little g film - Lives of Others - 15 June

'Lives of Others' (released 2006, Germany) takes place in 1984 in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Its topic is the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by agents of the Stasi (the GDR's secret police). A successful playwriter is spied upon, mainly because the Minister of Culture has taken a liking to the playwriter's girlfriend, a famous actress. The Minister abuses his powers to try to rid himself of a romantic rival. In the course of the actions the actual spy develops a much higher moral standing than his superiors. The revealing of real human being, hidden in the spy who is just doing his duty, is the main theme of this movie. A film with a very positive and powerful message.

The movie starts at 6 pm and lasts just over 2 hours. We will take a short break to give everyone time to grab warm food from the fantastic Norwich FoodCycle group, who serve supper in the Friends Meeting House from 7pm and meet for exchange of thoughts. Donations appreciated. (Luzie Wingen)

http://www.foodcycle.org.uk/norwich.php
norwich@foodcycle.org.uk

Lives of Others will be showing at 6pm at the Friends Meeeting House, Lower Goat Lane. FoodCycle begins at 7pm.

FILM: Fahrenheit 9/11 - 18 May

Filmaker and political commentator, Michael Moore's view on what happened to the United States after September 11; and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.The film takes a critical look at the War on Terror and its coverage in the news media and is the highest grossing documentary of all time.

We usually take a break to eat with Foodcycle, donations welcome for film and food. All welcome.

Time 6pm Venue: Friends’ Meeting House, Upper Goat Lane, Norwich

For further details contact Lesley Grahame lesley7railway@yahoo.co.uk

FILM: Idiocracy - 16 March

Little g film night, "a busy activists’ alternative to a book group" meets each month to watch and discuss documentary films.

March’s film, Idiocracy, is a satirical look at a dumbed down future. Two unlikely heroes from the present find themselves the brightest people around in a dystopia where advertising, commercialism and cultural anti-intellectualism have run rampant and resulted in a uniformly stupid human society devoid of intellectual curiosity, social responsibility, and coherent notions of justice and human rights.

We usually take a break to eat with Foodcycle, donations welcome for film and food. All welcome.

Time 6pm Venue: Friends’ Meeting House, Upper Goat Lane, Norwich

For further details contact Lesley Grahame lesley7railway@yahoo.co.uk

FILM: Norwich in Transition - Part 1

Click and see the people behind the scenes at The Nectar Cafe, Norwich FarmShare, Carbon Conversations, Norwich CoHousing, Norwich Energy Lookout! See Part 2 (below) for Economics and Livelihoods, Magdalen Street Celebration, communications and the TN blogs.

Still: William Hudson from East Anglia Food Link discussing peak oil and the CSA on site at Postwick (with rain barrel)

Film directed and produced by Tom Harper and Chris Hull for Transition Norwich's Third Anniversary Celebration. Music by James Frost. Starring members and associates of Transition Norwich, November 2011.

FILM: Norwich in Transition - Part 2

Click and see the people behind the scenes reporting for Economics and Livelihoods, Magdalen Street Celebration, communications and the TN blogs. See Part 1 (above) for The Nectar Cafe, Norwich FarmShare, Carbon Conversations, Norwich CoHousing, Norwich Energy Lookouts!

Still: Charlotte Du Cann (TN blogs and the Low Carbon Cookbook) at the Occupy Norwich camp, Hay Hill, talking about communications (not a distraction!)

Film directed and produced by Tom Harper and Chris Hull for Transition Norwich's Third Anniversary Celebration. Music by James Frost. Starring members and associates of Transition Norwich, November 2011.

FILM: Little g shows Animate Earth - 16 December

Dr Stephan Harding puts forward a radical approach to the ecological crisis
Stephan believes that traditional mechanistic science has inadvertently fueled the crisis and that we urgently need to develop an expanded science that cultivates intuitive wisdom alongside rational knowledge so that we can experience everything, from the smallest microbes to our planet’s great life-sustaining cycles, as deeply interconnected.

Little g film night: Friday 16th December, 6pm, Friends’ Meeting House. The film is only 45 minutes long so there will be plenty of time for discussion afterwards Lesley Grahame

FILM: Just Do It - 18 October

Just Do It is an observational documentary from award-winning film maker Emily James and it lifts the lid on climate activism. Emily spent a year embedded with a group of climate activists following them as they blockade factories, attack coal power stations and glue themselves to the trading floors of international banks in an attempt to force businesses and governments to adopt more environmentally responsible approaches.

