Upcoming Films

Wednesday 25 April 2007: "Those Who Dance" – a film about Rossport

This fifty minute documentary produced by filmmaker Mayyasa Al-Malzi, documents the struggles, oppression, and similarities of the people of Rossport, Co. Mayo and Ogoniland in Nigeria, the victims of the oil and gas industry in its pursuit of profits disregarding any obligations they own to the communities and environment were they extract or are attempting to extract the resources form.

Interviews are conducted with Shell to Sea activists, Ogoni exiles, Shell's public relation representatives in Mayo, and Ogani Solidarity Ireland. What is most striking about this film is that it cuts tough nationality and caste to reveal the similarities both these people face, be it in the third world or the first world from economic exploitation.

“We are aware of the fact that there is so much wealth in our land and all of it is being taken away by a company called Shell, and the Nigerian government is obviously encouraging it and supporting it. We call it economic slavery."

- Ogani exile

Wednesday 30 May 2007: Oil, Smoke & Mirrors

Oil Smoke & Mirrors" offers a sobering critique of our perceived recent history, of our present global circumstances, and of our shared future in light of imminent, under-reported and misrepresented energy production constraints.

Through a series of impressively candid, informed and articulate interviews, this film argues that the bizarre events surrounding the 9/11 attacks, and the equally bizarre prosecution of the so-called "war on terror", can be more credibly understood in the wider context of an imminent and critical divergence between available global oil supply and global oil demand.

The picture "Oil, Smoke & Mirrors" paints is one of a tragically hyper-mediated global-political culture, which, for whatever reason, demonstrably disassociates itself from the values it claims to represent.

While the ideas presented in this film can at first seem daunting, it's ultimate assertion is that these challenges can indeed be met and surpassed, if, but only if, we can find the courage to perceive them.
"Oil, Smoke & Mirrors" is an independent production. The producer has neither association with, nor membership of, any political organisation.

Wednesday 27 June 2007: Escape from Suburbia

In ESCAPE From SUBURBIA director Greg Greene once again takes us "through the looking glass" on a journey of discovery – a sobering yet vital and ultimately positive exploration of what the second half of the Oil Age has in store for us.
Through personal stories and interviews we examine how declining world oil production has already begun to affect modern life in North America. Expert scientific opinion is balanced with "on the street" portraits from an emerging global movement of citizen's groups who are confronting the challenges of Peak Oil in extraordinary ways.

Open Space Seminar

Please feel free to print and distribute this poster or link to it via email.

DTR Photography

The image of Common Grounds Cafe was kindly provided by Davy Ralston, local amatuer photogrpaher, whose work can be found at http://www.ireland-exposed.co.uk/index.html

Common Grounds Cafe

Open Space Event

Open Space is conducted with an adventurous spirit, is vibrant, stimulating and alive. What contribution can you make to visioning and creating a sustainable world?

The Belfast Film Cafe has organised and will be hosting an Open Space event. If you are interested in visioning and creating a sustainable world then why not come along and explore what your contribution can be.

"Open Space conferences have no keynote speakers, no pre-announced schedules of workshops, no panel discussions, no organizational booths. Instead, sitting in a large circle, participants learn in the first hour how they are going to create their own conference. Almost before they realize it, they become each other's teachers and leaders."

Any meeting that takes place depends on your passion for the topic and you taking responsibility to announce the topic meeting. You don’t need to be an expert, though experts are welcome. You may simply want to learn more and discuss the topic with others on the day. Open Space allows us to do that and create learning for ourselves and others.

Not long ago I did Open Space for an evening with 75 people, talking about the future of their county. They created fifteen substantial conversations about the issues they really care about and came back together to say it was one of the best meetings they ever had. The whole thing took three hours and all the notes are online for people to follow up. That's an example of what can happen in Open Space - Jeff Aitken

The Open Space event will be taking place on 31st March (Saturday) @ The Institute of Governance, University Road, Belfast between 10am - 5pm and will be a contribution based event.

For further information on Open Space events, why not have a look at:

http://www.co-intelligence.org/P-Openspace.html

http://www.openspaceworld.org/cgi/wiki.cgi?OpenSpaceElevatorSpeeches

Events Diary

Films are shown on the last Wednesday of every month at the Common Grounds Cafe, 12-24 University Avenue, Belfast from 7.00pm. Each film will be followed by refreshments and an informal cafe conversation about some of the issues raised in the films.

Wednesday 31 January: An Inconvenient Truth

Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.

If that sounds like a recipe for serious gloom and doom -- think again. From director Davis Guggenheim comes the Sundance Film Festival hit, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, which offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man's fervent crusade to halt Global Warmings deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. That man is former Vice President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election, re-set the course of his life to focus on a last-ditch, all-out effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change. In this eye-opening and poignant portrait of Gore and his "travelling global warming show," Gore also proves himself to be one of the most misunderstood characters in modern American public life. Here he is seen as never before in the media - funny, engaging, open and downright on fire about getting the surprisingly stirring truth about what he calls our "planetary emergency" out to ordinary citizens before it's too late.

Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount_classics/aninconvenienttruth/trailer/

RUNNING TIME: 92minutes

RELEASED IN 2006

Wednesday 28 February: Ancient Futures (Learning from Ladakh)

How we can learn about ecological solutions from an ancient Culture? Ladakh, or Little Tibet, is a wildly beautiful desert land high in the western Himalayas. It is a place of few resources and an extreme climate. Yet, for more than a thousand years, it has been home to a thriving culture.

Traditions of frugality and co-operation, coupled with an intimate and location-specific knowledge of the environment, enabled the Ladakhis not only to survive, but to prosper. Then came development. Now in Leh, the capital, one finds pollution and divisiveness, inflation and unemployment, intolerance and greed. Centuries of ecological balance and social harmony are under threat from modernisation.

The breakdown of Ladakh's culture and environment forces us to re-examine what we really mean by progress - not only in the developing parts of the world, but in the industrialized world as well. The story of Ladakh teaches us about the root causes of environmental, social and psychological problems, and provides valuable guidelines for our own future.

http://www.word-power.co.uk/catalogue/0712606564

RUNNING TIME: 60 minutes

RELEASED IN 1993

Wednesday 28 March: The Power of Community - How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

The DVD focuses on Cuba's transition from an industrial petroleum-based society to a sustainable society, as a result of their loss of petroleum when their source, the Soviet Union, collapsed.

The goals of this film are to give hope to the developed world as it wakes up to the consequences of being hooked on oil, and to lift American's prejudice of Cuba by showing the Cuban people as they are. The filmmakers do this by having the people tell their story on film. It's a story of their dedication to independence and triumph over adversity, and a story of cooperation and hope. Several Cubans expressed the belief that living on an island, with its natural boundaries, breeds awareness that there are limits to natural resources.

"Everyone who is concerned about Peak Oil needs to see this film. Cuba survived an energy famine during the 1990's, and how it did so constitutes one of the most important and hopeful stories of the past not just of individual achievement, but one of the collective mobilization of an entire society to meet an enormous challenge."

http://www.communitysolution.org/cuba.html

Richard Heinberg, author of The Party's Over, Powerdown

RUNNING TIME: 53 minutes

RELEASED IN 2006

See map for directions.

These events are a collaborative effort by a handful of people interested in visioning a sustainable world. While we do not make specific charges to attend these events we would suggest that a small contribution/donation of £2 - £5 will help us to continue organising them and securing films for future viewing.

If you need further information then contact us via belfastfilmcafe@gmail.com