PEFF 2018 Schedule
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Sunday, April 8
Where the Wind Blew
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Where the Wind Blew tells the story of how the Cold War super powers, in their race to develop more and more deadly bombs, spent forty years developing weapons capable of wiping out entire nations, while sacrificing their own vulnerable populations in the name of national security.
Using archive and testimony from both those affected and those participating in these escalating events, Where the Wind Blew shows not only how ordinary people were allowed to suffer in ignorance, but also how, with personal fortitude and courage they defied their governments. They helped change the course of history by joining forces, first nationally, then across the world to finally triumph against the testing of nuclear weapons. Kazakhstan became, in 1989, the first nation to close its test site, leading the way to an international test ban treaty. The story does not, of course, end with this victory. Despite treaties and promises, today sees the super powers (and some not-so-super powers) once again build up their nuclear arsenals. Film followed by a Q&A with Andrew C. Weber, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Program. 7 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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Monday, April 9
Opening Night Reception
Please join us for an opening reception from 5-6 p.m. in the Community Room of the Princeton Public Library. Refreshments will be served.
Jane
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FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT FILM
Using a trove of footage unearthed from the National Geographic archives, Jane tells the true story of Jane Goodall as a young woman in her early years in Gombe, and whose chimpanzee research challenged the male-dominated scientific consensus of her time and revolutionized our understanding of the natural world. The film, from award-winning director Brett Morgen, offers an unprecedented, intimate portrait of the trailblazer who defied the odds to become one of the world’s most admired conservationists. This free ticketed event is at capacity. 7 p.m. at the Princeton Garden Theatre, 160 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ
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Tuesday, April 10
Beyond Fordlândia
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Beyond Fordlândia presents an environmental account of Henry Ford’s Amazon experience decades after its failure. The story addressed by the film begins in 1927, when the Ford Motor Company attempted to establish rubber plantations on the Tapajós River, a primary tributary of the Amazon. This film addresses the recent transition from failed rubber to successful soybean cultivation for export, and its implication for land usage, leading to such questions as:
What were the actual economic reasons for Ford to venture hundreds of miles through the Amazon jungle to establish a home for his project? Why did he want to transplant a slice of twentieth century civilization into the middle of the Amazon forest? Was rubber cultivation his only goal? What are the ecological implications of this venture now ninety years later? How did Ford’s attempt to convert the lush, naturally abundant Brazilian landscape into industrial-scale agriculture foreshadow today’s destruction of the rainforest? What will be the impact of soybean monoculture for the future of the Amazon Rainforest? What are the lessons to be learned from today’s ecological experimentation and in particular from the Fordlândia experience? Film followed by a Q&A with director Marcos Colón. 4:30 p.m. at the Friend Center 101, Princeton University
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Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf
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An immersive, meditative documentary that reveals how the revolutionary landscape designer, Piet Oudolf, upends our conventional notions of nature, public space, and ultimately, beauty itself.
After completing a feature documentary on New York’s High Line, award-winning filmmaker Thomas Piper met the inspirational designer and plantsman, Piet Oudolf, and the idea for a new project was born. The documentary, Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf, immerses viewers in Oudolf’s work and takes us inside his creative process, from his beautifully abstract sketches, to theories on beauty, to the ecological implications of his ideas. As a narrative thread, the film also follows Oudolf as he designs and installs a major new garden at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, a gallery and arts center in Southwest England, a garden he considers his best work yet. Piet Oudolf has radically redefined what gardens can be. As Rick Darke, the famous botanist, says to Piet in the film, “your work teaches us to see what what we have been unable to see.” Through poetic cinematography and unique access, Five Seasons will reveal all that Piet sees, and celebrate all that we as viewers have been unable to see. Film followed by a Q&A with director Thomas Piper. This free ticketed event is at capacity. 7 p.m. at the Princeton Garden Theatre, 160 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ
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Wednesday, April 11
Burned: Are Trees the New Coal?
