* Ithaca * * College ’s Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival and
Cinemapolis Will Present the World Premiere of Chanda Chevannes’s
‘Living Downstream’ — First 50 Filmgoers Admitted Free *
(03/18/10) Ithaca College ’s Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival
(FLEFF) will join Cinemapolis in presenting the world premiere of
“*Living Downstream*.” Directed by Canadian filmmaker Chanda Chevannes,
the film documents ecologist Sandra Steingraber’s private struggle with
cancer and her public fight to bring attention to the urgent human
rights issue of cancer prevention. Based on Steingraber’s book of the
same name, the film will be screened on Saturday, April 3, at 7 p.m. at
Cinemapolis, 120 E. Green St. , in Ithaca . Steingraber and Chevannes
will introduce the film and conduct a discussion after the screening.
Steingraber will also sign copies of her book, which will be sold at the
event by Buffalo Street Books.
The first 50 people to show up will be admitted free. After that,
general admission will be $9; tickets for seniors (64 and older) and
children (12 and under) will be $7.50.
Told from Steingraber’s unique perspective as a biologist, ecologist and
poet, “*Living Downstream*” is the personal story of a bladder cancer
survivor as well as a scientific inquiry into two toxic
chemicals—atrazine and PCBs—and their possible health effects.
“In the film we follow these invisible toxins as they migrate to some of
the most beautiful places in North America ,” Chevannes said. “We see
how these chemicals enter our bodies and how, once inside, scientists
believe they may be working to cause cancer. ‘*Living Downstream*’ is a
powerful reminder of the intimate connection between the health of our
bodies and the health of our environment.”
Steingraber holds a doctorate in biology from the University of Michigan
and a master’s in English from Illinois State University . A Scholar in
Residence in Ithaca College’s Division of Interdisciplinary and
International Studies since 2003, Steingraber was a featured expert in
the Bill Moyers PBS documentary “Kids and Chemicals: Are We Poisoning
Our Children?” In addition to “Living Downstream,” she has authored
“Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood,” “The Spoils of
Famine,” and a volume of poetry, “Post-Diagnosis.” The second edition of
“Living Downstream,” which is updated with the latest scientific
evidence, will be available from Da Capo Press in April.
In addition to directing “Living Downstream,” Chevannes, along with
Nathan Shields, both of The People’s Picture Company in Toronto ,
produced the film. The Ithaca premiere will be followed by a series of
North American screenings scheduled to take place in the coming months.
For more information on these upcoming events, visit
www.livingdownstream.com <http://www.livingdownstream.com>
Beginning in September, the film will be available on DVD for
educational and community use. For ordering information, visit
www.livingdownstream.com/order_the_dvd.php
<http://www.livingdownstream.com/order_the_dvd.php>
Launched in 1997, the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival was an
outreach project from the Center for the Environment at Cornell
University . In 2005 the festival moved permanently to Ithaca College ,
where it is housed in the Division of Interdisciplinary and
International Studies as a program to link intellectual inquiry and
debate to larger global issues.
*To schedule media interviews with Steingraber and Chevannes, or to
obtain a media review copy on DVD, contact * Kathleen O’Grady, QUOI
Media Group, at (613) 897-9276 or [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
*For more information on FLEFF * , contact festival codirector Patricia
Zimmermann at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
<mailto:[email protected]>
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