Itinerant Cinema Series

ParaDocma - Viver melhor [a cidade], é preciso!

May to December, 2017

Several Places (Coimbra)

Schedule

SESSION 1
L’Oro Vero (2015; 30min) by Giuseppe Orlandini and Daniele De Stefano
May 25, 2017 | Casa das Artes Bissaya Barreto (Coimbra)

Synopsis: This documentary discusses the impacts of the oil drilling project in the town of Irpinia, known throughout the world for its excellent wine and gastronomy and the mobilization of local farmers and people. This session will focus on local actors, including activists, and environmental, cultural, social, economic and scientific groups and organisations, some of them hosting the Itinerant Cinema Series, called upon to participate in a broad dialogue on the local needs and resources, be them material, immaterial or human and on the possibilities of co-building solutions to local problems.


SESSION 2
Portugal, um retrato ambiental - episódio 1: “país de contrastes” (2004; 50min) by Luísa Schmidt and Francisco Manso
June 22, 2017, 21h30 | Casa de Chá (outdoors) [Coimbra]

Synopsis: Between the 1950s and the first oil crisis in 1973, the Western world lived a period of prosperity with great focus on scientific development and consumer society. Portugal, however, did not follow by this prosperity where rurality prevailed, with a lack of productive agricultural activity, a feeble fishing sector and a weak industrialization. The 1950s were as dark in the country as the 1960s were exasperated: war, emigration and isolation. With the 25 April, the country experienced new winds of change in the economy and sociocultural modernization. The economy has grown, but in an uncoordinated way, which has led to major environmental consequences. This first episode focuses on this whole process. 


SESSION 3
Portugal, um retrato ambiental - episódio 2: "das catástrofes às fontes de energia" (2004; 50min)  by Luísa Schmidt and Francisco Manso
July 27, 2017, 18h00 | Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra - Círculo Sereia

Synopsis: The second episode of this series focuses on unnatural catastrophes, that is, caused by the human hand. An example is the torrential flood that occurred in 1967 in Lisbon and that killed hundreds of people due to unplanned construction in the floodplain. Catastrophes related to radioactivity and the black tides were also prominent throughout the world. Public opinion, both Portuguese and international, became aware of environmental issues when the media began to report the first catastrophic events of human and involuntary cause. This episode deepens the energy problem by highlighting environmental concerns and the environmental movement.


SESSÃO 4
Portugal, um retrato ambiental - episódio 3: "águas"  (2004; 50min) by Luísa Schmidt and Francisco Manso
August 25, 2017, 19h30 | Museu da Água (Parque Dr. Manuel de Braga) [Coimbra]

Synopsis: This episode reveals the historical and geographical course of some rivers, estuaries and the sea and the pitiful state of the quality of its waters. Pollution of beaches, use of river waters as a means of disposing of pollutants and toxic products by some industries, as well as clandestine urbanizations that made rivers open sewers. The episode exposes how the New State structuring policies, the disorder resulting from the absence of planning rules and poorly conducted investments in basic sanitation infrastructure have led to the current and deplorable state of our waters.


SESSION 5
Portugal, um retrato ambiental - episódio 4: "paisagem e desordenamento" (2004; 50min) by Luísa Schmidt and Francisco Manso
September 28, 2017, 17h00  | Coimbra Education School (TBC)

Synopsis: The lack of territorial planning sums up very well the environmental problem of our country. The fourth and last episode of the series aims to expose the ruins of the landscape, regional asymmetries, the social dysfunctions and vices of the administrative and political system. This last episode follows the journey that led to the transformation of a rural country into a suburban country, with a specific focus on the processes in Lisbon and its transposition to other cities.
 

SESSION 6
Project Wild Thing (2013; 60min) by David Bond and Ashley Jones
November 4, 2017, 18h00 | Casa da Esquina (Coimbra)

Synopsis: Project Wild Thing is a documentary that addresses the complex subject of the growing distance of children from nature. Contrasting the social and advertising stimuli to children's consumption of products that are very unnatural and harmful to health and well-being, filmmaker David Bond invites parents and the whole society to contribute to a greater familiarity of children with nature, promoting a connection between healthier growth processes and an ecological position.


SESSION 7
Consuming kids: The Commercialization of Childhood (2008; 60min) by Adriana Barbaro and Jeremy Earp
Novemver 16, 2017, 18h00 | Casa da Esquina (Coimbra)

Synopsis: Consuming Kids exposes business marketing practices aimed at families and children to stimulate consumption of products such as fast-food, violent video-games and even fake educational products. Based on the testimonies of child health professionals, the documentary focuses on the growth of child marketing and shows how the latest advances in psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience are used to turn children into a profitable consumer machine that generates millions of dollars in profits every year. The film exposes the marketing of children, raising pressing questions about the ethics of child marketing and its impact on the health and well-being of children.


SESSION 8
Voices of Transition (2012; 90min) by Nils Aguilar
December 16, 2017, 15h00 | Casa da Esquina (Coimbra)

SynopsisVoices of transition presents different narratives that have in common proposals for solutions for the food security challenges of societies in permanent crisis. This is the case of community-based agriculture in Cuba, of ingenious forest cultivation methods in France, and of the influential Transition movement in the United Kingdom. The actors and communities of this movement for change seek to build local resilience, under a positive vision of the future, of more just, healthy and prosperous ways, focusing on the planet, on people and their relationships and sharing.