Here’s the exciting lineup for the 2012 Solar-Powered Film Series, returning to Solar One on September 13-15 and September 20-22:

Week 1: Films That Move, Presented with the Dance Films Association

September 13: Films That Move-Water
Check out some of the coolest short films featuring dance and dancers that you’ll ever see! Entitled Water, this program is comprised of 5 short dance films which were screened throughout the month of July with ArtsBrookfield as a part of CultureStream at the World Financial Center’s Big TV in the Winter Garden. And if you’re into dancing, drinks and cruising around in a party boat, join DFA to celebrate the 93rd birthday of Marge Champion, who played Ellie Mae in MGM’s 1951 version of Show Boat. Tickets are $50, but you can get them for $35 if you enter the code “solar1″ at checkout HERE. For more info, visit dancefilms.org.

September 14: The Dancer Films with the Jane Ira Bloom Trio
The Dancer Films is a rapturous short film directed by Judy Dennis,inspired by cartoons by Jules Feiffer. With Andrea Weber of Merce Cunningham Dance Company as the Dancer and Jennifer Dundas as her voice.

The evening opens with Jane Ira Bloom Trio, featuring 2012 Jazz Journalists Association Award winner Jane Ira Bloom on soprano sax, with Mark Helias on bass and Bobby Previte on drums. Original artwork by Jules Feiffer provides the background on the big riverside screen.

September 15: The Other (manque à être) by fictionale
Choreographed by Mayuna Shimizu
Performed by Mayuna Shimizu, Hazuki Homma
Video by Hyunsuk Kim, Kyoungin Jung
Music by TBA
Directed by Hyunsuk Kim

Week 2: Eco-Docs

September 20: Common Ground (2012) NYC Premiere
By Greener Media
Animals that have been symbolically embedded into our cultures for centuries are now disappearing at alarming rates. The importance of these animals in our lives is often overlooked, but animals are truly symbols that not only inspire us, but are essential for a healthy future. Animals are religious deities and majestic icons. They have provided companionship, carried us on their shoulders, and plowed our fields. Few are as awe-inspiring as the elephant.

For thousands of years, across Asia, humans and elephants have lived side by side in a relatively peaceful coexistence. That relationship is now being threatened due to increasing human populations and loss of elephant habitats. Elephants and humans are being forced to compete for resources, a problem that has been defined as Human-Elephant-Conflict. This predicament poses a serious threat to the elephant’s continued existence. While this is a widespread concern all across Asia and Africa, it is nowhere more apparent than in the small island of Sri Lanka. What lies beneath the often-destructive consequences of human elephant conflict is a common story that both man and animal shares. That story is about family and survival.

Filmmakers & President of Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society will be present for a Q&A after the film!

View the trailer HERE.

September 21: Shattered Sky (2012)
A film by Steve Dorst and Dan Evans
An invisible compound threatens Earth’s life-support systems, with effects so pervasive that scientists sound the alarm, businesses must innovate, politicians are forced to take action—and American leadership is absolutely vital. Climate change? No…the hole in the ozone layer. For the first time in film, Shattered Sky tells the story of how—during geopolitical turmoil, a recession, and two consecutive Republican administrations— America led the world to solve the biggest environmental crisis ever seen. Today, will we dare to do the same on energy and climate?

Watch the trailer HERE.

Plus: Live Music from Bradford Reed & His Amazing Pencilina and video projections by Peter Shapiro!

Bradford Reed never fails to entertain and inspire. This Brooklyn, NY based composer, performer and producer fights and tames the idiosyncrasies of the pencilina, an original instrument of his own design and construction. The pencilina is an electric ten stringed collision of the hammer dulcimer, slide guitar, koto and fretless bass with six pickups of varied types. It is struck with sticks, plucked and bowed, giving Reed an incredibly wide sonic palette. Many have enjoyed Reed’s frequent street performances and club dates.