The film is a powerful testament to those who refuse to sit back and allow the eco-systems and environmental infrastructure to be destroyed. Their adventures will entertain, illuminate and inspire.

It will be screened in Lecture Theatre 1 and is free to attend thanks to support from PSI and an anonymous donation. Doors open at 7pm. The film will be followed by a Q&A with Ella Gilbert, a local climate activist featured in the film; Dr Rupert Read (Reader in Philosophy, regional co-ordinator and Norwich Councillor for the Green Party), and Lucy Baker (Doctoral student in DEV and academic observer from within the Bella Centre at the Copenhagen Climate summit). Erik Buitenhuis

Watch the trailer here

Just Do It Time: 7pm Venue: UEA Lecture Theatre

RELATED EVENT: The Economics of Happiness - 21 October

'Going local' is a powerful strategy to repair our fractured world—our ecosystems, our societies and our selves.

Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly every problem we face: fundamentalism and ethnic conflict; climate chaos and species extinction; financial instability and unemployment. There are personal costs too. For the majority of people on the planet life is becoming increasingly stressful. We have less time for friends and family and we face mounting pressures at work.

The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance—and, far from the old institutions of power, they’re starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm – an economics of localization.

This is the second Little g film night (September's was The Shock Doctrine). The idea is to relax over a film and food (bring something shareable if you can), and have time to talk about it. Lesley Grahame

Little g film nights run every third Friday of the month at 6pm, Friends' Meeting House, Upper Goat Lane.

The Shock Doctrine - Little g film night - 16 September

Billed as "a busy activists' alternative to a book group", Little g is a new film and discussion night for everyone involved in regional activism, Transition culture and all things progressive. September's film will be Shock Doctrine. Based on Naomi Klein's bestselling book, The Shock Doctrine argues that America's 'free market' policies have come to dominate the world through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries. Both the film and the book argue that governments all over the world exploit natural disasters, economic crises and wars to push through radical free market policies. Klein calls this 'disaster capitalism' and in her view, disaster capitalism is as effective as psychiatric shock therapy at wiping our collective memory.

The film concludes that the result is often catastrophic for ordinary people and hugely beneficial to big corporations. The documentary also adds to Klein's thesis - which was written before the recent market turmoil - and includes an analysis of how the financial world got into its current troubled state.The book highlights the need for resilient communities in interesting times.

September is the first, if people like the idea and turn up, it will be a regular. The idea is to relax over a film and food (bring something shareable if you can), and have time to talk about it. Lesley Grahame

Little g film night: Friday 16 September at 6pm, Friends' Meeting House, Upper Goat Lane.

FILM: Just Do It! at Cinema City - 16 August

Just Do It - a tale of modern-day outlaws - a film by Emily James is showing this Tuesday at Cinema City at 8.30pm. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with producer Lauren Simpson and exec producer Christo Hird.

“Smart, funny, adrenalised portrait of 21st-century activism” Danny Leigh, The Guardian

Just Do It lifts the lid on climate activism and the daring troublemakers who have crossed the line to become modern day outlaws. Emily James spent over a year embedded in activist groups such as Climate Camp and Plane Stupid to document their clandestine activities. With unprecedented access, Just Do It introduces you to a powerful cast of mischievous and inspiring characters who put their bodies in the way; they blockade factories, attack coal power stations and glue themselves to the trading floors of international banks despite the very real threat of arrest.

Their adventures will entertain, illuminate and inspire.

Further info: In May This Low Carbon Life published an in-depth report about the relationship between activism and Transition, inspired by this grassroots documentary.

Watch the trailer here
Invite your friends to the facebook event here.
Tickets are available here.

Get in for free! If 5 of your friends book their tickets in advance, we'll give you a free ticket. All you need to do is send the names and email addresses of your friends who've booked to our Outreach Coordinator Molly at screenings@justdoitfilm.com

Just Do It is on tour around the UK with screenings from Aberystwyth to Aberdeen, still to go we have Bristol, Birmingham, Aberystwyth, Brighton, Southampton, Exeter, Bath, Lancaster & Torrington.

