Welcome to the Winter-Spring 2009 Peace & Justice Film Series!

Schedule: We will be showing documentary and historical films most Thursdays from February 5th, through May 7th, 2009. The films examine many important questions of our time from a variety of perspectives. Unless otherwise noted, films will be screened twice each Thursday, at 5:30pm and 7:30pm.

Admission: By Donation. No one is turned away.

There will be a lively and respectful discussion after each screening of every film. All of these movies are thought provoking, so please stay afterwards and share your thoughts with other members of the community. We encourage participants with all points of view to attend: diversity of opinion leads to richer discussions and deeper understanding.

New Format, Expanding Genres

With this season we are expanding our genre. Previouisly, all of our offerings were strictly documentary features and short films. Beginning with Matewan, our opening film, we will be showing dramas as well as documentaries. All of our dramas are based on historical events. The advantage of a dramatic reenactment over a true documentary is that it gives the director the leeway to portray things from many points of view, in a way that can sometimes give the viewer a better understanding of the actual events. This is particularly true for events that transpired before documentary film making matured in its current form. It's hard to make a documentary based on interviews of participants when most or all of them have long since passed away.

Please let us know what you think of this change in genre. We hope it will enrich our film selections.

Coal and Film

Due to several serendipitous happenings, we have three films this season that are about coal mining and its effects: Matewan (February 5), starring Chris Cooper and James Earl Jones, is a dramatization of coal mining and the classic company town from a labor point of view. Bone Crusher (February 19) is a view of the human health consequences of coal mining. Lastly, Burning the Future (April 16) is a look at the environmental devastation near coal mines. Given that “Clean Coal” is the buzz word of the day from some quarters, it is important to see coal from many sides. With global warming and projected increases in energy use, much of the counry is looking at Montana, the “Saudi Arabia of Coal,” for salvation. These films will help us understand what coal development will mean for the future of our state.

Matewan
(USA: 1987, 135 mins.)
Directed by John Sayles, Starring Chris Cooper and James Earl Jones
Thursday February 5, 2009, 5:30pm and 8:00pm
(Please note later starting time for second screening)

A small town in 1920’s West Virginia explodes when unionist miners clash with the owners of a tyrannical coal company in this critically acclaimed film from writer/producer John Sayles (Lone Star). Earnest labor leader Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) arrives in Matewan to better the lives of the men and women of this “company town” through unionization. But in his efforts to organize the workers of the Stone Mountain Coal Company, he ignites a powderkeg of racial hostility, corruption, and betrayal as well as touches off one of the most violent incidents in the history of the Coal Wars of 1920-21. Mary McDonnell, David Strathairn, and James Earl Jones also star in the film that Leonard Maltin calls “compelling and compassionate... John Sayles makes every note ring true.”  

Presented in conjunction with the 4th Annual Labor Film Festival

Encounter Point
(USA: 2006, 89 mins.)
Thursday February 12, 2009, 5:30pm & 7:30pm
A Film by Ronit Avni and Julia Bracha

Encounter Point moves beyond sensational and canned images to tell the story of an Israeli settler, a Palestinian ex-prisoner, a bereaved Israeli mother and a wounded Palestinian bereaved brother who sacrifice their safety, public standing and homes in order to press for a grassroots movement for nonviolence and peace.

Bone Crusher
(USA: 2008, 69 mins.)
Thursday February 19, 2009, 5:30pm & 7:30pm
Directed by Michael Fountain

A moving account of the love between a father and son, and the unbreakable bond they share. They live in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains where a tight-knit community of coal miners and their families face their harsh life with a toughness and camaraderie as enduring as the earth itself.

Special Guest Speaker: Film Maker Michael Fountain will discuss his film Bone Crusher.
Presented in conjunction with the 2009 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

Brave New West
(USA: 2007, 80 mins.)
Thursday February 26, 2009, 5:30pm & 7:30pm
Directed by Drury Gunn Carr & Doug Hawes-Davis
Produced in Missoula by High Plains Films

In 1989 Jim Stiles began publishing the politically-progressive Canyon Country Zephyr in the heart of conservative Mormon Utah. Now recognized as one of the best independent papers in the West, The Zephyr combines humor, history, honesty and artistry in its coverage of issues. Brave New Westis a profile of Stiles and the land and people that are his passion.

Special Guest: Film Maker Doug Hawes-Davis.
Co-Sponsored by the UM Environmental Studies Department

Reading. Writing. Revolution.
Walkout
(USA: 2006, 110 mins.)
Thursday March 5, 2009, 5:30pm & 7:30pm
Directed by Edward James Olmos

A film with a powerful message that resonates 40 years after the events it depicts occurred, Walkout is the stirring true story of the Chicano students of East LA, who in 1968 staged several dramatic walkouts in their high schools to protest academic prejudice and dire school conditions.