Peter Shapiro  is a New York based video maker.  His visual projects and collaborations have been performed shown or staged at the Chelsea Art Museum, the Museum of Natural History, EMPAC, the United Nations, Lincoln Center, Warhol Museum, MOCA L.A., the BBC, and performance spaces throughout New York City, and the world. His video pieces have been showcased on media sites as varied as: The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Village Voice, Huffington Post, Discovery Networks, The Gothamist,  “L” Magazine, and has been re-posted throughout the blogosphere. He likes documenting nature, dance, drag queens, things he sees while riding his bike, and events related to celebrating our first amendment rights.

September 22: DIRT! the Movie (2009)
DIRT! The Movie tells the amazing and little known story of the relationship between humans and living dirt.

Dirt feeds us and gives us shelter. Dirt holds and cleans our water. Dirt heals us and makes us beautiful. Dirt regulates the earth’s climate. Dirt is the ultimate natural resource for all life on earth. Yet most humans ignore, abuse, and destroy our most precious living natural resource.Consider the results of such behavior: mass starvation, drought, floods, and global warming, and wars. If we continue on our current path, Dirt might find another use for humans, as compost for future life forms.

The film offers a vision of a sustainable relationship between Humans and Dirt through profiles of the global visionaries who are determined to repair the damage we’ve done before it’s too late. There are many ways we can preserve the living skin of the earth for future generations. If you care about your food, water, the air you breathe, your health and happiness…it’s time to see DIRT! the Movie.

View the trailer HERE. DIRT! the Movie was originally scheduled to be part of the 2011 Solar-Powered Film Series.

Special treats TBD.

About the Solar-Powered Film Series

The Solar-Powered Film Series presents free, high-quality films in a relaxing urban setting. From classics from the Maysles Brothers (Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter) and Mel Brooks (Young Frankenstein) to the latest Academy-Award nominated documentary (Josh Fox’s Gasland), the Film Series gives New Yorkers an opportunity to learn about the latest environmental issues and initiatives, enjoy some of their favorite films in a lovely riverside setting. The entire event is solar-powered, right down to the popcorn-making.

This program would not be possible without the friendship and support of Rooftop Films.

Screenings take place on the blacktop at Solar 1 in Stuyvesant Cove Park alongside the East River. The screenings are entirely powered by solar energy generated from a solar photovoltaic system on the roof of our facility. Screenings are free and kid-friendly.

Past Film Series:

2011
The 2011 Film Series, held in August, was the victim of the very wet and windy weather, and four out of six screenings were cancelled:

DIRT! The Movie (2009)
Urban Roots (2011)
Food Fight (2008)
An Evening with Matthew Modine:
- When I Was a Boy (1993)
- Smoking (1995)
- Ecce Pirate (1996)
- To Kill an American (2005)
- I Think I Thought (2007)
- Jesus Was A Commie (2011)
Dirty Business (2010)
Home (2009)

2010
Severed Ways (2007)
Out of Our Minds (2009)
The Vanishing of the Bees (2010)
Fresh (2009)
Fuel (2008)
The Age of Stupid (2009)
SPECIAL PRESENTATION: Gasland NYC Premiere with Rooftop Films

2009
Addicted to Plastic (2007)
Flow: For Love of Water (2008)
Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006)
A Sea Change (2008)
The Garden (2008)
WORLD PREMIERE: Burning in the Sun (2010) with Rooftop Films
SPECIAL PRESENTATION: What’s On Your Plate? (2009)

2008
Running Fence (1978)
Christo’s Valley Curtain (1973)
Gimme Green (2007)
Invisible Creek (2004)
City of Water (2007)
The Greening of Southie (2008)
Burning the Future (2008)
Garbage Warrior (2008)
The Future of Food (2004)

2007
Everything’s Cool (2007)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
After Hours (1985)
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
What’s Happening! The Beatles in the USA (1964)
Young Frankenstein (1974)

2006
Darwin’s Nightmare (2004)
Soylent Green (1973)
Silent Running (1972)
Gimme Shelter (1970)
Contested Streets: Breaking NYC’s Gridlock (2005)
Water Underground (2006)
Princess Mononoke (1997)