Progressive Film Hour

Progressive Film Hour - 04.07.15

Today’s featured film on Progressive Film Hour is the award-winning documentary, Angel Azur, a film which explores the artistic journey of Jason deCaires Taylor, an innovative artist who combines creativity with an important environmental solution; the creation of artificial coral reefs from statues he’s cast from live models.

When algae overtakes the reefs however, experts provide the facts about the perilous situation coral reefs currently face and solutions necessary to save them. Peter Coyote generously provides insightful narration that leaves viewers pondering our connection to this valuable and beautiful ecosystem.  The film highlights the intense issues surrounding the global destruction of coral reefs, and who is doing what to protect them, as well as who is doing what to ignore their plight and further erode them.

Filmmaker Marcelina Cravat will be joining Mitchell in a Round Table discussion about the issues around coral reefs and some creative ways she explores in the film to help preserve and restore them.

Marcy trained at the Art Center College of Design in photography and the Berkeley Digital Film Institute in film. Making a transition from photography to film came later in life when her love for storytelling motivated her to return to school to pursue a career as a writer/director. Upon graduating she co-founded a small production company specializing in portrait style documentaries on artists and then went on to found Passelande Pictures that serves as an umbrella for all of her projects going forward. Marcelina grew up around Hollywood sets as daughter of character actor Nick Cravat, Burt Lancaster’s life long chum, circus partner and co-star.

Progressive Film Hour - The Lion Tree - 03.31.15

This week’s film will be The Lion Tree, filmed & produced by Ralph Strutchberry.  The film addresses the first subject of the magnificence of the king of the jungle in its native habitat, the lion and lioness, and then the issues of conservation, preservation and protection of the species which is threatened, as are most animals in the wild, by over-population of the human species as well as unbridled human aggression and violence beyond natural balance.

To discuss the film is  Adam Roberts, President of the Born Free Foundation and  Christopher Gervais, Founder & President of the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival.

Adam was named CEO of Born Free USA and the Born Free Foundation in 2014.  Prior, he was Executive Vice President of Born Free USA, a role he held since helping launch the organization in 2002 to bring the UK-based Born Free Foundation’s message of compassionate conservation to the American public.

Adam has significant expertise and over two decades of experience in international wildlife trade and captive wild animals, and serves on the board of directors of the Species Survival Network (www.ssn.org) where he chairs their press and financial committees, the bear working group, and the animals in captivity working group.  SSN is dedicated to ensuring that the international wildlife trade does not cause overexploitation of animals and plants.  SNN currently includes 82 member organizations from 33 countries.

He is also a founding member of the board and current chairman of the board of Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing species-specific humane standards of care for animals held in wildlife and farm animal sanctuaries, and accrediting facilities globally based on these standards.

In 2003, Adam founded The $10 Club, a charity to fund poverty alleviation projects in developing countries. He runs the organization single-handedly, and as a volunteer. To date, the organization has supported work in more than 50 countries and has given out a quarter of a million dollars in grant awards.  He began his animal protection career in Washington, DC in 1991.

Adam has written over 50 articles for various medical, legal, scientific, and advocacy organization publications around the world.  He is a frequent lecturer/speaker at national and international conferences on issues concerning captive wild animals, compassionate conservation and the protection of all animals.

He is interviewed regularly by the media about animal welfare and wildlife conservation issues. Among recent interviews:  CNN, HLN, Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Reuters, New York Daily News, NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, and more.

Christopher J. Gervais is the Founder & CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival (WCFF), he is an environmental scientist and has graduate studies in marine biology and vertebrate paleontology. He worked as a field researcher, laboratory scientist and teacher at multiple natural history museums to put himself through his college years. Christopher’s first job out of college was a biology teacher and later as an administrator, at the time he was the youngest Principal for a public school in the state of Florida.

Christopher was one of the first scientists to conduct underwater vertebrate paleontology research. He is a professional, advanced scuba diver with over 2,500 logged dives. He is President of the International Exploration Society (IES), Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, member of the Ocean Geographic Society, friend of American Philosophical Society and a Board Member of the Pet Philanthropy Circle.