FILM: Gasland - 4 May

There will be a showing of the film "Gasland” (directed by Josh Fox) Wednesday 4 May, 6:00 pm, jointly organised by the School of Environmental Sciences and Cinema City. After the showing, our panel of experts, Dr. Kevin Hiscock, Dr. Alan Bond, Dr. Victor Bense and Dr. Nikolai Pedentchouk will be discussing issues highlighted in the film in what we hope will be a lively debate. Tickets are available from the cinema, and Orange Wednesdays will apply!

The film follows the stories of real people affected by shale gas exploration in the USA. Shale gas is an unconventional energy source where gas is released from the shales by a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of the shale itself. This industry has rapidly expanded within the last ten years in the USA although seemingly with major consequences for both the environment and health of local people. These effects arise as both the gas released, and the chemicals used in the fracturing process may contaminate local aquifers, rivers and surrounding land. With the UK Government currently considering its approach to allowing this industry into the UK and the first fracking experiments occurring earlier this month, this is a highly topical environmental/earth science related film.

For more information: http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Cinema_City/film/Gasland/ or please contact me on : S.Loveless@uea.ac.uk

Further reading on the blog: Fracking Hell and Other Apocalypses - The Energy Story

FILMS; Food, Inc. (dir. Robert Kenner, USA 2009) – showing at Cinema City - 29 March

This must-see film tells an unwholesome story of big American agri-business, where working conditions, animal welfare, the livelihoods of farmers and consumers’ health are all held hostage by the drive for ever bigger profits.

The film highlights how a mere handful of companies control most of the food production business. One such company, Monsanto, has teams of detectives out scouring the countryside for farmers daring to save seed from one year to the next – or those that could be said to encourage such practice through their offer of services, like seed cleaning.

The film illustrates how ‘corn’ (maize to us) is turned into beef in the notorious feeding lot (with not a blade of grass in sight) – how corn indeed forms the basis for so many products in what seems on the surface to be an almost infinite choice in the modern American supermarket; how chickens (with echoes here of recent TV programmes by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall & Jamie Oliver) are crammed in their thousands into spaces where they can barely move around – and if they could, they’re so weighed down by grossly fattened bodies that their legs can’t carry them more than a few paces.

Don’t miss this film! Catch it at Cinema City on Monday, 29th March, 8.30 pm. Peter Melchett – Policy Director of the Soil Association and North Norfolk organic farmer – will be present at the end of the film for a Question & Answer session. The Soil Association is the official charity partner of the film.

Suggested links: http://www.foodincmovie.com/; and ‘Why Food, Inc. should make us all retch’ by Charles Clover in The Sunday Times: www.timesonline.co.uk/news. (Sarah Gann/Food)

FILMS AND BOOKS

Heat - How to Stop the Planet Burning by George Monbiot

Although published in 2006, I find myself still having reason to quote or suggest reading from George Monbiot's excellent resource book, Heat - How to Stop the Planet Burning. Since the failure of Copenhagen, and a 'climategate' happening in our own backyard, even more reason to take a sober look at the denial industry so carefully and thoroughly exposed by Monbiot. The corporations funding research to fuel the doubters, that feed the household names like David Bellamy and Michael Crichton in their public refutations that there is anything to worry about.

Although a technical book in many ways - for the scientific reader there is much to feed the mind - for the non-scientific, Monbiot actually explains what a terrawatt is! One by one, Monbiot looks at each and every collective and individual carbon-based activity and shows how we can reach the target of a 90% reduction in emissions by 2030 by a mixture of behaviour change and technical innovation. Some of the solutions are indeed funny too, although he finds no solution to the highly carbon-intensive habit of flying..... so sorry guys, you'll just have to make that next trip to The Seychelles in a helium balloon. (Chris Hull/Core Group)

Social Change 2.0 by David Gershon

This book has done a lot to re-inspire me about our prospects for averting disaster. It sets out a bold vision for social change in the face of climate change and the other urgent problems facing the world. It also offers a set of tools and approaches which Gershon believes can bring about these changes.

In the first part of the book, Gershon recounts his own lifetime of experience of taking up seemingly impossible challenges, and making them work. He talks about "second-order change" - change that goes beyond the current rules and assumptions of our society, change that demands a change in culture and beliefs. He says that if people don't tell you that you're naive and your vision is impossible, you're probably not being bold enough. And he describes in practical terms how to turn that vision into a reality - by engaging other people, by focusing on the area where growth is needed next, by constantly turning around the voices in our heads that say it's not possible.

