All films, exhibits, discussions, silent auction
and Blue Green Café take place at

NVUSD District Auditorium
2425 Jefferson Street - Napa, CA 94558

Admission
Friday March 19th
Films and discussions
From 9AM – 6PM are Free to students and educators
$10 general public
$8 seniors

Admission
Sat March 20 and Sun March 21
$10 general public
$8 seniors and students

Schedule at a Glance - PDF

FRIDAY MARCH 19, 2010
9AM-11:30AM

What’s On Your Plate? (73m, USA)

By Catherine Gund
Categories: Healthy Food, Organic agriculture, Urban sustainability

A unique, kid-friendly documentary on organic farming and eating healthy in a big city. Best friends Sadie and Safiyah, two New York City seventh graders, are tired of yucky school lunches and want to know what could possibly be in them. The girls wonder what the difference is between healthy food and junk food, and more importantly, where does the food they are eating come from? The girls' quest for healthy food and uncovering ingredients leads them all over the city and its surrounding areas. Following the themes of “good food shouldn't be a luxury” (stated by one poet friend) and “you are what you eat,” this film is an fresh, inspiring, and straightforward look at America's food culture. Take it from Alice Waters, who says, “This movie can have a real impact on the way we think about what we're eating.” Director Catherine Gund (mother of Sadie) is an Emmy-nominated producer, director, writer, and organizer. Her work has played at international film festivals, and on PBS and the Sundance Channel.

Followed by
A Simple Question: The Story of STRAW (35m, USA)

By Bay Area filmmakers David Donnenfield and Kevin White
david@ddpro.com
Categories: Watershed restoration, Water conservation, Habitat biodiversity
WINE COUNTRY PREMIERE:

Narrated by Peter Coyote, this film tells the story of STRAW-Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed – from its modest origins in the 1992 as a fourth grade class project in a Sonoma County elementary school, to its growth into a remarkable program run by The Bay Institute, that has restored over 20 miles of habitat in the Stemple Creek drainage, and galvanized the local community.

Currently the program continues significant educational innovation about watershed restoration in Sonoma and Marin counties.

Followed by
BK Farmyards: Growing More Than
Just Produce in NYC Backyards (5m, 2009, U.S.A.)

By Liza deGuia
lizadeguia@gmail.com

BK Farmyards is a Brooklyn based decentralized farming network providing local food to reduce the city’s reliance on fossil fuels and offering local jobs to boost the economy. They partner with homeowners, developers, schools, and city agencies to provide affordable produce to neighborhoods that lack access to fresh foods. Their strategy is to stay nimble, growing food between the cracks of urban development.

BK Farmyard's first growing season started May 2009: a 6-member CSA out of Ditmas park backyards. In 2010, they plan to expand the backyard farming and start some new types of land sharing. They are partnering with the High School for Public Service in Crown Heights to start a 1-acre farmyard. The site will feature a student run CSA, and teaching entrepreneurship to youth, helping them to start garden-based value added businesses. They are also are working with New York Restoration Project to rejuvenate community involvement in two under-utilized community gardens: on one of those sites we will be raising 30 hens.

BK Farmyards mission is to bring communities together around the dinner table, aiming to build a local food network that enhances the health of our culture, our people, and our environment.

