This is really good stuff.: February 2009

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Pax Christi El Paso Film Series

This film series on peace and justice themes, now in its fourth year, is sponsored by Pax Christi El Paso and the Peace and Justice Ministry of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso. Admission is free. Donations are accepted but not required. Light refreshments are served, and there is time for discussion after each film. Movies have been scheduled at 3:00 p. m. on the second Sunday of each month through the end of 2009.

January 10 - PEACE IS EVERY STEP (Thich Nhat Hanh)

The Life and Work of Thich Nhat Hanh
Peace Is Every Step provides an intimate portrait of the life of Thich Nhat Hanh, internationally known Vietnamese Buddhist monk, poet, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. His main message, delivered in soft-spoken tones, concerns meditation in action. "You get out of the meditation hall," Thich Nhat Hanh says, "and that is called meditation in action. Deep looking is meditation, and deep acting is also meditation."

Since his efforts to end the Vietnam War, which resulted in a forty-year exile from Vietnam, Thich Nhat Hanh has resided in Plum Village, France. Footage of his work in Vietnam and at his monastery in Plum Village, as well as at several retreats in the U.S., weaves a tapestry of his constant efforts at reconciliation. Thich Nhat Hanh served as Chair of the Vietnamese Peace Delegation to the Paris Peace Talks and some of the most interesting moments filmed involve his ongoing interactions with Vietnam Veterans. One of the most touching moments in the film is his visit to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC.

In Peace Is Every Step, Thich Nhat Hanh reminds viewers to lead a "mindful and meaningful life... The best way to take care of the future," he says, "is to take care of the present moment. There are things we can do, we all can do."

Completed: 1998
Running Time: 52 minutes
Director/Producer: Gaetano Maida
Narrator: Ben Kingsley

December 13 - POSADA: A NIGHT TO CROSS ALL BORDERS

The U.S. Border Patrol turns away 100,000 unaccompanied immigrant children every year. This is the story of three who stayed. Las Posadas is a Mexican tradition that retells the Christmas story of Joseph and Mary’s search for shelter.

In POSADA: A NIGHT TO CROSS ALL BORDERS, the journeys of Densi, Johny and Wilber unfold in a dramatic pilgrimage as teenagers from their homes in Central America for the United States. Each one was detained by immigration officials for several months between 1999 and 2002. Their heroic stories helped lay the foundation for future immigrants in need of assistance.

Since 2000, between 80,000-110,000 children have been arrested and turned away by the U.S. each year. The number of children detained annually by the U.S. has risen to over 7,700 in 2005.

Poison DUst You thought they came home safely from the war. They didn't.
Poison DUst tells the story of three young men from New York who could not get answers for their mysterious ailments after their National Guard unit's 2003 tour of duty in Iraq. A mother reveals her fears about the extent of her child's birth defects and the growing disablity of her young husband - a vet.
Filmmaker Sue Harris skillfully weaves, through interviews, their journey from personal trauma, to 'positive' test results for uranium poisoning, to learning what radioactive Depleted Uranium weapons are. Their frustrations in dealing with the Veterans Administration's silence becomes outrage as they realize that thousands of other GI's have the same symptoms.
Veterans, anti-war organizers, environmentalists and health care providers will find this wake-up call to today's GIs invaluable.
Today more than 1/3 of all 1991 Gulf War vets are on VA Disability Benefits. Meanwhile U.S. use of radioactive DU weapons has increased six-fold from 1991 to Gulf War II!
Directed and edited by Sue Harris and the Peoples Video Network.
Final edits by Mike Sudyn, Flying Dreams. Music by Movement in Motion, Catherine Moon, the Fourth Wall Players, Pam Parker & Jobari Namdar-Parker.
Visit www.peaceproject.com for more information.

THE POWER OF COMMUNITY: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens. It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call "The Special Period." The film opens with a short history of Peak Oil, a term for the time in our history when world oil production will reach its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope. The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil is a project of The Community Solution, a non-profit organization that designs and teaches low-energy solutions to the current unsustainable, fossil fuel based, industrialized, and centralized way of living. Visit www.communitysolution.org for more information.

VIVA LA CAUSA is a documentary film that focuses on one of the seminal events in the march for human rights — the grape strike and boycott led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta in the 1960s. Viva la Causa will show how thousands of people from across the nation joined in a battle for justice for the most exploited people in our country — the workers who put food on our tables. The new documentary film will chronicle how Chavez, Huerta and their colleagues, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., created a mass movement to improve the lives of some of the most exploited people in the country — farmworkers who labored for meager wages under appalling conditions in the fields of California. Chavez and Huerta guided a non-violent strike for fair wages that became a movement for social justice. The film, offered in English and Spanish, will feature interviews with Chavez's family and Dolores Huerta, as well as farmworker families, students and others who served as "foot soldiers," breathing life into the movement. It will remind today's students that they are inheritors of la causa, and that they, too, possess the power to change the world.

