Films will be open and accessible to view from October 2nd to October 11th.
A Failure of the Imagination
Directed by: Matthew Hopkins [United Kingdom, 2019, 10 minutes]
Every year, the UK food industry wastes 1.9 million tones of food. England Your England returns to share the story of one chef and his efforts to change the way we approach food consumption in the country. Five years ago, Douglas McMaster opened Silo Brighton hoping to change the unsustainable practices of modern food systems. His aim was simple, yet frighteningly ambitious: create a zero-waste restaurant that utilised all the food that came through its doors. This is the story of that restaurant’s first five years.
Ayeo
Directed by: Jacob Updyke [United States, 2020, 3 minutes]
In the midst of a desolate wasteland, a farmer boy hopes and dreams that he may one day see a real live bird. Amidst the wreckage of climate change and on the heels of mass extinction, little AYEO represents the future of humanity if climate change is not addressed. In the parlance of the Internet, AIO means “All In One”. Spelled a little differently, little AYEO represents the reality of our interconnectedness and our need to behave as one people. [Youth Film]
Ay Mariposa (Oh Butterfly)
Directed by: Krista Schlyer [United States, 2019, 57 minutes, English & Spanish w/English subtitles]
Ay Mariposa tells a story of three characters in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas whose lives are upended by plans to build a US-Mexico border wall. Meanwhile the butterfly, la mariposa, fights its own daily battle for survival in a landscape where more than 95 percent of its habitat is long gone and much of what remains lies directly in the path of the wall. Ay Mariposa documents each characters’ fierce commitment to home, justice, wild beauty and the future of the US-Mexico borderlands.
Barefoot: The Mike Baumer Story
Directed by: Julie Sokolow [United States, 2019, 87 minutes]
From award-winning filmmaker, Julie Sokolow, comes this intimate portrait of Mark Baumer, an environmental activist, avant-garde writer, and vegan, who walked barefoot across the United States to protest climate change. In a voice The New Yorker praised as “reminiscent of Andy Kaufman”, Baumer narrates his offbeat take on life and how we all can make a difference. Edited from Baumer’s own self-recorded videos, along with interviews from family and friends, it’s a moving portrait filled with laughs, tragedy, and inspiration.
Beyond Climate
Directed by Ian Mauro [Canada, 2018, 59 minutes]
British Columbia, Canada’s most westerly Province along the Pacific coast, is a hotspot to visualize and experience how global warming affects local environments and communities. Heat waves, droughts, melting glaciers, pest outbreaks, back-to-back record setting forest fires, and changes to the oceans. David Suzuki, renowned scientist, broadcaster, and environmentalist, helps guide the journey to explore the human and environmental impacts of climate change in British Columbia.
Bringing It Home
Directed by Scott Briscoe & James ‘Q’ Martin [United States, 2019, 12 minutes]
Bringing It Home follows Tyrhee Moore, mountaineer, outdoor education advocate, and found of Soul Trak, as he tells the story of his connection to the outdoors that was fostered at a young age. Born and raised in one of the toughest neighborhoods in South East Washington, D.C., Moore still resides in the area and passionately dedicates his time to inspire and educate urban youth about the power and accessibility of the outdoors.
Can the Blueback Survive?
Directed by: Charles Atkinson & Jeff Ostensen [United States, 2020, 11 minutes]
Members of the Quinault Indian Nation relied on the blueback salmon for as long as they can remember – until they couldn’t. The Quinault Division of Natural Resources has been fighting for decades to recover the iconic fish from habitat degradation, but now finds itself at ground zero for the environmental impacts of climate change. Can the Blueback Survive? tells the stories of Quinault tribal fisherman Butch Pope, policy representative Ed Johnstone and President Fawn Sharp, who all grew up eating blueback salmon.
Chehalis: A Watershed Moment
Directed by: Shane Anderson [United States, 2020, 60 minutes]
Faced with worsening floods and a prized salmon population on the brink of extinction, communities along Washington’s Chehalis River must decide how to prepare for climate impacts–and if a new dam is the answer.
Coastal Requiem
Directed by: Diane Tuft [Bangladesh, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, [United States, 2019, 4 minutes, English, Gilbertese, & Bengali w/English subtitles]
Coastal Requiem investigates the plight of displacement due to climate change amongst five coastal communities around the globe. Weaving Tuft’s photography and haikus with deeply personal interviews, the short film portrays the global climate refugee crisis due to rising sea levels.
