 Tickets now on sale for January 16 & 17, 2009
Reserve your tickets by calling The City Playhouse Box Office at 905-882-SHOW(7469)
Tickets are $5 per film - Day Passes are $12 each - Full Festival Passes are $20.00
Includes an on-site Green Market of green vendors, environmental groups, information kiosks, activities and refreshments.
Admission into the City Playhouse Green Market is free and several community screenings are being held free of charge. All are welcome!
Scene from "SQUIRM: The Story of Cathy's Crawly Composters"
JANUARY 16, 2009
10:30am – MORROW & JASP GO GREEN - all tickets $8 or free with Day Pass or Festival Pass
11:30am – SQUIRM : The Story of Cathy’s Crawly Composters
12:45pm - GEOLOGIC JOURNEY: The Great Lakes - free screening
2:30pm – Town At The Top of The World – free screening
3:00pm – Justicia Now! - free screening (description on More Films)
3:30pm – El Contrato – free screening
4:30pm – Five Ring Circus
6:00pm – Shipbreakers - free screening
7:30pm – SHARKWATER
9:00pm - Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?
JANUARY 17, 2009
9:45am - Les Ailes du Marais - free screening (description on More Films)
10:30am – MORROW & JASP GO GREEN - all tickets $8 or free with Day Pass or Festival Pass
11:30am – Encounters At The End of The World
1:30pm – Be The Change - free screening
2:30pm – GEOLOGIC JOURNEY: The Great Lakes – free screening
3:30pm – SQUIRM : The Story of Cathy’s Crawly Composters
4:30pm – Up The Yangtze - free screening
6:00pm – The Price of Sugar
8:00pm – Good Morning Khandahar – free screening
9:00pm - Garbage Warrior
MORROW AND JASP – GO GREEN : The acclaimed duo bring their eco-friendly live show to the stage at City Playhouse to demonstrate to children how easy (or how hard) it can be to go green at home. A hit at the Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton Fringe Festivals, this show is great for all ages. Tickets are $8 each or included with the purchase of a festival Day Pass for $12 or a $20 Festival Pass. LIVE PERFORMANCE FOR CHILDREN Visit www.morroandjasp.com
SQUIRM : The Story of Cathy’s Crawly Composters: The story of Cathy Nesbitt, Canada’s foremost authority on vermicomposting. Whether it’s a country fair, a big city flower show, a hospital cafeteria, a daycare center or a birthday party Cathy has shared the benefits of worms and vermicomposting to communities, schools, farmers, educators and children, upwards to over 50,000 people, since founding her business in Bradford, Ontario. This film is a document of a year in Cathy’s life, a testament to her passionate beliefs, a study of her relentless crusade against consumption and waste, a portrait of her as an avid environmentalist and as an outstanding member of the human race. (2009) Canada. 43 minutes WORLD PREMIERE!
View Trailer Here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOjfgPkzpuo
The Town At The Top Of The World: This is the story of the dark and painful birth of Grise Fiord, North America's northern most civilian community. It's a town like no other with a history that most Canadians are unaware of…and would be ashamed of. In 1953 the Government of Canada picked up seven Inuit families in northern Quebec and dropped them two thousand kilometres farther north, in an unforgiving and isolated landscape. It was the height of the cold war and they were to be living flagpoles, Canada's claim to sovereignty over the high arctic. Everything was alien. They knew nothing of musk ox, polar bears and walrus. The sea was frozen ten months of the year and twenty-four hour darkness settled in for many months. They were given canvas tents and a few meagre supplies and left alone. (2008 – Canada) 55 minutes Free Screening
Darfur Now!: A a call to action for people everywhere to help end the crisis in Darfur. For the first time in history, the US Government has declared a genocide while it is ongoing. In this film, the struggles and achievements of six very different individuals bring to light the situation in Darfur and the need to get involved. From a UCLA graduate in Los Angeles, California, to a Darfurian woman who joins rebel forces, to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, to a United Nations humanitarian on the ground in Sudan, to an internationally known actor and activist, and finally to a community leader in a West Darfur refugee camp, the film portrays the heroic efforts of six people responding to a humanitarian tragedy unfolding before our eyes. Written and directed by Ted Braun. Featuring Don Cheadle and George Clooney. (2007- USA) 92 minutes.
VIEW TRAILER HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65lk-1JqxFA
El Contrato: Teodoro Bello Martinez, a poverty-stricken father of four living in Central Mexico, and several of his countrymen make an annual migration to southern Ontario. For eight months of the year the town's population absorbs 4000 migrant labourers who pick tomatoes for conditions and wages no local will accept. Under a well-meaning government program that allows growers to monitor themselves, the opportunity to exploit workers is as ripe as the fruit they pick. Grievances are deflected by a long line of others "back home" who are willing to take their place.
