incisively explores the profound relationships between the Navajo, their land and livestock and illustrates how their environment sustains their traditional culture. The film also examines the deadly uranium mining and dirty coal power plants that pose serious problems for Navajo health and well-being. 49 minutes. A post-screening discussion will feature filmmaker Linda Helm Krapf, pictured above right, Pam Frank of Sun Farm Network, and Matt Elliott of Environment New Jersey.
Good food made with natural ingredients grown on local, family-run farms and served using biodegradable products A portion of sales at Dispensa benefit Princeton Public Library
Open for your dining pleasure during the Princeton Environmental Film Festival For more information about all Princeton Environmenal Film Festival events, visit www.princetonlibrary.org/peff
7 p.m. “So Right So Smart” This documentary shows how businesses that have begun to take steps toward a positive future have experienced success. An inspirational story of leadership and hope, the film opens a dialogue between some of the world’s most reputable environmental experts and the country’s brightest minds in business in order to explore the connection between economy and environment. From Wal-Mart to Patagonia, Stonyfield Farm to New Belgium Brewery, several institutions are making an effort toward sustainability with the goal of becoming restorative in nature. 93 minutes A post screening discussion and booksigning will feature Gary Hirshberg, president of Stonyfield Farm, pictured at left; Guy Noerr, executive producer and co-director; Justin Maine, producer and co-director; Leanne Robinson Maine, producer, writer and co-director; and Michael Swantek,editor and co-director.
January 6 Noon “Hot Spots” The work of Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International and known as “the Indiana Jones of natural science,” is featured in this film about areas of the planet populated by the largest number of unique plant, animal and insect species at risk of extinction. 109 minutes
January 6 4 p.m. “Liquid Assets” Penn State University’s broadcasting department produced this film that tells the story of essential but aging infrastructure systems: water, wastewater, and stormwater. Locations range from Atlanta to Los Angeles. 90 minutes 7 p.m. Panel Discussion: Approaches to Green Building and Remodeling at Home A panel of professionals in green building discusses opportunities for living comfortably while improving energy efficiency. Karen K. Nathan moderates; panelists are homeowner David August, home insurance adviser Chad Fath, Greenstreet NJ Director of Operations Richard Felmann, NJRenewableEnergy.com founder Ed Haemmerle, Sustainable Princeton’s Diane Landis, Ewing Township resident Athena Sarafides and architect Joshua Zinder.
January 7 Noon “Dirt! The Movie” Jamie Lee Curtis narrates this film about the wonders of the soil, bringing to life its environmental, economic, social and political impact through interviews with experts from all over the world. 90 minutes 2 p.m. “What’s Organic About Organic?” This 2009 film rings the alarm for the need to develop an ecological consciousness, showing that the organic food debate extends well beyond personal choice and into the realm of social responsibility. 85 minutes A post-screening discussion will feature filmmaker Shelley Rogers. 4 p.m. “A Sense of Wonder” This documentary-style film explores environmentalist Rachel Carson in the final year of her life. Struggling with cancer, she recounts with humor and anger the attacks on her by the chemical industry, government and press after she published her famous book “Silent Spring.” 55 minutes 6 p.m. “Earth Days” This film by Princeton native Robert Stone tells the story of the modern environmental movement through the eyes of nine Americans who took the movement from its beginnings in the 1950s to its moment of triumph in the 1970s: the original Earth Day. Stone uses eyewitness testimony and lots of archival footage to tell the story of how the green movement started and arrived at where it is today. 102 minutes. Screening at the Garden Theatre, 160 Nassau St., Princeton. A post-screening discussion at the library will feature filmmaker Robert Stone, pictured at right.
January 8 Noon “Call it Home: Searching for Truth on Bolinas Lagoon” This beautiful, slowly disappearing lagoon is the subject of a decades-long community debate. The film is in part a legacy for the local Northern California coastal communities and their commitment to saving their environment. The story took many twists and turns during the four years of filmmaking. 50 minutes 2 p.m. Talk: Oceans in Crisis by Margo Pellegrino In coastal communities all across America, one woman from Medford Lakes is paddling by on her mission to educate people and rally support for policy to address and correct the looming crisis facing our oceans. She has paddled the Eastern Seaboard and plans to cover the Pacific Coast next summer. 4 p.m. “Secrets of the Reef” This beautiful film immerses us into the metropolis of a Pacific coral reef as seen through the eyes of a sea turtle, a hermit crab, and a reef fish. Their struggle for survival is set against a backdrop of incredibly vivid color. The film’s ending is surprising and sobering. 78 minutes 7 p.m. “No Impact Man” The film follows New York-based author Colin Beaven, his wife and daughter, pictured at right, as they try to live a year substantially reducing their impact on the environment. 90 minutes A post-screening discussion will feature filmmakers Justin Schein and Eden Wurmfeld.
