World Population Film/Video Festival: Best of Festival 96

A collection of student-produced works on overpopulation and the environment made by young people from elementary school through college, these shorts vary in length from thirty seconds to eighteen minutes. The introduction invites schools to submit entries for the next festival which has a total of $10,000 in prize monies (unfortunately, the 1997 deadline entry has already passed). Because of the uneven quality of the works (let's face it, a bunch of teenagers chanting facts in unison isn't particularly scintillating), the video will primarily appeal to schools teaching media courses and not as a tool for science or social studies curricula. The topic is important, but the amateur, frequently preachy, and often poorly researched and defended presentations do not recommend acquisition for public or academic libraries. Aud: I, J, H. (R. Reagan)