Colors of Change
Directed by: Jenny Nichols [Greenland, 2018, 21 minutes, English]
Experience Greenland through the eyes of Artist Zaria Forman, Nasa scientist, John Sonntag and Inuit Elder Angaangaq Angakkorsuaq “Uncle.” Zaria travels to Greenland for inspiration for her next body of work, and to visit the fjord where she spread her mother’s ashes. Sonntag is the lead scientist for Operation IceBridge – he and his crew work tirelessly gathering information on the ice sheet. Uncle is an inuit elder who speaks for the ice. His elders saw the “big ice” melting for the first time in the 1960s. The intersection of art, culture and science in a region defined by climate change.
Congo’s Call of the Wild
Congolese Directors: Abedi Mohamed Jumping & Emmanuel Katya Vinywasiki [Congo, the Democratic Republic of the, 2019, 60 minutes, English & French w/English subtitles]
Congo’s Call of the Wild documents the rich fauna and flora of Africa’s largest rainforest, Salonga National Park, and its anti-poaching enforcement and community conservation efforts. In an age when zoonotic diseases have paralyzed the planet, this film examines an outbreak threatening our closest primate relatives in the Malebo community forest reserve. Biologists and community leaders are trying to stop bushmeat hunters from inadvertently spreading human diseases in one of the bonobos’ last safe haven.
Connectivity Project: Interconnections
Directed by: Rose Madrone [United States, 2020, 13 minutes]
How many times do you wonder if what you do makes a difference in the world?
In this short we weave together inspiring stories about the Ripple Effects of our actions in an Interconnected world. This documentary style short displays how an Interconnected way of viewing the world has been held by different cultures and spiritual traditions from around the world, and across time, and how science is finally catching up with this understanding, and what this means to us.
Dear Mother Nature
Directed by: Tim Kressen [United States, 2019, 30 minutes]
Wyn Wiley and his alter ego – environmental advocate drag queen, Pattie Gonia – are here to tell you that “Mother Natch” is hella pissed. In Dear Mother Nature, Wiley uses the community of allies he has built around his persona to bring attention to a dire environmental disaster washing up on the shores of Hawaii: single-use plastics. Wiley witnesses plastic in the GI tracts of loggerhead sea turtles, engages in the Sisyphean task of cleaning up brittle fragments of beach plastic, and ultimately creates inspirational works of art out of the wreckage.
Deforestation Made in Italy
Directed by: Francesco De Augustinis [Brazil, Germany, Italy, Romania, & the United Kingdom, 2019, 67 minutes, English, Italian, & Portuguese w/English subtitles]
We are in Northeastern Brazil, in Pará, in the heart of the Amazon forest. But the landscape in front of us is quite different from our expectations. There are no trees. There are no exotic animals, jumping from tree to tree. There is only a red clearing, crossed by a dirty road, where dozens of trucks are travelling, transporting commodities. It is from this desolate place that the timber, illegally logged in the forest, leaves for its long trip to Europe. The same trip made by other commodities, responsible of the fast deforestation that is destroying this region.
Descent of the Refuge
Directed by: Molly Booth & Morgan Shields [United States, 2019, 9 minutes]
Descent of the Refuge follows three friends on a skiing adventure in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This film focuses on the importance wild places have in our lives and why conservation of The Refuge is so important.
Dragon Blood
Directed by: Awi Rabelista [Yemen, 2019, 18 minutes, English w/some Arabic w/English subtitles]
“An unforgettable adventure, seeking for natural beauty in a warzone.” Professional nature photographer Marsel van Oosten wants to travel to Socotra: an isolated island located southeast of Yemen. The island is so isolated that many of the plant species there are nowhere else to be found on Earth. And one of those unique species is the endangered dragon blood tree: a prehistoric umbrella-shaped tree which is endemic to Socotra. Due to the armed conflicts, it has been impossible to visit the island for many years. Marsel van Oosten finds an opportunity and travels to Yemen in search for the picture-perfect dragon blood tree.