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Burned: Are Trees the New Coal? tells the little-known story of the accelerating destruction of our forests for fuel, and probes the policy loopholes, huge subsidies, and blatant green washing of the burgeoning biomass power industry. The film follows a dedicated group of forest activists, ecologists, carbon scientists, and concerned citizens who are fighting to establish the enormous value of our forests, protect their communities, debunk this false solution to climate change, and alter energy policy both in the US and abroad.
4:30 p.m. at the Friend Center 101, Princeton University
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The Iron Triangle
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For decades, Queens’ Willets Point has been the site of an interconnected network of hundreds of small auto repair shops, known for no-frills but inexpensive, quality service. The owners, many immigrants, have persevered despite a lack of city support, but their luck may have just run out. With the Iron Triangle declared a blight and marked for lucrative redevelopment, the working class of Willets Point faces off against gentrification and urban renewal for the future of their livelihoods and community.
Film followed by a Q&A with director Prudence Katze and Bettina Damiani.
For more information we invite you to read the article in Town Topics by Anne Levin 7 p.m. at the Friend Center 101, Princeton University
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Thursday, April 12
Valve Turners
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On October 11, 2016, in solidarity with Standing Rock and in response to the climate emergency we are facing, a team of activists took direct action shutting off the 5 pipelines carrying tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada into the United States.
2 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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The Reluctant Radical
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If a crime is committed in order to prevent a greater crime, is it forgivable? Is it, in fact, necessary? The Reluctant Radical explores these questions by following activist Ken Ward as he confronts his fears and puts himself in the direct path of the fossil fuel industry to combat climate change. Ken breaks the law as a last resort, to fulfill what he sees as his personal obligation to future generations. After twenty years leading environmental organizations, Ken became increasingly alarmed by both the scientific evidence of climate change and the repercussions for civilization as we know it. Ken pushed for a crisis level response from inside environmental organizations. Those efforts failed, and he now embraces direct action civil disobedience as the most effective political tool to deal with catastrophic circumstances.
The Reluctant Radical follows Ken for a year and a half through a series of direct actions, culminating with his participation in the coordinated action that shut down all the U.S. tar sands oil pipelines on October 11, 2016. The film reveals both the personal costs and also the fulfillment that comes from following one’s moral calling- even if that means breaking the law. 2:15 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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Awake, A Dream From Standing Rock
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The Dakota Access Pipeline is a controversial project that brings fracked crude oil from the Bakken Shale in North Dakota through South Dakota, Iowa and eventually to Illinois. The Standing Rock Tribe and people all over the world oppose the project because the pipeline runs under the Missouri river, a source of drinking water for over 18 million people, and pipeline leaks are commonplace. Since 2010 over 3,300 oil spills and leaks have been reported.
Moving from summer 2016, when demonstrations over the Dakota Access Pipeline’s demolishing of sacred Native burial grounds began, to the current and disheartening pipeline status, Awake, A Dream from Standing Rock is a powerful visual poem in three parts that uncovers complex hidden truths with simplicity. The film is a collaboration between indigenous filmmakers: Director Myron Dewey and Executive Producer Doug Good Feather; and environmental Oscar-nominated filmmakers Josh Fox and James Spione. The Water Protectors at Standing Rock captured world attention through their peaceful resistance. The film documents the story of Native-led defiance that has forever changed the fight for clean water, our environment and the future of our planet. It asks: “Are you ready to join the fight?” 4:30 p.m. at the Friend Center 101, Princeton University
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Lost In Light
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Lost in Light, a short film on how light pollution affects the view of the night skies. Shot mostly in California, the movie shows how the view gets progressively better as you move away from the lights.
