Kelowna Art Gallery Film series

Films will be shown on the last Thursday of every month.  Screenings begin at 7:00pm and are free to the public. Following each movie there will be an opportunity for discussion and a chance to view current exhibitions.

2008 Schedule  

updated 30 July 2008

January 31-manufactured landscapes
A factory that makes 20 million irons a year. A dam that razed 13 cities to the ground and displaced over a million people. A city where skyscrapers stretch back as far as the eye can see. These are the subjects for renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky’s camera. Manufactured Landscapes travels with him through China, witnessing that country’s massive industrial revolution and visiting sites never before seen in the West. The film, like his stunning and disturbing photographs, meditates on our human impact on the planet, and in the process shifts our consciousness about the world and the way we live in it.  

February 28 - Social Genocide
After the fall of its military dictatorship in 1983, successive democratic governments launched a series of reforms purporting to turn Argentina into the world's most liberal and prosperous economy. Fewer than twenty years later, the Argentineans have literally lost everything.  Social Genocide highlights numerous political, financial, social and judicial aspects that map out Argentina's road to ruin. 

March 27 - The U.S. vs John Lennon
The U.S. vs John Lennon tells the story of Lennon’s transformation from loveable moptop to anti-war activist, and recounts the facts about Nixon’s campaign to deport him in 1972, in an effort to silence him as a voice of the peace movement.

April 24 - Black Gold  
Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate an industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world, after oil. While we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields. Black Gold looks at the corruption in this multi-billion dollar market, and traces Tedesse Meskela’s journey to save Ethiopian coffee farmers from bankruptcy in the face of the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the world’s coffee trade.  

May 29 - The Real Dirt on Farmer John
The Real Dirt on Farmer John is a personal documentary about John Peterson, a farmer, artist, and eccentric/innovative thinker cast in rural Illinois . Filmmaker Taggart Siegel has documented John's struggle to redefine his family farm for over twenty years, witnessing the colorful drama of John's life. With the death of his father during the late 60's John turns his traditional family farm into an experiment of art and culture, making it a haven for hippies, radicals and artists. The Real Dirt on Farmer John charts the end of this idealistic era as the farm debt crisis of the 1980s brings about the tragic collapse of the farm.

June 26 - I Shot Andy Warhol
This film explores the provocative shooting of sixties superstar Andy Warhol.  He was the world renowned king of pop art and his life took a dramatic turn in exchange for someone else's 15 minutes of fame.  

July 31 - Kandahar
The film is based on a story (partly true, partly fictionalized) of a successful Afghan-Canadian that returns to Afghanistan after receiving a letter from her sister, who was left behind when the family escaped, that she plans on committing suicide on the last solar eclipse of the millennium.

August 28 - Andy Goldsworthy, Rivers and Tides
Landscape sculptor Andy Goldsworthy is renowned throughout the world for his work in ice, stone, leaves, wood. His own remarkable still photographs are Goldsworthy's way of talking about his often ephemeral works, of fixing them in time.. Now with this deeply moving film, shot in four countries and across four seasons, and the first major film he has allowed to be made, the elusive element of time adheres to his sculpture.

September 25 - The Cats of Mirikitani
Eighty year old Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani survived the trauma of WWII internment camps,
Hiroshima , and homelessness by creating amazing works of art.  In 2001 while living on the
streets of New York , Mirikitani's life is once again affected by war. This time he is taken in
by a local filmmaker and the two of them embark on a journey to confront his painful past.
The Cats of Mirikitani is an intimate exploration of the lingering wounds of war and the healing
power of community and art.  This film has won awards at some 20 festivals, including prizes at
Tribeca, Tokyo , Quito , Bologna , Durban , Galaway, Seoul , and Lyon .

October 30 - TED: Technology Entertainment & Design The Future We Will Create
Once a year, over 4 days, 50 of the world's greatest minds are challenged
to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.  TED is a film about ideas and
answers, weather it be the greening of inner city slums, touch screen computers
or world peace, it is always innovative and entertaining.  The Future We Will Create
is an inside look at the 2006 TED conference as well as its effects on our lives and
the world around us.

"This film is the most exciting film we have been able to bring to the Kelowna Art Gallery so far.” Leo Bartel – Leo’s Video