"Navigators" for October

First Friday Films Celebrates National Arts and Humanities Month in October featuring The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific playing at 6:30 p.m. on October 7, 2011 at American Memorial Park.

Over 1,000 years ago, the islands of Polynesia were explored and settled by navigators who used only the waves, the stars, and the flights of birds for guidance. In hand-built, double-hulled canoes sixty feet long, the ancestors of today's Polynesians sailed across a vast ocean area, larger than Europe and North America combined.

To explore this ancient navigational heritage, anthropologist/filmmaker Sanford Low visited the tiny coral atoll of Satawal in Micronesia's remote Caroline Islands. The Navigators reveals the subtleties of this sea science, transmitted in part through a ceremony known as "unfolding the mat," in which 32 lumps of coral are arranged in a circle to represent the points of the "star compass." To master the lore of navigation was to attain great status in traditional Micronesian society.

This special event is brought to you by the NMI Council for the Humanities, the Tan Siu Lin Foundation, the Division of Environmental Quality and the National Park Service.

As always, First Friday Films is free and open to the public. For planning purposes, the film runs 59 minutes.

"Recyclergy" to be shown tomorrow

Due to some unforeseen difficulties, we will be unable to show the film "All Jacked Up".  However, we do a have a great film to show, "Recyclergy", which looks at the fading subculture of recyclers in the San Francisco area.  This film won the community vote for Environmental Awareness Month this past May, and we though we would give everyone a second chance to see this entertaining film.

 After the first Earth Day celebration in 1970, community, non-profit recycling centers began to pop up in schools, garages, and neighborhood centers all sharing the goal of bringing recycling to their cities. Now only two non-profit recycling organizations remain in San Francisco. Despite the lack of surviving community recycling centers, the Bay Area is still home to a unique community of recyclers who push the envelope of possibilities. Featuring interviews with recycling pioneers and music by Rube Waddell, "The Recyclergy" is an entertaining examination of a fading subculture.

As always, the film is free and open to the public.  The film will start at 6:30pm, tomorrow September 2nd.  Please come early to ensure admittance, as seating is limited.

See you tomorrow!