WHEN / 24th and 25th March 2017
TIME / See screening schedule 
WHERE / The Concourse Urban Screen – 409 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood NSW 2067

Presented by Willoughby City Council

Transitions Film Festival, in partnership with Willoughby City Council presents a series of free screenings at the Concourse Urban Screen. Highlights include National Geographic’s Year’s of Living Dangerously series, Just Eat It, Who Cares?, Haida Gwaii, and Catching The Sun.

FULL PROGRAM

What It Takes To Be Extraordinary

Filmed over the course of seven years, What It Takes To Be Extraordinary shares the story of one inspirational man – Nepal Orphans Home founder Michael Hess – who is selflessly dedicating his life to educate, empower and care for impoverished children throughout Nepal.

Nepal is a difficult place to be a child. The people of Nepal have endured decades of political instability and thousands of children are displaced and living in desperate situations. There are children sold into child slavery as young as six years of age, while many others are neglected, abandoned or orphaned.

But with freedom and a chance to feel safe and dream, leaders are born. The film recounts both the personal stories of the children raised in the orphanage and follows Michael’s life-changing journey since taking his first trip outside the US to Nepal.

What it Takes to be Extraordinary is the second in a series of films that feature extraordinary people who are dedicating their lives in helping children around the world, and making a significant impact.

Screening: 24th March 1:00pm

 

Who Cares?

Who Cares? answers that question by traveling the globe in search of the most innovative social entrepreneurs currently imagining a better planet.

This eye-opening documentary introduces us to the people with simple solutions to the hard questions that affect us all — Bill Drayton (founder of Ashoka), Muhammad Yunus (Nobel Peace Prize), Mary Gordon and Rodrigo Baggio, among others – brilliant oddballs who are making changes, bringing solutions to the problems we face, generating huge social impact and — most of all — inspiring people to do the same.

More than a movie, a MOVEMENT that inspires people to be changemakers. The documentary tells, from the life stories of 18 social entrepreneurs around the world, real cases of people who got tired of the situation in their communities, decided to stop complaining, rolled up their sleeves and changed the world.

Screening: 24th March 2:00pm / 25th March 6:30pm 

 

Just Eat It

Filmmakers and food lovers Jen and Grant dive into the issue of waste from farm, through retail, all the way to the back of their own fridge. After catching a glimpse of the billions of dollars of good food that is tossed each year in North America, they pledge to quit grocery shopping cold turkey and survive only on foods that would otherwise be thrown away.

In a nation where one in ten people is food insecure, the images they capture of squandered groceries are both shocking and strangely compelling. But as Grant’s addictive personality turns full tilt towards food rescue, the ‘thrill of the find’ has unexpected consequences.

Featuring interviews with author, activist and TED lecturer Tristram Stuart, food waste expert Dana Gunders, and acclaimed author Jonathan Bloom, Just Eat It looks at our systemic obsession with expiry dates, perfect produce and portion sizes, and reveals the core of this seemingly insignificant issue that is having devastating consequences around the globe.

Just Eat It brings farmers, retailers, inspiring organizations, and consumers to the table in a cinematic story that is equal parts education and delicious entertainment.

Screening: 24th March 3:30pm

 

Catching The Sun

Through interwoven character dramas spanning the US and China, Catching the Sun explores the global economic race to lead the clean energy future.

Featuring Obama’s green jobs advisor, Van Jones, as well as the workers of the new green world, Catching the Sun looks beyond the climate change debate and explores how a green economy may actually be built.  

With countries like China investing in innovative technologies and capitalizing on this trillion-dollar opportunity, Catching the Sun tells the story of the global energy transition from the perspective of workers and entrepreneurs building solutions to income inequality and climate change.  

Screening: 24th March 5:00pm

 

Years of Living Dangerously (National  Geographic)

Years of Living Dangerously is an award-winning series with a lineup of passionate Hollywood actors, who share first-person accounts from locations—some shockingly close to home, others in far-flung corners of the globe—where the effects of climate change are most prevalent. Presented are the 3 episodes below.

