Payap Reel schedule

At Payap Reel onThursdays at 5 pm – Room 419, Pentecost Building.

 

The Film Series Payap Reel is a community project which screens films/ documentaries on regional issues, social awareness, and international topics.

 

"Payap Air": A Season of Five Free Films on the Atmosphere, Biosphere, and Society – continuing today!

Every Thursday from 21 January, through 18 February at 5 - 7:30 pm.

 

"Payap Air" is a Payap Reel film series to be shown in Room 419, Pentecost Building (formerly the Graduate and International Studies Building), at Payap University, Mae Khao Campus (behind Carrefour). It’s a presentation of the Office of Global Awareness at Payap University, in collaboration with the Northern Climate Crisis Network (NCCN). Organized by Steve Green and Ricky Ward. Telephone for further information at 084-985-9668.

 

Each screening will be followed by an opportunity for discussion, facilitated by a member of the NCCN.

 

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

 

"Every empire finds a way to destroy itself."

 

The films: Home – Jan 21;

Crude Impact – Jan 28;

The Power of Community – Feb 4 (this afternoon);

Blind Spot – Feb 11; and

What a Way to Go – Feb 18.

 

At Payap University Thursday, February 4 (this afternoon), 5 pm:  The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (2006) by Faith Morgan – 53 mins – US, Documentary. 

 

In Cuba there is a recent era which is called “The Special Period in Peacetime.” The term refers to an extended period of economic crisis that began in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The economic depression of the “Special Period” was at its most severe in the early-to-mid 1990s. It was defined primarily by the severe shortages of hydrocarbon energy resources in the form of gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum derivatives that occurred upon the implosion of economic agreements between the petroleum-rich Soviet Union and Cuba. The nation lost half of its oil imports, and 85 percent of its international trade economy. Cuba began a slow recovery focused not on finding new energy sources, but on rejecting consumption in favor of sustainable growth. The period radically transformed Cuban society and the economy, as it necessitated the successful introduction of sustainable agriculture, decreased use of automobiles, and overhauled industry, health, and diet countrywide. People were expected to live without many goods.

 

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil is an American documentary film that explores this “Special Period in Peacetime” and its aftermath. The film was directed by Faith Morgan, and was released in 2006 by a non-profit organization called The Community Solution, which seeks to educate audiences about “Peak Oil” and the impact it will have on transportation, agriculture, medicine, and other industries.

 

Green Planet Films: The DVD focuses on Cuba's transition from an industrial petroleum-based society to a sustainable society, as a result of their loss of petroleum when their source, the Soviet Union, collapsed. The goals of this film are to give hope to the developed world as it wakes up to the consequences of being hooked on oil, and to lift American's prejudice of Cuba by showing the Cuban people as they are. The filmmakers do this by having the people tell their story on film. It's a story of their dedication to independence and triumph over adversity, and a story of cooperation and hope. Several Cubans expressed the belief that living on an island, with its natural boundaries, breeds awareness that there are limits to natural resources.

 

Richard Heinberg, author of The Party's Over, Powerdown:  Everyone who is concerned about Peak Oil needs to see this film. Cuba survived an energy famine during the 1990's, and how it did so constitutes one of the most important and hopeful stories of the past not just of individual achievement, but one of the collective mobilization of an entire society to meet an enormous challenge.

 

At Payap University Thursday, February 11, 5 pm:  Blind Spot (2008) by Adolfo Doring – 86 mins – US, Documentary.

 

Blind Spot is a documentary film written and directed by Adolfo Doring that illustrates the current oil and energy crisis that our world is facing. It explores the subject of “Peak Oil” and its implications for the future of civilization. It includes interviews with sociologist William R. Catton, evolutionary biologist Jason Bradford, environmental analyst Lester Brown, NASA's James E. Hansen, author Bill McKibben, and others. The film was shown in 2008 at the Woodstock Film Festival, London Independent Film Festival, and European Film Festival Moscow.

 

Adolfo Doring is an award-winning American documentary filmmaker and director of music videos.

 

Blind Spot investigates the causes for the current crisis we find ourselves in. It establishes the inextricable link between the energy we use, the way we run our economy, and the effect it has had on our environment. It takes as a starting point the inevitable energy depletion scenario know as “Peak Oil” to inform us that by whatever measure of greed, wishful thinking, neglect, or ignorance, we are at a crossroad which offers two paths, both with dire consequences. If we continue to burn fossil fuels our ecology will collapse, and if we don’t, our economy will. Either path we choose to take will have a profound effect on our way of life. Refusing to whitewash this reality, Blind Spot issues a call to action, urging us to face up to the perilous situation we now find ourselves in so that we might begin to envision a realistic, if inconvenient, way out.

 

Rotten Tomatoes: Synopsis - Blind Spot offers an intriguing look at "peak oil," also known as the moment (believed by some to be on the horizon) when humans will have almost entirely depleted the Earth’s fossil-fuel supply. The documentary examines the current level of energy consumption, and analyzes both the difficulties of conservation and the risks of doing too little to protect the environment.

 

Noam Chomsky: Doubtless“Peak Oil” will come; the timing is a matter of debate. However we may be better off if it is not too long delayed, because it will accelerate what must be done to prevent environmental catastrophe.

 

Bill McKibben, author of “The End of Nature”: The next few decades aren’t going to look like the last few-not at all. And the sooner we come to terms with that, the better. This documentary is a good place to start.

 

 

At Payap University Thursday, February 18, 5 pm:  What a Way to Go (2007) by Timothy S. Bennett – 123 mins – US, Documentary. “A middle-class white guy comes to grips with Peak Oil, Climate Change, Mass Extinction, Population Overshoot and the demise of the American lifestyle.”

 

IMDb viewer: I gave this movie 10 out of 10 not because it is a great documentary or because it is written so well or because of the editing, etc. but because it contains the most important information that you may ever find in a documentary! This does not mean it is a pleasant experience. On the contrary, I don't think most people can handle what this move has to say. It is an unflinching look at the dominant culture currently in place on Earth and how we are on a collision course with the destiny of our own making.

 

This movie is similar to An Inconvenient Truth in that it discusses climate change but it also talks about Peak Oil, Population Growth, and Mass Extinction. Do you think that this is all bullsh*t? See the movie, read up on the people who were interviewed and what they have to say. Read Ismail by Daniel Quinn, read anything by Derrick Jensen. Make up your own mind, talk to people about what this movie has to say.

 

This is the most important thing you can do with you time. Drop everything, find a copy of this movie, and watch it now! No, I'm not associated with the film-maker. I just watched this film and it blew me away!