"He went there (to Hawaii) knowing that he could never return," The Rev. Alfred Bell, who spearheaded Damien's canonization cause, told Vatican Radio. "He suffered a lot, but he stayed."
In February, the world famous author Jeffrey Smith came to the Big Island to give a presentation. In honor of his arrival, we invited the community to watch a TV investigation called "Patent for a Pig."
Jeffrey Smith is one of the main characters in this show, and in a mere 45 minutes does an excellent job of explaining the dangers of GMOs. Additional interviewees (one formerly from Monsanto) uncover the "bottom line" attitude at the top and the deliberate disregard for safety checks before marketing.
A large part of the story follows a Swedish pig farmer as he alerts his fellow farmers to the latest threat from Monsanto's throne: patenting genes in pigs. Monsanto has taken motions towards patenting genes that allow pigs to produce more meat. At the end of the movie we find out with absolute certainty (through multiple DNA lab results) that this gene already exists in nature.
"It sounds too crazy to be true," was the first thought that entered my mind. I'm rethinking that attitude, however, as I stand in amazement of Monsanto's $11 billion/year empire, armed headquarters, and literally the best army of lawyers money can buy. Who knows what's possible.
I personally asked Jeffrey Smith about any developments in patenting pigs at the Q&A. He hasn't heard any updates.
Vaccine Nation was the showing this month. I wasn't there for the showing, but can comment on the movie. This documentary follows a few cases of parents who have noticed what seem to be extreme bodily and mental reactions in their kids immediately after they were given vaccinations.
A subplot to this story is a man falsely imprisoned for Shaken Baby Syndrome, and the amazing amount of work and research he did in prison exposing the risks involved with vaccines. Very eye opening, and definitely a controversial debate.
In the spirit of Christmas, and the opening of the Pahoa Urgent Care Facility, the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" rocked our small theater. With the help of the community, merchants and businesses donated raffle gifts, matched contributions, and we were able to raise a hefty love offering to the new clinic. It was quite a feast of feasts with music, food, chai, and cookies.
All around a great night for the whole town. There was only one disappointment: I was the only one who didn't win a raffle prize.
This was one of the many great documentaries covering the issue of electronic voting. The narrative covers the issue that all Americans need to face, regardless of left/right/liberal.
Great showing last night. We had planned on watching a documentary on racism and segregation, but instead we reacted to the "bailout" that happened this week.
It is really hard to follow and certainly harder to explain what exactly is going on with the housing bubble, the economic collapse, and an impending depression. Words like stagflation, fractional reserve banking, derivative leveraging, Ponzi scheme, T-notes, and others are thrown around in financial circles. It's easier to just let the "experts" deal with this and tell us what's happening, but I don't trusting any "Fox News finance analyst" or anyone from the mainstream.
We watched (video link) Monopoly Men, which is from the Phenomenon series. One of the key speakers in the movie also made my favorite documentary ever, The Money Masters. Although Monopoly Men takes on a slant of a detective story in a very questionable "eerie" atmosphere, the facts were all there. That was a great way to start our night, the history behind it all. Then we moved on to the current crisis and how money works nowadays.
Next we listened to an 8 minute clip from Alex Jones show on 10-02-2008; a tipping point of financial America, the day before the "bailout" was signed. His name is Peter Schiff, here's a good video featuring this guy.
(You can look up the speech I showed you guys, it's on hour 4 of the Alex Jones Show, start about 6:30 and it goes for about an hour. Here's a link to the torrent.)
Then we saw a movie called (video link) Money as Debt, which is a Flash animation going over the 9:1 ratio of money allowed to be created per deposited. A little hard to follow at times, I've watched this at least 3 times and tend to get more and more out of it. Money as Debt website.
I've skipped a few months, but this last Film & Justice night was worth noting. We had planned to show a 911 documentary disputing the official story of the demoli... err.. collapse of the buildings on September 11th, 2001. Turns out we were able to show "911 Mysteries" on 9.11.2008. The discussion was interesting, as we paused the movie at different intervals to review the "debunking" side. 911mysteriesguide.com is a source that goes over, minute by minute, the flaws and mistakes in logic it sees in the film. It was great to see both sides. Thanks to all the showed and made the trip from Hilo. I just read a really interesting article on the new official story of how building 7 fell. It's a brand new phenomenon called "thermal expansion" says the NIST. NIST claims that the collapse of Building 7 is “The first known instance of fire causing the total collapse of a tall building”. Guess we're just learning new stuff about physics every day.
Although I fell sick to watch Islands at Risk, it was a good showing I heard. We had special speakers come and tell about the progress and methods to try to raise awareness.
Because of this showing, I've been taken into what's called Hawaii Seed whose job is to promote social awareness about the issue of GMOs in Hawaii.
Cancer a vitamin deficiency like scurvy? No way. Why haven't I been told about this, and is it really true?
That's for you to decide, ladies and gentlemen.
The theory is that our diet has been largely changed (perhaps domesticated) due to supermarkets, preservatives, and the latest theories on the important food groups and so on.. Are we missing a large part of our diet these days? Is there scientific cases showing that this might be the case?
