In the spirit of the conversations we’ve been hosting recently, we’d like to encourage you to consider the environment and the economy this holiday season. Some of the easiest ways to do this are by upcycling, regifting, crafting and buying local.

Our fantastic local sponsors are a great place to do your christmas shopping: Hemp and Company, Rocky Mountain Soap Company, Global Village Gifts (535 Pandora), WeDoHosting, Bubby Roses Bakery, Pic-a-Flic and Fernwood Coffee.

Give the Gift of Support

Donating to the Mustard Seed is another great way to help an increasing number of working families throughout the year. Did you know that the food donated at this time of year lasts well into spring or summer? The folks at Mustard Seed work hard to make it easy for us to contribute. Here’s an awsome list of all the events and donation opportunities, including drop-off points at every Thrifty Food Store til December 15, a Victoria Soul Gospel Choir concert and gift-wrapping services at The Bay Centre, Tillicum and Hillside Malls. You can even reduce your library fines by donating! Check it out!

Up Next: Crazy Wisdom on January 18

We generally don’t schedule and event in December, there just so much going on. Our next event will be on Wednesday January 18th, 2012: we’re collaborating with the Victoria Shambala Centre to bring you the Victoria premiere of Crazy Wisdom: the Life and Times of Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche. The post-screening discussion will focus on the role of spirituality in our changing world. More details very soon!

Crazy Wisdom Trailer from Kate Trumbull on Vimeo.

Join our Email list

In case you aren’t already on our list, please consider adding your name to our email list for 2012: send an email to info@opencinema.ca with “subscribe” in the subject. That way you’ll be sure not to miss any events. Or you can join us on Twitter and Facebook.

OPEN CINEMA recently held our 85^th screening to another packed house! During our eighth season, we’ve had a near perfect run of sold out events! We’ve partnered with local organizations such as The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, CRD, FoodRoots and Transition Towns to bring documentaries and discussion on diverse and relevant topics such as food security, creative expression, First Nations, local history, waste-free living, the economics of happiness and sustainable green energy.

As cultural funding sources dwindle, in order to continue offering this kind of programming we must turn to you, the community at large. We are inviting local ethical businesses such as yours to participate in our fourth annual fundraising event by providing products or services for a silent auction at our Earth Day Celebration, which will take place at the Victoria Event Centre.

On Wednesday April 20^th 2011, we will screen the Victoria premiere of the timely documentary Powerful: Energy for Everyone. filmmaker David Chernushenko’s global journey to examine the alternatives to the conventional energy system. You can find out more about the event by visiting the event page.

In return for the donation of a silent auction item worth $25 or more, we will promote your business in our event publicity and feature your logo on our website and on the screen during the hour prior to the film screening. This values-based advertising opportunity is worth a value of at least $100.

We hope you’ll join us at this fabulous community celebration featuring local food treats and cash bar.

Please contact me at the number below to make a donation, or for more information.

Catlin Lewis: Event Coordinator (250) 381-4428 catlin@opencinema.ca

Download the silent auction request letter in PDF: Silent Auction request 2011

This timely film about sustainable energy alternatives will be our season eight finale and fundraiser.

Read about OPEN CINEMA and the documentary film industry in this recent Times Colonist article by Michael Reid.

Watch a trailer and find out more about the film here.

Our silent auction includes items from Hemp and Company, Victoria Symphony, Cinecenta, Ethical Deal, Janis Lacouvee and much more!

Don’t miss our grand prize draw – a luxury night for two at Sooke Harbour House includes a 4-course dinner. One ticket for $5, 4 for $20 and 20 for $50!

If you would like to donate a silent auction item to support our fundraising efforts please contact us or dowload this PDF: Silent Auction request 2011

Your donations help to keep OPEN CINEMA programming alive and well!

Disclaimer: We can’t guarantee anything, securing a Victoria premiere for a film isn’t always possible (and we generally show Victoria premieres).

We offer local businesses and organizations various ways to participate in our events as sponsors.

Please take a look at the attached for details on sponsoring either individual events or our whole season.

Download the entire pdf here: SEASON Eight SPONSORSHIP REQUEST.pdf

Promote Your Business or Organization by sponsoring OPEN CINEMA!

OPEN CINEMA is offering ethical businesses a low cost opportunity to advertise at our popular café screening events and on our website.

