Thank you to all who attended Rivers of Justice 2012! Not only did we have more people than we've ever had attend the Festival, we also fostered really good conversation throughout the evening around the themes of gender and globalization. Everyone who participated -- attendees, sponsors, committee members -- contributed to a great community event.
For more, check out River Country Journal's story on Rivers of Justice and the event photos posted on Flickr.
Every spring, the world's largest human migration takes place in China when 130 million Chinese factory workers make the trek back home for Chinese New Year celebrations. This film follows one family's story.
Our first film for this year's Festival will be Miss Representation, which explores how the media's misrepresentations of women have led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence.
The 2012 Rivers of Justice Film Festival will take place on Saturday, March 31 from 7-10:30 pm at the Riviera Theatre in downtown Three Rivers. Organized by World Fare, a non-profit, volunteer-run fair trade store, the festival will feature two feature length films. Miss Representation (7:00 p.m.) is an eye-opening documentary about media representations of women and the absence of women in positions of influence in the United States. The second film, Last Train Home (9:00 p.m.), follows a Chinese migrant couple on their annual visit to see their children, showing how globalization is affecting the lives of people around the world, young and old, men and women alike. The event will take place at the Riviera Theatre (50 N. Main St.), with a reception to follow across the street at World Fare (37 N. Main). World Fare will also host a free pre-festival discussion with coffee and tea from 4:30-5:30 that afternoon. $5 tickets include a $5 gift certificate for World Fare.
We've just chosen another feature-lenght film for this year's festival: Food, Inc.! This documentary explores our nation's food industry and exposes the highly mechanized process that now brings food to our tables. Although often shocking, the film reveals a lot about who we've become as a people through our food choices.
One of this year's feature films will be Asparagus! stalking the american life. The film tells the story of Oceana County Michigan, one of the largest producers of asparagus in the United States, and the community's struggles to continue growing its signature crop.
Join us to watch the story of family farmers and an asparagus-loving community fighting to maintain a way of life threatened by the U.S. War on Drugs, free trade and a fast food culture.
We're very excited to announce the 2011 Rivers of Justice Film Festival in Three Rivers, Michigan! Join us March 12 at the Riviera Theatre to explore food justice issues through film. We'll be highlighting several films that approach the topic of food from a variety of angles and will host short discussions about the topic throughout the evening.
Stay tuned for more details!
The other short film we watched at this year's Festival was Fair Trade - The Story, which provides a brief look at how Fair Trade impacts people along the supply line.
One of the featurettes we watched at this year's Festival was "The danger of a single story," a July 2009 TEDTalk given by Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie.
Adichie certainly packs a lot into a short speech, but her warnings about the danger of a single story seem particularly important to conversations about justice. When we allow a single story to define another person or culture, we are limiting what we are able to see and expect. As a result, people, countries and entire continents get written into a corner by the stories told about them by the powerful.
When watched in succession with Black Gold, it's interesting to see how a single story of trade relationships has defined developing nations. Instead of coffee farmers being seen as partners in a trading relationship, they are seen as merely another cost factor to be driven down to the lowest price. And then they are seen as obstinate when they try to represent their interests at global trade meetings.