Seniors’ Lounge Filberg Centre, Courtenay

The evening will begin with World Community’s annual reports and business.

Following that, special guest Delores Broten, Editor of BC’s environmental news magazine “Watershed Sentinel”, will lead a discussion focusing on the indigenous resistence to various forms of resource extraction around the world. This will include the current resistance to the proposed Enbridge Pipeline, the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline, and the expansion of the Alberta Tar Sands. Watershed Sentinel distributes to a vibrant network of subscribers, supporters, and community activists throughout British Columbia and beyond. 2012 is the magazine’s 22nd year of bi-monthly publication.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sing Your Song is an up close look at a great American, Harry Belafonte. A patriot to the last and a champion for worldwide human rights, Belafonte is one of the truly heroic cultural and political figures of the past 60 years. Told from Harry’s point of view, the film charts his life from a boy born in New York and raised in Jamaica, who returns to Harlem in his early teens where he discovers the American Negro Theater and the magic of performing.

From there the film follows Belafonte’s rise from the jazz and folk clubs of Greenwich Village and Harlem to his emergence as a star. However, even as a superstar, the life of a black man in 1960s America was far from easy and Belafonte was confronted with the same Jim Crow laws and prejudices that every other black man, woman and child in America was facing.

Among other things, the film presents a brief look at the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of an insider, someone who despite his high profile, wasn’t afraid to spend time in the trenches.

From Harlem to Mississippi to Africa and South Central Los Angeles, Sing Your Song takes us on a journey through Harry Belafonte’s life, work and most of all, his conscience, as it inspires us all to action!

FMI  http://singyoursongthemovie.com

Along with the KidsZone, Community Garden, guided walks, and displays, we are excited to have a line-up of Music including, Comox Valley’s Joanna Finch, drummers, and a young fiddler from FiddleJam and more!.

This year, we also have the following film screenings related to community gardens and food security issues.

1:30 pm:  A Crack in The Pavement Part 1: Digging In  (19 min.)  Children, teachers, and parents learn how to work together to green their school grounds, and make positive changes in their communities. 

2:15 pm:  A Crack in The Pavement Part 2: Growing Dreams  (19 min.) Children transform bare pavement into dream school yards: grow trees for shade, flowers for butterflies, vegetables for the food bank, build a green house, a pond, and a rooftop garden.

3:00 pm: The True Cost of Food   (15 min.) This creative animation follows a family as they explore the food industry and discover the true cost of our food.

Tell your friends! Put on your walking shoes, hop on your bike, pack a picnic, a water bottle, and head over to Lake Trail School for this community celebration! (cyclists: for your convenience, we will have a secure bicycle area compliments of the CV Cycling Coalition)

Earth Day at Lake Trail School is sponsored by School District 71, Vancouver Island MusicFest, CV Regional District, Coastal Community Credit Union, REMAX, CV Exhibition Grounds and Thrifty Foods.

For more info: go to  www.worldcommunity.ca/earth-day

This year World Community has teamed up with Lake Trail Neighbourhood Connections (LTNC) to offer a fun-filled afternoon of displays, films, food, music and guided walks.

The event, which will be held at Lake Trail Middle School located 805 Willemar Avenue in Courtenay, will highlight the school’s unique and educational community demonstration gardens. The afternoon will showcase the school and LTNC’s gardening initiatives, as well as composting displays and demos. There will also be a small ceremony to acknowledge the beautiful garden structures being created by Lake Trail students and sponsored by local organizations.

In the KidsZone, we have gathered a great crew together including the Saltwater School with storytelling and collaborative games, Becky Wortman with eco-crafts and creative painting, and the Courtenay and District Museum’s elasmosaur mascot which will guide participants in creating keepsake clay fossil impressions.

 Children will also be captivated by a live bird of prey with the Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society, and have a chance to journey on a guided walk into the adjacent park with Morrison Creek Streamkeepers.Bring your bicycle and visit World Community Bikes who are offering tune-ups by donation and take in some short workshops offered by Trail Bicycles. CV Cycling Coalition will also create a facility for bikes to be securely parked.

Additionally, the afternoon would not be complete without the showcasing of several great educational films by World Community. The films will be shown inside Lake Trail School in Room 117.

Pack a picnic, fill up a water bottle, hop on your bike and come spend the afternoon with friends and neighbours in a celebration of the natural and social diversity of life in our valley.

