The theme of the Festival 2009

From Indigenous People to Artificial Intelligence, our intelligence to serve the planet Documentaries, debates, shows and performances, 4 days to raise awareness.

Despite recent scientific achievement, we still understand poorly the functioning of the brain and we use far too little of its capacity!

For the human brain, origin of our thoughts, emotions, language and memory, is the organ that creates and is responsible for all of our actions, dreams and interrelationships with the world.

Does our “intelligence” serve the survival of the planet and the well-being of all?

While those who live in the developed world consider themselves to be the masters of nature, with all the consequences which that implies, indigenous people, by living and perceiving themselves as “children of nature,” have developed a true philosophy, a penetrating vision of life and death. By the organization of their social life, their creative diversity and their sense of the sacred, would they not be apt to bring forth the second wind that has become indispensible to the 21st century, already in the grip of moral and existential crises? This will be the subject of our first meeting on Friday.

The brain contains ten billion neurons and ten thousand more connections! What do we know of the functioning of our two cerebral hemispheres, the left being responsible for analytical reasoning and the right linked to intuition as well as global and artistic perception? Are our learning and teaching techniques adapted to the particularities of the human brain? Do these techniques develop our creativity?

And what do we know of neurotransmitters? Serotonin, dopamine, noradrenalin...These are the ones that set off a hormonal storm when we fall in love, they work to regulate our daily behavior and disequilibrium amongst these neurotransmitters is accompanied by mental dysfunction. What about that which blocks normal brain function: manipulation by the media and advertising, addictions, and emotional stress?

This and more will be debated on Saturday.

Does our intelligence serve creative and ecological goals? How can we apply our intelligence to the survival of the planet and to a peaceful and prosperous future? Is the development of our knowledge in this domain going in the right direction?

These important and vast themes will be the subject of our debate on Sunday.

But the Festival is also a program of rigorously selected documentaries, some of which will be shown as exclusives, like last year. We will inaugurate the Festival with an exceptional screening on Thursday night.

This vast schedule (four to five screenings per day) goes beyond the realm of the stated theme of the Festival, to encompass a broad vision of the defense of the environment and biodiversity.

This year, there will be more shows and we will propose a “Festival Night” outdoors on Saturday which will link cinema, music and original artistic performances...

We look forward to a large audience, passionate and determined to think and act for the peaceful and prosperous future of our planet.