Projecting Change with a Side of Popcorn

I use the blue boxes. I try to buy locally. I am learning to ride a bike, with great trepidation.

Then, I discovered I could make a difference by watching movies. I got excited; I got involved. And I hope you'll join me.

From Thursday, May 8 through Sunday, May 11, Projecting Change Film Festival is bringing award- winning films from around the world to Vancouver's Ridge Theatre. The movies include Flow: For Love of Water, a global outcry against the privatization of this basic human right; Recycled Life, the wrenching and uplifting story of Guatemala City's guajeros, who make a living selling finds from the city's dump; and Taking Root, which profiles Nobel Laureate Wangaari Maathai as she transforms the sociopolitical landscape of her native Kenya through the innocuous act of planting trees.

Guest speakers accompany the films, providing a local perspective on the issues at hand; they include SAWA Global's Daphne Nederhorst, ultra-marathonner and fresh water advocate Ray Zahab, and local filmmaker and "Flicking the Lights Off" creatrix Jaclyn A. Smith.

Other aspects I love of Projecting Change include:

Midnight Madness screenings of Baraka and Chinatown with liquor licenses.

An opening gala with BPA-free water bottles by Watergeeks.

Food by Capers.

If I do decide to ride my bike (or take the bus), I get two dollars off at the door.

And the best part? All profits go to local charities and green initiatives.

This weekend, I'm going to the movies. I'm going green. And I'm going to have a blast.