2012 Exhibitors

BEEcoming Candles & More – BroomBusters – City of Courtenay – CoalWatch – Council of Canadians – CV Conservation Society – CV Cycling Coalition – CV Growers & Seed Savers – CV Naturalist Society – CV Regional District –  Courtenay & District Museum – Elevate the Arts – Fertile Ground – Fresh Earth Products – Gardens Without Borders – GE Watch – Green Mountain Pollinators – Lake Trail Neighbourhood Connections – Lush Valley Food Action Society – Morrison Creek Streamkeepers – Mountainaire Avian Rescue – Project Watershed Society – Saltwater School – Sierra Club CV – Trail Bicycles – Transition Town CV – Tsolum River Restoration Society – Vancouver Island MusicFest – World Community – World Community Bikes

Earth Day at Lake Trail School is sponsored by School District 71, Vancouver Island MusicFest, CV Regional District, Coastal Community Credit Union, REMAX, CV Exhibition Grounds. For more information on this event CLICK HERE or email LTNC’s Project Coordinator at laketrailvision@gmail.com

“White Water, Black Gold” is an investigative point-of view documentary that follows David Lavallee on his three-year journey across western Canada in search of answers about the activities of the world’s thirstiest oil industry: the Tarsands.
As a mountaineer and hiking guide, David is on the front lines of climate change. Over the past 15 years he has worked in the Columbia Icefields of the Canadian Rockies, and has noticed profound changes in the mountains: climate change is rendering these landscapes unrecognizable.

When David discovers that his province is ramping up growth in an extremely water intensive industry downstream of his beloved icefields, he is surprised he knows so little about this industry. This necessitates a journey: from icefields…to oilfields.

In the course of his journey he makes many discoveries: new science shows that water resources in an era of climate change will be increasingly scarce (putting this industry at risk); first nations people living downstream are contracting bizarre cancers; the upgrading of this oil threatens multiple river systems across Canada and the tailings ponds containing the waste by-products of the process threaten to befoul the third largest watershed in the world. Additionally, a planned pipeline across British Columbia brings fresh threats to BC Rivers and the Pacific Ocean.

“White Water, Black Gold” is a sober look at the untold costs (to water and people) associated with developing the second largest deposit of “oil” in the world.

The National Energy Board Joint Review Panel for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project is holding hearings in Comox at the Comox Rec. Centre on Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31. These hearings are open to the public but only those already registered to speak will be allowed to do so. According to the official website (http://gatewaypanel.review-examen.gc.ca/clf-nsi/hm-eng.html) the start time for the hearings will be 9:00 am.

***Our Coast!!! Our Decision!!!!** No Pipeline! No Tankers!

RALLY Saturday, March 31st 1 pm Comox Rec. Centre, 1855 Noel Ave.

There will be speakers, music & more…Please join us and bring a sign with your views on the issue. Wear a blue scarf to signify our support for clean waterways. Parking will be limited so please try to carpool or bike.

(the rally is sponsored by local chapters of the Council of Canadians & the Sierra Club)

After the rally, there will be an information sharing session at Robb Road School (1909 Robb Road, Comox). In addition to discussions with various resource people, Word Community will re-screen some related films: ‘Oil in Eden’, ‘The Pipedreams Project’, and ‘SpOil’. Help spread the word! Forward this information via email, Facebook, etc. Bring your friends and family.

The Pipe Dreams Project  and  SpOil

Location: North Island College Theatre (Courtenay campus)

Admission by donation

Prior to the National Energy Board’s public hearings on the Enbridge pipeline proposal in Comox starting March 30, World Community is sharing two popular films examining the proposal and problems associated with it. The Enbridge proposal would see twinned crude oil and condensate pipelines connecting Alberta’s Tar Sands to a seaport at Kitimat, BC, and for the first time would bring crude oil super tankers to the treacherous waters of BC’s North Coast.

‘The Pipedreams Project’ (29 min.) follows three young people , Curtis, Ryan and Faroe, who kayaked 900 km from Kitimat to Vancouver in opposition to this controversial pipeline. Their journey leads them face to face with the complexity of the environmental assessment process, the difficulties local communities face in having their voices heard, and the growing resistance against the pipeline. As they explore the isolated and dangerous coast of BC, the trio becomes deeply impacted by their experience and awakened to a world of power, politics and the question of democracy. ​

‘SpOil’ (45 min.) is the beautiful documentary produced by the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) that tells the story of the threats facing the Great Bear Rainforest and the continued efforts of the First Nations communities and conservation groups to protect this wild landscape. ‘SpOil’, voted Best Environmental Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival, follows the Great Bear Rainforest Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition (RAVE) swat team of photographers and filmmakers to the Great Bear Rainforest to document the beauty and the threats to this wild landscape.

We’re thrilled that ‘The Pipedreams Project’ filmmaker and long distance kayaker, Faroe Des Roches will join us for a Question & Answer session.

Join us for an evening of stunning cinematography and a discussion about taking action on this important issue.

Admission by donation but no one will be turned away.

For more information: (250) 337-5412

A Powerful Noise

7:00 pm Tues, March 6th

North Island College Theatre in Courtenay.

