Bate's Car : Sweet as a Nut

Ebenezer Scrooge has a motto: to waste is to grow. His motto becomes: back to basics. The Energy Carol traces this momentous transformation, and introduces us to the spirits of energy past, present and future.

At a farm in Massachusetts, a small group of people, including some scientists, explore possibilities for more humane, self-sufficient lifestyles involving interrelated food-producing systems and small-scale solar and wind technology. Their work is a model for others with the vision of a greener, kinder world and a taste for inventing the future. "Think small," say the New Alchemists. "Look what thinking big has done.".

Richly woven of fine threads that mingle and separate, surface and disappear, this poetic documentary studies the works of one of Canada's greatest contemporary etchers: Newfoundland-born David Blackwood. The artist himself guides the viewer through a step-by-step explanation of the entire etching process. Scenes of his hometown outport, examples of his masterfully crafted prints, and the vivid tales of an old mariner recall the tragic seal hunts and a way of life that has now vanished.