end of hot docs; beginning of concert week

Hot Docs wrap-up.

Thursday: The Art star and the Sudanese twins

Chronicles Vanessa Beecroft and her journey, struggles and set backs of the process of adopting a pair of Sudanese twins. Vanessa Beecroft is a contemporary artist showcasing real humans as her artist pieces. Recently giving birth to her youngest child and travelling to Sudan to start research for another piece of art; she offers to nurse these two twins while doing a photo shot. Her attachment grows from the instant connection she develops with these two youngins. The documentary follows her journey and shedding light of the realities of international adoptions. As she sets of on this mission, she's so focused on getting these twins that her other relationships receive less of her attention and seem to suffer at times. Her husband, is not very sure if this passionate and driven artist can handle two more children, while she still raises two of her very own in the suburbs of New York. A Piece more on the interesting life of this artist, her humanistic approach and the art that she creates molds this film into a beautiful story.

Saturday;
Flow: For Love Of Water

Such an important film showcasing the struggles, corporate strangle-hold and ownership rights of a common resource: Water. Directed by Irena Salina, a beautiful 5-year journey through the trials and struggles of developing countries to acquire, maintain, sanitize a basic right of clean water.
Living in N.America, clean water that gushes from our pipes are a luxury to those living in developing third world countries. Boliva, South Africa, India, China were just some countries that major water purification companies (for-profit organizations) try to exploit and reap these poor citizens of a basic need. Humans can survive with no food for several weeks, but without clean water our bodies can not function. Salina provides shocking facts that help us to understand how these for-profit groups, along with WB and IMF, create a voracious cycle that creates more debt for those who need clean waters to survive. Providing alternative means to these large corporations, Salina touches upon water harvesting, UV light technology, water purficiation plants, and the road blocks encountered by many countries that do not have the infrastructure and monetary funds to provide their citizens of a basic human need. Saddening, frustrating , and shocking at times, this film deserves the rave review warranted for a ground-breaking topic that should be on the foreground for everyone to become aware and to stop drinking bottled water. Not only is clean, potable water essential to life, it's essential to human-kind.

So I say STOP buying bottled water; boycott companies that profit on selling water, and visit the website for FLOW. Critically important, and just starting to scratch the surface of this pressing issue.

For more information, read works by Maude Barlow.

Sign the petition @ Article 31

Get more people on board, for companies like Nestle to get out of countries by sucking up groundwater, and treating if with many chemicals (which will never leave the water), and bottling it into plastic (garbage dump filling material) bottles for the mass market to consume. Let's take action and STOP this injustice.

last note: Beginning of concert week, more info later.
thanks Ang, Sizzle, V for the amazing night on friday (besides the TTC strike.... LAME)