Human Rights Watch Film Festival: The Unforseen November 14, 2007

Laura Dunn, USA, 2007, 93m, video, doc

In English

Laura Dunn’s beautifully crafted documentary, (Executive Producers Terrence Malick and Robert Redford), The Unforeseen, follows the career of Gary Bradley, an ambitious west Texas farm boy who went to Austin and became one of the state’s most powerful real estate developers, capitalizing on Austin’s boomtown growth beginning in the 1970s. At the peak of his powers, Bradley transformed 4000 acres of pristine Hill Country into one of the state's largest and fastest-selling subdivisions. When the development threatened a local treasure, “Barton Springs”—a natural spring-fed swimming hole—the community fought back and the subdivision became a lightning rod for environmental activism of the kind that flourished under Governor Ann Richards. However, when George W. Bush became governor, development laws change, and the water quality at Barton Springs, as well as the surrounding landscape of Austin, was irreversibly altered. The Unforeseen is a powerful meditation on the destruction of the natural world and the American Dream as it falls victim to the cannibalizing forces of unchecked development. It is an intricate tale of personal hopes, victories, and failures, and debates over land, economics, property rights, and the public good.

Film's website: www.theunforeseenfilm.com

Followed by a discussion with Alan Caron, president of GrowSmart Maine.

Tickets:
$6 per film / $4 for students, seniors and SPACE members
Festival passes: $20 / $15 for students, seniors and SPACE members.

Buy tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com
Or call 1-800-838-3006 to order over the telephone

Official Website: http://www.space538.org/pages/2007hrwff.php