The official launch in Australia for Avatar is 17 December, however in a special promotion available only for Ballina.info newsletter subscribers there is an opportunity to attend a pre release screening Wednesday, 16 December at 8pm, reserved tickets will be on basis of first in first served, and will be limited to 250 tickets. There is still time to subscribe, visit our newsletter page to sign up for our weekly newsletter. Each week we provide our subscribers with all local information, promotions and the weekly cinema guide.

Tickets go on sale on Thursday 10 December from the box office at the cinema, you will need to present your exclusive confirmation email to purchase the discounted $12 tickets.

Ballina Fair Cinemas will be lending all guests special 3D glasses on the night, these are a substantial improvement on the old cardboard red and blue glasses.

Yesterday’s clean 1m north-east swell has been flattened out by a northerly, and the wind is forecast to blow from the north-east today.

The only ray of hope is that a weak southerly change is forecast for tomorrow.

Your best bet for the weekend is a small beach break.

Northerlies have flattened the swell right out.

The forecast for the weekend is for south to south-west winds, so hopefully that might bring a bit of swell.

After the winter we’ve had, with some of the best surf for years, it’s hard to complain. But no doubt the Lennox Longboarders are disappointed — they’ve got their annual contest on this weekend.

It’s most likely the event will be a Lennox Main Beach if you want to check it out.

Mr Gulpilil will be welcomed to kuntri by Bundjalung, Arakwal, Widjabal and Yaegal Elders at a gathering being hosted at Gnibi College of Indigenous Australian Peoples next week and give his public talk the following week on Tuesday, February 20, at noon in the Whitebrook Theatre, at the Lismore campus.

Lecturer at Gnibi College, Bilyana Blomeley, said he was pleased the college could act as a nexus to bring together Aboriginal people from the east coast of Australia with such a renowned artist and peace activist from the northern areas of Arnhem Land.

“This unification is a good example of how we hope to one day provide a bridge between all peoples of the world,” he said.

“It is also an honour for us to be able to host a public talk by someone as important as Mr Gulpilil, who is renowned throughout the world both as a superb actor and tribal dancer, as well as an accomplished storyteller, writer and peace and social justice activist.

“He has dedicated himself to the service of his own Indigenous community and has a particular focus on the problems of Aboriginal youth and on peace and healing.”

Mr Gulpilil has appeared in many groundbreaking films – from Walkabout in 1971, to Rabbit-Proof Fence and the recent highly acclaimed Ten Canoes. He is also a traditional member and Elder of the Yolngu people.

“Mr Gulpilil revolutionised Australian filmmaking by bringing Aboriginal culture to the screen and he continues to lead the way,” Mr Blomeley said.

Mr Gulpilil is visiting the region to support a new peace film, Think About It, in which he plays a starring role.

Think About It makes the point about the importance of creating harmony and peace in our own communities and nation as well as abroad, and especially focuses on the need to heal the unresolved grief and suffering between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The film is being launched at the Byron Bay Film Festival on February 24.

Filmed and directed by Richard and Wendy Friar, of Suffolk Park, the film seeks to spread a global message of peace and through this, create positive cultural and social change throughout the world, Mr Friar said.

“We want to give people a strong grasp on what is really happening in the world and demonstrate simple, positive ways we can all contribute to healing the planet and fostering co-operation, love and support across all cultural and religious divisions,” Mr Friar said.

In the film, Mr Gulpilil presents an Indigenous perspective on peace and healing, joining luminaries like UK Professor John Keane, founder of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster, Andrew Wilkie, an Australian Government intelligence officer who resigned in protest over the misrepresentation of intelligence information, Senator Bob Brown, former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, Shadow Minister for Climate Change Peter Garrett, Cindy Sheehan, international peace spokesperson, Allan Madden, Indigenous spokesman, John Robertson, secretary of the NSW Labour Council, Senator Lynn Allison, leader of the Australian Democrats, Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, David Hicks’ father Terry Hicks, Dr Adel Iskandar, US academic and author of the book Al Jazeera, Dr Anas AlTikriti, former president of the British Muslim Association and Rev. Dr Ann Wansbrough, co-convenor of the Sydney peace march in 2003, to name a few.

“These people speak out about the critical issues of our time. Issues which should be dinner table and coffee shop conversation all over the world but they are not and we should be asking ‘why not?’” Mr Friar said.

“People have a gut feeling something is terribly wrong with the world, that we are sick in the heart and in the soul, but no one knows what to do about it.

“People don’t want to be a part of a system that rewards greed and corruption and supports the abuse of power. They don’t want to be part of a system that marginalises our Indigenous peoples and other minority groups and creates fear through a divide and rule government approach.

“Everyone knows the way we are living is neither environmentally nor morally sustainable and yet we are all acting like sheep or sleepwalkers, allowing our lives and our planet to be hijacked by multinational corporations and governments too weak to act in the best interests of all of humanity.

“This film leads people by the hand by giving them all the facts and many viewpoints about the catastrophe we are creating and showing simple yet effective ways in which we can begin to take back control and re-shape our world into the place we want it to be – for ourselves and for future generations.

