While imprisoned by her husband for fifteen years, a woman in central India invents an entirely new art form that expresses life's joy. Although Sonabai was illiterate and untrained, her artistic vision is now globally acknowledged. Her work has been the agent of significant social and economic improvement in her region. Sonabai's astonishing story confronts us with our own choices: do we allow ourselves to be victimized by our current issues or can we use our own inner resources to find creative solutions? World Premiere Followed by a Q&A with Director David Berez and Producer Steven Huyler

Short Films from the Collections of Northeast Historic Film

BEAUTY OF THE FIGHT explores with both intimate and exhilarating imagery the effects of recent political and military history on two barrios of Panama. Barraza and El Chorrillo suffered heavy losses when U.S. forces invaded in 1989 to capture rogue strongman General Manuel Noriega. With deft footage - and under military police protection while entering Barraza’s dangerous "red zone" - filmmaker John Urbano captures not only the daily struggle to survive, but also the dignity, joy and passion of the residents of these shantytowns. *Followed by a Q&A with Director John Urbano.

Follows two young teenage boys who hang out at a service station in Pernambouc in the poor northeast of Brazil, watching trucks and travelers and hearing stories about a wider world they can only dream of.

Extended Trailer for the upcoming 2009 documentary feature, CAPE SPIN. Cape Wind: The Fight for the Future of Power in America is a feature length documentary written, produced, and directed by Robbie Gemmel and Daniel Coffin of Rebirth Productions in association with Sundance Channel. The film illuminates the divisive controversy of the Cape Wind Project – a proposal to build 130 massive wind towers five miles off the coast of Cape Cod in Nantucket Sound. The film translates the furor which exploded on Cape Cod into a definitive battle which will be replicated hundreds of times over as industrial-scale renewable energy projects are proposed for America’s deserts, ridgelines and waterways. Cape Wind tackles the root causes of society’s inability to produce a large-scale solution to the global energy crisis it created, framing the events of the Cape Wind project as a microcosm of America’s struggle toward sustainability and energy independence. It is a detailed exploration of the trials and tribulations of implementing a massive energy project and how a community of active citizens struggles to protect itself in these uncertain times.

A Chemical Reaction tells the story of one of the most powerful and effective community initiatives in the history of North America. It started with one lone voice in 1984. Dr. June Irwin, a dermatologist, noticed a connection between her patients’ health conditions and their exposure to chemical pesticides and herbicides. With relentless persistence she brought her concerns to town meetings to warn her fellow citizens that the chemicals they were putting on their lawns posed severe health risks and had unknown side effects on the environment. *Followed by a Q&A with Director Brett Plymale and Paul Tukey

AJ Schnack assembles an all-star crew of documentary filmmakers to tell the story behind the mounting of one of the biggest events of the decade: the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

This is the epic story of one of the largest and most controversial environmental lawsuits on the planet. A landmark legal case takes place in the Amazon jungle of Ecuador, pitting 30,000 indigenous and colonial rainforest dwellers against a U.S. oil giant. The plaintiffs assert that Texaco spent three decades systematically polluting one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, creating a ‘death zone’ the size of Rhode Island. Vivid cinematography combined with intense emotions comprise this ‘Amazon Chernobyl’ story that weaves together legal drama, politics, celebrity activism, the media, corporate responsibility, and the effects of industrialization on indigenous cultures. Maine Premiere Sponsored by Unity College

CRUDE INDEPENDENCE is a documentary film about the heartland in the process of transplanting itself, and the new heart is pumping oil. In 2006, the United States Geological Survey estimated there to be more than 200 billion barrels of crude oil resting in a previously unreachable formation beneath western North Dakota. The film takes us to the town of Stanley (population 1300), sitting atop the largest oil discovery in the history of the North American continent, and captures the change wrought by the unprecedented boom. Through revealing interviews and breathtaking imagery of the northern plains, CRUDE INDEPENDENCE is rumination on the future of small town America—a tale of change at the hands of the global energy market and America’s unyielding thirst for oil. Maine Premiere *Followed by a Q&A with Producer Sam Howard Sponsored by Unity College