Leatherback Sea Turtle

Free Movie Night
7:00 pm Thursday April 22nd
Marketplace 3rd Floor, St John

THE LEATHERBACKS OF ST CROIX

a work in progress by Steve Simonsen

St John photographer and filmmaker Steve Simonsen presents his documentary about the conservation of Leatherback sea turtles at Sandy Point Wildlife Refuge on St Croix. Working alongside members of the Fish and Wildlife Service and The West Indies Marine Animal Research and Conservation Service, Steve hopes the film will help raise awareness of the endangered creatures to help protect, recover and sustain the threatened and endangered marine animals of the West Indies.

Come hear Steve tell of his experiences in making this beautiful and moving film.

Steve Simonsen

Come hear Steve tell of his experiences in making this beautiful and moving film.

Steve Simonsen is widely known for his breathtaking underwater images. He is the creator of the award winning coffee table book “Living Art, St. John” and a regular contributor to Caribbean Travel & Life, Scuba Diving and Sport Diver magazines among others.  Steve and his wife Janet base their stock photography business, “Marine Scenes”, year round on St John.  Steve also teaches photography and video production classes to high school students. He is passionate about passing on knowledge to the next generation while pursuing his own lifelong desire to make films.

Click on Steve’s image to visit his website.

Click on Steve’s image to visit his website.

Also Screening:

Nassau Grouper (Click for info)

SEAS OF CHANGE: Spawning Aggregations in the Virgin Islands

by Tim Kelly and Perry Pickert (28 min) 2006

“In the Virgin Islands, the bond between man and sea is timeless.”

Once huge schools of spawning fish provided a seemingly endless bounty, but today spawning schools are disappearing and fishing grounds are being closed. Fishermen are struggling to preserve their livelihoods, and scientists from the University of the Virgin Islands are racing to understand how these huge schools of spawning fish can restore and maintain fish populations across the Caribbean.

“No fish, no fishery, but how can a fisherman resist a gathering of fish so dense that a good catch is guaranteed?”

In the Virgin Islands, a few years back, not many did. The result: Nassau grouper disappeared. Other species were headed for the same fate, until the government, scientists, and fishermen together decided a little TLC would be a good idea.

LINK: Interview with “Seas of Change” filmmaker

Also Featuring:

Indo-Pacific Lionfish

AN UPDATE ON THE INVASIVE LIONFISH

Presented by Karl Pytlik and Jessica Hornbeck

Click on the image for more information from NOAA.

Free Movie Night
7:00 pm Thursday March 18th
Marketplace 3rd Floor, St John

THE AGRONOMIST by Jonathan Demme (90 min) 2003

The life of tireless Haitian human rights acitivist Jean Dominique:

This fascinating profile of inspired, and inspiring, Haitian independent radio broadcaster Jean Dominique is informative about the history of Haiti’s political strife and includes news film clips and interviews with family members and colleagues. Despite increasing threats and violence, Dominique maintained his radio station as a haven of truth and free speech.

For the film Demme interviewed Jean Dominique and his wife Michele Montas, both in Haiti and during periods of their exile in New York.

“…Jean Dominique embodies the fragile, perpetual hope that Haiti, so long tormented by foreign meddlers and domestic dictators, might someday nurture a just and decent political order…a lively immediacy unusual in documentaries of its kind.”                                                                   The New York Times

Rivers of Corn

Free Movie Night
7:00 pm Thursday February 18th
Marketplace 3rd Floor, St John

SARAYAKU: Rivers of Corn

a documentary by Marta Noemí Bautis (63 min) 2009

Click the image at left to view the film’s website.

In the year 2002 the people of Sarayaku successfully resisted the invasion of an international oil company. Sarayaku: Rivers of Corn is a journey to this Kichua 
community in the south of the Ecuadorian Amazonia, five years 
after the frustrated invasion.

This documentary recreates the story through the memory of several women that participated in the events of 2002, and contrasts daily life scenes with those of the struggle 
of the people of Sarayaku to defend their ancestral lands.

Meet the Filmmaker!