“We are launching the campaign of the century. The clock has struck 12 and we have run out of time. Each person must start thinking and acting differently right now.

“There is no time to sit back and wait to see how bad it is going to get. The situation is critical right now and people need to get involved in creating global change and I truly believe most people want to do that anyway, they just don’t know how to be effective but this film will teach them.

“Our survival as a species now depends on how we build unity.”

PICTURE: Acclaimed Indigenous actor and peace and social justice advocate David Gulpilil will urge people to ‘Think About It’ during his free public talk at Southern Cross University from 12noon to 1pm on Tuesday, February 20, as part of Orientation Week activities.

The screening, at Byron Cinemas, will be attended by Howard and Rosy Whelan, of Whelan Productions, who co-ordinated much of the photographic work for the film.

The screening will include a question and answer session with Howard and Rosy, and Associate Professor Peter Harrison, the director of Southern Cross University’s Whale Research Centre. Author Di Morrisey, patron of the Centre, will also be attending.

‘Happy Feet’, which opened around Australia on Boxing Day, is an animated comedy set in Antarctica. It features the voices of Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

Howard and Rosy Whelan have had a long-standing involvement in the film’s production. The couple provided early support in identifying potential locations in the Antarctic. Then Howard’s Antarctic photography was used to inspire the early storyboards prior to Whelan Productions organising logistics and leading filming expeditions to Antarctica to capture more images that form the basis for much of the animation.

An exhibition of Howard’s stunning Antarctic photographs is currently on display at Byron Cinemas. The cinema is also screening exclusively a short film of these images, set to music, at all ‘Happy Feet’ sessions.

Rosy said she was keen to do something in the region because there was such a strong local connection.

“The reason we picked the Southern Cross University Whale Research Centre is because there is such a real connection between the whales that pass Byron Bay and Antarctica,” Rosy said.

“We have done a lot of guiding in the Antarctic and Howard provided a lot of the photographs of Antarctica which we can recognise in the film.

“Happy Feet certainly has some very powerful environmental messages.”

Southern Cross University’s Whale Research Centre conducts a range of research projects aimed at the conservation and protection of whales and dolphins. It is involved in activities throughout the Southern Hemisphere and has a particular focus on the humpback population which migrates each year from the Antarctic along the east coast of Australia.

The Centre is a strong opponent of commercial and scientific whaling and is currently investigating non-lethal methods of ageing whales. It also conducts annual surveys of the humpback whale population as they pass Cape Byron.

Associate Professor Peter Harrison said it was wonderful to get the support of Whelan Productions and Byron Cinemas.

“There has been a steady growth in the humpback whale population, but there is still a long way to go before it reaches pre-whaling numbers,” Professor Harrison said.

“That population is estimated to have been up to 20,000-30,000 prior to whaling and fell to around 200-500 when whaling ceased in the 1960s. The latest estimates put the population at close to 8000, and growing at about 11 per cent each year.

“With the renewed push for commercial and scientific whaling it is more important than ever that we can continue vital research into the genetic make-up of the humpback population.”

The screening of ‘Happy Feet’ will be held at 6.30pm on Thursday, January 18, at Byron Cinemas, 108 Jonson Street, Byron Bay. The cost is $12.50 adults and $10 concession. Tickets are on sale now at Byron Cinemas.

Photo: Emperor penguins at Auster Rookery near Australia’s Mawson Station in East Antarctica. Photo by Howard Whelan.

Some of the best short animations on the planet will be playing at Southern Cross University on October 19 and 20.

Over two days the university is hosting the Australian International Animation Festival (AIAF) featuring ground breaking films from 13 countries.

Sessions include the cult 90s MTV series Aeon Flux, which launched the savage style mimicked in The Matrix series, and Australian works – from the tale of a boy who wants to touch the moon, to the adventures of Mr Money, the clownish coloniser.

Then there’s the Comic Art Meets Animation session, where film-makers play with the graphic constraints on traditional comic strip characters – like The Bastard, driven homicidal by one too many computer crashes.

The festival, which has just run in Sydney and Adelaide, is coming to Southern Cross University courtesy of the media program and multimedia lecturer Sean O’Shannessy.

Sean wanted his students to have access to groundbreaking animation techniques and figured this would also attract the region’s dedicated film buffs.

Local animator Tim Adlide, who will MC the festival, says we’re lucky to have access to shorts of this quality, which rarely get seen on television.

Festival passes, covering all five sessions during Thursday 19th and Friday 20th October, cost $30 or $25 concession. They are available from the university’s Co-op Bookshop in person or by phone on 6621 4484. You can also buy tickets at the door for just $10 a session.

The $10 session ticket for Thursday runs from 4.30pm to 8.30pm and includes the festival launch and the local animation forum. Friday’s matinee program features two sessions commencing at 2.30pm and 4pm. Friday’s evening program also features two sessions, one at 5.45pm and the other at 7.15pm.

Further details about the program are available from http://www.aiaf.com.au/ under ‘Lismore’.