Win tickets to 1 of 3 films at the DOXA Film Festival 2012

I have been entrusted with not one, not two, but THREE pairs of tickets to the following films, and thus my giveaway will have 3 winners.

Love MEATender Wednesday May 9 | 1:00 PM | Pacific Cinémathèque

What’s the price of the pleasure most of us take for granted every day? This documentary gives us a clear answer, and it’s not pretty. Meat consumption is one of the major factors in climate change: behind every sticky cold cut, every juicy steak, every McDonald’s hamburger is a small contribution to a big problem. LoveMEATender is an engaging and surprisingly upbeat look at an industry out of whack. Tracing the history of our culinary habits, outlining the disastrous rise of corn-fed cattle, and breaking down the science of our meat addiction, the movie lays out a sober case with surprising cheer. The facts here are so damning that there’s no need to preach: in a situation as dire as this, simple education is activism. The film is chock full of statistics, tables, and graphics, but this is no square screed—it’s a fun, optimistic call for change. –MA

Meanwhile in Mamelodi Sunday May 6 | 4:00 PM | Pacific Cinémathèque

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday till Friday, each and every morning, good morning boss…” croons Steven in Meanwhile in Mamelodi, a wistful, colourfully cinematic portrait of the lovable Mtsweni family. Set against the 2010 World Cup—plastic horn vuvuzelas blare all around and radios broadcast up-to-the-minute highlights—life, for the most part, carries on as usual. Steven managing a small, idiosyncratic kiosk in the “Shack Side” of Extension 11—one of the countless districts in the township of Mamelodi, South Africa—devoting tireless hours in order to support his two children and wife. Intimate voice-over from him, as well his spunky seventeen-year-old, Moskito, divulge their life’s ambitions and dreams with startling candour: “I have to make a difference,” explains Steven, as if it were matter-of-fact, busying himself with store renovations. Mixing the Mtsweni family’s daily stoicism with the ebullience of sport and sweet song, Meanwhile in Mamelodi is an artful window into a community overwhelming in spirit. –JM

A Fierce Green Fire Saturday May 5 | 9:00 PM | Vancity Theatre

In the words of environmental justice advocate Bob Bullard: “There’s no Hispanic air. There’s no African-American air. There’s air! And if you breathe air—and most people I know do breathe air… then I would consider you an environmentalist.” Director Mark Kitchell (Berkeley in the Sixties) takes an equally expansive approach in his survey of the environmental movement. Inspired by Philip Shabecoff’s book of the same title, A Fierce Green Fire examines the greatest battles fought and won over the last century—from David Brower and the Sierra Club, to the Love Canal residents’ struggle against toxic dumping, to Greenpeace activists putting their bodies between whaling harpoons and their prey. Interviews with Paul Watson, Bill McKibben, and just about every rabblerouser, activist, and firebrand on the planet lends a magisterial heft. This glorious stretch of a film is a celebration, a cri de coeur, and a call to arms. Many battles have been fought and won, but the war rages on. –DW

A Fierce Green Fire Official Trailer from A Fierce Green Fire on Vimeo.

All you need to do to enter my giveaway is tell me which show you’re most interested in checking in the wonderful DOXA Festival (it can be one of these three, or it can be any other). I’ll draw 3 winners on May 3rd at 2pm. This is a short giveaway so enter fast! I will add another entry for a maximum of two if you post the following on Twitter:

Shared which @doxafestival movie I want to check out with @hummingbird604 http://is.gd/Y3fxiB to enter to win tickets to DOXA Festival