Modern Life & How 2 Escape It: Belfast Doc. Screenings In Aid Of ARN: TARIFA TRAFFIC/End of Suburbia

antrim | arts and media | event notice Sunday May 08, 2005 23:28 by various 2nd year film studies students at queen's

Queen's University Film Theatre & Queen's Students Union

'Modern Life and How to Escape It' is a series of screening events bringing together several documentary films from around the World. Some of these award-winning films have not been screened before in Northern Ireland, and are a must-see for anyone interested in the effects of modernity on our lives, or those wanting to escape it. The screenings have been organized by Queen’s Film students and proceeds will be donated to the Anti Racism Network. Thank you to the makers of these films, who have allowed their work to be screened free of charge, and to the Queen's Film Theatre and the Queen's Students Union for the use of their facilities for this event. Entry to all screenings is 'by donation'. The suggested donation is £2

tarifa traffic

TARIFA TRAFFIC: Oueens Film Theatre (25 on Map): 3.30pm
Tarifa, a city in the south of Spain is considered one of Europe's best beaches for surfing. An early morning: Wind surfer’s sail across the clear blue sea and the first tourists are taking their places in the deck chairs. Just a few steps away a dead body is being tossed up on the shore by crashing waves.

They come when there the moon is full and the sea is smooth. The nights of the "pateras" provide the best condition for motorboats crossing the Straits of Gibraltar in the dark. They are filled to the hilt with ever-more people from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa. Many cannot swim and have nothing except for the clothes on their backs. And it doesn‘t take much for an overfilled boat to capsize or sink, leading to a catastrophe.

From a European perspective and with haunting images, the film takes a look at the people of Tarifa whose everyday life is influenced by the constant flow of illegal immigrants, searching for a better future in the fortress that is Europe.

"What really made me want to make this film, with the emphasis that it now has, was a visit to the graveyards in Tarifa and Algeciras. Countless refugees are buried there, and their graves are only marked with a number. This anonymous death, the kind that friends and relatives never find out about, the kind nobody grieves for, somehow seems like dying twice. These people have not only been robbed of their life; their identity has also been taken away from them…" Joakim Demmer

Germany/ Switzerland 2003 / 60 min

THE END OF SUBURBIA -Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream: Queen's Students Union (Speakeasy) (22 on Map) 9.00pm
Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too the suburban way of life has become embedded in the American consciousness. Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream.

But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary.

The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. What does Oil Peak mean for North America? As energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia?

78 min/Dir: Gregory Greene.

**Locations:
Queens Film Theatre (QFT), 20 University Square, BT7 1PA Belfast
Queen’s University Belfast Students Union, University Road, BT7 1NF Belfast
Suggested donation at door: £2**

**Anti Racism Network NI: http://www.arnni.tk/ **

tarifa traffic