Gershon created Eco-Teams in the USA in the 1980s. Eco-Teams are similar to our Transition Circles and Carbon Conversations groups - small groups of people looking at what they can change in their own lives, and then replicating the groups so that they reach many more people. Other projects he ran had a similar approach - small groups designed to multiply. For me, reading this book has reaffirmed my personal belief that this is a really important approach for bringing about the scale of culture change we need, if we're going to solve problems like climate change and peak oil. I enthusiastically recommend this book to you! (Tully Wakeman/Core Group).

The Turning Point - A Return to Community - UK 2009

This documentary came out of the conference "positive energy", which was held in Findhorn in Scotland in 2008. It showcases many examples from the conference, the Findhorn ecovillage and its surrounding area. Practical examples include 4 community owned windmills, the ecological sewage treatment system, a car club, a CSA, and a local currency. It also presents peak oil and climate change as setting the boundaries, community as providing the impetus for change, spirituality as a way of valuing this over the consumer society, and permaculture as the glue that connects the different pieces.

In addition, the DVD contains four interviews with Joanna Macy, deep ecologist and buddhist, Megan Quinn, co-producer of The Power of Community, Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition Towns movement, and Richard Heinberg, peak oil commentator. What won't surprise anybody who has been to Findhorn is that the film is permeated with not just a can-do attitude, but indeed the joy of community and connection to the cycle of life. Rob Hopkins in his interview talks about a concept I have been hoping for, but for which I hadn’t heard a word before: peak car. How I hope that also occurred in the summer of 2008. (Erik Buitenhuis/TN2)

FILMS

Crude (US 2009) dir. Joe Berlinger - 26 January
Cinema City

Three years in the making, this cinéma-vérité feature from acclaimed filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Brother’s Keeper, Paradise Lost, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) is the epic story of one of the largest and most controversial environmental lawsuits on the planet. The inside story of the infamous “Amazon Chernobyl” case, Crude is a real-life high stakes legal drama, set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures.

The landmark case takes place in the Amazon jungle of Ecuador, pitting 30,000 indigenous and colonial rainforest dwellers against the U.S. oil giant Chevron. The plaintiffs claim that Texaco – which merged with Chevron in 2001 – spent three decades systematically contaminating one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, poisoning the water, air and land. The plaintiffs allege that the pollution has created a “death zone", resulting in increased rates of cancer, leukemia and birth defects. Chevron vociferously fights the claims, charging that the case is a complete fabrication, perpetrated by “environmental con men” who are seeking to line their pockets with the company’s billions.

While the environmental impact of the consumption of fossil fuels has been increasingly documented in recent years, Crude focuses on the human cost of our addiction to oil and the increasingly difficult task of holding a major corporation accountable for its past deeds.


Food, Inc. (US 2008) dir. Robert Kenner
release date 12 February






Food, Inc. lifts the veil on the US food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the consumer with the consent of the government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. The global food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the farmers, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of e coli, we are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farms' Gary Hirschberg and Polyface Farms' Joe Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising -- and often shocking truths -- about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a people and where we are going from here.

FILMS: Vanishing of the Bees directed by George Langworthy and Maryam Henein (UK, 2009)

Today is the last day of Bee Action week and cinemas all over England are buzzing. The documentary film, Vanishing of the Bees, investigates the syndrome known as colony collapse disorder that has decimated honeybee populations throughout the world, affecting not only the production of honey, but the pollination of trees, fruit, vegetables and herbs that make up a third of what we eat every day.

The mysterious disappearance of billions of bees has coincided with the use of systemic pesticides known as neonicotinoids. These damage the bee’s immune system in subsequent generations, making them vulnerable to disease. Manufactured by the pharmaceutical corporation, Bayer (CropScience), these toxins also affect the ability of the bees to navigate - they suffer from loss of memory and co-ordination and literally cannot find their way home.

Neonicotinoids are illegal in many European countries, including France, Germany and Italy. Governments in Britain and the United States have made no move towards banning their use. Meanwhile other organisations, such as the film’s distributor the Co-op (Plan Bee), the WI (SOS for Bees), Waveney Beekeepers (who run free beekeeping courses) and Transition initiatives, such as Sustainable Bungay (who are starting their own Community Supported Beehives), are taking matters into their own hands.

