Festival offers three 'Green Day' films

AMY CALDER
Staff Writer

07/19/2009

WATERVILLE -- What we eat, the nature of plants and the dirt we grow them in are the focus of three films being shown today as part of the Maine International Film Festival.
Unity College is sponsoring the environmentally-inspired "Green Day" at the 12th annual festival, which bring movie enthusiasts from all over the world to Waterville to meet, greet and chat with writers, directors, producers and actors.

Today is the final day of the 10-day festival, held mostly at Railroad Square Cinema and the Waterville Opera House. More than 100 films from 18 countries were showcased.

Every year, festival organizers try to show films about environmental issues and this year, they decided to focus on food, plants and the environment by having an intensive day of films on the topic, according to Festival Director Shannon Haines.

"Dirt! the Movie" the closing night film, starts at 7 at the Opera House and will be followed by a closing night reception at Mainely Brews at 1 Post Office Square downtown. The film, based on a book by William Bryant Logan and directed by Bill Berenson and Gene Rosnow, explores our relationship with dirt. It includes vignettes and personal accounts from farmers, anthropologists, physicists and others. The film is sponsored by the Skowhegan Farmers' Market.

Haines said that at 2 p.m. today, a community discussion will be held at Barrels Community Market at 74 Main St. to talk about food issues.

"We'll be talking about the community market, we'll talk about the community garden that has been developed in Waterville, and about farmers markets in the area and around the state," she said.

"Fresh: New Thinking About what We're Eating," opens at noon today at Railroad Square's Cinema 3. Sponsored by the Messalonskee Nutrition Education Center, the documentary looks at what we eat and the importance of eating locally-grown food. The movie is directed by Ana Sofia Joanes.

Guests who attend the movie will get an environmentally-friendly tote bag from Unity College officials Rob Constantine, vice president for college advancement; and Mark Tardif, associate director of college communications.

Tardif said Saturday that one of the college's goals is to make all things "green" and environmental accessible, and college officials encourage students to be involved in communities. Sponsoring "Green Day" at the film festival is a way of accomplishing that, he said.

"It's just a perfect fit for us and one of our goals is, we aspire to attain a national voice among like-sized environmental colleges," he said.

Unity last year housed Swiss filmmakers Christina Hemaner and Roman Keller, who showed a short version of their film, "A Road Not Taken," about solar panels Unity now owns, but which were used at the White House during President Jimmy Carter's administration, Tardif said. He said the filmmakers shot more footage last summer and interviewed Unity students who ultimately traveled with the filmmakers to Atlanta. The filmmakers interviewed Carter about the panels and his energy policy, Tardif said.

They plan to return to the film festival next summer to show the final version of the documentary, Tardif said.

"He (Carter) talked about things he had never discussed before about what he was trying to accomplish by his energy policy and why it was undone by the following administration," Tardif said.

At 3:30 p.m. today, "Numen: The Nature of Plants," will be shown at Railroad Square Cinema, in Cinema I. The movie focuses on our relationship with plants and the healing power of plants. Herbalists, doctors, and others are interviewed and talk about the importance of conserving plants in order to improve health and increase the strength of the health care system. The film, directed by Vermont filmmakers Terrence Youk and Ann Armbrecht, is sponsored by Fedco Seeds.

Deb Soule, a Maine herbalist featured in the film, will take part in a question-and-answer session following the showing, Haines said.

She said today's events and films promise to be exciting.

"I think it's going to be a great final day," she said.

The festival this year has enjoyed a large audience turnout, with numbers that may exceed last years, according to Haines.

"We never know until the final night," she said.