Christopher is a frequent guest on Headline News (HLN) for Jane Velez Mitchell to discuss Animal Rights Issues.  Christopher has been a guest on A Better World Radio and Progressive Film Hour with Mitchell Rabin several times as a major advocate of wildlife conservation.

Progressive Film Hour – Symphony of the Soil – 03.17.15

This week, the film Mitchell is featuring is Symphony of the Soil, a beautiful film going into exquisite detail about the soil of this earth, and its lush, rich life-giving properties.

To discuss the film is its filmmaker Deborah Koons-Garcia (of Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia fame) and narrator Prof. Ignacio Chapela..

“I showed Symphony of the Soil at the UN in December on World Soil Day which began the UN Year of the Soils. Symphony is an official part of The Year and is showing all over the world. I am also going to show parts of the film for Congress at the US Capital next month.”

Deborah Koons Garcia has called Northern California home for over thirty years, with her production company based in Mill Valley, CA. She has made fiction, educational and documentary films. For the last fifteen years she has focused primarily on films about agriculture and the food system.

 Ms. Garcia directed the groundbreaking film, The Future of Food, which premiered at Film Forum in New York City.The Future of Food (2004) examines the alarming issues surrounding the rapidly increasing corporate domination of our food supply. It is the first major film to cover the history and technology of genetic engineering and the complex implications of releasing such crops into the food environment and food supply. The Future of Food helped jumpstart what is now called the food movement and the continues to play widely all over the world in theaters and at film, food and farming festivals and conferences and at thousands of community-organized screenings. Her latest film,Symphony of the Soil, which is currently in wide release, was designated a Critics’ Pick by the New York Times and was shown at the United Nations in New York City on World Soil Day which launched the UN International Year of the Soils.

Ignacio Chapela (born 1959) is a microbial ecologist and mycologist at the University of California, Berkeley. He is best known for a 2001 paper in Nature on the flow of transgenes into wild maize populations, as an outspoken critic of the University of California‘s ties to the biotechnology industry, as well as a later dispute with the University over denial of tenure that Chapela argued was politically motivated. Chapela is also notable for his work with natural resources and indigenous rights.

Progressive Film Hour - Conscious Birthing – Creating A Better World in 9 Months - 03.10.15

Tuesday, March 10, 3pm EST:  This week, there are two films being featured on the theme of Conscious Conception, pregnancy, birth and beyond.  These films focus on the in utero experience of the embryo-fetus-infant, from conception forward, as the formative time of human development. It’s a fascinating period of time too frequently neglected in understanding human nature, attitudes, behavior and intelligence.

The first film is Life Imitates Birth 
by filmmaker, Monica Matos, Ten Moons Rising.
Watch the Trailer:

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The second film is
Gift for the Unborn Children,
its writer, Laura Uplinger.

 

Watch the Trailer:

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Filmmaker Monica Matos (Life Imitates Birth) and writer Laura Uplinger (Gift for the Unborn Children), Osteopath Dr. Francois Amigues, and midwife, doula, Carla Machado will be guests in the Round Table discussion.

A bit more on today’s guests:  Laura Uplinger, Prenatal and perinatal educator for more than 30 years, Author, alumni board member ofAPPPAH (Association for Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology and Health).  Carla Machado, President of ANEP Brasil (National Association for Pre­natal Education).  Monica Matos, Founder of Ten Moons Rising, Producer of the documentary project “Life Imitates Birth”

Tune in to hear clips from both films and a dynamic Round Table discussion about the vital importance of the first 9 months in utero and the birthing process itself in the formation of personality and character of the human being to emerge.

Oil & Water, the Film & Round Table - 03.03.15

Tuesday, March 3, 3pm EST: This week’s featured film is Oil & Water, a story about an indigenous Ecuadorian from the Amazon Rain forest who comes to the U.S. at age 10 and is the first of his tribe to visit the U.S. And it’s about an American boy who becomes completely interested, intrigued with life in the Ecuadorian Rain Forest and the destruction being fomented by major U.S. oil companies. It goes from interesting to heart-breaking to inspiring.

