Enlightening films

Here are some videos and films I think are worth seeing, in no particular order. Not necessarily the best films ever of even the best documentaries, but films that make you think, that may inspire you to change your habits, or just have a greater awareness about certain issues. I will be updating it regularly and welcome your suggestions to add to the list.

The story of stuff

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.




Flow

Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis.

I have greatly reduced my use of water plastic bottles since watching this film and stick to tap water when I go to restaurants.




Food Inc.

I saw this film recently and have started paying much more attention to what I eat. Though I have not yet found the strength to become a vegetarian, I am much more careful of what I buy, trying as much as I can to stick to organic, local food.

It features interviews of Eric Schlosser, the author of Fast Food Nation which is a read that definitely changed my lifestyle. While I grew up on McDonalds and fast food, since reading that book in 2004, I have only set foot once in a McDonalds' -for reasons beyong my control (I swear!) and barely eaten in any other fast-food place either. If you watch Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, another great film, you might be tempted to do the same.
(But for you Cali people, fear not, In-N-Out remains on the good list of socially-conscious places)




We feed the world

Another "food" doc... but this time in the context of globalization. Considering the riots in the past couple of years sparked by the rising price of food or lack of food, it is bound to also become a recurring topic. Can the Earth feed 9 billion people - as we are expected to be by 2050??




An Inconvenient Truth

I saw Al Gore's live presentation when I was interning at the United Nations, and the film is pretty much the same. Gore's fantastic job raising awareness about the global warming issue got him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.




The Cove

I just saw this movie and thought it was amazing. Brilliant advocacy filmmaking, inspiring. Though the fate of some 20 000+ dolphins/year killed in the small Japanese village of Taiji, may not seem of importance in the larger scale of things, the film is also about the preservation of our oceans in general.




Sicko

Not necessarily Michael Moore's best film but it's really relevant in the midst of current health care reform discussions. Now you may accuse Michael Moore of bias and of being extreme and you would be right, but I don't understand why that has been held against him. He is a filmmaker - of course, he is going to push for his point of view! He is not claiming to be a "fair and balanced" journalist so, people, give him a break!
Whatever one may think of him, Michael Moore has definitely opened up doors in the field of documentary filmmaking, and has been able to reach a huge audience on important issues, and at least sparked discussion.

In regards to Sicko, last month, a former health insurance insider, now turned whistleblower, Wendell Potter, explained in Bill Moyer's journal on PBS, the methods the health insurance industry used to try to discredit Michael Moore's movie, admitting that Moore's movie was accurate.

I won't go into a debate about health care here, but I sure do miss my government-controlled health insurance from my days in France!




TED

This is not for any specific video, I just think ALL of TED's lectures are worth watching.
TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. You can watch all the TEDTalks' videos online.
Or just check their latest one from my blog list.


FUEL

Looks like this film has finally made it to the theaters! I first saw some rushes when volunteering at the IFP Market in 2004, when it was called "Fields of Fuel" at the time... and 4 years later the final cut made it as part of a "green" screening series at the Lincoln Center and won the Audience Award at Sundance..it sure has taken the filmmakers a long time to get it out there but glad it is! Enlightening look at alternative energy sources.




to be continued....