I KNOW I'M NOT ALONE
Michael Franti, world-renowned musician and human rights worker, travels to Iraq, Palestine and Israel to explore the human cost of war with a group of friends, some video cameras and his guitar.
"This film came out of my frustration with watching the nightly news and hearing generals, politicians and pundits, explaining the political and economic cost of the war in the Middle East, without ever mentioning the human cost. Although war is the most politically weighted subject one could ever take on, I did not want to make a political movie. Instead, I wanted to make a film about people, and the things they do to overcome the stresses of war and occupation: chief among these being friendship, humor, art and music. I am incredibly indebted to the people of Iraq, Israel and Palestine as well as all the soldiers who spoke so candidly for our cameras and have done my best to share their stories in the film. The most powerful thing I learned throughout the whole experience is how the gift of music opens all of our hearts and how in these times, that gift is more meaninful than ever." - Michael Franti

SOUL SEARCHING: THE JOURNEY OF THOMAS MERTON
Award-winning producer Morgan Atkinson spent years researching Merton’s work, as well as interviewing Merton friends, scholars and authorities on the spiritual life. Atkinson’s cameras reveal life at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton’s home of 27 years, as well as Merton’s path in New York City, Redwoods Monastery (California) and Christ in the Desert Monastery (New Mexico). The picture that emerges from Atkinson’s study provides provocative insights into the interior landscape of one of the spiritual giants of modern times while capturing the haunting physical beauty of the geography that both nurtured and shaped Merton. This documentary goes to the heart of Merton's spiritual journey.

THE CORPORATION explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Part film and part movement. Taking its status as a legal "person" to the logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask "What kind of person is it?" The Corporation includes interviews with 40 corporate insiders and critics - including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore - plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change.

MAY 17TH BODY OF WAR
Body of War is an intimate and transformational feature documentary about the true face of war today. Meet Tomas Young, 25 years old, paralyzed from a bullet to his spine - wounded after serving in Iraq for less than a week. Body of War is Tomas' coming home story as he evolves into a new person, coming to terms with his disability and finding his own unique and passionate voice against the war. The film is produced and directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro, and features two original songs by Eddie Vedder. Body of War is a naked and honest portrayal of what it's like inside the body, heart and soul of this extraordinary and heroic young man. Body of War unfolds on two parallel tracks. On the one hand, we see Tomas evolving into a powerful voice against the war as he struggles to deal with the complexities of a paralyzed body. And on the other, we see the historic debate unfolding in the Congress about going to war in Iraq.

April 19th Thirst
Is water part of a shared "commons", a human right for all people? Or is it a commodity to be bought, sold, and traded in a global marketplace? "Thirst" tells the stories of communities in Bolivia, India, and the United States that are asking these fundamental questions. Large dams and privatized, corporate water systems is challenged by experts and activists who assert that water is a human right, not a commodity to be traded on the open market.

March 8th Dorothy Day: Don't Call Me A Saint
This film tells the story of the New York writer and Catholic anarchist who the Vatican is currently considering for canonization. But Dorothy is no ordinary saint. Her commitment to justice and peace led to several arrests for civil disobedience and to a life dedicated to helping the hungry and the homeless. Dorothy Day taught that nonviolence makes the world safe for conflict... you can have conflict but you don't go to the point of killing.

February 8th War Dance
Northern Uganda has been at war for 23 years with a rebel force, the Lord's Resistance Army (L.R.A.), and the country's children are not only the victims of the rebels, they are kidnapped and forced to become the rebels. But amidst this grief and violence, across the country, Ugandan children continue to prepare for the biggest event of the year, the National Music Competition. War Dance follows the courageous efforts of Patongo's students as they pour their hearts into winning this year's competition. They dance about their homeland, they dance about their future, they dance to be children...and they dance to win.

For more information, call (915)217-8190 or (915)874-8422
Show time: 3:00 p. m.
Mother Tesesa Hall of Dioscesan Migrant & Refugee Services
2400 E. Yandell Dr.
El Paso, TX
(Between Piedras and Cotton St.- From I-10 take the Piedras exit, go north on Piedras turn left on Yandell.)

Schedule for 2009
January 11 - THE INVISIBLE CHAPEL
February 8 - WAR DANCE
March 8 - DOROTHY DAY: DON'T CALL ME A SAINT
April 19 - THIRST
May 17 - BODY OF WAR
June 14 - THE CORPORATION
July 12 - SOUL SEARCHING: THE JOURNEY OF THOMAS MERTON
August 9 - I KNOW I'M NOT ALONE
September 13 - VIVA LA CAUSA
October 11 - THE POWER OF COMMUNITY
November 8 - POISON DUST
December 13 - POSADA: A NIGHT TO CROSS ALL BORDERS