Emperors of the Deep
Directed by: William Mckeever & Paul Rachman [Australia, Bahamas, South Africa, United States, 2019, 77 minutes]
Emperors of the Deep is a documentary film that takes the viewer on the personal odyssey of William McKeever into the world of the shark. His journey starts accidently when he stumbles on a shark tournament, when hundreds of sharks are killed. He is so angry at the massacre that he starts a quest to answer the question, should we care about sharks? Scientists show him how sharks are crucial to the marine ecosystem. McKeever decides to leave his job and devote his life to raising awareness about sharks in books and films and stopping their destruction.
Ever Slow Green: Re-afforestation in Auroville, South India
Directed by: Christoph Pohl [India, 2019, 56 Minutes, English]
In 1968, a unique afforestation project took root on an eroded desert plateau in the emerging international experimental township of Auroville, South India. Initially driven by the necessity to make harsh living conditions more livable, some residents developed expertise in cultivating the rare forest type native to the region and today, the lush Auroville forest is an outstanding example of eco-restoration. Ever Slow Green tells the story of Auroville’s 50-years-young forest through some of the diverse characters who have dedicated their lives to bringing it to fruition.
Eyes in the Forest
Directed by: Ryan Ffrench [Colombia, United States, 2019, 19 minutes, English & Spanish w/English subtitles]
Post-conflict deforestation is skyrocketing in Colombia. Today the country is losing approximately 32 soccer fields of virgin forest every hour. Eyes in the Forest follows an expedition into these contested territories with Angélica Diaz-Pulido, a camera trap expert from Instituto Humboldt and Jorge Ahumada, Director of Wildlife Insights, a revolutionary new platform for analyzing camera trap data. Angélica and the Wildlife Insights team are racing against the dark forces behind Colombia’s deforestation to understand and protect the country’s incredible biodiversity— before it is too late.
Fighting for Environmental Justice
Directed by: Ilan Jinich [United States, 2020, 3 minutes]
The film documents how the San Ysidro border community is threatened by air pollution stemming from traffic at the US-Mexico port of entry. The documentary highlights community efforts to mitigate this environmental injustice following a major federal expansion of the border crossing last year. [Youth Film]
Finding Solitude
Directed by: Tristan Hinder-Hohlweg & Jaiden George [Canada, 2019, 22 minutes]
Finding Solitude is an environmental film about saving Vancouver Island’s alpine, glaciers, and forests. Through interviews with scientific, environmental and Indigenous cultural leaders the film explores the importance of alpine, glacier, and forest eco-systems. It also explores the current state of the region, and the critically important steps necessary to obtain a sustainable future. [Youth Film]
Fracking Beyond Science
Directed by: Sabrina Habib [United States, 2020, 3 minutes]
Fracking Beyond Science is a short documentary about hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. A scientist and several citizens weigh in on the question: is fracking safe?
From Seed to Seed
Directed by: Katharina Stieffenofer [Canada, 2018, 87 minutes]
In Southern Manitoba, Terry and Monique are pouring their hearts into a small, ecological farm. In love with the land, their methods are derived from generations of farming tradition, along with the best current knowledge of organic farming. Raising crops and several types of livestock, they struggle against global climate change. Depicting large as well as small operations, the film shows what farmers are up against, and how determined many are to adopt environmentally responsible strategies, despite the seductive conveniences of modern agricultural practices.
Gando
Directed by: Teymour Ghaderi [Iran, 2020, 8 minutes, Farsi w/English subtitles]
Girls in Sistan and Baluchestan Province of Iran have to go far away from their village to get water. In most of the available water sources there lives an Iranian crocodile called Gando. While fetching water, many times children lose their legs or hands. People of this province do not treat Gandos badly as they believe that when there is a Gando there is water. This documentary film tells the story of a 9 year old girl named Hawa who lost her hand by Gando.
Giant Slaves
Directed by: Andras Csapo & Andras Matai [Thailand, 2019, 46 minutes, Hungarian w/English subtitles]
In Southeast Asia, elephant tourism is booming. Elephant shows, elephant ridings, ethical elephant parks… everyone has their choice. But do we choose the right thing? What is behind the latest trend “no riding”? What are the ethical elephant parks, and are they really in favor with their beloved animals? How could the travelers pick their elephant activities, that is beneficial for both parties? We wanted to discover everything first hand. So we traveled to Chiang Mai, Thailand to visit different elephant activities to find the answers. This expository documentary is shedding some light on the southeast asian elephant industry.