7 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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Saving the Great Swamp: Battle to Defeat the Jetport
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Saving the Great Swamp: Battle to Defeat the Jetport is a new one-hour documentary chronicling the historic struggle to preserve a rural area of New Jersey between 1959 and 1968. Narrated by Blythe Danner, the story centers on the fight that began when the powerful Port of New York Authority announced plans to construct a huge 10,000 acre “jetport” 26 miles west of New York City in a little-known place called the Great Swamp. The events that followed became one of the most defining environmental confrontations of its time – a grassroots movement that started in a local high school and grew to historic proportions. It was a battle that took almost a decade, a President and an Act of Congress to stop, and led to the creation of a national treasure – Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The documentary features in-depth interviews with residents, historians, authors and officials connected to the events, and is a rich visual tapestry of historic film footage, archival photographs, graphic animation and striking cinematography of the Great Swamp today.
An introduction to the film will be presented by Jay Watson, Vice President, D&R Greenway Land Trust. Film followed by a Q&A with producer Scott Morris. 7:05 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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Friday, April 13
From Seed to Seed
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When Terry and Monique left the opera to pursue their true passion – small-scale, farming – their story of community and resilience took center stage. We follow their young family and a diverse group of farmers and scientists as they blend age old traditions with cutting edge science to develop improved methods for growing food ecologically and in a changing climate.
A hopeful story and Canadian perspective on a global social movement that regenerates the land, farming and communities. Festival premiere. Film followed by a Q&A via Skype with producer/director Katharina Stieffenhofer. 12 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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Evolution of Organic
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Evolution of Organic brings us the story of organic agriculture, told by those who built the movement. A motley crew of back-to-the-landers, spiritual seekers and farmers’ sons and daughters rejected modern chemical farming and set out to invent organic alternatives. The movement grew from a small band of rebels to a cultural transformation in the way we grow and eat food. By now organic has mainstreamed, become both an industry oriented toward bringing organic to all people, and a movement that has realized a vision of sustainable agriculture.
Film followed by a talk by Joseph Heckman, Ph.D.; Professor of Soil Science, Rutgers University; NOFA-NJ board member. 2 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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Plastic is Forever
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What happens when you throw plastic away? Dylan D’Haeze, a 13-year-old filmmaker from the San Juan Islands, decided to find out. He followed plastic trash to where it ends up – with some surprising results. Did you know you might be eating plastic for dinner tonight? And he shows how kids (and adults!) can help make a difference in a world that is increasingly dependent on plastic.
Plastic Is Forever features some of the top minds in the field, including conversations with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Surfrider Foundation, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and more. Film followed by a panel discussion with students from Princeton Day School and Princeton Friends School. 4 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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Wasted! The Story of Food Waste
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Wasted! The Story of Food Waste aims to change the way people buy, cook, recycle, and eat food. Through the the eyes of chef-heroes like Anthony Bourdain (executive producer) with Dan Barber, Mark Bittman, Massimo Bottura, and Danny Bowien, audiences will see how the world’s most influential chefs make the most of every kind of food, transforming what most people consider scraps into incredible dishes that create a more secure food system. Wasted! exposes the criminality of food waste and how it’s directly contributing to climate change and shows us how each of us can make small changes – all of them delicious – to solve one of the greatest problems of the 21st Century.
This is a free, ticketed event. Please check ticket availability at the Hopewell Theater Box Office. UPDATE: Please note that this event is at capacity with only standby seating available. Followed by a panel with Karla Cook, Princeton Studies Food, Jon McConaughy, Owner, Brick Farm Group and Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert. Moderated by Adrian Hyde, Executive Director of NOFA NJ. 7 p.m. at Hopewell Theater, 5 South Greenwood Avenue, Hopewell, NJ
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Saturday, April 14
Wallaby Tales
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Wildlife educator Travis Gale returns to the library sharing his humor and live animal guests from all over the world in a presentation for the whole family. Entertaining, high-energy and educational, the program highlights the importance of protecting the wildlife of the world. For children ages 5 and older.
