EMF/RF: ‘Remembering Nearfield’ May NYC Film Festival; Irish Film Freequencies; Canada; International EHS Day

Compiled by Patricia Burke of Safe Tech International with Sean Carney

(European and Canadian spelling is intact)

Human Rights and Story Telling

In the article Can films fix the global challenges of human rights? Julián Ginzo, writing for the United Nations Today quoted Laura Longobardi, “Films put a face to issues and humanize complex situations that can be hard to explain through reports and conferences. Films can be powerful tools for change [].”

The website “The power of film for storytelling, health and human rights advocacy for the Internews Health Journalism Network quoted  Deeyah Khan “What film and stories do is give us a tiny crack where we can each recognise our own humanity in someone else, in that space, we understand each other, and when we understand each other, we care. And once you do that, something better becomes possible.” Oyenchimeg  Demchigobserved “Foreign films and documentaries can fill a public interest content gap and stir conversations about issues that local media don’t touch, []. These films provide compelling stories where audiences can see similarities with their own experiences. They then can start questioning if what is happening to them is normal and often get inspired to find solutions.”

Internationally, film festival organizers and film-makers are ahead of the curve, actively breaking stereotypes and addressing discrimination, marginalization, and human rights abuses, through story-telling about the environmentally-induced condition microwave illness, also known as Electromagnetic Sensitivity.

Remembering Nearfield, Award-Winning UK Documentary Film by Sean Carney

Remembering Nearfield Documentary Film Synopsis: A wife and entrepreneur devoted to her family and business tragically loses everything as her health mysteriously declines. Why is she now left alone and unable to function in society? All is revealed through a series of startling events and a final, uncomfortable diagnosis – International Documentary, Director Sean Alexander Carney, Narration: Corriëlle van Vuuren Piano Music: Kate Kheel

View the 9-minute animated film here: 

Remembering Nearfield, India and Canada Award Nominations

Award-winning Remembering Nearfield has now been shortlisted in the Great Maple Screen Festival of Canada for Best Animation.  The film is also a semifinalist in the Kalaburagi International Film Festival 2024 (India) in the Short Film category.

New York City, May 19^th Nominated for Best International Animated Documentary

Its contemporary importance as a documentary has been recognised closer to home for it has been officially nominated for Best International Animated Documentary at the Venus on Broadway International Film Festival 2024.

The film festival’s screenings, red carpet event and awards ceremony will be held at the state-of-the-art venue the Secret Room in New York City May 19th. https://indiefilmonline.com/venus-on-broadway-iff 

Kate Kheel of Safe Tech International who composed and performed the piano soundtrack for the film, will be there in person representing Remembering Nearfield throughout the festivities.

The full film schedule and blocks including the trailer are listed and available here:  https://indiefilmonline.com/nominees.

Ireland: Environmental Film Festival; Award Winning Film “Freequencies” by Seventeen-Year-Old Olivia Louise Curto

Remembering Nearfield was shown on television in Belfast, Northern Ireland in December 2023 as part of the Inheritance Environmental Film Festival.

Now, another film about EMF/EHS by a 17-year-old film-maker from Ireland was recently awarded 2^nd place in the Fresh Films Ireland Festival.

The Leitram Observer reported, Leitrim’s young filmmaker remarkable achievement at Fresh Films Ireland 2024 “Fresh Films Ireland 2024 has once again captured the hearts of audiences and critics alike. Leitrim 17-year-old Olivia Louise Curto achieved an incredible feat by securing 2nd place at Fresh Films Ireland 204 with her film, ‘Freequencies’. The film masterfully explores the broader implications of our increasingly digital existence, advocating for a world where human connections transcend technological ties. The film festival, which began as a modest video competition in 1997 under the umbrella of the Limerick Film Festival, has grown exponentially over the years. Today, it stands as a crucial platform that nurtures young talent, having introduced thousands of budding filmmakers to the world stage. 

The 2024 edition of Fresh Films was particularly exhilarating. It marked a significant milestone by being broadcast live on RTE2 from 7 to 9 PM on April 29, allowing an even larger audience to partake in the celebration of young cinematic talent.

This year’s festival saw participation from over 13,648 applicants from 150 countries, illustrating its global reach and influence not only highlights her filmmaking prowess but also brings a wave of pride to Leitrim, celebrating its own on an international stage.” https://www.leitrimobserver.ie/news/home/1490156/leitrims-young-filmmaker-remarkable-achievement-at-fresh-films-ireland-2024.html

Watch the 14 ½ minute film Freequencies here:

Canada Update: May is Environmental Sensitivities Awareness/Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS/ES) Awareness

May 1 the Manitoba Legislative Building was lit yellow for the third year. Marg Friesen of the Environmental Health of Manitoba supported this endeavour. On May 12, Canada’s MCS/ES Awareness Day, the High Level Bridge in Edmonton, Alberta will be lit yellow and green for the fifth year. Environmental Health Association of Alberta also supported this effort.