Discussion – Following the film there will be a discussion with attending filmmakers and other guest speakers.

~~~~~~~

FRIDAY MARCH 19, 2010
1:30PM – 3PM

Several Students Films

Followed by
Red Gold (55m, USA)

By Travis Rummel and Ben Knight
Categories: Sustainable Community, Water, Ocean, Fishery, Biodiversity
Red Gold premiered at Telluride Mountainfilm and won the “Audience Award” along with standing ovations for Telluride local filmmakers, Travis Rummel and Ben Knight, producers of fly-fishing films.
WINE COUNTRY PREMIERE:

In Bristol Bay, Alaska, a controversial copper and gold mine is proposed at the headwaters of Talarik Creek and Koktuli River, the world’s largest salmon fishery where tens of millions of trophy-size salmon spawn each year.

The film tells a story of remote Native American sustenance-users, Alaskan commercial fisherman, sport fisherman, and locals that all share the commonality of salmon fishing at the core of their existence. For the first time, all user groups come together in opposition of Pebble Mine development. And to be fair everyone in the film tells their own story the way they want to be heard, including the gold mine reps.

Discussion: There will be a discussion after the film with Laurel Marcus, founder of Napa County’s Fish Friendly Farming Program.

FRIDAY MARCH 19, 2010
3:30PM – 5PM

Ingredients (66m, USA)

By Robert Bates
Categories: Healthy Food, Sustainable Community

Today in America, youth obesity is at an all-time high, food seems to be getting less healthy but more expensive, and the average lifespan of our children is projected to be less than our own. What do we do next? This film explores the workings of sustainable food systems in the United States—taking us from farms to kitchens—and shows how community support of local agriculture can revitalize our economies and our health.

Featuring interviews with farmers in Oregon and New York and renowned chefs Greg Higgins of Higgins Restaurant, Peter Hoffman of Savoy, and Alice Waters of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse, the film emphasizes the importance of taste and nutrition, and the multi-layered value of eating something not frozen and shipped, but fresh and local. See how America’s food culture has been impacted by the rise of industrialization and discover a new movement where the earth, health, and community are intertwined.

The film is narrated by Emmy-winning actress and former Cheers star Bebe Neuwirth.

Followed by
Impact of Fresh healthy Foods on Learning and Behavior (15m, USA)

This short film was produced by Natural Ovens Bakery, a company that provides fresh food to schools in Manitowoc Wisconsin.

~~~~~~~

FRIDAY MARCH 19, 2010
5:30PM – 9PM
Reception - 5:30PM
One World Percussion Band - 6PM
Watershed Revolution (30m, USA) - 7PM

By Rich Reid
rich@richreidphotography.com
Category: Watershed Preservation
WINE COUNTRY PREMIERE

This film asks the question “What is a Watershed?” The answer is explored through interviews with concerned citizens working to protect and preserve the Ventura River watershed while stunning high definition cinematography highlights the beauty of the river. The unique challenges faced by a river that is the sole source of water for a thirsty community are brought to life and will change forever your definition of a watershed.

It highlights the need for open space and floodplain protection, sustainable agriculture, and community awareness of our most precious resource: water.

Following the film there will be a discussion with the filmmaker Rich Reid and guest speakers from Friends of the Napa River and Napa County Flood Control.

~~~~~~~

SATURDAY MARCH 20, 2010
Doors open at 10:30AM
11AM – 1:30PM

Lunatic Farmer (16m, USA)

By Chris Warner

Farmer Joel Salatin (currently featured in the Oscar nominated documentary FOOD, INC) shows how his animals “do the real work”—fertilizing, aerating, composting—making clean food for the community without fertilizer, antibiotics and other harmful chemicals. He is a bit of an oddity in a world dominated by corporate mega-farms which foster soil destroying mono-cultures. Joel says 'We are in the redemption business: healing the land, healing the food, healing the economy, and healing the culture.'

Followed by
BK Farmyards: Growing More Than
Just Produce in NYC Backyards (5m, 2009, U.S.A.)

By Liza deGuia
lizadeguia@gmail.com

BK Farmyards is a Brooklyn based decentralized farming network providing local food to reduce the city’s reliance on fossil fuels and offering local jobs to boost the economy. They partner with homeowners, developers, schools, and city agencies to provide affordable produce to neighborhoods that lack access to fresh foods. Their strategy is to stay nimble, growing food between the cracks of urban development.

BK Farmyard's first growing season started May 2009: a 6-member CSA out of Ditmas park backyards. In 2010, they plan to expand the backyard farming and start some new types of land sharing. They are partnering with the High School for Public Service in Crown Heights to start a 1-acre farmyard. The site will feature a student run CSA, and teaching entrepreneurship to youth, helping them to start garden-based value added businesses. They are also are working with New York Restoration Project to rejuvenate community involvement in two under-utilized community gardens: on one of those sites we will be raising 30 hens.

BK Farmyards mission is to bring communities together around the dinner table, aiming to build a local food network that enhances the health of our culture, our people, and our environment.

Followed by
What’s “Organic” About Organic? (75m, USA)

By Shelley Rogers
rogersshelley@yahoo.com
Categories: Food and Agriculture, Water
BAY AREA PREMIERE

This film is a headfirst dive into the challenges that arise when a grassroots agricultural movement evolves into a booming international market. The organic dairy industry’s access to pasture issue and the consolidation of the organic marketplace illustrate the conflicts that result when organic agricultural principles are compromised to fit within the industrial food system. The film provides insight for certification systems taking root across our society––from green building to fair trade––showing the pitfalls that can arise when idealism is formalized into a label.

There will be a discussion after the film with Napa County organic farmers and educators from the district.