Gitxsan: Our Land, Our Culture, Our Laws
Directed by: Farhan Umedaly [Canada, 2020, 18 minutes]
Gitxsan: Our Land, Our Culture, Our Laws takes viewers on a journey deep into the unneeded land of the Gitxsan people to uncover their traditional laws and protocols that stand strong today.
Hanford: A Future Worth Fighting For
Directed by: Columbia River Keeper [United States, 2020, 3 minutes]
Columbia Riverkeeper’s mission is to protect and restore the water quality of the Columbia River and all life connected to it, from the headwaters to the Pacific Ocean.Watch a short film inspired by our collective legacy of tireless advocacy for the cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear Site.
Harvests of Hope
Directed by: Karen Buchsbaum & Koorosh Farchadi [United States, 2018, 26 minutes]
California, has the largest farming economy in the United States, but climate change is threatening to change that. Years of severe drought have left small farmers feeling the squeeze as they walk the tightrope between sustainability and financial viability. Hear from them in their own words as they connect the dots between development, water rights, and food justice. Will their farms be able to survive the impending climate crisis?
Home or High Water
Directed by: David Weich [United States, 2019, 11 minutes]
As sea levels continue to rise, coastal communities are trapped between the reality of climate change and the antiquated political policies that threaten their future. Battered by stronger, more frequent storms, residents are faced with an impossible decision: rebuild their home in place to collect flood insurance payments or abandon their property—along with any equity they’ve accrued—and find a way to start again somewhere else.
Immolation
Directed by: David Elkins [United States, 2019, 8 minutes]
Wildfire is the end and beginning of a process that has been happening for millennia. This cinematic journey through time bears witness to this cycle as the land is scorched by flame, then begins the long period of regrowth and recovery. Filmed over the course of four years throughout numerous fire zones in California, Immolation utilizes several special camera techniques including slow-motion, standard timelapse and long-term timelapse that tells the story of this distinct process of destruction and rebirth.
L’eau Est La Vie: From Standing Rock To The Swamp
Directed by: Sam Vinal [United States, 2019, 24 minutes]
On the banks of Louisiana, fierce Indigenous women are ready to fight—to stop the corporate blacksnake and preserve their way of life. They are risking everything to protect Mother Earth from the predatory fossil fuel companies that seek to poison it. L’eau Est La Vie: From Standing Rock To The Swamp follows water protector Cherri Foytlin as she leads us on a no nonsense journey of Indigenous resistance to the Bayou Bridge Pipeline (BBP) in the swamps of Louisiana.
Life and Limb
Directed by: Ginny Stein [Vanuatu, 2020, 30 minutes, English & Bislama w/English subtitles]
Vanuatu, is a chain of islands in the South Pacific on the front line of climate change. Named by the UN as the most prone country to hazardous risks due to cyclones, earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis, it is also gobsmackingly beautiful. In Vanuatu, ‘fores hemi laef’ or forests are life. This is modern forestry in action. It’s tough, it’s remote, but there’s plenty to enjoy. It’s foresters and communities working together for a sustainable future.
Motherfish
Directed by: Rusty Grim [United States, 2019, 11 minutes]
Motherfish is a mother’s spoken-word thoughts on the meaning that fishing has brought to the lives of her son and his best friend. It isn’t about catching fish – it is a quiet celebration of the lost art of patience, and how a mother can help bring meaning to her children’s lives by enabling adventure.
Mothers Out Front: Mobilizing for Bold Climate Action
Directed by: Benjamin Henretig & Adam Warmington [United States, 2019, 6 minutes]
Founded in 2013 by Kelsey Wirth, Mothers Out Front uses a proven model of grassroots organizing to combat climate change. Unable to sit idly by while her daughters stood to inherit an increasingly poisoned planet, Wirth organized meetings in her home with other moms in her Massachusetts neighborhood. What started there has grown into a 33,000-strong force, with more than 45 mother-led teams driving change in 10 states, with more states on the horizon. Mothers Out Front is able to reach everyday families who have the most at stake – the future of their children.