 

 

See the trailer:

Joining Mitchell in the Round Table is filmmaker Francine Strickwerda of Stir It Up Productions. Francine Strickwerda is an award-winning director, writer and producer of independent documentary films for PBS and Showtime, and owner of Flock This Way Films. Her newest documentary, Spirit of the Game (currently in production) is the story of an extraordinary school counselor who helps children and families heal through the sport of Ultimate Frisbee.

Francine co-produced, directed and wrote the feature film Oil & Water for PBS, as well as Busting Out, a feature documentary about the history and politics of America’s obsession with the female breast, which aired on Showtime. An expert film fundraiser and grant writer, her films have been funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Independent Television Service (ITVS), Chicken & Egg Pictures, the city of Seattle and many others. Also, she is a documentary film coach and grant writer for hire, and she helps other filmmakers find success on their creative paths.

Francine runs Hullabaloo.tv, a Seattle production company that creates high-end corporate and commercial work with her husband Tracy Dethlefs, creative director and editor. Previously, she worked on several feature documentaries at Seattle’s KCTS Public Television, including Affluenza and Escape from Affluenza, and she produced and executive edited national PBS Web sites including Don’t Buy It,Videogame Revolution and Exploring Space. She was a senior producer at HealthTalk.com, and she has created videos for clients including the United Nations, Fortune 500 companies and the Seattle Fire Department. Francine began her storytelling career as a newspaper reporter and she has a degree in journalism from the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University.

Also joining Mitchell is Hugo Lucitante, a Cofan representative from the Northeastern part of Ecuador. A student who at the age of 10 was sent to the US to get education. He was one of the youngest speakers at the UN at the age of 12.  After High School he returned to Ecuador for couple of years to learn Spanish and to participate for Cofan Federation. Every year he returns home and works with communities on various projects mostly focused in Zabalo. They are currently working on crowd funding for Cofan Community Health Project, to make medicinal garden and for a better access to the nearest hospital.

Lucitante’s attempt to figure it out is chronicled in this documentary.

The film, by local directors Francine Strickwerda and Laurel Spellman Smith, picks up as Lucitante is graduating from Seattle’s Bishop Blanchet High School and follows him for eight years as he goes back and forth between his native and adopted homes. Along the way he meets American David Poritz, a kind of environmental prodigy, who while still a child devoted himself to fighting oil pollution in Ecuador and who is now immersed in a movement to certify ethically produced “fair trade” oil, similar to what has been done in the coffee and chocolate industries.

Progressive Film Hour - Bill Twist & Tracy Apple of Pachamama Alliance - 02.10.15

Tuesday, February 10, 3pm EST: Being featured today is footage from the Pachamama Alliance’s Symposium, designed to educate, inform and inspire to action the protection and preservation of the Amazon Rainforest in particular and the eco-system of the Earth overall.

Mitchell’s guests on the Round Table to discuss the environmental and psycho-sociological issues raised in the footage are Bill Twist and Tracy Apple of Pachamama Alliance.

Bill Twist is one of the co-founders of The Pachamama Alliance and serves as its chief executive officer. “I am generally referred to as a founder of The Pachamama Alliance but more truthfully I am the beneficiary of a process that “founded” me.

Since its inception in 1996, The Pachamama Alliance has provided a rich and constantly expanding environment for my personal education about the world at large and has provided a powerful opportunity to live a life of service and contribution. It has been a gift.” Bill has been the president of The Pachamama Alliance since 1996. Prior to The Pachamama Alliance, Bill had an extensive background in business having worked in the management consulting, equipment leasing and financial services industries since 1970.

Bill has an undergraduate degree in engineering and a masters degree in business administration.

Tracy Apple is the Program Developer and Founding Board Member, who has been involved since the inception, and was one of the primary people responsible for bringing the Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium into being, as well as for creating and leading the Facilitator training program in the US and abroad. She is overall responsible for the content and message of Pachamama educational programs and for the effectiveness of the training programs. She also participates as a founding member of the Pachamama Board of Directors.