January 9
January 10
10 a.m. “The Big Green Rabbit” Family Program Charlie, the Big Green Rabbit, and his friends sing, romp and dance their way into a new world of healthy fun in this series airing on PBS. Two episodes, “One Step at a Time: It’s Great to be Green” and “Moo La La: What is Organic?” will be screened. 60 minutes. 11:30 a.m. “Riddle in a Bottle” Family Program Two siblings run a riddle-solving stand, where they solve riddles for 5 cents apiece. We follow them as they solve a mysterious riddle from the ocean that reaches them on an inland lake, in a message in a magic bottle. This movie for children shares how life on earth is connected through moving water. 30 minutes
1 p.m. Talk: Oil Independence and National Security by Anne Korin With gas prices on the rise and no end in sight, our addiction to oil is bankrupting us and contributing to global warming. Korin, of the Set America Free Coalition, will talk about her book “Turning Oil Into Salt: Energy Independence Through Fuel Choice” and describe how a coalition of tree-huggers, do-gooders, cheap hawks, evangelicals and sod-busters have come together to break the oil monopoly, give consumers a choice and have an impact. Co-sponsored by the library and the American Jewish Committee of Central New Jersey. A book-signing will follow the discussion.
Noon “Unlimited: Renewable Energy in the 21st Century” Family Program This short documentary features a group of passionate children from New Jersey calling for adults to take action and address global warming. It also includes energy experts talking about various promising technologies such as solar, wind and tidal power, transportation and the issue of food as it pertains to energy consumption. 26 minutes 1 p.m. Panel Discussion: Stay Healthy! Raise Healthy Children in a Toxic Environment Catherine Frompovich, author of “Our Chemical Lives” and “The Hijacking of Our DNA: A Probe Into What’s Probably Making Us Sick,” will be joined by certified clinical nutritionist George McAuliffe and registered dietitian Deborah Donahue for a panel discussion about the health consequences of environmental toxins and steps to take to improve health and the health of our children with nutrition and lifestyle changes. Moderated by Dorothy Mullen. A book-signing will follow the discussion.
3:30 p.m. “A Sea Change” This film follows retired history teacher Sven Huseby, pictured above with his grandson Elias, on his journey to Alaska, California, Australia, and Norway to discover what is happening to the world’s oceans. Speaking with oceanographers, marine biologists, climatologists, and artists, Huseby eventually discovers that global warming is only half the story of the environmental catastrophe that awaits us. 86 minutes A post-screening discussion will feature Barbara Ettinger, director and coproducer; Sven Huseby, co-producer; and Ben Kalina, assistant producer.
January 11 Noon Talk: Green Renovation of a Warehouse on Witherspoon Street Learn how Princeton University professor Robert Harris and students in the senior design course “Engineering Design for Sustainable Development” are designing geothermal heating and cooling, rainwater harvesting for indoor use, and selecting building materials to maintain healthy indoor air, in offices that will be developed in the old Jefferson Plumbing warehouse at 190 Witherspoon St. in Princeton.
3:30 p.m. “Big River” The “King Corn” boys are back. The same two guys who went off to Iowa and bought an acre of corn, plus director Aaron Wolf, have reunited for a film that traces where all the chemicals that were used on their acre of corn wound up: the Mississippi River. 27 minutes A post-screening discussion will feature producer Aaron Wolf. 7 p.m. “Food Inc.” A look at our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. The film reveals surprising, and often shocking, truths about what we eat, how it’s produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here. 94 minutes A post-screening discussion and book-signing will feature Anna Lappé, author of “Diet for a Hot Planet,” pictured at left.