~~~~~~~

SATURDAY MARCH 20, 2010
2:30PM – 5:30PM
This program is sponsored by Healthy Buildings, SolarCraft, and US Hydro Tech Environmental Solutions, NEFF founders.

VOHS Students Films Followed by

The Greening of Southie (73m, USA)

By: Ian Cheney (IMDB),
www.greeningofsouthie.com
Categories: Renewable Resources, Alternative Energy, Green Building

Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, who knocked one out of the park with King Corn are back with The Greening of Southie, the story of a LEED-certified, environmentally sensitive condominium built in South Boston. Just as they did in their earlier film, they succeed at explaining the techie stuff behind what it means to be a Green building: essentially a points system where certain components — getting materials from nearby sources; using recycled parts; minimizing waste — all get scored. But the real center of this film are the construction worker on the site, all proud Union members who scratch their heads at this fancy-pants system. The cabinetry made of pressed wheat stalks absorbs too much moisture and swells. They have to replant the succulents on the roof. The two-button toilets? One for rinse and one for, well, it’s all rather comic. The Macallen Building was filmed over a two-year period, and there’s plenty of really exquisite time-lapse photography.

After the film there will be a discussion about green building practices with representatives from SolarCraft, US Hydro Tech, Napa Green Certified Winery Program and Healthy Buildings.

~~~~~~~

SATURDAY MARCH 20, 2010
7PM – 9PM

A Sea Change: Imagine a World Without Fish (86m, USA)

By Barbara Ettinger
www.aseachange.net, www.onesky.org
Categories: Ocean Acidification, Fish, Oxygen, Climate Change
BAY AREA PREMIERE:

After reading Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Darkening Sea, retired history teacher Sven Huseby becomes obsessed with the rising acidity of the oceans and what this “sea change” bodes for mankind. Deeply concerned about what his grandson will inherent, he uncovers a worldwide crisis that most people are unaware of – ocean acidification, the so-called “evil twin” of climate change.

Speaking with oceanographers, marine biologists, climatologists, and artists, Sven discovers that global warming is only half the story of the environmental catastrophe. Ocean acidification is possibly a graver threat to our ecosystems - and to life as we know it - than climate disruption. Why? Because 70% of the oxygen we breathe comes from the ocean (from plankton and the process of photosynthesis). But with rising levels of CO2 in the ocean, the shells of these tiniest of sea creatures are eroding, killing them. Plankton is also at the bottom of the ocean’s seafood chain. No plankton = no fish = no oxygen….

After the film there will be a discussion with Bay Area scientist Dr. Miyoko Sakashita from the Center of Biological Diversity and Dr. Lance Morgan of Marine Conservation Biology Institute, Dr. Sakashita is featured in the film.

~~~~~~~

SUNDAY MARCH 21, 2010
11AM- 1:30PM
Flood Control Short Films

Followed by
Blue Gold: World Water Wars (90m, USA)

By Sam Bozzo
Categories: Resource Privitization vs. Human Rights, Urban and Rural Sustainability, Water pollution, Water Use

Narrated by actor Malcolm McDowell, this powerful and insightful award winning film asks the question “Can the human race survive?” The film suggests that wars of the future will be fought over water as they are over oil today, as the source of human survival enters the global marketplace and political arena. Corporate giants, private investors, and corrupt governments vie for control of our dwindling supply, prompting protests, lawsuits, and revolutions from citizens fighting for the right to survive. Past civilizations have collapsed from poor water management. Can the human race survive?