Tracy says, “One of my favorite things is traveling and finding that the message of Awakening the Dreamer totally resonates in people in so many different areas, countries, cultures and languages. People light up no matter where they are—it’s just amazing! It is such a joy to be a carrier of this work.”

Tracy received an MA in Curriculum Development from UC Berkeley School of Education and taught gifted elementary school children in Richmond, CA. She was a founding member of The Hunger Project and a family oral historian for many years. She has been a camp counselor for kids from NYC slums, led youth hostel bicycle trips around Europe, led to donor trips to Africa and Bangladesh, and guided spiritual adventure travels in Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, Peru, Ethiopia, Morocco, Cuba. All roads have led to the same place: the majesty of the human heart, spirit and the natural world; an exploration of grace; and a living inquiry into what it means to live life for the benefit of all.

Tune in today to hear some film clips of the Pachamama Symposium footage and to hear a couple of the co-founders on the Round Table with Mitchell speak about the global vision and practical action the Pachamama Alliance is orchestrating among many hundreds of thousands of people world-wide.

Progressive Film Hour - Positive Hell with Joan Shenton - 01.20.15

Mitchell’s guest is veteran film maker Joan Shenton, who will discuss her new joint product with Andi Reiss, “Positive Hell”, about a group of Spanish HIV-positives, who have either never taken AIDS drugs or took them only for a short time. All were severe IV drug addicts or, in the case of their medical advisor, Dr. Manuel Garrido, a severe alcoholic. All of them conquered their addiction, and reclaimed their health, eventually rejecting their AIDS diagnosis.

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Watch the trailer:

Dr. Garrido is not just the medical advisor, but he has lived his advice, as he is also HIV-positive, and has also declined AIDS drugs.

The experience of Joan has been hard. Her career as a successful medical documentary producer was destroyed in the early 1990s after a documentary first won a major award and then was the subject of a “Star Chamber” investigation.

Joan is the instigator of the Immune Resource Foundation, that has a huge archive of critical AIDS documentaries and other video footage. Also with Andi Reiss she recently co-produced the film “Positively False: Birth of a Heresy”and is republishing her book this year, also called “Positively False”.

Purchase Joan’s Book 

Progressive Film Hour - Twilight of the Giants with Dr. Richard G. Ruggiero, Christopher J. Gervais - 01.13.15

Tuesday January 13, 3pm EST: Today’s featured film is Twilight of the Giants, a beautiful film portraying elephants from all over the world, the biology, culture, love and lifestyle they maintain naturally, and how these are being jeopardized by man’s sprawling population.

The story follows three females, we learn about the biology, lifestyle and customs of elephants. And these three elephants are quite different.

The first is the son of a forest elephant, a relatively unknown species, who makes his first trip to a bai and must learn, alongside his family, how to get to the salt which lies hidden underground. The second, an African bush elephant, is a weathered matriarch who must lead her family to water when their territory suffers a severe drought. And the third is an Indian elephant, mother to a young son, whose territory is shrinking due to the effects of human activity.

Around clips from the film Mitchell will discuss the film and Elephant Conservation with Round Table guests Dr. Richard G. Ruggieroand Christopher J. Gervais.

Watch the trailer:

Dr. Richard G. Ruggiero is the Chief of the Division of International Conservation at the US Fish and Wildlife Service. He received a Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1989 with a dissertation on the Ecology and Conservation of Elephants in Central Africa. His Master’s research was on predator-prey relationships of lions and other large carnivores in the Central African Republic.

During his 17 years of on-the-ground experience in Africa, he has also worked extensively in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Republic of Congo, and Gabon. His work currently focuses on: wildlife trafficking; conservation policy; endangered species conservation; protected area design and management; wildlife security; the building of governance capacity related to wildlife conservation; and professional training.

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Christopher J. Gervais is the Founder & CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival (WCFF), he is an environmental scientist and has graduate studies in marine biology and vertebrate paleontology. He worked as a field researcher, laboratory scientist and teacher at multiple natural history museums to put himself through his college years. Christopher’s first job out of college was a biology teacher and later as an administrator, at the time he was the youngest Principal for a public school in the state of Florida.

