This Week at Worldbridger :

Jan 25/26

LOST YEARS is an epic documentary mini-series touching on the largest exodus in humankind, covering over 150 years of history of the Chinese in Canada and abroad.

An epoch that delivers an important message, namely, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (Spanish philosopher, George Santayana (1863-1952), in Reason in Common Sense, The Life of Reason.)

We witness how man’s inhumanity to man continually plays out in world history and affairs, in part through the advances of new media and the vastness of our global village.

Our journey begins in old China in 1910 and concludes with the movement to embrace redress as a concept of social justice in the modern world of Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, exactly one century later. [from lostyears.ca]

Trailer :

Directed by Kenda Gee, Tom Radford

92 min./2011/Canada/English/PG

Cohost – VIU’s Department of Anthropology
Guest Speaker : Dr. Imogene Lim [Nanaimo Only]

Coming Soon

Feb 1/2

Trailer :

co-host : VIU’s Psychology Club

Feb 8/9 – Double Feature

In celebration of International Development Week

Trailer :

Second Feature: Our First Voices

First Nations producers Marilyn Thomas and Catarina Longmuir joined Sharon Bliss to produce this omnibus of 13 poetic meditations on the importance of native languages for future generations. Website

Co-hosts:  Faculty of International Education; VIU’s Anti-Racism Project; and VIU’s Department of Anthropology (also Office of Aboriginal Education and FNAT?)

Co-Sponsor: VIU’s Office of Aboriginal Education

Feb 15/16

Trailer :

Feb 22/23

Reading Break – No Film

Feb 29/Mar 1

Trailer :

Mar 7/8

Trailer :

Cohost – VIU’s Consciousness Studies Group

Mar 14/15

Trailer :

Mar 21/22

Trailer :

Co-host – VIU’s Department of Anthropology

Mar 28/29

Trailer :

Co-host – VIU’s Spanish Club

Apr 4/5

Trailer :

Past Films

Sept 29:  Nanaimo only

Unmistaken Child:

A Tibetan Monk’s search for the Reincarnation of His Beloved Teacher

Unmistaken Child sweeps the audience into a Himalayan world of majestic beauty and mystical experience.  This award-winning film documents the 4-year journey of Tenzin Zopa, a shy but devoted Tibetan monk who, by request of the Dalai Lama, is commissioned to locate the reincarnation of his deceased master.  With little more than dreams and whispers to guide him on his sacred quest, the disciple sets out to find his beloved teacher and conduct the tests required to confirm or deny his reincarnation.

Directed by Nati Baratz

102 min./2008/Israel/English-Hindi-Tibetan/G

[Subtitled]

Cohost – VIU’s Consciousness Studies Group

Guest Speaker : Les Malbon, Faculty of Sport, Health and Physical Education

Oct 5/6

Temple Grandin

The true story of Temple Grandin comes to life in this award-winning film adapted from Grandin’s own writings.  As a professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, Temple Grandin is best known professionally for her brilliant innovations in livestock handling and her contributions towards the humane treatment of animals.  In 2010, Time Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people.  She is also autistic. The film recounts the early life of a truly remarkable woman, and reminds us that individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders can provide the world with extraordinary insight and talent.

Directed by Mick Jackson

103 min./2010/USA/English/PG

Cohost – Columbian Centre Society and the Autism Society of BC

Guest Speaker : Tom Grauman, Executive Director, Columbian Centre Society and Alexandria Stuart, Autism Society of BC

Oct 12/13

Va, Vis, Deviens (Live and Become)

In celebration of Nanaimo’s Global Film Festival

Directed by Radu Mihaileanu

140 min./2005/France/French-Amharic-Hebrew/unrated

Oct 19/20

La Nana (The Maid)

Directed by Sebastián Silva

95 min./2009/Chile, Mexico/Spanish/unrated

Cohost – Spanish Club

Oct 26/27

Economics of Happiness

Directed by Steven Gorelick, Helena Norberg-Hodge and John Page

67 min./2011/USA/English/unrated

Cohost – VIU Solutions Sustainability

Nov 2/3

Something Unknown Is Doing We Don’t

Know What

Directed by Renée Scheltema

105 min./2009/Netherlands/English/unrated

Nov 9/10

The Prisoner Or:

How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair

This comic-book styled documentary tells the story of a freedom-loving Iraqi journalist, interrogated under torturous conditions in Abu Ghraib prison because of a mistaken identity. Subjected to devastating and dehumanizing treatment he prevails, emerging to share his story of the profound failures of justice in a military world of aggression, imperialism, and revenge-based might.

Directed by Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker

72 min./2006/USA/English/PG

Nov 16/17

Schooling The World: The White Man’s

Last Burden

In celebration of International Education Week

If you wanted to change an ancient culture in a generation, how would YOU do it? Schooling the World is a profound and exceedingly relevant film regarding the globalization of western institutionalized systems of education. Education is believed by many to be the only way towards a better and more empowered life for the world’s poor. This film analyzes how the spread of western education is harshly detrimental to many cultures, shedding light on what really happens when traditional ways are replaced by the modern paradigm.

Directed by Carol Black

66 min./2010/USA/English/unrated

Cohost – VIU’s Faculty of International Education

Nov 23/24

Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces)

A blind filmmaker’s scandalous past resurfaces, and a plot of intertwined passion, obsession, wealth, jealousy, family, guilt, and creativity comes rushing in. Los Abrazos Rotos is the triumphant follow up to Almodovar’s arthouse sensation Volver.

Directed by Pedro Almodóvar

129 min./2009/Spain/Spanish-English/14A

Cohost – Spanish Club

Dec 1: Nanaimo Only

Exit Through The Gift Shop

This outstanding film, by the notorious street artist Banks, will push your feelings of gullibility, aggravation, and fascination. A guerrilla style film about street artists and the meaning of art and authenticity, it provides a provocative glimpse into a subversive culture of art and irony. When you leave more confused than when you entered remember this is exactly what Banksy intended. A hoax? Maybe—but a film that needs to be seen to be disbelieved.

Directed by Banksy

87 min./2010/UK-USA/English/unrated

Visitors Since February 15, 2011