environmental film
UNC–Wilmington to Host Environmental Film Festival
The Cape Fear Environmental Film Forum will host a weekendlong film festival next week. The program consists of four event
blocks, each focusing on one film and followed by audience and
panel discussion, facilitated by Cape Fear-area activists, advocates
and entrepreneurs. The festival takes place Friday, February 21, from
7:00pm – 10pm and Saturday, February 22 from 11am – 8pm. All
programs will be held in King Hall Auditorium on the UNC-W campus.
Through a mix of films and panel/audience dialogue addressing
environmental issues and solutions, the Forum’s intent is to inspire
and motivate participants to make a difference for the environment
and in their communities. The festival is in its third year. Specific
topics this year include the evolution of the environmental movement, farmer-veteran programs, and the multi-faceted value of
industrial hemp.
The event is sponsored by the University of North Carolina
Wilmington’s Film Studies Department and Friends of the Cape
Fear Environmental Film Forum. All events are free and open to
the public.
See schedule details on page 4.
“Bringing It Home” to North Carolina
Review by Mary Robertson
What if you knew about a revolutionary, organic building material—one that
is clean, carbon-neutral, lightweight,
allergen-free, and pulls heavy metals from
the soil? One that is easy to work with
using hand tools? What if you were unable
to obtain this material domestically due to
government restrictions, and to use it you
had to import it from another country?
And what if you then had to contend
with misperceptions about the material
itself—it’s at best the butt of talk-show
monologues, at worst, a malevolent force?
That’s exactly the situation described
by North Carolina Filmmakers Linda
www.goinggreenpublications.com
Booker and Blaire Johnson in their 52minute documentary, “Bringing It Home,” a
simple, compelling look at what industrial
hemp is and how is it being used around
the world. (See the Asheville hemp house
that inspired the filmmakers, featured on
this issue’s cover.)
Booker and Johnson fit a lot of information into this short film. Through animation, archival footage, and interviews with
builders and entrepreneurs around the
world, they take us on a seamless ride from
a brief history of hemp’s uses worldwide
(rope, fabric, construction) to an overview
of the bumpy ride hemp has experienced
in the United States. Depending on
political and corporate expediency, hemp
growing has been mandated, encouraged,
and prohibited in the U.S., often all at the
same time. They explain the difference
between woody hemp for cultivation
and cannabis bred for its psychoactive or
medical benefit, and describe programs
developed in several other countries to
promote the growing and use of woody
hemp. From fiber to oil to plastic to seed,
hemp increasingly appears in our lives. But
it all comes from somewhere else.
Over 30 other industrialized nations
now officially grow industrial hemp. The
filmmakers point out the U.S. remains the
only industrialized nation that refuses to
distinguish it from its sibling, marijuana.
This means a DEA permit—virtually
impossible to obtain—is required to grow
hemp in the U.S. Meanwhile, Canada,
the United Kingdom and China all enjoy
full government support and are happily
exporting hemp. Watching the rise in
imports—we bought $400 million worth
of hemp last year alone—some American
farmers are eager to join the business. In
the absence of movement at the Federal
level, states are beginning to create their
own programs. But times are changing. In
January of 2014, the U.S. Congress passed
legislation which will allow cultivation of
industrial hemp.
Proponents point to hemp’s advantages as a crop, especially in states like
(continued on page 4)
environmental film
Cape Fear Environmental Film Forum: Schedule Details
Friday, February 21, 7pm –
A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet
A FIERCE GREEN FIRE: The Battle for a Living Planet is the first
big-picture exploration of the environmental movement – grassroots
and global activism spanning fifty years from conservation to climate
change. Directed and written by Mark Kitchell, the Academy Awardnominated director of Berkeley in the Sixties, and narrated by Robert
Redford, Ashley Judd, Van Jones, Isabel Allende and Meryl Streep, the
film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2012, has won acclaim
at festivals around the world, and in 2013 begins theatrical release as
well as educational distribution and use by environmental groups and
grassroots activists.