Carney’s film Remembering Nearfield is nominated for Best Animation in the May 10th Great Maple Film Festival,

Watch for further outreach and advocacy concerning EHS from the international community, including Canada – where the Environmental Health Clinic (EHC), a unique multidisciplinary clinic in Ontario was established in 1996 by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to be a provincial resource in promoting environmental health and to improve health care for people with chronic complex environmentally-linked conditions such as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) and Environmental Sensitivities, including both Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (ES/MCS) and Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity. – Source: https://www.electrosensitivesociety.com/

Global EHS Day: Cœurs d’EHS June 16, 2024: World EHS Day – World Day of Intolerance to Electromagnetic Pollution

The 7th annual EHS Day is officially underway! “All over the world there are Electro Hyper Sensitive People hiding in the most remote, isolated, forgotten and desperate places.”

“On June 16th, the 7th edition of the World Day of Intolerance to Electromagnetic Pollution will take place, so renamed in order to clearly understand that electro-hypersensitive people (EHS) have become so because of an ultra-polluted environment. It is indeed important to underline that the problem comes from environmental pollution and not from a disease from which EHS suffer. When EHS sufferers spend enough time in an unpolluted environment, their health recovers by itself. To cure EHS, you don’t need medication, but a healthy environment! EHS sufferers are sentinels of human health and alerters. Listening to them is also saving oneself from the danger of this gigantic pollution that is totally ignored.

Electromagnetic pollution is not only toxic for EHS, it also weakens the immune defenses of the whole population and is a major co-factor in the triggering of various pathologies depending on the fragility of each individual. That’s why reducing electrosmog should be a priority public health objective… which it won’t be as long as the telecoms lobbies are able to make a profit by irradiating the whole planet, to the detriment of our health and biodiversity. The objective of the World EHS Day is not only to highlight the moral and physical suffering of the millions of EHS people already impacted by electromagnetic pollution but also to warn the rest of the population about a danger they are unaware of.” – http://coeursdehs.fr/june-16-world-ehs-day-world-day-of-intolerance-to-electromagnetic-pollution/

Other International Developments

In the Netherlands, EHS is officially recognized as a disability. The Dutch EHS foundation, Stichting EHS, has achieved a big success for people with EHS to be covered by the UN Convention on Disability.

A Danish housing association is now building 50 residential buildings specifically for people who are electrosensitive and chemically sensitive.

Accredited training offered to health care providers in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of EMF illnesses is now available free of charge to the general public here.

‘Safety’ Guidelines as Institutional Discrimination

Encyclopedia Britannica notes: “Discrimination- the intended or accomplished differential treatment of persons or social groups for reasons of certain generalized traits. For the most part, discrimination results in some form of harm or disadvantage to the targeted persons or groups. While intentional discrimination occurs at the level of individuals, institutional discrimination denotes explicit policies of social institutions that exclude, impede, or otherwise harm certain groups.”

Currently, international radio frequency exposure guidelines do not recognize non-thermal effects of non-ionizing radiation, with inanimate safety testing protocols based on the measurements of an adult military male, thereby actively discriminating against women and children. (See the US court ruling here regarding the FCC and children, vulnerable populations, and the environment. The FCC and industry have ignored the remand.)

The two international EMF-based films give voice to these two vulnerable populations.

The Human Rights Film Network notes, “Human rights films are films that reflect, inform on and provide understanding of human rights, and portray visions and aspirations to redress violations of these rights.”

Read More: Remembering Nearfield

Save the Date: May 19, NY ‘Venus on Broadway International Film Festival’ Includes EHS Film ‘Remembering Nearfield’ (Note that the New York City community has been actively opposing the installation of 5G monopoles – see 4,000 GIANT-SIZED 5G ANTENNAS PROPOSED FOR NEW YORK CITY – OPPOSITION GROWS and LinkNYC 5G Tower Hearing Finds Limited City Oversight of Program Administration, Demonstrates Need For Better Processes due health, environmental, and aesthetics concerns.) 

Review of Remembering Nearfield by Safe Tech International

Remembering Nearfield: A review by Karen Churchill (UK)

EHS Film “Remembering Nearfield” is Finalist: Cannes World Film Festival ”A multi-award-winning international film catalysing global awareness of electromagnetically induced harm and disability.”