While a graduate student, Christopher conducted fieldwork and research to study the Pleistocene Mega fauna fossils that were deposited over 10,000 years ago. His study of these extinct species informs his concerns for preserving biodiversity and was a significant factor in the founding of the WCFF. Christopher was one of the first scientists to conduct underwater vertebrate paleontology research. He is a professional, advanced scuba diver with over 2,500 logged dives. He is President of the International Exploration Society (IES), Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, member of the Ocean Geographic Society, friend of American Philosophical Society and a Board Member of the Pet Philanthropy Circle.

Christopher is a frequent guest on Headline News (HLN) for Jane Velez Mitchell to discuss Animal Rights Issues.
He is currently producing several wildlife documentary films.

The Film, Occupy The Farm - 01.06.15

Tuesday January 6, 3pm EST: On today’s show, Mitchell features the film Occupy The Farm, with Round Table guestsTodd Darling, the film’s director/producer, Effie Rawlings, andGopal Dayanenian, the film’s spokesperson and one of the protesters named in the civil suit,

They will be discussing the film, Occupy The Farm, a Documentary by Todd, which tells the story of a community’s fight to save UC Berkeley’s public land for urban farming.

When 200 farmers march to the gates of the last farmland in California’s urban EastBay, they didn’t carry signs protesting University of California’s plans to build a shopping mall. Instead, they carried tents, tools and 15,000 seedlings. They clipped the padlock off the gate and marched onto the fields. What happens next will change the fate of the land and introduce a new strategy for activism. From tilling soil to police raids, from lawsuits to overflowing harvests, as well as cooperation between the “1% and the 99%”.

The action of Occupy The Farm was Effie’s idea, Ashoka was the farm planner, and Gopal was in charge of the messaging of the action. All three of them attended or graduated from UC Berkeley, the public institution that owned the land.

The film plays the next night – Jan 7 in Seattle at the Seattle International Film Festival Center, and late January Santa Barbara, Davis, and Monterey. The film will be in theaters until at least the early Spring.

Watch the trailer:

Todd Darling lives in Venice, CA. He directed and produced “Occupy The Farm”, 2014; “Black Rock Horse” (30 minute short) 2012 about a monumental art project at Burning Man; “A Snow Mobile for George” (2009) a cross country trip with a smoky, used snowmobile encounters stories of how people are effected by environmental deregulation.

For television he has also directed shows for: MTV, Seasons,1,2 and 3 of “Laguna Beach: The Real OC”; Fox “Murder in Small Town X”; and USA “Farmclub” a weekly music show.

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Gopal, MG Staff Collective Member & MG Planning Committee Member, has been involved in fighting for social, economic, environmental and racial justice through organizing & campaigning, teaching, writing, speaking and direct action since the late 1980’s. Gopal is an active trainer with and serves on the boards of The Ruckus Society and the Center for Story-based Strategy (formerly smartMeme).

 

He also serves on the advisory boards of the International Accountability Project, and Catalyst Project. Gopal works at the intersection of ecology, economy and empire.Gopal has been a campaigner for Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition on human rights and environmental justice in the high-tech industry and the Oil Campaigner for Project Underground, a human rights and environmental rights organization which supported communities resisting oil and mining exploitation around the world. Gopal has been active in many people powered direct action movements, including the Global Justice/Anti-Globalization Movement, Direct Action to Stop the War, Mobilization for Climate Justice, Take Back the Land, and Occupy.Gopal is the father of two young direct action junkies, Ila Sophia and Kavi Samaka Orion, and lives in an intentional community with 9 adults, 8 kids and a bunch of chickens.

 

Effie is a community organizer & urban farmer in San Francisco and the East Bay. Effie engages in the struggle for food and seed sovereignty through direct action and popular education. She graduated UC Berkeley and parents and grandparents owned and operated a corn-seed farm in Illinois. It was in her family until the early/mid 90s.

She currently organizes with Occupy the Farm, Hormigas Organicas, the US Food Sovereignty Alliance, the Friends of the MST (Landless Worker’s Movement of Brazil), and Movement Generation’s Political Home.