In this interview-documentary, we listen and decide for ourselves.
Last month we actually debuted East Hawaii's showing of an awesome documentary called Heart of a Soul Surfer. This documentary follows the friends and family of Bethany Hamilton, the Kauai surfer who suffered the loss of her arm after a shark attack. Most people remember hearing this story in the news, I sure do.
It was an awesome documentary! And thanks to the producer of this movie who sent us tons of fliers and handouts to make this showing possible.
I have to tell you the crazy story behind this night. After we had set up posters at the colleges, towns, and coffee shops advertising this free Dinner-and-a-Movie, we found ourselves without the DVD about 6 hours before the showing. All the Film and Justice crew searched their houses, cars, etc.. GONE
Then Noelle had the wild idea to have the DVD sent to our island from Kauai. (yeah right) By airplane. (yeah right) In <6 style="font-weight: bold;">Awesome night, and thanks to everyone that made food, and a huge thanks to Becky who sent the DVD and to Aloha Airlines for their kokua!
Boy oh, boy. The two movies we showed last night were excellent!
The first one, The Meatrix, was given to us for free, including the entire set of pamphlets and refrigerator magnets and all. That was a 15-minute clip emphasizing the new invasion of agricultural corporations and their new invasion into the farming industry. What used to be life has been turned into machined tools to produce a product. I think their satire is extremely appropriate and I am jealous I didn't think of the idea first. :) to tell you the truth. I love it.
The second movie we saw was "The Future of Food", and we actually had to pay out of our pockets, a hundred dollars. I am a bit peeved at this cost, but nevertheless the movie was worth watching, and I'm glad our extended audience was able to see these truths.
I personally recommend The Future of Food to almost anyone and everyone. As I speak I am writing numerous emails to my friends in the mainland letting them know exactly what is going on in the agrobusiness sector. This movie is open to view, either by download, or also by Netfllix.
Thanks to all that showed up. Let's keep this First Sunday of the Month theme going! Next month is gonna be a movie I have been wanting to watch on the big screen. I hope many will come to check it out.
Film and Justice is now moving out of its Beta stage. We will now be offering a free dinner along with the movie. Most months we will be making up a pot of chili and rice (both vegitarian and meat). Families are invited to come and enjoy dinner while they watch the movie or documentary. We will do our best to have a enough foods for everyone, but in the event that we have more people tahn expected, those who come late may miss out on the meal. Following each showing we will be having an informal discussion time for anyone who desires to talk through how we can personally respond to the issues that have been discussed in the film.
right now I am emailing a place requesting a DVD of a food & health safety variety.
Last week we watched "Animals are Beautiful People" which was quite entertaining, but I think Ahsh said it best when he said, "I kind of wanted to think a little more than I did tonight."
I agree, I think it's time we start seeking out good, relevant, and dare I suggest "heady" movies. My feeling also is that the people of Pahoa and Puna would really be into topics such as GMO's, Big Pharma, and the like. Wish me well on this email, I think you guys would love what I'm trying to get.
Welp, last night we all watched the Blue Planet, which was an hour long documentary on the beautiful creatures of the ocean and the arctic/antarctic.
SPECTACULAR!
It makes me want to see the other series on this. After last month's showing of "Born into Brothels" we decided we would like Film and Justice night to be both informative about social issues worldwide, but also show some beautiful and uplifting documentaries. This was one that gave me a reminder of the complexity and sanctity and perfection in nature - this was excellent.
On a sidenote, there will be some more intense political documentaries playing at mile marker 13 on July 14th. email me if you want info.
note: next month's documentary will also be awesome. i recommend it. (cheap date?) and the popcorn was delicious. however, i did catch a kernel that is still stuck and rotting in my molar gums. i think my shunning of popcorn will resume.
way to go gang. that really made my sunday night. i was laughing and jaw-dropped during much of that showing. spectacular
We had a great time watching "Who Killed the Electric Car." The crowd was small but it was a great start to our monthly movie nights. The discussion time ended up being rather informal, with a bunch of people just hanging out in the lobby eating popcorn and getting to know each other.
One of our desires through this Film and Justice Night is to build a team of people who have a passion for social justice and community development both locally and globally. We are currently developing this vision and would encourage anybody who is interested to come to the next movie night to share in this organic vision-shaping journey that we are on.
We want to encourage positive discussion and community development as we join together in learning about local and global issues. Our desire is that we wouldn't stop just with learning and discussing, but that we would work together to pursue mercy and justice in Puna and in the world.
FREE showings of socially conscious documentaries and movies with group discussions to follow. Every 1st Sunday of the month @ 6pm.
Enjoy our theater quality projection screen and sound system.
Take the Keaau-Pahoa Road towards Pahoa (Highway 130). Turn into Pahoa Village and drive towards downtown. Go past Bank of Hawaii and Apa’a St. Turn right into the dirt parking lot with Luquin’s Mexican Restaurant. Please park behind the theatre in the back lot so that we can save the front parking for the Mexican Restaurant.
Free Vegitarian or Meat Chili Dinner, Organic Popcorn, and Hot Drinks
Donations for dinner and refreshments are welcome. All profits will go towards local and international charity work.