Following the film there will be a discussion about water use in Napa County.

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SUNDAY MARCH 21, 2010
2:30PM – 5PM
VOHS Garden Film

Followed by
One Man, One Cow, One Planet (56m, New Zeland)

By Thomas Burstyn Barbara and Sumner Burstyn
Category: Organic & Biodynamic Farming, Sustainable Community
sumnerburstyn@gmail.com

Peter Proctor - age 78 - left the comforts of life in suburban New Zealand to live and work in India. Peter is known as the father of modern biodynamic farming, an arcane and extreme form of agriculture. Detractors call it, at best, hopeful farming, not grounded in today’s market realities - at worst ‘a new age scam.’ But across India thousands of subsistence farmers would disagree. And Peter is quietly determined to save the world. Biodynamic agriculture is changing the landscape, releasing entire communities from the debt cycles and destroyed lands of chemical farming and the bio colonialism of multinational corporations. This inspiring film reveals the hidden battle of Indian farmers to own seeds, to grow diverse crops, to feed themselves and their communities.

Followed by
A Return to Dry Farming (12m 2009)

By Sonoma County filmmaker Kate Wilson
kate@russianriverkeeper.org
WORLD PREMIERE

This work in progress takes a look at the history and techniques of dry farming vineyards in Sonoma County. Interviews with local vintners and environmentalists explain how dry farming can be one solution to the current water shortages we face.

Followed by
Hidden Bounty of Marin: Farm Families In Transition (27m, USA)

By Steve Quirt & Ellie Rilla
kmarando@co.marin.ca.us
Categories: Wildlife and watershed protection, organic agriculture, Sustainable community

Marin County, California, is an extraordinary place with an extraordinary community of farmers and ranchers. Traditional cattle, dairy and sheep ranchers blend with oyster farmers, cheese makers and vegetable producers. Marin dairies provide 20% of the Bay Area's milk. Meat, shellfish and organic row crops are produced for local and regional markets. An exciting transformation is taking place here. This documentary brings us close in to the lives and work of nine farm families in transition who bring us high quality, local and organic food. The land they steward provides watershed protection and habitat for a tremendous diversity of birds, plants and wildlife.

Following the film representatives from Napa County's green movement and filmmakers Kate Wilson and Steve Quirt will discuss the benefits of sustainable farming practices.

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SUNDAY MARCH 21, 2010
6PM – 8:30PM
Silent auction winners announced
Closing Night remarks

This year the Closing Night film A Touch of Spice is from Greece. It is a feature length narrative with food as passion – a theme moviegoers have long observed like "Chocolat" and "Like Water for Chocolate."

A Touch of Spice (103m, Greece)

By Tassos Boulmetis
WEST COAST PREMIERE

The story is a semi-autobiographical dramedy rooted in novel narratives and sweeping dreamlike cinematography, rich with culinary imagery. Compelling from the get-go, the first shot is of a mother dabbing sugar onto her breast to lure a nursing infant. The baby, Fanis Iakovides, grows into an astrophysicist and closet chef, played as an adult by George Corraface. Young Fanis spends his childhood in Constantinople, mostly in his Grandpa’s spice shop. There, he witnesses Grandpa giving customers unorthodox tips, like to use cinnamon instead of cumin in their meatballs. Grandpa teaches Fanis how everything in existence (from the galaxies to etymology) traces back to simple spices. The bond is taut, but it is later torn when riots erupt in Cyprus and the Turkish government orders all Greek citizens deported. The family is divided, as Fanis and parents unwillingly relocate to Athens.

In Greece, Fanis discovers cooking, which he does precociously. But his parents worry about his un-masculine hobby and lock him out of the kitchen. This leads Fanis on a more pragmatic, scientific track. Not until adulthood, while Fanis is working as a professor, does his soul come full circle…