by | Feb 16, 2021 | Comox Valley News & Events, Film Series, News & Events, Upcoming Events

To celebrate Black History Month, we’re screening several films online - available any time over the weekend of Feb. 26 - 28.

CLICK HERE to PRE-ORDER TICKETS & watch trailers.

This is a great opportunity to learn more about this history both in Canada and the US.

Screenings are free but donations will be accepted to help cover costs. 

 

King in the Wilderness (110 min) focuses on the final two years of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life leading up to his assassination on April 4, 1968. A review in Variety calls this “a searing film because it takes Martin Luther King Jr. down from the mountaintop. You glimpse the real glory of who he was: not a walking monument but a human being with fear, humor, guts, and grace.” Despite enormous pressure, he refused to back away from the civil rights and anti-war challenges of his times.

Canadian content will include three shorter films:

Rush to Freedom (17 min) - In the 1850s, Governor James Douglas fought against American expansionism by bringing hundreds of Black Americans from San Francisco to the area around Victoria where their legacy is still felt today.

Amber Valley (13 min) tells the story of one of the first Black settlements in Canada in Amber Valley, about 100 km North of Edmonton in the early 1900s.

Journey to Justice (47 min) pays tribute to Canadians who fought for Black civil rights from the 1930s to the 1950s. Nine years before Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Viola Desmond (now on our $10 bills) refused to move to the Black section of a movie theatre in Nova Scotia in1946. At the same time, Black railway porters were organizing a union for their own protection in one of the few jobs available to them, other Black activists were challenging discrimination wherever they encountered it.

 

FILM SCREENING: I AM GRETA – JAN. 15-19TH

FILM SCREENING: I AM GRETA – JAN. 15-19TH

by | Dec 31, 2020 | Comox Valley News & Events, Film Series, News & Events, Upcoming Events

** Click Here to Pre-Order Tickets (Individual $10, Household $16, Low Income & Students $6)

(2020, 100 min.)  This is the compelling story of teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg. Starting with her one-person school strike for climate action outside the Swedish Parliament, filmmaker Nathan Grossman follows Greta—a shy student with Asperger’s—in her rise to prominence and her galvanizing global impact as she sparks school strikes around the world. The film culminates with her extraordinary wind-powered voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to speak at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City.

“Even more than describing her cause, the affecting “I Am Greta” introduces us to the person herself, digging deep into why she’s pushing herself so hard, to do what our planet’s adults apparently won’t.” Noel Murray, LA Times.

FMI contact wcdes.cv@gmail.com

Film Screening: River City Drumbeat. Dec 26-29

Film Screening: River City Drumbeat. Dec 26-29

by | Dec 13, 2020 | Comox Valley News & Events, Film Series, News & Events, Upcoming Events

Bring some joy into your holiday season with World Community’s film series screening of River City Drumbeat (95 min), online from Dec. 26 – Dec 29th.

The film is a reminder that there is kindness, compassion, and community in this world. This is a powerful story of music, love, and legacies set in the American South. Edward “Nardie” White devoted his life to leading the African-American drum corps he co-founded with Zambia Nkrumah in Louisville, Kentucky three decades ago. Together they inspired youth from their West Louisville neighborhood to thrive by connecting them with the art and cultural traditions of their African ancestors.

The drum corps is more than a music group. The kids learn to use tools to build and decorate their own drums. They are encouraged to keep up with their school work or to get extra help from volunteer tutors involved in the program. Albert Shumake, whose destiny was shaped by the drumline, takes up the mantle when Nardie prepares to retire. Meanwhile, student drummers Imani, Jailen, and Emily navigate adolescence and life changes. River City Drumbeat follows this creative community making their way in a world where systemic forces raise obstacles to fulfilling their dreams. Inspiring!

CLICK HERE to BUY TICKETS ($10 Individual, $16 Household, $8 Low Income)  

Hurricane Relief: Nicaraguan Coffee Co-ops

Hurricane Relief: Nicaraguan Coffee Co-ops

by | Dec 9, 2020 | News & Events

The storm hit just as this year’s harvest was beginning and farmers lost much of both their coffee and staple food crops. The damage comes as the coops are already reeling from a loss of coffee sales sparked by the Covid 19 pandemic and recent and ongoing social and economic instability in Nicaragua.  We are concerned for the well-being of our Nicaraguan partners and have launched a campaign  to enable the coffee farmers to purchase food to carry their families through to the next harvest.  Please support the farmers of Pancasán and Dalia during this difficult time with a tax deductible donation.

 

Click here to make a Donation on the gofundme site
For more on organic farmers see film below:  Cooperativa (40 min. 2018)