Fairtrade Fortnight - 'Black Gold' Screenings at WHC Library for Schools

We have invited Transition Year & C.S.P.E. Classes from all the local Secondary Schools to book private screenings in our library of the documentary ‘Black Gold’ to coincide with the International Fairtrade Fortnight which runs from the 25th of February to the 9th of March.

We feel that this film is a great place to begin a study into the entire Fairtrade movement. Projects, Essays, Discussions & Initiatives could follow in class. There is also a C.S.P.E module & teachers resource available, and it can be downloaded from www.fairtrade.ie.
‘Black Gold’ is a 2006 documentary film about the international coffee trade and its ramifications for the farmers who grow coffee.

As westerners revel in designer lattes and cappuccinos, impoverished Ethiopian coffee growers suffer the bitter taste of injustice. In this eye-opening expose of the multi-billion dollar industry, Black Gold traces one man's fight for a fair price.

We have a meeting room available with a 42” Plasma screen to show this film.

For more info on Fairtrade go to http://www.fairtrade.ie

Black Gold Official Site http://www.blackgoldmovie.com

World Witness Film Festival

WORLD WITNESS FILM FESTIVAL,

BELLTABLE CINEMA - (THURS. 31 JAN - SUN. 3 FEB 2008 )



The Belltable and Doras Luimni present a selection of international films inspired by human rights issues. The festival opens on Thursday January 31st at 7.30 pm and runs until Sunday February 3rd 2008.

Visual images of human life as it is lived all over the world will be screened during this festival. Stories will be told of men and women, of families, of children, of individuals, of groups and of peoples from around the globe.

The stories will be stories of the heroic and the mundane, of the elite and the masses, of the free and the enslaved, as they enjoy, or are denied, their humanity. Human rights will be the inspiration, as the festival celebrates a common human family, recognising that equality is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.

ALL TICKETS €5 - available from Belltable box office

Full Programme

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THURS 31st.


7.30pm- Reception and launch of festival.
Guest speaker is AHMED KEDIR SIMEA ( a refugee from Ethiopia ) who will speak about trade and human rights issues.

8 pm - BLACK GOLD / UK-USA 2006 / Dir.- Marc and Nick Francis/ Col.-78 mins
Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping centres and supermarkets and dominate an industry worth over 80 billion dollars, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil. But 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.
**** WINNER - Best Production Award- 2007 British Independent Films Festival
**** NOMINATED - Grand Jury Prize- 2006 Sundance Film Festival

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FRI. 1st FEB.

12 NOON- The Minister of Defence, Mr Willie O'Dea, T.D. will speak on the role of U.N. peacekeeping work, which is particularly timely given the imminent deployment of Irish troops to Chad and Jean Hakizimana, an asylum speaker from Rwanda, will speak of his experiences of the Rwandan genocide.

SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL / Canada 2007 / Dir.- Roger Spottiswode / Co. 113 mins
Cast - Roy Dupuis, Jean Hugues Anglade, Amanda Alden, Justin Craig.
This is the film adaptation of the Romeo Dallaire autobiography -"Shake Hands With The Devil" - Lt. General Dallaire was the military commander of the U.N. mission in Rwanda and this film is personal and, all too true, story of his time there during the genocide of 1994 and how Dallaire's request for more aid went ignored by the United Nations.

7.30 pm- GOD GREW TIRED OF US - THE LOST BOYS OF SUDAN / USA 2006 / Dir - Christopher Dillon Quinn, Tommy Walker / Col.98 mins
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance in 2006 - the film explores the indomitable spirit of three "Lost Boys" from the Sudan who leave their homeland. These teenagers were among the 25,000 children who fled villages, formed surrogate families and sought refuge from famine, disease, wild animals and attacks from revel soldiers. They triumphed over seemingly insurmountable adversity and civil strife in their own country, and were selected by a U.S. programme, brought to America, given jobs and accomodation. These people have nvever known air travel, electricity, lifts or running waters.Will the USA prove to be their nirvana ? What about the tribe they left behind ? Narrated by Nicole Kidman.

(Junior Film Fleadh Programme/2007 )

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SAT. 2nd FEB

2PM - CATCH A FIRE ( FR/UK/South Africa/ USA 2006) / Dir- Philip Noyce / Col. 101 mins
Cast- Tim Robbins, Derek Luke, Bonnie Henna, Mncedisi Shabangu, Tumisho Masha.
Powerfully telling the story of a South African hero's journey to freedom, "Catch A Fire" is a politcal thriller that takes place during that country's turbulent and divided times in the early 1980's, and in the new South Africa of today. Right off the bat, "Catch A Fire" distinguishes itself from other recent international films about Africa ( including THE CONSTANT GARDENER and THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND ) in that it is actually told from an African perspective.

4.30pm- BAMAKO ( Mali /USA /Fr. 2006) Dir- Abderrahmane Sissako / Col. 115 mins
Abderrahmane Sissako grew up in a mudwalled house in Bamako, Mali's capital city. Now he returns to that modest family home to take on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In the courtyard once presided over by his late father, Sissako gathers lawyers, judges, and witnesses to put globalization itself on trial.