Muerte Silenciosa: Toxic Water in the Valley
Directed by: Jesse Dizard [United States, 2020, 27 minutes, English & Spanish w/English subtitles]
Hundreds of California’s municipal water supply systems rely on contaminated sources. Many such systems are in the San Joaquin Valley, home to over four million people – as well as some of the most productive farmland in the world. How is it possible that one of the richest states in the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world, people still lack access to safe, clean and affordable drinking water in their homes? Meet activists, laborers, lawyers, and politicians all seeking solutions to the problem of this silent killer.
Native Wisdom: The Peoples of Eastern Oregon
Directed by: Tim Keenan Burgess & Lawrence Johnson [United States, 2017, 57 minutes]
Indigenous scientists, artists and elders from several Oregon interior tribes, including the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Reservation, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde share observations of their changing environment, natural resource issues, and the beauty of tribes’ traditional arts, music and storytelling.
Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance
Directed by: Jan Haaken & Samantha Praus [United States, 2020, 60 minutes]
Necessity traces the fight in Minnesota against the expansion of pipelines carrying toxic tar sands oil through North America. Home to much of the world’s precious freshwater resources, the state is also the site of expanding oil industry infrastructure. The film follows indigenous activists and non-indigenous allies in their resistance to the pipelines traversing native lands and essential waterways.
Nibi Eteg: Where the Water Is
Directed by: Mackenzie Kuhl & Danica Simonet [India & United States, 2018, 25 minutes, English]
A documentary on the spiritual and cultural significance individuals have with water. The two stories the team chose to parallel were from the perspectives of Hindu individuals in India and the band of Chippewa Native Americans in Red Lake, Minnesota. Both of these stories explored the connection people share with water, either by religious or cultural practice. Throughout the film, we identified the presence of a gap within American ties to water. The gap, we learned, is not a failure in forming a connection, nor understanding the significance of water, but that individuals struggle to perceive the connection they have with water. In failing to form connection, we succeed at forming apathy towards the water we survive by. [Student Film]
One Word Sawalmem
Directed by: Natasha Deganello Giraudie & Michael “Pom” Preston [United States, 2020, 19 minutes]
One Word Sawalmem explores the intersection of youth, Earth healing and indigenous wisdom. One word ripples outward, vibrating with healing power. Sawalmem, meaning Sacred Water. Sawalmem could help us unravel the climate crisis we’ve created… For Winnemem Wintu Michael “Pom” Preston, Sawalmem represents an entire worldview, a vital vision for healing the world and for healing.
Open Water
Directed by: Danny McDougall [Greenland, 2019, 16 minutes, English & Inuktitut w/English subtitles]
Today Greenland feels to be at the centre of many different issues facing our changing world. The unspoken truth is the perfect storm of a changing climate, and the rapid encroachment of the modern age has already dramatically impacted the Arctic people – forcing them to cope with change beyond their immediate control in the present – not the future. The short film, Open Water, is a triptych narrative, based on the lives of three Greenlanders; a Hunter, a Ship’s Captain and a Fisherman, individuals whose very existence and heritage is intertwined with the Arctic Ocean.
Our Trails Too
Directed by: Liz Haan (right) [United States, 2019, 31 minutes]
In one of the whitest cities in the USA, a queer African American woman disrupts the outdoor adventurer stereotype. Portland, Oregon is an epicenter of natural beauty and outdoor recreation; however, marginalized folx don’t feel nearly as welcome in outdoor spaces as cis-het, thin white people do. What feels special about Mercy’s leadership goes beyond her audacious drive. Her work to transform the outdoors is community-focused and – by design – it’s a subversion of the oppressive structures within which we exist.
Paradise
Directed by: Erik Petersen & Kirk Rasmussen [United States, 2019, 20 minutes]
An unlikely environmentalist, Bryan Wells, finds himself standing between Yellowstone National Park and an industrial-scale gold mine. The proposed mine sits just above his home, and not only threatens America’s most iconic National Park, but his community’s way of life.
Pilliga Rising
Directed by: Mark Pearce [Australia, 2019, 40 minutes]
A salt-of-the-earth farmer, a German potter, a young Indigenous multimedia artist and an experienced citizen scientist rise up to protect their communities against a proposed coal seam gas-field in the Pilliga forest; a million acres of iconic Australian bush. An oil and gas corporation plan to drill 850 wells through the Great Artesian Basin – one of the largest underground freshwater reservoirs in the world – which flows beneath the Pilliga. Now, the people who live in this rural region are united to protect the land and water against this threat and determined to win their freedom.
