Craik Earth Day Film Festival
April 23 - 25, 2010

For the second time in three years Craik plays host to people from around the province at the 2010 Earth Day Film Festival this April 23 – 25.

The Saskatchewan Eco Network (SEN) is the lead organization with major support from the Craik Sustainable Living Project (CSLP). Many other local and provincial sponsors and advertisers are also contributing to what is shaping up to be a fabulous weekend. “We’re thrilled to have such widespread support for an event such as this. It really demonstrates a growing interest and concern for the environment” Kelly Green, local affiliate of Earth Day Canada and organizer for SEN.

The event kicks off on Friday April 23 at 11 am with a Youth Program. Students from Saskatoon are field tripping here for the occasion, and will be joined by some students from Craik too. After watching the opening film Eco Home Adventures (which recently aired on CBC’s Passionate Eye), students and the viewing public can take part in the first of many Eat Local meals at the Legion Hall. After that, they’ll take a guided tour of the eco-village.

Later that afternoon (2:30 pm) join Crystal Stinson from the CSLP for a presentation about Craik’s Community Composting Program. She is one of many guest speakers scheduled throughout the weekend. The others are: Jessie Best and Shaun Abbs – Rooted / Transition Saskatoon; Jim Harding – author and PhD; Cathy Holtslander – Beyond Factory Farming; Karen Ann Macdonald – Heavenly Health Quantum Healing Centre; Steve Suderman – producer/director of feature film Over Land; and Krishan Kapila – President of Multi-Faith Saskatchewan. They will all share there unique knowledge and engage festival goers in a lively discussion.

A Networking Fair runs throughout the festival where many sponsoring organizations and businesses will be on hand with display and take away information and products.

The films are numerous and sure to entertain as well as educate. There is a good mix of features and shorts, three of which connect directly with Craik and Davidson.

Twice during the festival awards will be given out to two local citizens for their dedicated service to the community and the environment. These awards are presented by SEN to a handful of environmentalists every year. Other recipients were awarded at SEN’s annual film festival in Saskatoon (March 2010) and upcoming at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum for their Earth Day events, also hosted by SEN.

Everyone of all ages is welcome to attend part or all of the festival. Drop in tickets are $10 or get a full weekend pass for $25. Eat Local meals will be between $5 and $10. If money is an issue, admission rates are on a sliding scale depending on your needs, or one could take advantage of many festival passes made available to our local sponsors (RBC, Titan Clean Energy, Praxis International Institute, Davidson Leader).

An endeavour such as this is made possible with the hard work of volunteers. CSLP steering committee members will be on hand helping with the Eat Local meals (which is also a fundraiser for them), as well as other duties including tour guides for the out of towners. But, we in Craik are humbled with an enormous amount of outside support too.

The national youth organization, Katimavik, is sending more than 30 youth from areas throughout southern Saskatchewan to help and take part. Because there is so many of them, you may also see them helping with a variety of other civic projects throughout the weekend.

So come on out and support this fine local event. Find out more about what is happening in our town, throughout the province and around the world in an exciting race against time towards sustainability.

Regular updates on Facebook.

Feature Films

Over Land

(Canada, 60 Minutes) Overland

Over Land is an intimate and personal portrait of a family facing a crisis in agriculture. Between 1996 and 2006, amidst warnings of an impending food shortage, prices for farm goods dropped to their lowest point in Canadian history, driving many farmers off the land. With a family history of farming spanning generations, the Sudermans now face a challenge that threatens to pull the family apart. As Steve Suderman films his family, the fight for economic survival becomes a touching story of hope, determination, and the search for purpose.

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Quantum Activist

There is a revolution going on in science. A genuine paradigm shift. While mainstream science remains materialist, a substantial number of scientists are supporting and developing a paradigm based on the primacy of consciousness. Dr. Amit Goswami, Ph.D, a pioneer of this revolutionary new perspective within science shares with us his vision of the unlimited potential of consciousness as the ground of all being, and how this revelation can actually help us to live better. The Quantum Activist tells the story of a man who challenges us to rethink our very notions of existence and reality, with a force and scope not felt since Einstein.

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No Impact Man

No Impact Man

Author Colin Beavan, in research for his next book, began the No Impact Project in November 2006. A newly self-proclaimed environmentalist who could no long avoid pointing the finger at himself, Colin leaves behind his liberal complacency for a vow to make as little environmental impact as possible for one year. No more automated transportation, no more electricity, no more non-local food, no more material consumption…no problem. That is, until his espresso-guzzling, retail-worshipping wife Michelle and their two year-old daughter are dragged into the fray. What began as one man's environmental experiment quickly becomes an experiment in how much one woman is willing to sacrifice for her husband's dreams. Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein's film provides both a front row seat into the experiment that became a national fascination and media sensation, and a behind the scenes look at the marital challenges that result from Colin's and Michelle's radical lifestyle change. View the trailer here.

