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Seacoast Environmental Film Festival 2024

Arts and Entertainment

March 12, 2024

From: Seacoast Environmental Film Festival

The Seacoast Environmental Film Festival is a highly successful, day-long event held at the Kittery Community Center STAR Theatre, that brings together Seacoast area environmentalists, activists, educators, and interested filmgoers to watch and discuss award winning documentaries about critical environmental issues that are globally important and locally relevant. ?

Nuclear Now- 9:15-11:30
As fossil fuels continue to cook the planet, the world is finally becoming forced to confront the influence of large oil companies and tactics that have enriched a small group of corporations and individuals for generations. Beneath our feet, Uranium atoms in the Earth’s crust hold incredibly concentrated energy- science unlocked this energy in the mid-20th century, first for bombs and then to power submarines and the United States led the effort to generate electricity from this new source. Yet in the mid 20th century as societies began the transition to nuclear power and away from fossil fuels, a long-term PR campaign to scare the public began, funded in part by coal and oil interests. This campaign would sow fear about harmless low-level radiation and create confusion between nuclear weapons and nuclear power. With unprecedented access to the nuclear industry in France, Russia, and the United States, iconic director Oliver Stone explores the possibility for the global community to overcome challenges like climate change and reach a brighter future through the power of nuclear energy- an option that may become a vital way to ensure our continued survival sooner than we think.

The Power of Water- 11:45-12:30
Premiering for the first time at our festival. This short documentary tells  the story of a New Hampshire couple, Bob King and Annie Faulkner, and their local efforts to restore hydroelectric dams and protect wild land for the sake of clean energy, a healthy climate, and a biodiverse future.

The Smell Of Money- 1:30-3:30
?“The smell of money”—that’s what Big Pork calls the stench of pig waste in the air in eastern North Carolina, where much of the world’s bacon and barbecue is made. But to Elsie Herring and others who live near the state’s giant pig factories, the revolting odor is a call to battle against generations of injustice.
When a corporate hog farm moves in–uninvited–on land her grandfather had purchased after claiming his freedom from slavery, Elsie Herring decides to fight back. But as her rural community becomes the epicenter of the pork industry’s explosion in America, Elsie’s struggle to save her family’s home and heritage turns into a battle against one of the world’s most powerful companies and its deadly pollution.
After decades of intimidation and defeat, Elsie and her community team up with a gutsy small-town lawyer to take the world’s largest pork company to court. An epic, nine-year legal battle ensues, and the residents risk everything to reclaim their rights to clean air, pure water, and a life free from the stench of ****.
A story about the power of love for one’s family and community to triumph over even the largest forces of injustice, The Smell of Money calls upon viewers to see the people behind what's on our plates––and to join the fight for a better future for us all.

Common Ground- 3:45-6:00
?The highly anticipated sequel to, Kiss the Ground fuses journalistic expose’ with deeply personal stories from those on the front lines of the food movement, Common Ground unveils a dark web of money, power, and politics behind our broken food system. The film reveals how unjust practices forged our current farm system in which farmers of all colors are literally dying to feed us. The film profiles a hopeful and uplifting movement of white, black, and indigenous farmers who are using alternative “regenerative” models of agriculture that could balance the climate, save our health, and stabilize America’s economy – before it’s too late.