Political Climate: Vote For Your Future
Directed by: Dylan D’Haeze [United States, 2020, 22 minutes]
Explores importance of activism and voting in saving the planet. Fourth film in the award winning series KIDS CAN SAVE THE PLANET. [Youth Directed Film]
Robin Food
Directed by: Pavel Maximov [Israel, 2019, 20 minutes, English]
Robin Food is a non-profit and pay-as-you-feel restaurant with a mission: rescue, cook and serve food that otherwise would go to waste. The restaurant is saving fruit and vegetables from markets and farms to raise public awareness on issues of food waste, sustainability and climate change in the most tangible and delicious way possible: a tasty meal. Robin Food location: Sirkin St 24, Haifa, Israel.
Sockeye Salmon, Red Fish
Directed by: Dmitriy Shpilenok & Vladislav Grishin [Russian, 2020, 51 minutes, Russian w/English subtitles]
Sockeye, a species of wild salmon, is born in Kamchatkan waters and spends its entire life in the Pacific Ocean. Only once does it return to fresh waters – to give offspring, start the circle of life, and die. It is an inexhaustible resource that feeds billions of people on the planet, restored every year! But soon, we may find ourselves facing the unimaginable: humans will exhaust the inexhaustible!
Starting Small: Open Data in Chile
Directed by: John Bosco [Chile, 2020, 11 minutes, English & Spanish w/English subtitles]
Chile is rich with natural beauty and treasured customs. And open data is playing a key role in preserving both. “Starting Small: Open Data in Chile” takes to the village of Pomaire and the peaks of Patagonia to see how people from different backgrounds and generations are using data to effect real change. Meet the makers, artisans, scholars, and conservationists who are leading the way.
The Burning Field
Directed by: Justin Weinrich [Ghana, 2019, 71 minutes, Twi & Dagbani w/English subtitles]
In this immersive portrait of life in an environmental wasteland, four young Ghanaians struggle to navigate work and relationships over a single day in Agbogbloshie, the largest e-waste dump on earth. Told entirely from their unique perspectives and in their own words, verité sequences capture telling moments from lives spent dismantling and burning electronic appliances from around the world, and the steep toll that it takes both on them and on the environment. Inspired by classic ethnographic films from the likes of Robert Gardner and Timothy Asch, this film is a visceral, intentionally challenging portrait of those who work in Agbogbloshie.
The Energy of Love
Directed by: America Maldonado [United States, 2019, 10 minutes]
The Energy of Love is a short documentary that tells the story of how the pure form of Chocolate (Theobroma Cacao) revives in modern society as “the Food of the Gods” with its divine message of unconditional love. This sacred food has been revered by ancient civilizations in Meso-America for thousands of years. Featuring Cacao Ceremony guide, Florencia Fridman, we explore how communities in NYC gathered in ceremony to express their message of living in Peace and unconditional Love, while exploring how our current disconnection is no longer sustainable for the future of humanity.
The Great Divide
Directed by: Casey Beck [United States, 2020, 19 minutes, English & Spanish w/English subtitles]
In the tiny hamlet of Tooleville, California, a small cadre of water warriors – regular people living without access to clean water – fight for their right to safe, clean drinking water, despite the unbelievable odds and a system stacked against them.
The Lack of Sustainability and Crippling Effects of Fast Fashion
Directed by: Victoria Buddie [United States, 2020, 14 minutes]
The Lack of Sustainability and Crippling Effects of Fast Fashion investigates the crippling and harmful effects of the fast fashion industry. Many in this industry never realize and continue to take part in the consumption process, idolizing quantity over quality of garments. Fast Fashion and the production process destroys freshwater resources as well as other natural resources in the United States and abroad. [Student Film]
The Mill
Directed by: David Craig [Canada, 2019, 52 minutes]
The divided community of Pictou County, Nova Scotia is facing a major turning point in the fifty-year old controversy surrounding the pulp mill located on the shores of Pictou Harbour. Will the mill, considered the dirtiest in Canada, finally clean up its act or will the Government of Nova Scotia allow a new plan to allow the mill to pipe its treated waste directly into the Northumberland Straight?