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In Transition

50 min., 2009

In Transition

The Transition movement is about communities around the world responding to peak oil and climate change with creativity, imagination and humour, and setting about rebuilding their local economies and communities. It is positive, solutions focused, viral and fun. The film is the work of director Emma Goude, with production by Smith and Watson, and with input from Transition communities around the world. In Transition is the perfect sequel to The Age of Stupid. It tells the story of the generation that looked peak oil and climate change square in the face, and responded with creativity, compassion and genius. In the film you will see the stories of communities creating their own currencies, setting up their own pubs, planting trees, growing food. You’ll see local authorities getting behind their local Transition initiatives, and get a sense of the scale of this emerging movement. It is a story of hope, and it is a call to action. View the trailer here.

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My Toxic Baby

baby Director Min Sook Lee

My Toxic Baby isn’t a cautionary tale telling you the ‘do’s and ‘don’ts’ of healthy parenting. Parents and mothers especially have enough to worry about without yet another voice making them feel inadequate. This is a personal essay that aims to broaden the options that are made available to parents in the context of the chemical world we live in today.

Hijacked Future

The documentary looks at the increasingly fragile base of our North American industrial food system in order to bring all of us consumers of food to a better understanding of just what’s at stake with our daily bread. It asks us to question the wisdom of a system precariously based on oil and corporate seeds while we’re at the same time witnessing the impact of climate change.

Hijacked Future

As the film says, “It all starts with the seed, and the stakes are high… because who controls the seed, controls the food… Who will control the seeds we plant, and the food we put on our tables?” Will our future be…Hijacked?

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Numen, the Nature of Plants

Numen, defined as the animating force in nature, is a 95-minute documentary film focusing on the healing power of plants and the natural world. Featuring stunning footage of medicinal plants and thought-provoking interviews with Drs. Tiearona Lowdog and Larry Dossey, the late Bill Mitchell, ND, author Kenny Ausubel, herbalists Rosemary Gladstar, Phyllis Light and many others, the film calls for a re-awakening of traditional knowledge about plants and their uses. Numen is for herbalists, gardeners, medical practitioners, plant lovers - and everyone concerned about human and environmental health.

Numen

A primary objective of Numen is to bring the same awareness to medicine and the medical industry that the organic food movement has brought to food and the food industry. The film presents a sobering view of conventional healthcare and the dangers of environmental insults, as well as a vision of safe, effective and sustainable medicine. It offers stories about how individuals have improved their own health and well-being and provides concrete steps for viewers to do so as well.

Under Rich Earth

Under Rich Earth

Under Rich Earth is a story about ordinary people with extraordinary courage. In a remote mountain valley in Ecuador, coffee and sugarcane farmers face the dismal prospect of being forced off their land to make way for a mining project. Unprotected by the police and ignored by their government, they prepare to face down the invaders on their own. Their resistance ultimately leads to a remarkable and dangerous stand off between farmers and a band of armed paramilitaries deep in the cloud forest. In a world dominated by news of massacres and terrorism, Under Rich Earth offers a surprising and poignant tale of hope and determination.

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Short Films

Workshops

  • In Transition Workshop with Jessie Best and Shaun Abbs of Rooted / Transition Saskatoon
  • Community Composting with Crytal Stinson of the Craik Sustainable Living Project http://www.craikecovillage.com

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Guest Speakers

Networking Fair

Sponsors and environmental groups with booths throughout the weekend.

Tours

  • Eco-Centre
  • Eco-Village
  • Town of Craik attractions

Eat Local

Delicious meals at the venue, or two other establishments in Craik.

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Accommodations in Craik available at C & T Motel, 306-734-2476

EDFF is sponsored by:

Craik Sustainable Living Project, Royal Bank (Craik Branch), SaskTel, Rooted & Transition Saskatoon, Multi-faith Saskatchewan, Beyond Factory Farming, The Davidson Leader, Heavenly Health Quantum Healing Centre, Rye Cinema, Intention Media, Waterbear Productions, Turning the Tide Bookstore, Briarpatch Magazine, Brook Hollow Productions, Storyline Entertainment, Mae Star Productions, Orangeville Road Pictures Ltd., Global Oneness Project, Titan, Praxis Institute, Canadian Cancer Society, Escape Sports, Demetria, and others, with financial support of Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment and The Canadian Environmental Network.

Sponsors and Advertisers get lots of perks. from $25 - $200. Interested? drop Kelly Green a line at kellygreen@sasktel.net or call 306-734-2823.

EARTH DAY® and the Leaf & Swirl DesignTM are trade-marks of Earth Day Canada (1991) Inc., used with the permission of Earth Day Canada (1991) Inc.