Filmmaker Marta Noemí Bautis will be present to introduce her film and participate in discussion with the audience afterwards. She was born in Argentina and has traveled throughout Latin America as a photojournalist. She is an award winning documentary filmmaker whose videos have been screened at numerous national and international festivals. Ms Bautis is a faculty member at the School of Contemporary Arts, Ramapo College of New Jersey and founder of Tiempo Azul Productions.

Don’t miss the opportunity to meet Ms Bautis and hear her personal experiences in creating this important film.

SPECIAL PRIX FIXE DINNER with Filmmaker Marta Bautis! 5:30 PM

Our friends at La Plancha del Mar will be serving a lovely three course meal, including appetizer, dessert and wine tasting!  Seating will be limited, so please make your reservation today!

$35 pp OR $25 for Film Society Members.                                     (Memberships sold at the door) CALL 777-7333

Click the La Plancha del Mar logo (above) to visit their website and view their menu.

YOUNG@HEART

a heartwarming documentary by Stephen Walker & Sally George (107 min) 2007

!!! ROCK AND ROLL WILL NEVER DIE !!!

Click the image at left to visit the film’s website.

Prepare to be entertained by the inspiring individuals of Young@Heart Chorus, a New England senior citizens chorus that has delighted audiences worldwide with their covers of songs by everyone from The Clash to Coldplay. As the film begins the retirees, led by their demanding musical director, are rehearsing their new show, struggling with Sonic Youth’s dissonant rock anthem “Schizophrenia” and giving new meaning to James Brown’s “I Feel Good”. What ultimately emerges is a funny and unexpectedly moving testament to friendship, creative inspiration, and defying expectations.

Watch Young@Heart Trailer

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“…offers an encouraging vision of old age in which the depression commonly associated with decrepitude is held at bay by music making, camaraderie and a sense of humor.” New York Times

Click the image at left for more on info on the Young@Heart Chorus.

THE UNFORESEEN

a documentary by Laura Dunn, produced by Robert Redford and Terrence Malick (88 min) 2007

Winner Independent Spirit Award 2008

“The best film at the 2007 Sundance Film festival, hands down…” Roger Koehler, Variety

The tragedy of overdevelopment is made painfully clear in this film that traces the ambition of a Texas developer and the threats his project imposes on the local environment. When the development threatens the local treasure Barton Springs, a fragile limestone aquifer and spring-fed swimming hole, the community organizes to fight back. Contains clips from interviews with Robert Redford, Willie Nelson, Wendell Berry and Texas governor Ann Richards.

“The kind of transformative viewing experience that has made the current period a golden age for nonfiction film.”

DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE by Hubert Sauper (107 min) 2004

“…a tale about humans between the North and the South, about globalization, and about fish.”

Some time in the 1960′s, in the heart of Africa, a new animal was introduced into Lake Victoria as a little scientific experiment. The Nile Perch, a voracious predator, extinguished almost the entire stock of the native fish species. However, the new fish multiplied so fast, that its white fillets are today exported all around the world.

This booming multinational industry has created an ungodly globalized alliance on the shores of the world’s biggest tropical lake: an army of local fishermen, World bank agents, homeless children, African ministers, EU-commissioners, Tanzanian prostitutes and Russian pilots.

FLOW: FOR LOVE OF WATER -  an award winning documentary by Irena Salina 2008 (93 min)

“How did a handful of corporations steal our water?”

A careful look at the politics behind the world’s diminishing water supply. The film includes interviews with scientists and activists that outline the seriousness of the growing crises and highlights efforts to develop practical solutions and technologies. Screened at the United Nations as part of the 60th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.

“An astonishingly wide-ranging film.  An informed and heartfelt examination of the tug of war between public health and private interests.”
- The New York Times

Also – St John Environmentalist Rafe Boulon

Rafe Boulon, Chief of Resource Management for the Virgin Islands National Park and the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument, will make a presentation about our island’s fresh water resources.

Gourmet Concessions Provided by La Plancha del Mar!

La Plancha del Mar will provide full beverage service at the event, as well as a variety of old-fashioned homemade candy, flavored popcorns, and gourmet pizzas.

Bring your own reusable water bottle for free refills during the event!