January 12 Noon “Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai” This remarkable woman from rural Kenya began her path toward winning the Nobel Peace Prize by simply planting trees for fuel, shade, and food. Her actions helped her country reclaim its land from 100 years of deforestation, while giving powerless women a vital political role in their country and ultimately bringing down Kenya’s 24-year dictatorship. 80 minutes 4 p.m. “Blue Gold: World Water Wars” Fresh water is being depleted in every corner of the globe. Wars of the future will be fought over water, as today they are fought over oil. This film focuses on corporate giants, private investors, and corrupt governments who vie for control of our dwindling water supply, prompting protests, lawsuits and revolutions. 89 minutes. 7 p.m. “Renewal” The vitality and diversity of today’s religious environmental activists, combating global warming and the devastation of mountaintop removal, promoting food security and teaching love and respect for life on Earth, are the heart of this feature-length documentary. 88 minutes A post-screening discussion will feature filmmaker Marty Ostrow and a representative from Greenfaith.
January 13 Noon “When Clouds Clear” This feature-length documentary tells the story of one remote Ecuadorean community’s radical resistance to a proposed copper mine that would level and destroy their way of life forever. The founders and children of Junín narrate the film, describing how daily life in their village has changed since copper was discovered beneath the land. 78 minutes 4 p.m. “The Cost of Oil: Voices from the Arctic” This film examines the subsistence lifestyle of one Inupiat society in Point Hope, Alaska that may be forever altered, or even destroyed, by exploration and drilling for oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. Captivating images and footage from the Alaskan North Slope set the scene for the native peoples to describe how their cultural heritage, hunting methods, language, and subsistence lifestyle will be affected by offshore oil drilling. 45 minutes
2 p.m. “Strong Coffee: The Story of Café Femenino” The Café Femenino project, the first using coffee beans grown entirely by women farmers, is helping to change long-established attitudes in remote farming communities. The film follows a small group of roasters who travel to Northern Peru to meet some of the impoverished women farmers who now grow high quality, certified organic, fair trade coffee. 48 minutes. 4 p.m. “Food Fight” Fresh food proponents Alice Waters, Wolfgang Puck and Suzanne Goin are among those interviewed in this film about how our food system has been co-opted by corporate forces whose interests do not lie in providing the public with fresh, healthy, sustainably produced food. The birth of a vital organic food movement, which has brought taste and variety back to our tables, is the focus. 83 minutes 7 p.m. Awards Presentation Sustainable Princeton: Who are Princeton’s Sustainability Leaders? Come meet and talk with the recipients of the 2009 Sustainable Princeton Leadership Awards. These individuals, businesses and organizations are making our town more sustainable by taking action in the areas of housing, education, waste management and landscaping.
January 14 Noon “Oil + Water” This film captures the passion of two world-class kayakers who drove, petroleum-free, more than 21,000 miles down the Pan-American Highway, in a retrofitted bio-diesel Japanese fire truck named “Baby.” 55 minutes 4 p.m. “Addicted to Plastic“ A favorite of the 2009 festival, this film is a global journey investigating what we really know about the material of a thousand uses and why there is so much of it. On the way, we discover a toxic legacy, and the men and women dedicated to cleaning it up. 85 minutes 7 p.m. “Garbage Moguls” and Tom Szaky Tom Szaky founded TerraCycle as a Princeton University freshman. Now one of the fastest growing companies in the country, it runs free “upcycling” fund-raisers for more than 50,000 schools and nonprofits. Watch the pilot episode of “Garbage Moguls,” produced by National Geographic Channel. A post-screening discussion and book-signing will feature TerraCycle founder Tom Szaky, pictured at right.
January 15 Noon Short Films This three-hour session will feature the short films “Nora!,” “Gimme a Hug,” “Dream People of the Amazon,” “Pirates,” “Irreplaceable,” “Locally Unwanted Land Use,” “The Garden,” “Whales of Gold” and “Giving Green.” 3 p.m. Communicating Sustainability Two short films produced by the Student Environmental Communication Network of the Office of Sustainability of Princeton University “B.Y.O.B: Bring Your Own Bag” This short film by Princeton University students Anna Zhao and Mimi Onuoha explores poetry in waste, specifically the life cycle of a plastic bag and how TerraCycle of Trenton uses waste to make new products. “Sustainability and the Sea: New Jersey Fisheries” This short film by Princeton University students Katherine Dineen and Nate Sulat takes the viewer on a journey to the Jersey shore to learn about the fate of NJ fisheries and the people who fish them. 4 p.m. “Milking the Rhino” The film examines the deepening conflict between humans and animals in an ever-shrinking world. Shot in some of the world’s most magnificent locales, it is believed to be the first major documentary to explore wildlife conservation from the perspective of people who live with wild animals. 83 minutes
7 p.m. “Red Gold” This acclaimed film documents the growing unrest among Alaska native, commercial and sport fishermen as the development of what could be one of the world’s largest open-pit and underground mines threatens their unique way of life. Despite promises of a clean project by officials, the accident-plagued history of hard rock mining has sparked deep concern from Alaskans who love and depend upon Bristol Bay’s incredible wild salmon fishery. 55 minutes
7 p.m. The Medicine Hunter Chris Kilham An author, educator and the founder of Medicine Hunter Inc., Killam, pictured at right, has done research in more than 20 countries across the world. He hosts “The Medicine Trail,” a series of TV specials about medicinal plants, and is Explorer in Residence at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Kilham will arrive directly from the Amazon Rainforest for this program, during which he will screen an episode from the series and describe his adventures.
