FREE Film Screenings!
“The Clean Bin Project”
An inspiring film about a regular Vancouver couple and their quest to answer the question “is it possible to live completely waste free?” Jen and Grant go head to head in a competition to see who can swear off consumerism and produce the least amount of garbage in an entire year.
Their light-hearted rivalry is set against a darker examination of the sobering problem of waste in North America. Even as they garner interest in their project and find themselves becoming unintentional zero-waste spokespeople, Jen and Grant struggle to find meaning in their seemingly minuscule impact on our “throw-away” society.
Featuring interviews with renowned artist, Chris Jordan and marine pollution expert, Captain Charles Moore, The Clean Bin Project presents the serious topic of waste reduction with optimism, humour, and inspiration for individual action.
“Just Eat It”
We all love food. As a society, we devour countless cooking shows, culinary magazines and foodie blogs. So how could we possibly be throwing nearly 50% of it in the trash? Filmmakers and food lovers Jen and Grant dive into the issue of food 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 has been discarded.
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 anddelicious entertainment.
“A Plastic Ocean”
If it was happening in one gyre, they suspected it was happening in all of them. But the filmmakers needed experts to prove it.
Scientists were brought in at each stage to analyze the findings from one part of the story to add their data to the overall report on the five gyres.
In the center of the Pacific Ocean gyre researchers found more plastic than plankton. A Plastic Ocean documents the newest science, proving how plastics, once they enter the oceans, break up into small particulates that enter the food chain where they attract toxins like a magnet. These toxins are stored in seafood’s fatty tissues, and eventually consumed by us.
- Producer Jo Ruxton joined an expedition to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Gyre, 1500 miles off the coast of San Francisco, to ascertain its impact. When the expedition discovered free-floating microplastics instead of an anticipated solid mass that could be contained, Jo knew she had to begin the film that would become A Plastic Ocean.
Jo had worked for the WWF International in Hong Kong and partnered with director and journalist Craig Leeson. Their first collaboration was on a documentary about endangered Pink Dolphins in Hong Kong.
- Jo and Craig brought on Dr. Lindsay Porter, an expert in cetaceans (whales and dolphins).
- Together they contacted the world’s experts to see what was known about plastic pollution in the gyres.
- The team expanded to include Dr. Bonnie Monteleone who had already found microplastic in other gyres she had investigated. She joined the expedition to the South Pacific gyre.
With new information emerging about the extent of the issue in each of the Ocean gyres, free diving champion Tanya Streeter joined the team.
Together they set off on what would be a four-year global odyssey to explore the issue of plastics in our oceans and its effect on marine ecosystems and human health, including endocrine disruption.
Email Dan Mikolay at daniel@rmrecycling.org to schedule a free screening for your community group, class or school. More information on the films at www.cleanbinmovie.com, www.foodwastemovie.com, & www.plasticoceans.org.
*”The Clean Bin Project” & “A Plastic Ocean” are also available on iTunes!