7.30PM - Raphael Chikukwa, film producer and art curator, will join us from Zimbabwe for a screening of his documentary AFRIKAN HEROES (2006) which relates the experiences of Zimbabwean, Zambian and Tanzanian soldiers in the British army in World War II. This is the untold story of the forgotten heroes of the Commonwealth - this film supported by the British Imperial War Museum and will preceed the screening of DAYS OF GLORY (aka INDIGENES)

DAYS OF GLORY (Algeria/Fr./Morocco/ Belgium 2006 ) Dir - Rachid Bouchareb / Col. 118 mins
Cast - Sami Bouajila, Antoine Chappey, Roschdy Zem, Bernard Blancan, Samy Naceri.
World War II drama depicting the plight of the North African troops enlisted to fight in the French army between 1943 and 1945 - these four young Arabs were called upon by one colonial oppressor to fight another, they say goodbye to their families in Algeria, Morocco and Senegal and willingly step forward to take up their arms - all they get is abuse and constant discrimination from bigots from within the French army. Bouchareb's powerful and persuasive film was instrumental in Prime Minister's Jacques Chirac's decision to compensate all North Africans who fought in WW II by unfreezing their pensions.

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SUN. 3rd FEB

2 PM - GHOSTS ( UK 2006 ) / Dir. Nick Broomfield / Col. 96 min
Cast- Ai Qin Lin, Man Qin Lin, Zhan Yu, Marc Hoeferlin
On February 5th 2004 twenty three Chinese people are drowned in Morecambe Bay in England - their families in China are still paying off their debts. When a young girl, Ai Qin, pays 25.000 dollars to be smuggled into the UK in order to support her family back in China, she becomes another one of 3 million migrant workers that have become the bedrock of the UK economy. Forced to live with eleven other Chinese people in a two bedroom house, they work in factories preparing food for British supermarkets. Risking their lives for pennies these unprotected workers end up cocklong in Morecambe Bay at night.With an extraordinary debut performance from Ai Qin Lin in a film whose principal characters are played by Chinese former illegal immigrants, GHOSTS offers a unique insight into a secret world that surrounds us.
***** Winner SOLIDARITY AWARD at 2006 San Sebastian International Film Festival
***** Nominated - Grand Jury Prize at 2007 Sundance Festival

4.30PM HERE TO STAY ( Ireland 2007) Dir - Alan Grossman & Aine O'Brien / Col. 72 mins
In this new Irish documentary, the filmmakers follow Filipino gay nurse, Fidel Taguinod, over a two year period as he lives out his multiple roles of nurse, migrant activist and bakla (gay) performer in Dublin. Fidel leads the viewer through a series of migrant-led events, as well as through his working & personal life, in which gay politics are playfully mixed with migrant & multi-cultural issues. Fidel and the film's co-director and producer Alan Grossman attend and speak before the screening at 4.30pm.

PERMISSION TO LAND (Ireland 2006) Dir- Aimee Graham / Col.24 mins
This Irish made documentary features the ongoing protest at the use of Shannon Airport as a landing and refuelling stop for US Military aircraft - it closely examines possible financial theories as to why the the Irish Government has permitted the US Military to land in a supposed Country of National Neutrality - it illustrates the struggle and determination of Irish Peace Protestors who have stopped at nothing in order to cease the US Military Refuelling in Ireland enroute to the war in Iraq.

Limerick born Aimee Graham, an ex HSI graduate for Radio and Print Journalism- formed KALO Productions with Katie Coughlan, Lynn Larkin and Orla Maher and the quartet have already made 3 films to date - PERMISSION TO LAND, THE FAST AND THE CURIOUS (about boyracers) and THE SINGLE FATHER - about single fathers in modern day Ireland.

THE MEMORY BOX ( Ireland 2006 ) Dir- Jade Travers
Produced by the students at the National Film School at IADT in Dun Laoghaire

No Country For Old Men

For those who have just seen the critically acclaimed masterpiece from the Coen Brothers, we would like to tell you that we have the book that this film was based on in our library. It's written by Cormac McCarthy and the book is equally as good as the film.

For the uninitiated;
Llewlyn Moss, hunting antelope near the Rio Grande, stumbles upon a transaction gone horribly wrong. Finding bullet-ridden bodies, several kilos of heroin, and a caseload of cash, he faces a choice leave the scene as he found it, or cut the money and run. Choosing the latter, he knows, will change everything.
And so begins a terrifying chain of events, in which each participant seems determined to answer the question that one asks another: how does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?"

"No Country for Old Men" is a compelling, harrowing, disturbing, sad, endlessly surprising and resonant novel" - Robert Edric, "Spectator".
""No Country for Old Men" is a severed head and shoulders over anything else written in America this year" - "Independent on Sunday".
"A Western thriller with a racy plot and punchy dialogue, perfect for a lazy Sunday" - Sarah Emily Miano, "The Times".
"[An] utterly absorbing, chilling tale...One of the most sinister characters in modern American fiction" - "Herald".
"A fast, powerful read, steeped with a deep sorrow about the moral degradation of the legendary American West" - Lionel Shriver, "Financial Times".

Looking Forward to 2008

May I take this opportunity to wish all our members and visitors a very happy New Year.

We look forward to your continued support and enjoyment of the Watch House Cross Library in the coming year.

We hope to provide you with a great selection of books & media which will cater for all those who are seeking either knowledge or enjoyment.

We will also be holding activities throughout this leap year to keep all the children that come to the library entertained and informed.

If you have any questions or issues about the service please raise it with a member of staff; we would be delighted to help you out.

Patricia Cusack
Executive Librarian