The film will be followed by a panel discussion with the film’s
director, Mark Kitchell, Anthony Snider (Associate Professor:
UNCW Environmental Studies) Zachary Keith (Chapter Organizer:
Wilmington, NC-North Carolina Sierra Club) Kayne Darrell (Founder:
Citizens Against Titan) Andy Myers (Campaign Coordinator: Working
Films)
Saturday, February 22, 11am –
Friends School of Wilmington, Special Event
Students at the middle school level at the Friends School of Wilmington
will premiere their short environmental documentary. The event also
includes other short films made by young people from across the
country.
An assortment of young panelists from Friends School will speak
after the screening. Adult panelists TBD.
Saturday, February 22, 2pm –
Ground Operations: Battlefields to Farmlands
Follow our ensemble of combat men and women who served in
Iraq and Afghanistan as they share their stories: why they joined the
military, how the war experience changed them, their daunting return
to civilian life, how they struggled to find a positive pathway forward
and ultimately, how they found organic farming and pasture-raising
livestock to be an answer to a dream. Their stories are as inspiring as
they are pragmatic, as they explore their next mission--food security for
America.
Saturday, February 22, 5 p.m. –
Bringing it Home: Industrial hemp, healthy
houses, and a greener future for America
A father’s search to find the most healthful building materials leads
him to the completion of the nation’s first hemp house. Hemp fibers
mixed with lime is a non-toxic, energy efficient, mildew- fire- and
pest-resistant building material. The drawback? Industrial hemp is
currently illegal to farm in
the U.S.A. Industrial hemp
is a non-psychoactive plant,
grown in 31 other countries.
It is the basis for thousands
of sustainable products and
offers solutions for global
warming, nutrition, poverty
and deforestation. Here in the
U.S., hemp could be a moneymaking crop for farmers and
create jobs. But why can’t we
grow it here? BRINGING IT
HOME tells the story of hemp:
past, present and future and a
global industry that includes textiles, building materials, food products,
bio-plastics, auto parts, and more.
The film will be followed by a panel discussion with the film’s
co-director/producer, Blaire Johnson, Valerie Robertson (Publisher
and Editor: Cape Fear’s Going Green), Pat Delair (Hippocrates Health
Educator and Founder of Conscious Integration), Guy Carpenter
(Cape Fear Apparel), John Wojciechowski (Lead Instructor:
Sustainability Technologies, Cape Fear Community College), and
Amy Sawyer (Founder and Owner: Island Wellness Center)
For most current film schedule, updates on additional panelists, and
to join the discussion, follow the Forum on Facebook at: https://
www.facebook.com/pages/Cape-Fear-Environmental-Film-Forum/
308636825820445?fref=ts.
For more information and media inquiries contact Andre Silva at (910)
962-2229, capefearenviroforum@gmail.com.
The film will be followed by a panel discussion: Panelists TBD
“Bringing It Home” – continued
North Carolina with high unemployment
rates and available arable land. Hemp is
easy to grow, requiring little irrigation and
no pesticides. Its bulky nature means it
must be processed within about 300 miles,
making it an ideal platform on which to
revive and create local industry.
This film is a fun watch: packed with
facts, I had to see it twice in order to
absorb it all. Its wide-ranging explanations
and the peek we get into other countries’
attitudes toward using industrial hemp
www.goinggreenpublications.com
were thought-provoking. In the U.S.,“new”
technology is often driven by the small
consumer—I can easily imagine small
homes of hempcrete springing up around
the country. But seeing the large commercial building projects made of hemp—
from corporate headquarters to entire
housing developments—go up in the
United Kingdom and Spain was stunning.
When will we see a major corporation
building out of hempcrete here? I don’t
know. But meanwhile, watch “Bringing It
Home” for a down-to-earth look at one of
the world’s oldest, yet newest, crops, and
you’ll be ready for the revolution.
“Bringing It Home “will air Saturday,
February 22 at 5:00 pm, followed by postmovie discussion.
See companion article for list of panelists,
which will include Bringing It Home’s
co-producer Blaire Johnson, as well as
Valerie Robertson, publisher of Cape Fear’s
Going Green.