10 a.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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Creature Show: Bobcats
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Bobcats were extirpated from the state of New Jersey by the 1970s, until two dozen bobcats were reintroduced to the New Jersey Highlands in the years to follow. Ever since, bobcat numbers have slowly been climbing, but the species remains state endangered. Major challenges to the bobcat’s recovery include the same threats impacting many New Jersey species: roads and habitat fragmentation. “Dogs and Bobcats,” produced by The Creature Show, tells the story of the New Jersey bobcat—as well as one special dog named Bear whose work has helped biologists study the species’ recovery.
Film followed by a Q&A with director Jared Flesher. 12 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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Aiden’s Butterflies
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Meet 11-year old Aiden Wang, who has been growing milkweed and harboring and releasing Monarch Butterflies since he was six. The film follows Aiden from nature preserves to city streets as he meets new friends to build awareness about the endangered beautiful monarch butterfly and its dependence on the diminishing supply of milkweed.
Festival premiere. Film followed by a Q&A with director Brad Mays, producer Olga Talyn, and Aiden Wang. 1 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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Hope on the Hudson: Three Stories
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2 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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City on the Water
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With 520-miles of waterfront and four-out-of-five boroughs islands, New York City is truly a water city. Everywhere you go, there are tunnels and bridges delivering you over water, to such a degree some have dubbed the waterways that encircle New York City “the sixth borough.” From Brooklyn’s Newtown Creek to Queens’ Flush Meadow, waterways once thought ruined forever by industrial and manmade pollution are making a comeback. From the Billion Oyster Project to Dragon Boat races, from the Gowanus Canal to the Harlem River, there is brand new activity on all of the waterways that surround NYC, making this the cornerstone of the new ‘Hope on the Hudson’ series.
Film followed by Q&A with director Jon Bowermaster. |
Restoring the Clearwater
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For nearly a year the historic sloop ‘Clearwater’ was out of the water, on land, enduring what wooden boats have historically endured forever: Restoration. Onshore near the Hudson River Maritime Museum on the Rondout Creek in Kingston, swathed in tarps and protective sheets, the nearly 60-year-old wooden boat was carefully mended and updated. Built under the visionary leadership of musician/activist and Hudson River resident Pete Seeger, the ‘Clearwater’ continues to fulfill the original mission he envisioned, to help educate and share the plight of our local Hudson River environment as it luffs its sails and roams America’s “First River.”
Film followed by Q&A with director Jon Bowermaster. |
Seeds of Hope
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This short documentary film tells the story of a collaborative initiative to preserve Native American culture and food through seed saving at the Hudson Valley Farm Hub. It includes interviews with Akwesasne community members and others involved in the project, highlighting the 2017 Seed Sanctuary activities from planting to harvest, and illuminating the beauty of the Hudson Valley season by season.
Film followed by Q&A with director Jon Bowermaster. |
The New Fire
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In The New Fire, Emmy-winning director David Schumacher takes us inside two nuclear startup companies: Transatomic and Oklo. Leslie Dewan and Mark Massie founded Transatomic while students at MIT. Their goal: to design an advanced reactor that is safer, cleaner and cheaper than today’s reactors. In Silicon Valley, Oklo founders Caroline Cochran and Jacob DeWitte are developing a micro reactor for off-grid and other special applications where, today, diesel is the only option. These teams are being supported by nuclear advocates all over the globe. The New Fire follows activist Eric Meyer at the COP 21 Paris Climate Conference as he uses his own special talents to educate Parisians. Also in Paris, renowned climate scientist James Hansen makes the case for nuclear with a team of his colleagues. Hansen travels on to China, where he’s organized an unprecedented and controversial meeting between U.S. and Chinese climate and nuclear experts. Back in the US, Bill Gates is putting his entrepreneurial and philanthropic muscle behind Terrapower, a company he has co-founded to bring affordable clean energy to developing countries. Film followed by a Q&A with director David Schumacher. 4 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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Albatross
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On a remote atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, albatross chicks are dying, bodies filled with plastic. Albatross unflinchingly shows the horror and grief of this tragedy, but ultimately brings us to a deeply felt experience of beauty and love for life on Earth. Stepping outside of traditional documentary film style, Albatross delivers a profound message of reverence and renewal.
