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Earthnotes, a film festival in a box |
 A “festival in a box”, Earthnotes started in Cape Town and is now travelling from town to town along the west coast. Image can go a long way to informing and raising awareness of important issues, and the environmental documentaries featured in Earthnotes will indeed travel a long way to make people think about our planet and the need to protect our Benguela region in particular. The worrying state of our fish stocks, society’s dependency on fossil fuels, water as a scarce resource, our region’s wetlands and marine ecosystems, innovative solutions for overpopulated cities… these are some of the issues highlighted in a range of both local and international documentaries presented by DLIST.
Notes of caution and of hope
In Cape Town, where the Earthnotes box was first opened, some of the documentaries raised lively discussion in Q&A sessions organised after the screenings, sometimes bringing inspiration for action. One Q&A session followed the screening of Farming the Seas, a documentary exploring the pros and cons of aquaculture in a world running out of fish stocks. Representatives from the Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI) explained how our daily eating choices can have an impact on the health and productivity of our oceans. The SASSI Pocket Guide, which really fits in a tiny pocket, can help us make better choices when buying seafood or dining out. The way we can make a difference is by giving preference to fish species listed in the Guide’s Green List (relatively healthy and well-managed populations that can sustain current fishing pressure) and avoiding Red List fish (illegal to buy and sell in South Africa).
 Another source of inspiration was A Convenient Truth: Urban Solutions from Curitiba, Brazil. With 2010 approaching, there has been growing debate around Cape Town’s sustainability as a city. Because Curitiba is similar to Cape Town in many ways, its innovative approach to solving problems of transportation, waste, green areas and low cost housing surely makes for an interesting case study for us. Energy production is also high on the South African agenda and was the focus of discussion after the screening of Crude Impact, a shocking documentary exposing the environmental, social and political impacts of our dependency on fossil fuel energy.
At the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), in Bellville, Earthnotes attracted students from campus but also from high-schools in the area. Other universities and high-schools are planning to purchase some of the documentaries on DVD for use in classes.
Where to next?
After a two-week festival at the Labia Theatre in Cape Town and at the newly established CPUT’s Environmental Resource Centre in Bellville, Earthnotes is now heading north to towns in the west coast of South Africa and Namibia. DLIST partners in Langebaan, Bitterfontein, Doring Bay, Port Nolloth, Alexander Bay, Lüderitz, Henties Bay, Walvis Bay, Windhoek, among other towns in the region, will host Earthnotes festivals over the rest of the year.
While the Benguela region is DLIST’s target area, there has been huge interest in Earthnotes from other parts of South Africa as well as from neighbouring countries. So Earthnotes will also make their way to the Garden Route, the Karoo, the East Coast and Gauteng in South Africa, as well as Botswana and Madagascar.
All details about Earthnotes and the documentaries are available at www.dlist.org/earthnotes. Keep and eye on that page to see when Earthnotes is coming to a town near you! For any queries or suggestions, please contact the DLIST Team at admin@dlist-benguela.org.
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