Greenbuild 2011 Film Festival
Each year at Greenbuild, the film festival screens films submissions, including documentaries, films and informational videos that promote innovative green building practices and address social, environmental and health topics related to the built environment.
Schedule
Wednesday, October 5
11:00am – More Than a BOX with Windows*
1:30pm - Biophilic Design: The Architecture of Life*
3:00pm – The Pipe
4:30pm – Overdrive: Istanbul in the New Millennium
Thursday, October 6
11:00am – A Community of Gardeners
12:00pm – On Coal River
1:30pm – Greenlit
2:30pm – Truckfarm
3:30pm – Ashes and Snow
* Will feature question and answer with the filmmaker.
Wednesday, October 5
11:00am – More Than a BOX with Windows
Will feature question and answer with the filmmaker after the film
Building green: that was the dream of Schluter, a company specializing in tile installation systems. It wanted its new head office in Montreal to be low impact, energy efficient, comfortable to work in and a showcase for tiles as part of the green option. Not only did they achieve what they set out to do, they also reduced their operating costs to the point that building any other way wouldn't have made sense. This documentary explores the science behind the numerous advanced technologies. It also explains how the intelligent integration of all these systems is the key to making a building that works.
1:30pm - Biophilic Design: The Architecture of Life*
Will feature question and answer with the filmmaker after the film
Biophilic Design is an innovative way of designing the places where we live, work, and learn. We need nature in a deep and fundamental fashion, but we have often designed our cities and suburbs in ways that both degrade the environment and alienate us from nature. The recent trend in green architecture has decreased the environmental impact of the built environment, but it has accomplished little in the way of reconnecting us to the natural world, the missing piece in the puzzle of sustainable development. Come on a journey from our evolutionary past and the origins of architecture to the world's most celebrated buildings in a search for the architecture of life. Together, we will encounter buildings that connect people and nature - hospitals where patients heal faster, schools where children's test scores are higher, offices where workers are more productive, and communities where people know more of their neighbors and families thrive. Biophilic Design points the way toward creating healthy and productive habitats for modern humans.
3:00pm – The Pipe
In a remote corner of the West of Ireland sits Broadhaven Bay. It is the perfect picture postcard, where the high cliffs of Erris Head and the Stags of Broadhaven stand sentry at the mouth of the bay against the mighty Atlantic, as if protecting the delicate golden sands of Glengad beach and the tiny village of Rossport, which nestles behind the dunes. However, this peaceful tranquility belies the turmoil that lies beneath, and the unique nature of the coastline which has sustained generations of farmers and fishermen, has also delivered to Shell Oil the perfect landfall for the Corrib Gas Pipeline. In the most dramatic clash of cultures in modern Ireland, the rights of farmers over their fields, and of fishermen to their fishing grounds, has come in direct conflict with one of the worlds most powerful oil companies. When the citizens look to their state to protect their rights, they find that the state has put Shell's rightto lay a pipeline over their own.
The Pipe is a story of a community tragically divided, and how they deal with a pipe that could bring economic prosperity or destruction of a way of life shared for generations.
4:30pm – Overdrive: Istanbul in the New Millennium
This documentary film tells the story of Istanbul's struggle to come to terms with accelerated population growth and car-centric policies that have dominated its development in the last five decades – issues that are challenging megacities around the world. Istanbul, where once only a select few people were granted the special privilege to ride horses rather than walk, is now being inundated with cars. With 45 percent of its citizens spending two or more hours commuting, the joy of living in this beautiful city is being overshadowed by congestion and all the other social and environmental problems this implies. Both a love poem and a critical investigation, the film explores the impact of global trends on a city with a unique and complex history. Once an ancient imperial capital, now a bustling modern megalopolis, will Istanbul renew itself once again, or succumb to uncontrolled motorization and urban growth?
Thursday, October 6
11:00am – A Community of Gardeners
"A Community of Gardeners" explores the vital role of seven community gardens in Washington, D.C. and shows how these green spaces are changing people's lives, their communities and their environment. The film also looks back at the history of community gardening in the United States, from the potato patch farms of the late 19th century, to the victory gardens of World War II, to community gardening's current renaissance.
12:00pm – On Coal River
ON COAL RIVER takes viewers on a gripping emotional journey into the Coal River Valley of West Virginia — a community surrounded by lush mountains and a looming toxic threat. The film follows a former coal miner and his neighbors in a David-and-Goliath struggle for the future of their valley, their children, and life as they know it.Ed Wiley is a former coal miner who once worked at a toxic waste facility that now threatens his granddaughter's elementary school. When his local government refuses to act, Ed embarks on a quest to have the school relocated to safer ground. With insider knowledge and a sharp sense of right and wrong, Ed confronts his local school board, state government, and a notorious coal company — Massey Energy — for putting his granddaughter and his community at risk.
1:30pm – Greenlit
Indie film producer, Miranda Bailey, documents a film crew's attempts to make a feature film 'green.' In the process she investigates the effect Hollywood has had on the environment and its recent efforts to be environmentally responsible. Just as Kermit says, 'it ain't easy being green.'
2:30pm – Truckfarm
Filmmaker Ian Cheney devised a mobile garden he called a truck farm and, since its initial planting, the movable Brooklyn farm has been very busy. The film uses the story of this mobile farm to expand to a much larger story about urban agriculture, determined young farmers and the challenge of growing food when there is no land available.
3:30pm – Ashes and Snow
Ashes and Snow, a film by Gregory Colbert, uses both still and movie cameras to explore extraordinary interactions between humans and animals. The 60-minute feature is a poetic narrative rather than a documentary. It aims to lift the natural and artificial barriers between humans and other species, dissolving the distance that exists between them.
* Will feature question and answer with the filmmaker.