Ripple Effect Eco Film Fest will screen Environmentally focused Film and Video as part of Hamilton's Earth Week 2008 Events which include a planned Eco-Festival, Walk & Tree-Planting events.

Download a PDF of our Poster

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - Earth Day

Event: Opening Celebration Party & Screening on Earth Day, w/Talk

Location: Westside Concert Theatre, 434 King Street West, Hamilton, ON - Click here for a map.

Cocktail Reception: 6:30 - 7:30pm
Showtime: 7:30pm

Cost: Free or Pay What You Can $10.00 Suggested Donation

Website: http://www.westsidelive.com

Please Note: All Seating is on a First Come First Serve Basis.

Screening:  Edge of Eden: Living with Grizzlies
(formerly The Bear Man of Kamchatka)
Directed by Jeff and Sue Turner

This is the extraordinary story of a family reunion. In this case, the family is made up of one man and a few bears, living in isolation in the wilderness of Russia.

Edge of Eden tracks Canadian bear expert Charlie Russell as he rescues two orphaned cubs destined for death in a squalid Russian zoo. He secrets them away to his home in the remote wilds of the South Kamchatka peninsula, in the former Soviet Union.
(http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/bearman.html)

A Live Teleconference /Interview with Charlie Russell

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Event: Screening & Talk with Director Barri Cohen

Location: Presented by The Art Gallery of Hamilton, 23 King Street West, Hamilton, ON - Click here for a map.

Showtime: Doors open at 6:30 - Screening at 7:00pm

Cost: AGH Members $5, General Admission $7, Seniors $6

Website: http://www.artgalleryofhamilton.com

Please Note: All Seating is on a First Come First Serve Basis.

Feature:  Toxic Trespass (81 min/Canada)
Directed by Barri Cohen

"I am polluted." – A powerful statement. These three words should never be heard from a child or to a greater extent your own child. But this is the reality for Ada Cohen daughter of Barri Cohen director of the film Toxic Trespass.

The documentary investigates the growing evidence that we are conducting a large-scale toxicological experiment on our children. Together, Barri and Ada confront polluters, researchers who see no conclusive link between environmental poisoning and childhood diseases, and the government officials who are supposed to be protecting us.

 

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Event: Screening (Double feature evening)

Location: Staircase Theatre, 27 Dundurn Street North, (one block north of King) Hamilton ON - Click here for a map.

Showtime: Doors Open at 6:30, First film at 7:00pm

Webiste: http://www.staircase.org

Cost: Free or Pay What You Can $10.00 Suggested Donation

Please Note: All Seating is on a First Come First Serve Basis.

7:00pm - Feature: Dead in the Water (52 min/Canada)
Directed by Neil Docherty

There's a problem with the world's water supply. One person in four doesn't have access to clean drinking water. Many governments lack either the resources or the will to provide this essential commodity to their citizens.


In recent years, a number of powerful companies have spotted this crisis and seen a business opportunity. From the deserts of California to the streets of Soweto, and in several thousand other cities and towns throughout the world, often with the involvement of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, these corporations have attempted to privatize what many consider a public trust.

Dead in the Water investigates the results of these efforts at privatization in several key locations, and chronicles what many see as the first in a wave of battles in the years to come.

 

8:00pm - Feature: Buried at Sea (52 min/Canada)
Directed by John Wesley Chisholm

Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of highly toxic materials lie scattered on ocean floors - in barrels that are rusting away and releasing their lethal contents. The results could make Chernobyl look like a child's chemistry experiment gone awry.

While we worry about weapons of mass destruction in the hands of rogue states, the West's legacy may prove far more dangerous. During the Second World War, Canada produced more chemical weapons than any other of the Allies. After the war, and during the Cold War era, massive weapons stockpiles were simply dumped into the ocean by the United States, Britain, Canada, the Soviet Union and Germany.

They were considered buried and done with. Problem solved - forever. In many cases, nobody ever bothered to mark their locations.

Information about known dumps was either mishandled or suppressed. This documentary takes us on a journey to discover some of the most dangerous dump sites. The oceans are vast and unknown; it took almost 90 years to find the wreck of the Titanic. Finding weapons lying underwater will prove infinitely harder - and far more urgent, since the health of marine species and coastal communities is at risk. Buried at Sea takes us on that search.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Event: Screening

Location: Fenian Films, 211 Locke St. South, Hamilton, ON - Click here for a map.

Showtime: Doors open at 6:30, Screening at 7:00pm

Cost: Free or Pay What You Can $10.00 Suggested Donation

Website: http://www.fenianfilms.com/

Please Note: All Seating is on a First Come First Serve Basis.

7:00pm - Feature: Refugee of A Blue Planet (52 min/Canada)
Directed by Hélène Choquette & Jean-Philippe Duval

A Canadian farmer, a fisherman in the Maldives and a Brazilian peasant: they live poles apart, under widely varying socio-economic conditions. Yet they are victims of the same tragedy. They are among the 25 million people forced to move for environmental reasons - the new displaced persons, driven from their homes by toxic gases linked to petroleum development, rising water levels due to climate warming or intensive eucalyptus farming done for economic reasons. Their land has become dangerous, flooded, or sterile. While the number of ecological refugees now exceeds that of political refugees, their existence is scarcely recognized. Yet by 2050 they may well number a billion.

 

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Event: Closing Party, Live Music, Mini Fest of Short Films

Location: Sky Dragon Centre, 27 King William Street, Hamilton, ON - Click here for a map.

Showtime: 7:00pm

Cost: Pay what you can or FREE, suggested donation: $10

Website: http://skydragon.org

Please Note: All Seating is on a First Come First Serve Basis.

The Water Detectives (12  min/Canada)
In Metamoros, Mexico, a severe water shortage led the city to take the unusual step of putting local children in charge of changing adult attitudes and habits

P is for Papaya (8 min/Canada)
Told as a romance gone bad, this short documentary reveals some of the sour secrets beneath the skin of a popular topical fruit.

Friday’s at the Farm (19 min/USA)
Feeling disconnected from their food, a filmmaker and his family decide to join a community supported organic farm in suburban Philadelphia