OPEN CINEMA screens thought-provoking films in café style venues, followed by open forum discussion with invited guests. Now in our 8^th successful season, OPEN CINEMA has become a popular feature in Victoria’s cultural landscape, drawing capacity crowds (120+) of all ages and receiving significant local media attention. During Season Eight, which runs September 2010 to May 2011, we will screen 7 films. See below for more details.

OPEN CINEMA’s informed and motivated audiences gather up to 90 minutes before the film to take advantage of the convivial atmosphere, networking opportunities, full bar and local, organic food concession. During this time, a high quality, rotating PowerPoint presentation on the large screen features sponsors logos and services. We have a limited number of spaces for paid advertising still available!

How Much Does it cost?

$60 PER SCREENING

You get a colour slide with your company name or logo featured in our rotating powerpoint presentation at one screening of your choice.

$300 PER SEASON (best value)

You get a colour slide with your company name or logo featured in a rotating powerpoint presentation at all 2010/11 screenings

PLUS your company name or logo featured on the main page of www.opencinema.ca, on our rotating sponsors banner! We will also promote your company on our Facebook page and Twitter stream.

_________________________________________

OPEN CINEMA Season Eight includes the following Victoria premieres

Wednesday, September 22^nd, 2010

FRESH: new thinking about what we’re eating

FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet. (2009, USA) www.FreshTheMovie.com

In collaboration with www.FoodRoots.ca

_________________________________________

Wednesday, October 13^th & 14^th, 2010

Winds of Heaven: Emily Carr, Carvers and the Spirits of the Forest

An impressionistic exploration of the spirit that informed the solitary life of one of Canada’s most celebrated and irrepressible painters. This remarkable, documentary offers a fascinating historical portrait of Victoria and local First Nations during the early 20th century. Veteran Ottawa director Michael Ostroff will be in attendance. (2010, Canada) http://carrdoc.wordpress.com/

At the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (www.aggv.bc.ca)

_________________________________________

Wednesday November 17^th, 2010

The Clean Bin Project

www.TheCleanBinProject.com

In collaboration with CRD

_________________________________________

For more information please contact us!

Mandy Leith 250.385.3003 or Catlin Lewis 250.381.4428

info@opencinema.ca

Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian

Victoria Premiere!

Hollywood has made over 4000 films about Native people, defining how they are seen by the world for more than 100 years. Reel Injun takes an entertaining and informative look at the portrayal of North American First Nations through the history of cinema. Travelling through the heartland of North America, Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond looks at the myth of the ‘Injun’, providing a context to further explore media representation and cultural identity.

With candid interviews with directors, writers, actors and activists, including Clint Eastwood, Jim Jarmusch and Robbie Robertson, clips from hundreds of films, such as Stagecoach, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Atanarjuat, the Fast Runner, Reel Injun traces the evolution of the cinematic depiction of Native people from the silent era to today.

For more information and trailer visit www.reelinjunthemovie.com

OPEN FORUM DISCUSSION

Filmmaker Neil Diamond (via skype)

Lina de Guevara, Founder & Director Puente Theatre

Janet Marie Rogers, Mohawk writer, artist, CFUV radio host

Ana de Lara, actor, comedian & filmmaker

David Black, Professor, Royal Roads School of Communication and Culture

SPONSORED BY ROYAL ROADS UNIVERSITY

Cash bar, organic pizza (www.PizzaPi.ca), Bubby Rose brownies, popcorn, free Level Ground coffee, door prizes, more!

Silent auction and other fundraising treats!

see below for list of silent auction donors

$10-20 SUGGESTED DONATION

Victoria Event Centre, 1415 Broad Street (elevator access)

DOORS OPEN 5.30pm

GRAND PRIZE DRAW
A luxury night for two at Sooke Harbour House
www.sookeharbourhouse.com

SILENT AUCTION
Hemp and Company – gift certificate and gift basket
Instinct Art & Gifts – Buddha candle holder
Victoria Symphony – tickets
Smoking Lily – gift
Spirit Development – massage
Mountain Equipment Coop – GC
Full Circle Gallery - framed print
Melanie Lichtinger - 2 hr astrology consultation
Kay’s Korner – framed artwork
Pic a Flic Video – 10 movie rentals
Global Village Store – gift
Silk Road Tea – GC and Tea Tasting GC
Habit Coffee – GC
Swan’s Hotel - GC
Good Planet – GC
Willowstream Spa – GC
Cafe Bliss - GC
Fairfield Chiropractic – Consultation
Cadboro Bay Pharmacy - “SAD” lamp
Munro’s Books – book
Rocky Mountain Soap Company – gift basket
Share Organics – GC
Moksha Yoga – one month unlimited
Posh Sukiyaki Restaurant - GC
Speedy Autobody – car tune up
Rick Raxlen – artwork
Monk Office - eco friendly note book and Parker pen
Discovery Sailing Adventures – 3hrs sailing experience
Janis Lacouvee – handmade chocolate truffles

and more…

Please support our vibrant community event!