The People vs. Agent Orange
Directed by Kate Taverna & Alan Adelson [United States, France, and Vietnam, 2020, English, French, & Vietamese w/English subtitles]
The Agent Orange catastrophe did not end with the war in Vietnam. Today, all over the world, a primary component of that toxic herbicide controls weeds in farming, forestry, parks–even on children’s playgrounds. The chemical wreaks havoc on the human genome, causing deformed births and deadly cancers. After decades of struggle and tragic personal losses, two heroic women are leading a worldwide movement to end the plague and hold the manufacturers accountable.
The Stork Saviours
Directed by: Vijay Bedi & Ajay Bedi [India, 2019, 26 minutes, English]
This documentary follows the initiatives of conservation biologist Purnima in two villages in Assam and her quest to involve community women in saving an endangered bird. The film cuts across many themes from women’s empowerment to wildlife conservation, a story out of India that must be told. We hope to create awareness about a bird that was once considered as ‘ugly’ and dirty because of its scavenging habits. We hope the audience walks away fascinated about the biology and natural behaviour of the bird. Most importantly we want to tell the story of a woman biologist and the challenges she faces in conservation and how she overcomes these to achieve her goal.
This Land
Directed by: Chelsea Jolly & Whit Hassett [United States, 2019, 10 minutes]
Runner and advocate Faith E. Briggs used to run through the streets of Brooklyn every morning. Now, she’s running 150 miles through three U.S. National Monuments that lay in the thick of the controversy around public lands. Accompanied by running companions who represent diverse perspectives in what it means to be a public land owner, she assesses what is at stake if previously protected lands are reduced and if the public is largely unaware. This Land is a story about land access told through a journey of inclusion and empowerment.
Through the Breaks
Directed by: Tom Attwater [United States, 2020, 10 minutes]
Jason Cajune lives in Livingston, MT where he designs and builds wooden drift boats alongside his family. Last summer, Jason packed up one of his custom boats and led his family on a float trip down the Missouri River, through the American Prairie Reserve. Their trip serves as a journey through family traditions, a protected landscape and layers of history over time.
Trashless
Directed by: Rachael Dudley & Arwen Hunter [Canada 2019, 15 minutes]
Vancouver is a green city and Vancouverites love to do the right thing. We recycle, compost and dispose of our garbage appropriately but what if we went beyond recycling? Trashless focuses on The Sustainable Lock Up, an inspirational organisation that accepts materials from the Vancouver Film and TV industry that may otherwise end up in the landfill. Trashless follows office Supplies, set pieces, props, clothes, furniture and even food that are donated to local groups including a Women’s Transition House, Minimal Barrier Shelters and an Art Exhibition at the Museum of Vancouver.
Vatna Glacier
Directed by: Mykhailo Bogdanov [Iceland, 2020, 4 minutes]
Vatna Glacier takes a close look on the brutal reality of the melting Vatna Glacier in Iceland. It is the biggest glacier in Europe, and it is melting with enormous speed because of climate change. The disappearance of this glacier will cause tremendous negative effects on plant Earth. [Student Film]
Voices from the Umpqua
Directed by Tim Lewis for Cascadia Wildlands [United States, 2020, 8 minutes]
Non-profit Highlight — Cascadia Wildlands is a grassroots conservation organization known for its innovative and effective campaigns. They accomplish a great deal with limited resources through advocacy, outreach, education, and litigation. They envision vast old-growth forests, rivers full of wild salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, a stable climate, and vibrant communities sustained by the unique landscapes of the Cascadia bioregion. Voices from the Umpqua was produced to draw immediate attention to —and confront the threat posed to— the North Umpqua River by the planned Umpqua Sweets timber sale; and the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) new, clearcut-heavy forest plan for 2.5-million acres in western Oregon. In the film, you will hear from rural residents and advocates that live near this Roseburg BLM timber sale, which proposes to log 2,000 acres of public forests above the emerald waters of the North Umpqua River. Values held closely by Oregonians, like clean water, salmon and wildlife habitat, and recreation will be jeopardized should this irresponsible project proceed. Panel discussion will be on Saturday, October 3rd from 1pm to 3pm (PST).