Perhaps the most effective way individuals and families can help every day is by eating fruit and vegetables grown without chemicals on organic farms or in local allotments and gardens which support a strong diversity of wild and domestic plants. By “voting with our forks” we will be giving back pollen and nectar to one of our greatest and most ancient allies on earth. (Charlotte Du Cann/Communications)

* STOP PRESS * In reference to the above some of you artists out there may have noted that there's an art exhibition planned for January 2010 at The Forum entitled 'The Elements' which is sponsored by Bayer CropScience. The Forum Trust is currently inviting entries from artists working with themes of 'Man and the Environment' from across Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Essex and Hertfordshire. So please think twice before you pick up that paintbrush! (Andy Croft, Communications)

FILMS: In Transition by Emma Goude (UK 2009) - Sunday 22 November

This month the Comms group is preparing a programme of events for the winter and would like your views. Please go to http://www.doodle.com/zazzr95xyrbpwxvh to select any films you would like to see and add other events that you would like in the comments below the doodle. Those who enjoyed moving across the dance floor at the Transition-supported ceilidh at The Keir Hardie Hall in September might like to step out to the low carbon acoustic band, Shufflewing, on 18 November http://www.reeldance.org.uk.

At the heart of learning how to transition to a world beyond oil is building community. In Transition successfully portrays the real 'getting your hands dirty' approach that is the hallmark of transition work, and shows it active in groups across the whole of the U.K. and the world. Also clear is how far transition work has progressed in a year. Not just in terms of numbers of groups across the country - they have proliferated !- but through the seriousness with which we are now taken by local and national politicians, policy makers, and big media personalities. "Transition Towns has become mainstream", proclaims one person in the film - but not at the expense of its fundamental creativity, infectiousness, and grassroots soul. It's great to see Transition Norwich featured so prominently in the film too - watch it and be inspired! (Chris Hull/Core)

FILM: The Vanishing of the Bees - Tuesday 27 October

The Vanishing of the Bees (U) is showing at Cinema City on Tuesday 27 October, 8.30 Director: George Langworthy. USA/UK 2009. 102 mins.

Honeybees pollinate one third of the food we consume, from apples to tea, but populations across the globe are declining dramatically. The causes are unknown, with theories ranging from poor weather and pests to pesticides.

The Vanishing of the Bees investigates this potentially catastrophic problem through interviews with scientists and beekeepers, in the process asking wider questions about modern intensive agricultural processes. Presented by The Co-operative as part of their Plan BEE programme. Find out after the screening what you can do to help halt the decline.

For more information visit http://www.vanishingbees.co.uk/ www.facebook.com/PicturehouseDOCS Book online or on 0871 704 2053

The Power of Community

This powerful film tells the story of how Cuba responded to the peak oil situation that was imposed upon it by the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is perhaps one of the most inspiring films about transition and provides hope that we can make the lifestyle changes needed to survive in a post oil society. Instead of ice cream bring a loaf of bread or some chopped veg to add to a big pot of soup to share during the interval. This will be followed by a discussion about how we can use some of the ideas in the film here in Norwich. 7pm at Inner Space, Maude Gray Court, St Benedict's Street.

The Age of Stupid - 9 July

The Age of Stupid is being screened again at Cinema City on Sunday 9th August at 5.20pm, followed by a panel discussion. In this film Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the environmental wasteland of 2055, looking back at footage from 2008 and asking: why didn't we save ourselves when we had the chance? This is essential viewing for anyone interested in life on earth in the 21st century. The film sold out when it was screened here in April and has been doing so around the globe, so book early (0871 704 2053) or http://groupspaces.com/e/click/rreq-vhmp-1xr8tylgbe?u=http://www.picturehouses.co.uk.

FILMS: Age of Stupid Release - May 22

This year's seminal film about climate change had its successful premiere at Cinema City last month with a strong contingent from Transition Norwich present, followed by a second screening in which TN took part in a panel for a lively discussion after the film. This month The Age of Stupid crew launch a new indie screening (www.indiescreenings.net) allowing anyone, anywhere to buy a license and put on their very own Stupid screening. If you schedule your screening for 7.30pm on the 22nd (the official launch day) you'll be able to tune into a live web broadcast with George Monbiot, the Met Office and Stupid's director, Franny Armstrong.