MARYVILLE – As a part of 2009 Earth Week activities throughout East Tennessee, the Center for Strong Communities will host the International Film Festival on Water and Climate Change, to be held April 19-21 at Maryville College.  The film festival aims to increase awareness and action regarding local and global issues around water and climate change.  Three days of screenings and discussions will include short films and feature documentaries that have been honored at the Sundance Film Festival, World Water Forum, the Mumbai International Film Festival, and with many other distinctions.

The film festival, which is traveling to eight colleges in the United States, has been developed by two international organizations, The Charter of Human Responsibilities (CHR) and Global Citizens for Sustainable Development (GCSD).  In addition to Maryville College, other campuses hosting the film festival are Xavier University, American University, Harvard, Brandeis and University of the South. Students at Maryville College are coordinating campus participation and some faculty will screen films as part of an academic course. The Center for Strong Communities is working with the Little River Watershed Association and the international partners to bring the festival to Maryville as a free and open event for the whole community.

      The festival’s grand opening is a screening of Flow on Sunday, April 19 at 6:00 pm in Lawson Auditorium.  Irena Salina’s award-winning documentary Flow examines political and environmental issues around the privatization of water and the question of water as a human right or a commodity.

      Distinctions for the film Flow include:   Sundance Film Festival 2008

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            International Jury Prize, Mumbai International Film Festival

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            Best Documentary 2008, HBO Audience Choice Award,

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            Best Documentary 2008, VAIL International Film Festival

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            Best Human Interest Film, Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival 
      

      Community members and visitors are welcome to attend all screenings and participate in discussions, starting Sunday afternoon and concluding Tuesday night.  An annotated list of selected films, screening times and workshops will soon be announced.

      Nina Gregg, US Coordinator of CHR, and John Anugraha, founder and Executive Director of GCSD will lead workshops on the work of the Charter of Human Responsibilities and Global Citizens for Sustainable Development, an international student and youth association for sustainable development.

      In addition to the sponsoring organizations, the festival is supported through the generosity of the Charles Leopold Mayer Foundation, Television Trust for the Environment, and the China-India Forum.  Additional films have been donated by Sam Bozzo and Purple Turtle Films, Elizabeth Pollock, Marble Productions, Oscilloscope Laboratories and Appalshop. 

      Maryville College campus groups helping to organize the film festival are Peace & World Concerns, Environmental Action Team, Global Citizenship Organization, and Maryville College’s Environmental Studies program.

      For information about the film festival at Maryville College, contact the Center for Strong Communities at 865-273-8894 or email strongcommunities@maryvillecollege.edu.  For more information on the Charter of Human Responsibilities and the presentations at other colleges, contact Nina Gregg at gregg.nina@gmail.com. 

Film Festival Schedule (updated 3/10/09)

All events will be on campus at Maryville College. 

Sunday, April 19  

Location:   Lawson Auditorium (Fayerweather Hall)

4:00 pm             Pre-festival discussion of mountain top removal and screening  of 
                          Black Diamonds (re: mountain top removal) 
                         Lawson Auditorium 
 
5:45 pm             Opening Reception in Lawson Auditorium (Fayerweather Hall)

6:00 pm             Welcome and Opening of the Festival  
                          Feature documentary:  Flow (90 minutes) w/ discussion  

Monday, April 20

Locations:   Coffee Shop, Center for Campus Ministry, Alumni Gym

1:00-4:00          Coffee Shop short films (26 minutes each) 
                         Cold Coral Deep, China Roadshow, India Roadshow,  
                         Good Society, Grounds for Hope

4:00-5:00         Global Citizens for Sustainable Development (GCSD)  
                         workshop for students and community youth in the CCM

6:00-???         Displays in Alumni Gym

6:00-9:15         Screenings in Alumni Gym    

    6:00             One Water (~90 minutes, 15 countries, abundance/scarcity/human rights)    

     7:40             Who’s Got the Power? (57 minutes, USA, global warming and alternatives)

        8:50             Blue Gold (90 min., multiple countries, people’s basic right to water) 

Tuesday, April 21   

Locations:  Center for Campus Ministry (CCM), Lawson Auditorium

12:00-1:00       CCM brownbag – short film 
                         Nor Any Drop to Drink (26 minutes, Middle East) – hosted by CCM

1:15-1:45 Chapel service – CCM  
  Rev. Dr. Billy Newton, speaker

4:30-5:30         Charter of Human Responsibilities workshop in CCM  
                        hosted by Peace & World Concerns

6:00-9:00          Screenings in Lawson Auditorium

        6:00  Between the Tides (~90 minutes, India/Bangladesh) 

       7:45 Weather Report (52 minutes, climate change on 4 continents)  
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International Film Festival on Water and Climate Change 
April 19-21, 2009 

Maryville College / Maryville, TN 
Contact: Center for Strong Communities, 865-273-8894

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Regional Sponsors

The Center for Strong Communities at Maryville College builds on the educational mission and long tradition of service at Maryville College to be a visible expression of responsible citizenship and servant leadership in the broader community. Guided by the challenge to care for others and to work for justice, the CSC connects people and ideas to work for the common good. In 2009, the Center for Strong Communities is building college and community partnerships for civic engagement, service-learning and research, socially-engaged leadership development, and the strengthening of nonprofits and service organizations in East Tennessee.   www.maryvillecollege.edu/about/csc

Little River Watershed Association’s mission is to protect, preserve, and enhance the Little River and its tributaries through mobilizing public support, building public awareness and promoting best management practices. The key aims of the Association are to promote educational activities that benefit the river and the watershed; to focus attention on efforts to protect the river; to distribute current information to the community; and to assist citizens in taking positive action.

International Sponsors 

Charter of Human Responsibilities is an international project with an ambitious and hopeful objective: mobilizing people to exercise our individual and collective responsibilities to one another and the planet. The CHR invites us to redefine responsibility in our communities, organizations and workplaces at a time when our interdependence has become both inevitable and necessary.    www.charter-human-responsibilities.com 

Global Citizens for Sustainable Development is a not-for-profit organization based in Bangalore, India. GCSD works towards creating a society of “Global Citizens,” a well-informed and committed group of young people with a clear vision about intercultural understanding in a world where local and global issues are intertwined and the notion of “Think Global, Act Local” is promoted through its various activities.  www.globalcitizens.org.in