Movies That Matter Presents

THE STORY OF STUFF

The Story of Stuff will be screened on Tuesday, January 18 at 4:30 pm, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Door County in Ephraim.

Consumerism is the theme of The Story of Stuff. This documentary is about the lifecycle of material goods. It presents a critical view of the consumerist American society and purports to expose the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues.  Its message calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. Stark and compelling statistics are used by filmmaker Annie Leonard to drive home the dire nature of global consumption.

This film is being used in elementary schools, arts programs, and economics classes as well as places of worship and corporate sustainability trainings. It has been viewed by over 12 million people in 228 countries.

Movies That Matter are presented each month by the Social Responsibility Committee of the UU Fellowship. This series of thought-provoking films is free and open to the public with screenings on the third Tuesday each month.  A discussion and optional dinner follow each screening. The new starting time is 4:30 PM through the winter months. The UU Fellowship is located at 10341 Hwy. 42, Ephraim.

By Lu Schilling

“STRANGERS IN GOOD COMPANY” will be shown Tuesday, December 21 at 4:30 pm. The film depicts a fictional survival story of a touring group of octogenarians that is stranded when their tour bus breaks down.

What would you do? One blue-haired woman removed her pantyhose to fashion a fish net to catch supper. Another wants to give up and die right there in a beautiful, remote and peaceful wilderness.

We may see them as old, but their actions and spirit suggest playfulness, creative energy, and wisdom. We soon regard them as sisters at recess giggling at the novelty of their unexpected adventure, happy to be in good company. When they reach a dilapidated and deserted house, it offers no amenities; no beds, no electricity, no water, no food. Each woman approaches the situation in a different way, but there is a buoyancy and resourcefulness about them in spite of some possible apprehensions concerning rescue and survival.

The film elicits thoughtful discussion about aging. Be prepared for a slower pace than an action film. The emphasis is on ordinary events that will reveal information about the lives and characters of the central figures. Stereotypical impressions of the old, especially those that suggest they are uniformly feeble and uninteresting, are dispelled; impositions of age have not prevented them from having lives that are meaningful and interesting.

Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soapbox will be shown November 16 at a new time, 4:30 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim. The film chronicles the company and life of Dr. Emanuel Bronner and how his values live on today in the firm’s ethos and practice.

According to the company’s website, spending on social and environmental causes and charities has roughly matched the firm’s total after-tax income. Total compensation of executives is capped at five times that of the lowest-paid position. The company’s starting salary for packaging soap is $35,000. Employees annually receive 15% of salary paid into a retirement/profit-sharing plan, up to 25% of salary as a bonus, and a health insurance plan for themselves and their families. Plus, the ingredient olive oil is from two sources, Palestine and Israel.

The Social Responsibility Committee of the UU Fellowship is showing the documentary
as an example of a company using principles of social justice in the of management of their successful business.

The Movies That Matter series is free and open to the public with screenings on the third Tuesday each month. The new starting time is 4:30 PM through the winter months. The UU Fellowship is located at 10341 Hwy. 42, Ephraim.

October 19, Tuesday

7:00 free

Movies That Matter

Remember how the vote was changed to include women?
Does a 12^th grader know how that change happened?

A small band of activists questioned authority, challenged tradition, faced violence…
… they survived and continued to demand standards of equality.

Today women may enjoy their right to vote.  Some exercise that right.  I do.
When I vote I feel I honor what these people endured and their courage to persist.

Hillary Swank portrays Alice Paul in this docudrama of the work to pass legislation that makes it possible and safe for women to vote in the U.S.

****CHANGE TIME FOR November*****
3^rd Tuesday MTM will start at 4:30 (winter)
Discussion may continue at a local diner.

Vote Election Day
Nov. 2^nd

By Lu Schilling

Movies That Matter September 21 at 7 PM will explore the impassioned relationship between homosexuality and the Bible. In this spirited documentary, Fish Out of Water, filmmaker Ky Dickens explores the seven Bible passages notoriously used to condemn homosexuality and justify marriage discrimination and makes this polarizing subject accessible and non-threatening. She felt compelled to put together the film after facing homophobia from the sisters in her Vanderbilt sorority.

Fish Out of Water follows Ky’s personal journey as she narrates footage from the first legal gay marriage in Boston, shots from Proposition 8 rallies, the Obama election, and animated sequences illustrating Bible verses. There is also a lot of actual commentary from the people she’s talking about: Gays and lesbians and the ministers, preachers and historians who all want to see the truth about religion and gays reaching the others in the film, those who openly discuss their discontent for the LGBT community.

Ky commented,

“It didn’t take much convincing. It’s a project they’ve been working on so hard, for so long … I’ve had people call me a sinner, and I’m like, ‘I’m not a sinner, I’m a great person.’ I’m a big fan of Jesus, even though I’m not a Christian, but in his role as a philosopher. His message and the message of Christianity can get so twisted, and for such weird reasons.”

This film precedes the September 26th UU service titled New Laws: Big Ones and Little Ones with Dr. Bill McConkey. He will discuss the war on gays and lesbians.

By Lu Schilling

Richard Barry, the man who trained Flipper, walks calmly into the International Whaling Commission conference carrying a monitor on his stomach playing the footage of the dolphin slaughter in Taijii, Japan. It is a testament of the sheer power of one human determined to make amends. Barry carries a personal sense of guilt and responsibility for the current plight of dolphins due to the success of the “Flipper” TV series in the 60′s. Initially the film was banned in Japan and now is changing cultural norms.

If you care about the demise of our oceans join us for the next Movies That Matter screening of The Cove on August 17 at 7 PM. Watch this if you care about the quality of the food on your table. Watch this because you want to regain your hope that humans can get their collective act together before it’s too late.

Louie Psihoyos directs this riveting, Oscar-winning documentary.

A free screening of The End of Poverty will be shown at the UU Fellowship, Ephraim, July 20 at 7 PM as part of the monthly Movies That Matter series.

In this documentary exploring the history of poverty in developing countries, filmmaker Philippe Diaz contends that today’s economic inequities arose as a result of colonization, military conquest and slavery, with wealthier countries seizing the resources of the poor. Narrated by Martin Sheen, this absorbing documentary includes interviews with numerous historians, economists and sociologists who shed light on the ongoing conditions that contribute to poverty.

Based on a book written by Jeffery Sachs, the film marries vivid eyewitness storytelling with concrete analysis. Sachs provides a conceptual map of the world economy and the different categories into which countries fall, explaining why wealth and poverty have diverged and evolved as they have and why the poorest nations have been so markedly unable to escape the cruel vortex of poverty. The End of Poverty does not deliver its worldviews from on high: Sachs plunges into the messy realities of economies, leading his readers through his work in Bolivia, Poland, Russia, India, China, and Africa, and concludes with an integrated set of solutions to the tangled economic, political, environmental, and social issues that most frequently hold societies back.

We used to steal their raw materials, now we make them pay interests on developmental loans. Whatever the economic system, we stay rich, they stay poor. And with every passing year, they grow poorer and we richer. If that bothers you, or if you are looking for some facts about the contours of our global economic system, about who profits and who loses, this is a must-see film. Very inspirational especially at the end, in what we can do personally to help with the causes of injustice and poverty.

The Movies That Matter series is shown on the third Tuesday each month free of charge. Films are selected based on their content reflecting social justice topics. Discussion follows. The UU Fellowship is located at 10341 Hwy. 42, Ephraim.

The UUFDC Social Responsibility Committee hosts the monthly Movies That Matter series of thought-provoking topics. All films have been pre-screened. A discussion follows each movie. The movies are free and the public is welcome.