For more information about all Princeton Environmenal Film Festival events, visit www.princetonlibrary.org/peff
January 16
January 17
10 a.m. “Hoot” Family Program When young Roy moves from Montana to Florida with his family, he ends up befriending two kids who are fighting to protect the home of a group of endangered burrow owls from a real estate developer. This film. based on the popular children’s book of the same title by Carl Hiaasen, features music from producer Jimmy Buffett. 91 minutes 11:30 a.m. Interactive Talk: Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey Family Program Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey will provide an interactive program about conservation practices and wildlife in New Jersey.
Noon “Eating Alaska” What happens to a vegetarian who moves to Alaska and marries a commercial fisherman and deer hunter? In this documentary, shot with humor and compassion, natives and non-natives try to balance buying industrial processed foods with growing their own. The film was made by a former urban vegetarian now living in Alaska. 56 minutes 1 p.m. “Homegrown” A family who run a small organic farm in the heart of urban Pasadena, California live “off the grid” while harvesting over 6,000 pounds of produce on less than a quarter of an acre. They also make their own bio diesel, power their computers with the help of solar panels, and maintain a Web site that gets 4,000 hits a day.
1 p.m. Talk: “Walk the Trails” with Sophie Glovier and Bentley Drezner Writer Glovier, center, photographer Drezner, right and book designer Maria Lindenfeldar created the pocket-sized publication “Walk the Trails,” featuring 16 walks with full-color postcards and photographs that depict the beauty of the open space that has been preserved in and around Princeton. Glovier and Drezner will present a photo journey from the book highlighting a selection of trails and walks. 2 p.m. “Division Street” This stunningly shot film chronicles the “green adventure of a lifetime,” a quest to visit the most remote place from any road in the lower 48 states. Simultaneously, the film explores the fascinating concept of wildlife corridors, the potential for greening our highway system and the fusion of high-tech engineering with the best and brightest environmental research happening today. 53 minutes 4 p.m. “Dig the Earth” This film follows a group of students, faculty and staff at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., all non-farmers, as they grow corn in the middle of the campus. The project, based on Michael Pollan’s book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” is profiled using voices from the Lehigh Valley community to explain the Corn on the Quad project’s wider implications: for ecological sustainability, local communities and the future of food production. 40 minutes. A post-screening discussion will feature filmmakers Andy Smith, John O’Keefe and Courtney Bentley.
7 p.m. “Crude” It took three years for acclaimed filmmaker Joe Berlinger to make this cinema-verite feature about one of the largest and most controversial environmental lawsuits in history: the Amazon Chernobyl case. The drama is set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, and rapidly disappearing indigenous cultures. This unsettling film shows views from both sides of the $27 million case about the shrinking Amazonian rainforest and its effects on the local population. 100 minutes
2 p.m. “Call of the Killer Whale” Jean-Michel Cousteau and his team of oceanauts travel to both the northern and southern hemispheres as they seek out killer whales in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Orcas, also called killer whales, number fewer than 100,000 worldwide, and learning more about them is a global endeavor for Cousteau and his team. A post-screening discussion will feature scientist Andrea Neal, principal investigator for Project Kaisei, a non-profit organization established to increase the understanding and the scale of marine debris and its impact on our ocean environment. 4:30 p.m. “At the Edge of the World” This multiple award-winner is a real-life David vs. Goliath adventure about the third Antarctic Campaign undertaken by the controversial Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. It was arguably “the perfect combination of imperfections” and the actions taken to stop a Japanese whaling fleet were astonishingly reckless and admirable. The international volunteer crew, though under-trained and poorly equipped, has developed a combination of bizarre and brilliant tactics with which to stop the whalers in the Ross Sea. 92 minutes.
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