Film followed by a Q&A with director Chris Jordan. For more information,we invite you to read the article in US1 by Ilene Dube. 7 p.m. at the Friend Center 101, Princeton University
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Sunday, April 15
The Oyster Farmers
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The Oyster Farmers, a feature length documentary, centers on coastal life in NJ, specifically the Barnegat Bay. The once prolific Eastern Oyster, an economic and cultural keystone, historically decimated, is poised to recapture its legacy. Oyster farmers in the Barnegat Bay lead a Baymen’s renaissance, cultivating a resurgence of the oyster, to restore its heritage.
Presented by Jetty and the Jetty Rock Foundation in association with Oak Leaf Media, the film’s driving force, the ethos of environmental stewardship, coastal culture, and sustainability echoes throughout the film. The Barnegat Bay, historically the epicenter of wild oysters on the entire Eastern Seaboard, is now less than 1%. This film aims to raise awareness of lost oyster culture and to preserve the Baymen’s heritage. Film followed by a Q&A with director Corinne Ruff and producer/environmental consultant Angela Andersen, and oyster farmers from Forty North Oyster Farms, Barnegat Oyster Collective, Parsons Seafood and Maxwell Shellfish. Sunday Brunch Screening with light refreshments, and tea and coffee courtesy of Small World Coffee. 11 a.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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500 Acres of Controversy: Saving Petty’s Island
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An engaging story of a community-corporate-government collaboration that worked from 2002 until 2009 to successfully ensure the permanent preservation of Petty’s Island as a unique urban nature preserve. In 2009 the CITGO Petroleum Corporation (CITGO) donated a conservation easement to the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust (Trust) for Petty’s Island which, although part of Pennsauken Township, is located off the shoreline of the City of Camden. CITGO had originally attempted to donate the island to the Trust in 2004 but numerous events conspired to defeat that attempt. This defeat led to a unique collaboration between the local community, government, corporate, and non-profit partners to preserve Petty’s Island from upscale development that would have greatly restricted the local community’s access to the riverfront. Eventually, after a cleanup is completed and a marine terminal facility ceases its operations, the Trust will become the owner of the entire island and it will be open for general public access. Until that time, the general public can access the island through organized programs conducted by the New Jersey Audubon Society, as an educational programming contractor to the Trust.
Film followed by a Q&A with producer John Gattuso, Bob Cartica, Executive Director of the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust, and Cari Wild. 1:15 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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Riverkeeper
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Riverkeeper is a portrait of Captain Bill Sheehan, the founder of Hackensack Riverkeeper. He has dedicated his life to preserving and protecting the Meadowlands, an ecosystem of wetlands found in New Jersey. Long polluted and ignored, it now has a unique, industrial landscape and is a haven for birds and wildlife. Captain Bill takes the viewer on a ride down the Hackensack River, discussing both the successes and challenges facing the area.
Film followed by a Q&A with director Sara Leavitt, Captain Bill Sheehan of Hackensack Riverkeeper and Osei Essed, who composed the music for the film. 2 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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United By Water
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The five tribes of the Upper Columbia River unite on the water in traditional canoes for the first time since the Grand Coulee Dam flooded their traditional waterways 76 years ago.
Film followed by a Q&A via Skype with Derrick LaMere, Director and John Zinser, Canoe Maker/Producer 2:30 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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Dolores
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FESTIVAL CLOSING FILM
The personal stakes involved in committing one’s life to social change are brought to light in this profile of 87-year-old Dolores Huerta, an equal partner in co-founding the first farm workers unions with Cesar Chavez whose enormous contributions have gone largely unrecognized. 4 p.m. in the Community Room, Princeton Public Library
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