More on this series:  http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/tv/years-of-living-dangerously/ Follow on Facebook / Follow on Twitter

Free Screenings at The Concourse Urban Screen

Safe Passage (50 min)

Actor Ty Burrell takes to the road to investigate the future of the US automobile industry while The West Wing’s Bradley Whitford meets those trying to turn global warming into a critical governmental issue.

Screening: 25th March 1:00pm

Free Screenings at The Concourse Urban Screen

A Race Against Time (50 min)

David Letterman travels to India where the government has committed to one of the most ambitious renewable energy plans on earth while SNL performer Cecily Strong looks into the future of solar power across the US.

Screening: 25th March 2:00pm

 

Free Screenings at The Concourse Urban Screen

Collapse of the Oceans (50 min)

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on the planet but as actor Joshua Jackson discovers, this is also where the impacts of climate change can be most profoundly experienced.

Screening: 25 March 3:00pm

The Future of Energy: Lateral Power to the People


The Future of Energy
is a revolutionary film that captures the movement across the U.S. to transition to 100% renewable energy and to bring positive solutions to the ecological crisis.

Featuring some of America’s top energy specialists and ecological visionaries,The Future of Energy: Lateral Power to the People presents a clear path towards a new energy paradigm, and shows how everyone can participate in creating this exciting future.

Screening: 25th March 4:00pm

 

 

Haida Gwaii: On The Edge of the World

The story of Haida Gwaii is one of a place and a people who have experienced the ravages of unsustainable exploitation; they’ve fought back, reclaimed control of their lands, and have begun the process of rebuilding both their natural world and a sustainable modern community.  

Emmy Award-winning director Charles Wilkinson (Oil Sands Karaoke, Peace Out) turns his camera on the unique community uniting to protect land and sea for the next generation.

The film features insights from former Haida Nation president Guujaaw, activist Severn Suzuki, Haida carver Jaalen Edenshaw, International Rediscovery founder Thom ‘Huck’ Henley, Haida Chief Allan Wilson, ex-loggers, business and cultural leaders, troublemakers, biologists, scientists and alternative energy experts.

Haida Gwaii  is a powerful story that by its end will make viewers want to rise up and protect, not only one of the most beautiful and unique places on Earth, but their own natural back yards as well.

Haida Gwaii has won a number of key awards including winner of Best Canadian Feature at HotDocs 2015, North America’s largest documentary festival.  It has played at festivals around the world and during its theatrical run has become one of the top grossing Canadian films per screen in all of Canada.

Screening: 25th March 5:15pm

 

Places We Love: An Earth Hour Documentary

Hosted by Amanda Duval, Network Ten news and weather presenter, and passionate Earth Hour ambassador, Places We Love: An Earth Hour Documentary travels to some of Australia’s iconic natural wonders, including the Great Barrier Reef, to highlight the impact that climate change is having on the places we love across Australia.

Along the way Amanda speaks to some of Australia’s best known personalities, as well as scientists and everyday Aussies to hear more about the changes they are seeing to Australia’s great outdoors.

Screening: 25th March 8:05pm



 

SCREENING SCHEDULE

 

Friday 24th March

1:00pm – What it Takes to Be Extraordinary (52 min)

2:00pm –  Who Cares? (93 min)

3:30pm  – Just Eat It (75 min) + Climate short

5:00pm – Catching the Sun (74 min)

 

Saturday 25th March

1:00pm – Years of Living Dangerously: Safe Passage (50 min)

2:00pm – Years of Living Dangerously: A Race Against Time (50 min)

3:00pm – Years of Living Dangerously: Collapse of the Oceans (50 min)

4:00pm – Future of Energy: Lateral Power to the People (65 min)

5:15pm – Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World (74 min)

6:30pm Who Cares? (93 min)

8:05pm – Places You Love an Earth Hour Documentary (25 min)

8:30pm LIGHTS OUT FOR EARTH HOUR