(previously screened at Tribeca and Silverdocs Film Festivals)

Hanh is an HIV-positive widow in Vietnam. Nada, a survivor of the Bosnian war. And Madame Urbain works the slums of Bamako, Mali. Three very different lives. Three vastly different worlds. But they share something in common: Power. These ordinary women are each overcoming deep-seated gender barriers to rise up and claim a voice in their societies.

Through their empowerment and the ability to empower others, Hanh, Nada and Madame Urbain are sparking remarkable and unprecedented changes. Fighting AIDS. Rebuilding communities. Educating girls. 

Through compelling ‘verite’-style narratives, “A Powerful Noise” takes you inside the lives of these women to witness their daily challenges and their significant victories over poverty and oppression. 

Their stories are both personal and unique, yet illustrate larger issues affecting millions of marginalized women worldwide. 

This inspiring documentary captivates viewers because it speaks to the common aspirations and the common abilities that all women share. “A Powerful Noise” is a meditation on the inherent potential of women to change the world. The impact of one voice. The power of many. 

The film screening is sponsored by the Comox Valley Transition Society and World Community. Admission by donation; no one will be turned away. For more info: 250-337-5412

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World Community Video/DVD Libraries Updated

Most of the new titles from this year’s film festival have been added to our library at the Freakin Coffeeshop (2456 Rosewall Crescent, ‘Tintown’, Courtenay. We were not able to get library circulating rights for ‘Economics of Happiness’ or ‘Happy’. In addition, the films from our 2011 festival have now completed their tour as part of our Travelling Film Festival and those films have been added to our smaller collection at Seeds Natural Food Market (2733 Dunsmuir Ave. in Cumberland). These films are for home viewing only for members of World Community but feel free to invite your friends to watch with you in your home.

If you have not renewed your membership since Feb. 1, you may do so at either Freakin Coffeeshop, Seeds Natural Food Market, or on our website click here

Memberships are $10 per year ($20 per family). This entitles you to borrow films from our library at no additional cost. Your membership supports the work we do and keeps you informed of upcoming events via occasional emails.

Look for the World Community booth at Seedy Saturday

(Sat Mar. 3rd 10am-3pm Filberg Centre, Courtenay) where you can also renew your membership.

Celebrate Black History Month

with Word Community’s screening of the film,

Freedom Riders

Tues. 7pm Feb. 21 – North Island College Theatre, Courtenay

Admission is by donation -115 minutes

Freedom Riders is the powerful, harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed the United States forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South.

Organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the self-proclaimed “Freedom Riders” came from all strata of American society—black and white, young and old, male and female, Northern and Southern. They embarked on the Rides knowing the danger but firmly committed to the ideals of non-violent protest, aware that their actions could provoke a savage response but willing to put their lives on the line for the cause of justice.

Says award-winning filmmaker, Stanley Nelson, “The lesson of the Freedom Rides is that great change can come from a few small steps taken by courageous people. And that sometimes to do any great thing, it’s important that we step out alone.” (previously screened at the Sundance Film Festival)

For more information, call (250) 337-5412.

An opportunity to travel the world and experience first-hand the challenges, triumphs and hopes of others living in the global village awaits you! It’s time once again for the World Community Film Festival, held in Courtenay this Feb 3rd & 4th. 

A festival pass for Fri. & Sat. is $32, Fri eve $14,  Sat $22 (only $3 for youth on Sat.)

Tickets are available at the Sid Williams Theatre Box Office – Call 338-2430 or order online www.sidwilliamstheatre.com  Check out the schedule online www.worldcommunity.ca or look for the program guide in The Word newspaper.

For 20 years the film festival, deemed ‘the largest social issues filmfest in BC’, has been showing documentary style films about international topics that you may never hear about on the evening news.

The festival gets off to a start Friday night with the film, JustDo It. With unprecedented access, director EmilyJames spent over a year embedded in activist groups such as ClimateCamp and Plane Stupid, documenting their clandestine activities. JustDo It introduces you to a powerful cast of mischievous and inspiring characters who put their bodies in the way. They super-glue themselves to bank trading floors,blockade factories and attack coal power stations enmasse, all despite the very real threat of arrest. JustDo It is an absorbing, illuminating and at times very funny film.

With over 30 films shown in 4 different venues, Saturday is considered the main event of the festival and includes a family film program on Saturday afternoon.  Themes such as community economic development, environmental issues, human rights, social and women’s issues, native rights and international solidarity are explored with passion, hope and creativity.

When not viewing films, visit the Bazaar in the Upper Florence Filberg Centre where community groups will be on hand to give out information or to sell merchandise related to the various issues raised during the festival.   It’s also a great place to relax and have a snack! And make sure to reserve your seat for the popular banquet on Saturday evening.

See you there!!