State
College Peace Center Sponsored Films and Events
SPRING 2012
All films and events will be at 7:30 PM on Thursdays
in
Room 201 State College Municipal Building, 243
South Allen Street
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Thursday February 26: “Hot Coffee” (2011)
This film exposes how corporations spend millions on propaganda campaigns to distort our view of lawsuits—forever changing the civil justice system. By examining the impact of tort reform on the lives of ordinary citizens, the film shows how Americans give up their Constitutional rights in many ways without knowing it—for example, by voting for caps on damages or signing away their right in contracts. Through interviews with politicians, judges, lawyers and ordinary citizens, first-time filmmaker and former public interest lawyer Susan Saladoff delves into the facts of four cases to tear apart the conventional wisdom about “jackpot justice”. (86 minutes) |
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Thursday March 15: “The One Percent” (2006)
This documentary focuses on the growing "wealth gap" in America, as seen through the eyes of filmmaker Jamie Johnson, a 27-year-old heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune. Johnson, who cut his film teeth at NYU and made the Emmy-nominated 2003 HBO documentary “Born Rich”, here sets his sights on exploring the political, moral and emotional rationale that enables a tiny percentage of Americans - the one percent - to control nearly half the wealth of the entire United States. The film includes interviews with Nicole Buffett, Bill Gates Sr., Adnan Khashoggi, Milton Friedman, Robert Reich, Ralph Nader and other luminaries. (80 minutes) |
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Thursday March 29: “Harlan County USA” (1976)
This film documents the coal miners' strike against the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County, Kentucky in June, 1973. Eastover’s refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined with the United Mine Workers of America) led to the strike, which lasted more than a year and included violent battles between gun-toting company thugs/scabs and the picketing miners and their supportive women-folk. Director Barbara Kopple puts the strike into perspective by giving us some background on the historical plight of the miners and some history of the UMWA. When filming began, the film was intended to be about the 1972 campaign by Arnold Miller and Miners For Democracy to unseat UMWA president Tony Boyle, in the aftermath of Joseph Yablonski's murder; but the Harlan County strike began and caused the filmmakers to change their principal subject, with the campaign and murder becoming secondary subjects. (104 minutes) |
2500
Liberty |
Thursday April 5: “2500 Liberty” (2010)
This film documents the first time in U.S. history that an Arizona-style immigration law was actually implemented—and the surprising grassroots opposition that led to its repeal. Racial tension and threats of violence erupt when Prince William County, Virginia adopts a law requiring the police to question people who appear to be undocumented immigrants. Supporters of the law ride a wave of hysteria to an election victory. But many reconsider when the local economy feels the impact of a sudden exodus of workers, consumers, and business owners. Despite fears of reprisal, a group of concerned citizens launches a “virtual resistance” using social media, setting up a final showdown with the law’s ferocious advocates. (78 minutes) |
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Thursday May 3: “The Healthcare Movie” (2011)
This film provides the real story of how it came to be that the health care systems in Canada and the United States are so different today. Most people under the age of 50 in both countries are not aware of the intensity of the political struggle that led to the universal medical care system in Canada. Nor are they aware of the propaganda, still active today, that has been prevalent in the United States since the early 1900’s to dissuade the public from supporting national health care. Is there hope for the United States? (75 minutes) |
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