Voices on the Road
Directed by: Bethan John & Eilidh Munro [Peru, 2019, 24 minutes, English & Spanish w/English subtitles]
Deep in the remote Peruvian Amazon a road is quietly destroying a protected rainforest, causing conflict and fear. But for some indigenous communities, desperate for change, it is also bringing hope. The road is cutting through a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Manu Biosphere Reserve, and opening it up to the outside world. Many indigenous communities are struggling to live in this ‘paradise’ and the road brings the promise of a better life. But at what cost?
Wantoks: Dance of Resilience in Melanesia
Directed by: Iara Lee [Solomon Islands, 2019, 20 minutes, English & French w/English subtitles]
In 2018 the Solomon Islands, in the South Pacific, hosted the Melanesian Arts & Cultural Festival, celebrating the country’s 40th anniversary of independence. On neighboring island states, the struggle for freedom continues, as West Papua resists Indonesian occupation and the residents of New Caledonia still live under French rule. In all Melanesian countries, residents face the common challenge of climate change, as rising sea levels threaten to swallow both land and tradition. In this charged context, captivating performers are using their talents to celebrate local culture and draw international attention to their islands’ plight, with the hope of spurring international solidarity and prompting collective action against the perils of a warming world.
Way to Go!
Directed by: Kathy Roselli [United States, 2019, 9 minutes]
If you’ve ever hiked in the woods, you probably know the rule, “Leave No Trace.” Way to Go! tells the story of Mt. Shasta’s sun-powered composting toilet and the local volunteers who maintain it, keeping poop invisible and sweet at 7,900 feet. Shot on location, “Way to Go” brings whimsy to an environmental threat we don’t like to think about: human waste.
Weaving a New Pattern
Directed by: Rachel Roff [Thailand, 2018, 10 minutes, Thai w/English subtitles]
The beautiful naturally dyed cloth of the Ba’ker’yaw (Sgaw Karen) people is famous. Spinning cotton, dying vibrant colors out of natural materials (bark, leaves, seeds and earth) relies on both the deep indigenous knowledge of the weavers, but also on a healthy ecosystem that supports the plants they use to dye the cloth. This film tells the story of the weavers of Huay Hee and other villages in the remote mountains of Northern Thailand.
When the River Runs Dry
Directed by: Rory McLeod [Australia, 2019, 52 minutes]
In January 2019 viral videos showed grown men near Menindee weeping as they held Murray Cod many decades old that had perished in the green oxygen starved soup that is all that remained of the Darling River. Australians were horrified by the news that the Darling River, known as the Barka to its people, was in a state of ecological collapse. Politicians blamed drought. Ecologists and water management experts placed the blame firmly on the over allocation and over extraction of water – sometimes illegal – by cotton growers upstream. But who is to blame? And what can be done?
Where I Belong
Directed by: Chris Cresci [United States, 2019, 9 minutes]
Growing up, Christine Hill saw the outdoors as a place that was full of bugs and too much worry, but after falling in love with climbing and discovering a sense of peace, she decided this was something worth protecting. An environmental lobbyist and angler, Chris never saw people like herself on the river until recently. Through social media platforms like Instagram, traditionally underrepresented voices are creating communities to encourage one another and amplify their message – we belong here too.
Yantar
Directed by: Alberto Zúñiga Rodríguez [Mexico, 2019, 3 minutes, Spanish w/English subtitles]
Ana is a young woman who reflects on the meaning of the verb eat and what we are and have been based on what we eat. Ana tells us that, “It is the history of humanity that we eat. It is the people’s struggle that we digest in each food. Conquests, defeats, miscegenation mix in our digestive tract. Textures, fabrics, flavors, smells are the resounding witnesses of the way we devour our ancestors through food.”
Yasuni National Park: The Real Power Belongs to the People
Directed by: Oriana Camara [Ecuador, 2019, 7 minutes, Spanish w/English subtitles]
Yasuni National Park of Ecuador is one of the most bio-diverse places on planet Earth. It is home to over 5,000 different plant and animal species, and the Waorani indigenous tribe. In 2013, President Moreno signed an executive order to end a fund that had been created to preserve the natural wonder. Since this decision, oil companies have entered into this untouched part of the rainforest to extract the crude oil below the ground’s surface. Watch, learn, and make a change. [Student Film]