The Greenhouse of the Future, Abundance & Energy Autonomy - 12.30.14

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The Greenhouse of the Future, Abundance & Energy Autonomy

DECEMBER 29, 2014 BY ADMIN LEAVE A COMMENT

Tuesday December 30, 3pm EST: The focus of today’s program is the holistic, eco-and-energy efficient building of greenhouses as described in the film The Greenhouse of the Future, Abundance & Energy Autonomy.

Mitchell’s guests today are Curt Close, Francis Gendron and Peter Doig who will discuss greenhouse building and the idea of intensive farming.

The DVD & E-book, “The Greenhouse of the Future” outline the design and step by step building of a radically sustainable passive solar greenhouse built from up-cycled materials ( Tires – Wood – Glass bottles, etc.) and operating using fully renewable natural energy sources.

By building this greenhouse with your family our your community, you will contribute to a healthier and more sustainable world, reconnect with nature, save money and produce your own local organic food all year-round.

Purchase this DVD 

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Check out these 3 trailers:

THE DESIGN – GREENHOUSE OF THE FUTURE DVD & EBOOK

THE GREENHOUSE OF THE FUTURE – OFFICIAL TRAILER:

“GREENHOUSE OF THE FUTURE” DVD FOOTAGE:

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Curt Close is a Belgian singer. At the age of 10, he started to play the piano by ear instead of being taught to play it. He composed his first song at the age of 14 and began to perform at small school concerts. When he was 19, he met Pierre Rapsat, a composer and performer who became his mentor and friend, and with whom he would write several songs. Later on, an advertisement led to a meeting with Nicolas Varak, producer in Paris who signed him up with East West (Warner Music France) for his first album Le vent se lève.

In 2013 Curt Close felt the need to integrate the sphere of activists working for safeguarding essential balances to our planet.Since then, he has reoriented his activities towards directing and producing documentaries revealing the actors of the paradigm shift in progress and decided to document innovative solutions relevant to this transformation. The greenhouse of the future DVD & eBook is released in 2014 and supported by some of the biggest websites on the planet.

Purchase Curt’s Audio CD, etc. 

 

Francis Gendron, original idea, co-designer of THE GREENHOUSE OF THE FUTURE, co-author of the E-BOOK and actor in the DVD.

Francis is a superhero in the making. He is a passionate promoter of an ethical and sustainable future. He is a speaker, an educator, but more importantly, he is a philosopher in the original sense of the term, that is to say, a lover of wisdom and true happiness. “My first passions were nature and outdoor sports, so I studied at the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles to become an outdoor guide and educator. For six wonderful years, I passed on my leadership skills during 30-day expeditions, completely isolated from society, in some of Canada’s most beautiful wilderness areas. During these adventures, these trips and these periods of learning, I had plenty of time to reflect and meditate on the importance of living in synergy with natural phenomena in addition to adopting the right attitude in order to stay strong and positive in the most critical situations.

Peter Doig, MSc, PAg is a professional agrologist with over thirteen years of experience in bio-resource engineering and organic agriculture. He specializes in the development of crop-specific growing media and soil fertility and the development of bioprocess technology for horticulture, composting, wastewater treatment and nutrient reclamation and reuse.

From 2006 through 2010, Peter directed a team of six scientists and engineers to develop the growing technology for the largest organic greenhouse producer in North America. This work focussed mainly on the development of bio-processes and bio-products as well as integration of organic growing processes into an intensive greenhouse environment. In parallel, Peter consulted to commercial production on four remote sites for a total of 40 acres of high-tech organic production. His research projects have received several National Research Council IRAP grants, BC Innovation Council grants, CRA’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Credits as well the National Award for Excellence in Innovation by CIPA.

More recently, he held the position of General Manager of Salish Soils, a state-of-the-art compost processing facility and mine reclamation site in Sechelt, BC.

Today’s program will educate the listener about how to build one’s own greenhouse (with ‘a little help from your friends…’) and about organic farming techniques which maximize bio-diverse agriculture.