Synopsis: WHY WE FIGHT, the new film by Eugene Jarecki which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, is an unflinching look at the anatomy of the American war machine, weaving unforgettable personal stories with commentary by a “who’s who” of military and beltway insiders. Featuring John McCain, William Kristol, Chalmers Johnson, Gore Vidal, Richard Perle and others. More......

One Bright Shining Moment
by Stephen Vittoria

Synopsis:The little known and much maligned 1972 campaign of South Dakota Senator George McGovern was, as this documentary by Stephen Vittoria (BLACK AND WHITE, HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD) points out, a high point in American politics. Moreover, its ultimate failure was indicative of the problems in the electoral process as a whole, highlighting the impossibility of success for an honest, idealistic candidate.

The film is partly a biography of a truly remarkable politician, and partly a political essay, full of analysis and historical information. Unabashedly partisan, Vittoria provides an alternative history of the events leading up to the election in which Nixon was running for his second term. More...

March 2006 Movie:
Fighting for Life in the Death Belt
Thursday March 23, 7:00 PM
Lone Tree Library

Synopsis: Legendary Atlanta attorney Stephen Bright, an anti-death penalty lawyer who has spent 20 years eloquently defending death row inmates in the Southeast, where 90 percent of the nation’s executions take place, has only a few days to save his two clients from lethal injection. The main focus is on the 12-year fight for the life of Wallace Fugate, a man dubiously convicted of murdering his wife. Inept public defense and a quick judgment obscured the argument that the shooting was possibly accidental and prevented a fair trial. Already spread thin, Bright must also convince client Carzell Moore to accept life without parole for rape and murder, but Moore prefers to risk death for a small chance for a lighter sentence. Bright and his staff from the Southern Center for Human Rights, including renowned litigator Palmer Singleton and protégé Sanjay Chhablani, we’re followed for 6 weeks in the summer of 2002 as they worked tirelessly to save these two men. Capturing the gripping drama of desperate negotiations as the clock ticks, directors Jeff Marks and Adam Elend examine how difficult defending the condemned is in the Southeast, known as the death-belt. “A lot of people have spent a lot of time on the greater moral issue of the death penalty,” Elend states. “But we wanted to focus on the injustices of the process.” Revealing the flaws and frustrations of our justice system, the drama is urgent and palpable. Musician Ani DiFranco narrates this documentary about compassion and intelligence battling an obtuse bureaucracy.

The End of Suburbia:
Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream"
by Barrie Zwicker

Synopsis: Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too has the suburban way of life become embedded in the American consciousness. Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream.

But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary.

The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. What does Oil Peak mean for North America? As energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia ?

Hosted by Barrie Zwicker. Featuring James Howard Kunstler, Peter Calthorpe, Michael Klare, Richard Heinberg, Matthew Simmons, Michael C. Ruppert, Julian Darley, Colin Campbell, Kenneth Deffeyes, Ali Samsam Bakhtiari and Steve Andrews. Directed by Gregory Greene. Produced by Barry Silverthorn. Duration: 78 minutes

July 2005 Movie
The Corporation
Date and location is TBD

Winner of 24 INTERNATIONAL AWARDS, 10 of them AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS including the AUDIENCE AWARD for DOCUMENTARY in WORLD CINEMA at the 2004 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL.

SYNOPSIS: THE CORPORATION explores the nature and spectacular
rise of the dominant institution of our time. Footage from pop culture, advertising, TV news, and corporate propaganda, illuminates the corporation's grip on our lives. Taking its legal status as a "person" to its logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask "What kind of person is it?"

Provoking, witty, sweepingly informative, The Corporation includes forty interviews with corporate insiders and critics including:

• Milton Friedman
• Noam Chomsky
• Naomi Klein
• Michael Moore

plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change.