CP Looks at Money in Politics – PRICELE$$ on February 9

As the 2012 election campaign kicks into high gear, Conscientious Projector turns to award-winning documentarian Steve Cowan for an incisive analysis of the impact of big money and corporate lobbying on electoral politics, the legislative process and democracy itself in a post-Citizens United world. Priceless will be shown on Thursday, February 9, 7:00 p.m. at The Armory Center for the Arts. The Habitat Media production features interviews with current and former elected officials from both major parties, influential Washington lobbyists, and national public policy advocates such as Thom Hartmann, Bob Edgar, Sheila Krumholtz and Professor Lawrence Lessig, among many others (including a group of very savvy third-graders).

Local MoveOn/Occupy Pasadena organizers Patrick Briggs and Maddie Gavel-Briggs will lead a community discussion of the issues and potential solutions following the film. The Armory is located at 145 N. Raymond in Old Pasadena. Admission is free and the facility is accessible to disabled persons.

Climate Refugees – Thursday, December 8 at 7:00 p.m.

Millions of people from around the world have already been displaced by the devastating effects of climactic disaster, their lives forever disrupted, their homes, communities and livelihoods lost. Their story, a story millions more are facing, is told in Climate Refugees—this month’s Conscientious Projector presentation on Thursday, December 8, 7:00 p.m. at The Armory Center for the Arts. Writer-director Michael  Nash set out to make a film about the human face of climate change, and the result is both moving and alarming, portending further grand scale challenges for every society on every continent on Earth in this new era of planetary transformation.

A community discussion follows the film. The Armory is located at 145 N. Raymond in Old Pasadena. Admission is free and the facility is accessible to disabled persons.

180° South: Conquerors of the Useless – This Thursday

On Thursday, August 11 at 7:00 p.m., Conscientious Projector will screen 180 Degrees South: Conquerors of the Useless, a 2010 documentary directed by Chris Malloy.   In 2008, Jeff Johnson travels from Ventura, California to Patagonia, Chile, retracing the 1968 trip of Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins, in honor of their lifetimes of environmental activism and their contributions to wilderness ethics.  Chouinard and Tompkins played a leading role in the worldwide movement to preserve the South American wilderness, and Chouinard founded the eco-conscious outdoor gear and clothing company, Patagonia, a model for innovative, sustainable business practices.

Johnson travels by sea from Mexico and south along the west coast of Chile, surfing, sailing and climbing as he goes.  Upon reaching Patagonia, Johnson meets with Chouinard and Tompkins. They join him for the extremely challenging ascent of Cerro Corcovado, imparting wisdom along the way, sharing their philosophies, life experiences and thoughts on the future of the world. This exciting yet reflective film includes documentary footage from Chouinard and Tomkins’ original 1968 trek. The subtitle of the film comes from Lionel Terray’s mountaineering autobiography, Les Conquérants de l’inutile (1961).

A Patagonia spokesperson will join us for a community discussion following the film.

FREEDOM RIDERS – Threatened. Jailed. Attacked.

This Sunday, July 31, our Peace & Justice Ministries partner COLORS (Christians Offering Love to Overcome Racism in Society) is sponsoring a luncheon screening of an acclaimed PBS American Experience film depicting a dramatic period in American civil rights history:

FREEDOM RIDERS

Sunday, July 31

12:45 – 4:00 pm

All Saints Church

132 N. Euclid

Pasadena

An extremely realistic portrayal of this most significant chapter in our nation’s history, the film movingly illustrates the power of moral authority in the hands and hearts of ordinary people to prevail against the KKK and racist elected officials. Freedom Riders dispels the prevailing myth that Northern (white) students went on a mission to the South to combat segregation and instead makes clear that the leadership lay with the local African American residents who risked their lives to help bring justice to our land.

Please join us for an inspiring afternoon as we watch this important documentary, have lunch together and discuss the film and its implications for our anti-racism work.

Please RSVP by July 26 to Mary Torregrosa (flakita@aol.com or 626-271-3056) for your lunch reservation and to arrange childcare.

Wake Up: The Environmental and Economic Links Between Coffee Farmers, Coffee Drinkers, and Birds

Our friends at Fair Trade LA invite you to a special screening of Birdsong & Coffee: A Wake Up Call this weekend:

Friday, July 29

7:30 – 9:00 pm

Ten Thousand Villages

567 South Lake Avenue

Pasadena

The screening is co-sponsored by All Saints Church, Ten Thousand Villages, Fair Trade LA, Fair Trade Pasadena and Fair Trade USA.

The film, by Old Dog Documentaries, “lays out the background of the ‘coffee crisis,’ a situation that Seth Petchers of Oxfam International describes as a ‘humanitarian catastrophe.’ We meet the coffee growers of Agua Buena in the rainforest of southern Costa Rica, who welcome us into their homes and describe the labor-intensive process of shade-grown coffee production.” The film also “offers simple but effective solutions based on what Robert Rice of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center calls the ‘natural organic connection that exists between farmers, coffee drinkers, and birds.’”

There will also be a presentation by Gilberto Ramirez, from CoopeAgri, R.L., San Ysidro, Costa Rica, who is a visionary innovator and a leader in his community, the first Fair Trade Town in Latin America.

For more information about this event visit Fair Trade LA’s website or call Joan Harper at 818.406.9296.