Despite a fear of repercussions, the workers voice their desire for dignity and respect, as much as for better working conditions. El Contrato ends as winter closes in and the Mexicans pledge, not for the first time and possibly not the last, that it's their final season in the north. (2003 – Canada) 51 min Free Screening
Five Ring Circus: The upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics will change Vancouver forever. This documentary exposes a dangerous side of the upcoming games by examining how the commitments to environmental, social and economic sustainability have not been kept and how the preparations for the games are affecting diverse communities. Is the city getting into the spirit of the games or getting ready for a triatholon of increased poverty, severe debt load and irreversable environmental damage? (2007 Canada) 80 minutes
VIEW TRAILER HERE : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Qk5zfXwg8
Shipbreakers: As visually mesmerizing as it is compelling, Shipbreakers takes the viewer into the heart of Alang, India, a vibrant shantytown where 40,000 people live and work in the most primitive conditions. Since the early '80s, the rusting hulks of thousands of the world's largest ships have been driven onto the remote beaches of Alang, off the Arabian Sea, to be dismantled, piece by piece. Sold for scrap, the ship owners rarely bother to abide by the UN Basel Convention, which bans shipments of transboundary waste. One worker a day, on average, dies on the job, some from explosions or falls, but many will contract cancers caused by asbestos, PCBs and other toxic substances. Shipbreakers vividly captures both the haunting beauty of the ships and the deplorable conditions of the workers--in an unforgettable portrayal where Third World ingenuity meets 21st century global economics.( 2004 – Canada) 72 min Free Screening
SHARKWATER: For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth. Driven by passion fed from a life-long fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas. Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands. (2006 – Canada) 89 minutes
VIEW TRAILER HERE : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo-e-yru4jY
Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?: Director Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) sets off to do what the CIA, FBI and countless bounty hunters have failed to do: find the worlds most wanted man. Why take on such a seemingly impossible mission? Simple-he wants to make the world safe for his soon to be born child. But before he finds Osama bin Laden, he first needs to learn where he came from, what makes him tick, and most importantly, what exactly created bin Laden to begin with. (2008 – USA) 93 minutes
VIEW TRAILER HERE : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYmEA4O6a10
Encounters At The End of the World: Located on Ross Island, McMurdo Station is the headquarters of the National Science Foundation. Whether offering a detailed study of the unique survival training regimen that newcomers to McMurdo are obligated to endure or pondering the majestic beauty of a landscape where the discovery of three new species in a single day is nothing to get excited about. Legendary director Werner Herzog boldly offers viewers the opportunity to visit one of the most inaccessible and awe-inspiring landscapes on the planet. (2008 - USA) 99 minutes
VIEW TRAILER HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MImYM87jOtU
Be The Change: An upbeat point-of-view documentary that makes stars out of ordinary people who are trying to live more sustainably. Ditector David Chernushenko looks at what motivates these local heroes and reveals the challenges and rewards of trying to live more lightly. It is a celebration of the human spirit. (2008 – Canada 55 minutes) Free Screening.
VIEW TRAILER HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC6krWojZyA
Geologic Journey - The Great Lakes: This documentary tells the story of the dramatic changes in the geologic history and landscape of the region, which has only recently taken the form of the five, great, interconnected lakes. Marvel at the roots of a long-vanished mountain range that once rivaled the Himalayas, explore the remains of a tropical salt-water sea, and trace the story of a sudden massive flood that drowned vast areas of land. (2008 – Canada) 50 min. Free Screening
Up The Yangtze: A luxury cruise boat motors up the Yangtze - navigating the mythic waterway known in China simply as "The River." The Yangtze is about to be transformed by the biggest hydroelectric dam in history. At the river's edge - a young woman says goodbye to her family as the floodwaters rise towards their small homestead. The Three Gorges Dam - contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle - provides the epic backdrop for Up the Yangtze, a dramatic feature documentary on life inside modern China. (2007 - Canada) 93 minutes Free Screening
VIEW THE TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV3tQ7G2Ve4
The Price of Sugar: On the Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic, tourists flock to pristine beaches, with little knowledge that a few miles away thousands of dispossessed Haitians are under armed guard on plantations harvesting sugarcane, most of which ends up in US kitchens. Cutting cane by machete, they work 14 hour days, 7 days a week, frequently without access to decent housing, electricity, clean water, education, healthcare or adequate nutrition. The Price of Sugar follows a charismatic Spanish priest, Father Christopher Hartley, as he organizes some of this hemisphere's poorest people, challenging the powerful interests profiting from their work. This film raises key questions about where the products we consume originate, at what human cost they are produced and ultimately, where our responsibility lies. (2008 - USA) 90 minutes
VIEW THE TRAILER : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6SHfIMgudE
Good Morning Khandahar: This film introduces us to young men and women torn between a deep desire to help Afghanistan and fear that things will never change. Some are enthusiastic. There’s ‘Dewa’, who broadcasts pop songs, recipes and beauty tips to Kandahar on RANA-FM. And Yahseer. who enjoys the freedom of Canada’s nightlife, but by day broadcasts to tradition-bound Kandahar – mostly good news, plus warnings to keep back from NATO convoys.
The film grows darker when we meet Najia, who grieves in exile for her country. A refugee, she was once a broadcaster at a women’s station in Afghanistan – until a death threat forced her to flee. Meanwhile, at a NATO training camp in Alberta – complete with a re-creation of an Afghan landscape – role-players wear fake Taliban beards and enthuse about riding in tanks. Here we also find Sharif, a young translator haunted by the wars he witnessed – and upset by Afghan friends who call him a traitor for helping the Canadian military. Amidst all the conflicting opinions, Nasr decides to see for himself. He travels to Afghanistan, where he learns many feel that NATO is just another invader, finds little improvement in life, and comes to think that Canada’s mission is failing. A a moving and rich film that brings a badly needed personal perspective to a painful controversy. (2008 – Canada) 50 min Free Screening
Garbage Warrior: A feature-length documentary film telling the epic story of maverick US architect Michael Reynolds and his fight to introduce radically sustainable housing. An extraordinary tale of triumph over bureaucracy, Garbage Warrior is above all an intimate portrait of an extraordinary individual and his dream of changing the world.
(2007 – UK) 86 minutes
VIEW THE TRAILER : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAwUBv37kps
Visit 'MORE FILMS' for ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS
Films subject to change due to availability | 