The Movie You Can’t Afford To Miss!
Maxed Out:
Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders
(USA: 2006, 90 mins.)
Thursday March 12, 2009, 5:30pm & 7:30pm
Directed by James D. Scurlock

James Scurlock takes on the powerful financial industry in an insightful and infuriating documentary about credit card debt in America. As he crisscrosses the United States, he interviews average Americans whose lives have been ruined by predatory financial lenders.

Iraq War Anniversary
Soldiers of Conscience
(USA: 2007, 87 mins.)
Thursday March 19, 2009, 5:30pm and 7:45pm
Directed by Catherine Ryan

Soldiers of Conscience is a dramatic window on the dilemma of individual U.S. soldiers in the current Iraq War – when their finger is on the trigger and another human being is in their gun-sight. The film profiles four American soldiers who become conscientious objectors and four who believe in their duty to kill if necessary.

Shorts Night
Thursday March 26, 2009, 5:30pm and 7:00pm

El Otro Lado (USA/Mexico: 13 mins.)

In 2004 Anne Wallace drove the 200 mile US/Mexico border, crossing back and forth recording interviews. El Otro Lado follows the hypnotic rhythm of an endless wall as voices and sounds of the the changing landscape reveal the controversial border fence to be a projection of our fears and desires.

Wild Versus Wall (USA: 20 mins)

This video covers the ecological effects of enforcement and infrastructure in the four states that share boundaries with Mexico.

Between Bulls and Mosquitoes (USA: 2008, 30 mins.)
Produced here in Missoula, Montana by Emily Crawford and Solmaz Mohadjer

Mountainous, impoverished, and isolated, Tajikistan faces impediments to social progress that can turn natural phenomena into humanitarian disasters. In this region, advancements in Earth sciences hardly translate into practical geohazards awareness for a citizenry that remains largely oblivious to the scientific explanations of seismic events. A local geosciences student travels to the region to investigate how this can be changed.

Special Guests: Film makers Emily Crawford and Solmaz Mohadjer will discuss Between Bulls and Mosquitoes, John Wolverton of the No More Deaths and Sierra Club will discuss the situation on the US-Mexico Border.

Thursday April 2, 2009
Spring Break! No Film This Week.

Jailed for their Words
When Free Speech Died in Wartime America
(USA: 2008, 60 mins.)
Thursday April 9, 2008, 5:30pm & 7:30pm
Produced and directed in Montana by Gita Saedi Kiely
Based on the book by University of Montana Professor Dr. Clem Work

Entangled in a distant war a nation lost sight of its highest values. Men and women who spoke out against the war were punished. Their families were torn apart. In Montana, scores of people were convicted of sedition, merely for criticizing the war effort or for refusing to prove their loyalty by buying war bonds. Some were sent to prison for up to 20 years.

Special Guest Speaker: Film Maker Dr. Clem Work, Professor of Journalism, University of Montana

Burning the Future
Coal in America
(USA: 2008, 89 mins.)
Thursday April 16, 2009, 5:30pm & 7:45pm
Directed by David Novack

Burning the Future Challenges US-based energy policy including the notion of clean coal by following activists in the West Virginia coalfields as they fight back against the day to day side effects of toxic ground water, the destruction of 1.4 million acres of mountains, and the ever powerful coal industry.

Pickaxe
(USA: 2000, 94 mins.)
Thursday April 23, 2009, 5:30pm & 7:45pm
A film by Tim Lewis and Tim Ream

Anti-logging activists blockade and occupy a timber sale in Oregon for nearly a year. Over months a community builds around the illegal blockade as it develops into the Cascadia Free State and similar actions spread across the West. Pickaxe has become a classic document of the potential for grassroots direct action to achieve victory against the forces of both government and big business.

Lead. Follow. Or Get Out of the Way!
Iron Jawed Angels
(USA: 2004, 123 mins.)
Thursday April 30, 2009, 5:30pm & 7:45pm
(Please note later starting time for second screening)
Starring Hilary Swank, Francis O’Connor and Anjelica Huston

They had no vote, no political clout, and no equal rights. But what they lacked under the law they made up for with brains, determination and courage in the struggle for women’s suffrage. In the face of jail and hunger strikes, their resistance to force-feeding earned the nick-name “Iron Jawed Angels.”

King Corn
(USA: 2006 90 mins. )
Thursday February 12, 2009, 5:30pm & 7:30pm
Written & Produced by Aaron Woolf, Curt Ellis, Ian Cheney & Jeffrey K. Miller

Behind America’s dollar hamburgers and 72-ounce sodas is a key ingredient that quietly fuels our fast-food nation: Corn. Alarmed by signs of America’s bulging waistlines, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis leave the east coast for rural Iowa, where they decide to grow an acre of the nation’s most powerful crop.

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