Happy New Year!

2010 is already shaping up to be a great year and we are very excited to announce our Spring 2010 schedule, featuring 2 Victoria premieres of powerful and poignant films on topical issues.

On Wednesday February 24th, we’ll be screening the Victoria premiere of the Montreal made film H2Oil, which takes a sobering look at the Alberta tar sands and featuring post-discussion guests from Dogwood Initiative and Beaver Lake Cree legal action, and more. See below for more info.

And on Wednesday March 10th, OPEN CINEMA will partner with the Greater Victoria Water Watch Coalition to bring you the Victoria premiere of the excellent film TAPPED (USA, 2009), which is an excellent film about the kaleidoscope of issues associated with bottled water.

Stay tuned for details of a great film and an exciting new collaboration for our April event!

All events take place at the wonderful Victoria Event Centre, with door prizes, cash bar, food concession and great conversation. Admission by donation.

Join our email list to receive regular updates – send an email to info at opencinema.ca with SUBSCRIBE in the subject header.

See you at the movies!

7pm February 24th, 2010

VICTORIA PREMIERE!

H2Oil

Sponsored by Dogwood Initiative

Ever wonder where American gets most of its oil? If you thought it was Saudi Arabia or Iraq you are wrong. Americas biggest oil supplier has quickly become Canadas oil sands. Located under Alberta’s pristine boreal forests, the process of oil sands extraction uses up to 4 barrels of fresh water to produce only one barrel of crude oil.

It goes without saying that water, its depletion, exploitation, privatization and contamination, has become the most important issue to face humanity in this century. At the same time, the war for oil is well underway across the globe. A struggle is increasingly being fought between water and oil, not only over them.

Alberta’s oil sands are at the centre of this tension. As the province rushes towards a large-scale extraction, the social, ecological and human impacts are hitting a crisis point. In only a few short years the continent will be a crisscross of pipelines, reaching from the arctic all the way to the southern US, leaving toxic water basins the size of Lake Ontario, and surface-mines as large as Florida.

H2Oil follows a voyage of discovery, heartbreak and politicization in the stories of those attempting to defend water in Alberta against tar sands expansion. Unlikely alliances are built and lives are changed as they come up against the largest industrial project in human history.

With hope and courage H2Oil tells the story of one of the most significant, and destructive projects of our time. (Canada 2009)

For trailer and more info visit: www.h2oildoc.com

Stay tuned for post-screening discussion guests!

7pm March 10th 2010

VICTORIA PREMIERE!

Tapped (USA 2009)

Sponsored by Greater Victoria Water Watch Coalition

Is access to clean drinking water a basic human right, or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce? Stephanie Soechtig’s debut feature is an unflinching examination of the big business of bottled water.

From the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car and I.O.U.S.A., this timely documentary is a behind-the-scenes look into the unregulated and unseen world of an industry that aims to privatize and sell back the one resource that ought never to become a commodity: our water.

From the plastic production to the ocean in which so many of these bottles end up, this inspiring documentary trails the path of the bottled water industry and the communities which were the unwitting chips on the table. A powerful portrait of the lives affected by the bottled water industry, this revelatory film features those caught at the intersection of big business and the publics right to water.

For trailer and more information visit www.tappedthemovie.com

You’ll receive regular updates about OPEN CINEMA events, documentary news, trailers, links and other social justice news.

If you have yet to jump on the social media bandwagon, I encourage you to check it out. These tools are fast becoming the networking and information tools of choice for many non-profits, social profits and businesses.

See you at the movies!

Mandy

OPEN CINEMA Founder and Program Director

One way to take advantage of this is by volunteering your time to help make this popular and meaningful program a success.

We are currently looking for volunteers for the following tasks:

~ postering

~ event setup

~ event hosting

~ box office

~ social media and website updates

If you have an hour or three to spare we would love to hear from you!

Please contact Catlin (250) 381-4428 catlin@opencinema.ca

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Victoria-BC/OPEN-CINEMA/91225342625

And for Twitter-ers, OPEN CINEMA is @opencinema!

See you at the movies!