[imc-wellington] Indymedia film show - Sunday 25 May, 7.30 pm

[ksimpson at ihug.co.nz]

(apologies for cross-posting)

Wellington Indymedia Collective film screening

Sunday 25 May, 7.30 pm
at 128 Abel Smith Street
gold coin entry

The Coconut Revolution
and
The War of 33

details below:

The Coconut Revolution   50 minutes
(Stampede, November 2001)

This is the modern-day story of a native people’s remarkable victory over
Western Colonial power. A Pacific island rose up in arms against giant
mining corporation Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) - and won despite a military
occupation and blockade. When RTZ decided to step up production at the
Panguna Mine on the island of Bougainville, they got more than they
bargained for. The island’s people had enough of seeing their environment
ruined and being treated as pawns by RTZ. 
  RTZ refused to compensate them, so the people decided it was time to put
an end to outside interference in the island’s affairs. To do this they
forcibly closed down the mine. 
  The Papua New Guinea Army (PNGDF) were mobilised in an attempt to put
down the rebellion. The newly formed Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA)
began the fight with bows & arrows, and sticks & stones. Against a heavily
armed adversary they still managed to retain control of most of their
island. Realising they were beaten on the ground, the PNGDF imposed a
gunboat blockade around Bougainville, in an attempt to strangle the BRA
into submission. But the blockade seemed to of had little or no effect.
  With no shipments getting in or out of the island, how did new
electricity networks spring up in BRA held territory? How were BRA troops
able to drive around the island without any source of petrol or diesel? 
  What was happening within the blockade was an environmental and spiritual
revolution. The ruins of the old Panguna mine were being recycled to supply
the raw materials for the world's first eco-revolution. 
  A David and Goliath story of the 21st century, The Coconut Revolution
will appeal to people of all backgrounds 

Winner: 
FICA Festival of Environmental Film, Brazil
BEMA Richard Keefe Memorial Award - WWF
Golden Kite, Best Documentary, Mar del Plata, Argentina
Silver Kite, Best Film for Young People, Argentina

Runner up:
BEMA (British Environmental Media Awards) Best Documentary
Amnesty International Awards, Best Documentary
One World Media Awards 2001, TV Documentary

Director: Dom Rotheroe
Sound: Carlos Soto 
Funding: Soros Documentary Fund
Producer: Mike Chaimberlain 


The War of 33     
Letters from Beirut     (Big Noise Tactical Media)  30 minutes

An intimate, personal and powerful telling of the story of the 2006 war in
Lebanon. A series of letters written by Hanady Salman - a mother living
through the war in Beirut - carve a narrative arc through the intense and
haunting images of conflict. She tells the stories of her family and the
people she lives the war with the refugees, the wounded, and the everyday
Lebanese, struggling to maintain their sanity and their humanity during a
time of war. The War of 33 is more than a document of a particular
historical experience. What emerges is a universal story - a complex
picture of love, pain, resistance and survival in the face of uncertainty
and violence.