A Playlist for Ecotopia Gathering 2008:

Dear Ecotopians,

Enjoy the films! Wish we could be there!! Please let people know about our XL Terrestrials project and the list of resources below. We do a variety of screening presentations, mostly focused on analyzing the media ecology and the current “virtual migration” of digital culture, and exploring new directions in tactical arts and praxis.

Didn’t have that much time to assemble a specific energy issues program, but there’s some very relevant films here in the mix…and then a lot of more general activist clips, and then a bunch for Fun inbetween.

In Soli!

Pod and the XL Terrestrials

p.s. XLT would like to think the people who continue helping us find great media resources, and also those who responded to our search for gathering media for Ecotopia and Klima Camp in Hamburg:

• Media Decompression Berlin www.mdcBerlin.org
• Dusan at www.multiplace.org
• Franklin at www.submedia.tv
• mikro.fm and funkwelle.org
• video.indymedia.org
• Undercurrents www.undercurrents.org

And some Xtra resources:

http://www.knife-party.net/projects.html#
http://bestdocumentaries.blogspot.com
http://bestdocumentaries.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html
http://www.ecologistfilmunit.com

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An XL Terrestrial recommended Ecotopia Playlist:

On Energy themes:

- The Stimulator/ Submedia (Ca)
www.Submedia.Tv
Recent Submedia.tv episodes are Indymedia-like newsreels with a very radical edge, biting humor and encouraginglyand subversively tactical. Included here are 5 episodes from this summer, all with a bit of news about Oil prices, and themes like oil extraction from the tarsands in Canada, all about 10min each.

- The Melting Point (Uk) - 10min.
www.ecologistfilmunit.com
Climate Camps and Direct Action against the Energy industry and other corporations at the epicenter of unsustainable practices.

- Garbage Warrior (Us) - feature www.garbagewarrior.com
What do beer cans, car tires and water bottles have in common? Not much unless you’re renegade architect Michael Reynolds, in which case they are tools of choice for producing thermal mass and energy-independent housing. For 30 years New Mexico-based Reynolds and his green disciples have devoted their time to advancing the art of “Earthship Biotecture” by building self-sufficient, off-the-grid communities where design and function converge in eco-harmony. However, these experimental structures that defy state standards create conflict between Reynolds and the authorities, who are backed by big business. Frustrated by antiquated legislation, Reynolds lobbies for the right to create a sustainable living test site.

- WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? (Us) - feature
www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/
It was among the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. It ran on electricity, produced no emissions and catapulted American technology to the forefront of the automotive industry. The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up. So why did General Motors crush its fleet of EV1 electric vehicles in the Arizona desert? WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? chronicles the life and mysterious death of the GM EV1, examining its cultural and economic ripple effects and how they reverberated through the halls of government and big business.

- Enron, The smartest guy in the room (Us) - feature
The inside story of one of history’s greatest business scandals, in which top executives of America’s seventh largest company walked away with over one billion dollars while investors and employees lost everything.Based on the best-selling book The Smartest Guys in the Room by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind.

Various films on other activist-related topics, recommended!

• Taking Liberties (uk) - feature
  www.noliberties.com/
  The shocking truth about the erosion of our fundamental civil liberties by Tony Blair’s government. Right to Protest, Right to Freedom of Speech. Right to Privacy. Right not to be detained without charge, Innocent Until Proven Guilty. Prohibition from Torture. TAKING LIBERTIES will reveal how these six central pillars of liberty have been systematically destroyed by New Labour, and the freedoms of the British people stolen from under their noses amidst a climate of fear created by the media and government itself.

• Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad ( Mx/Us) - feature
  A little bit of so much truth
  www.corrugate.org/corrugate/films When the people of Oaxaca decided they’d had enough of bad government, they didn’t take their story to the media…they TOOK the media! Film by Seattle’s Indymedia co-founder Jill Friedberg.

Recommended Shorts:

- Bendito Machine Parts 1+2 (Es) - c. 5 min. each
www.benditomachine.com/ Strange glimpse of a mad technological and consumer-driven world.

- Fallen Art (Pl) - c. 5 min.
www.platige.com Tomek Baginski depicts the Military Entertainment Complex in a Guy Debord meets Bruno Schultz-like animation.

- Cheburashka (Ru) - c. 4min.
Russian cartoon for children has an episode about a factory which pollutes the river, where the locals are swimming.

- Shock Doctrine ( Ca/Mx) - 6:47min.
www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/short-film

- Master Plan, the power of Google (De)- 3:12min.
masterplanthemovie.com

- The Story of Stuff ( Us) - c.21min.
www.storyofstuff.com

- Big brother state (uk/de) - 4.20min.
www.huesforalice.com/bbs/

- Champions (Us)- c.3min.
www.matoatom.net/champions/

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For Fun! Highly recommended:

I’m A Cyborg, But That’s Ok ( S.Ko) - feature
www.im-a-cyborg.de/
A kind of South Korean One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Young-Gun thinks she’s a Cyborg and is institutionalized along with a whole cast of “societally disturbed” inmates. [ Note for ecotopians, there’s a really funny running theme about how Young-gun gets her energy, re-charging her batteries]

La Antenna ( Argentina) -feature
An entire city has lost its voice. Mr. TV, the owner of the city’s only television channel, is carrying out a sinister, secret plan to subject all of the city’s inhabitants to his will forever more.

Usavich, Rabbits in Jail ( Japanese MTV) - shorts, c.1-2min. each Meet Kirenenko and Putin, the two rabbit stars of Usavich, a series of shorts made for MTV Japan by Kanaban Graphics.