Streaming on-demand February 26 – March 15 2021
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Barefoot: The Mark Baumer Story
87 minutes | USA | 2019 Director: Julie Sokolow
From award-winning filmmaker Julie Sokolow comes this loving portrait of Mark Baumer, an environmental activist, avant-garde writer, and vegan, who hiked barefoot for over 100 days through America to draw attention to climate change.
Beyond Zero
82 minutes | USA | 2020 Director: Nathan Havey
Follow pioneering CEO of Interface, Ray Anderson, as he reinvents what it means to run a business. One of the most globally recognised ethical organisations, Interface has become an iconic example of how a business can thrive after reinventing itself as a force for good. Beyond Zero celebrates a life of impact and offers an inspirational roadmap for how businesses can play a leading role in reversing climate change.
Feature: Birddog Nation
61 minutes | USA | 2020 Director: Sophie Sartain
Filmed over the course of 2018, this inspiring documentary follows a group of fearless women as they transform from soccer moms to seasoned political activists. Taking lessons from the pros – organizers who’ve fought for justice and equity for decades – these women change the course of history.
Short: Shy Radicals
Shy Radicals is a portrait of award-winning artist, activist and author Hamja Ahsan, and the story behind his remarkable book and satirical manifesto Shy Radicals, which calls for all shy, quiet, and introverted people to unify and overthrow Extrovert-Supremacy.
Feature: Borealis
94 minutes | Canada | 2020 Director: Kevin McMahon
Acclaimed director Kevin McMahon travels deep into the heart of the boreal forest to explore the chorus of life within. How do trees move, communicate and survive the destructive forces of fire, insects, and human impacts? With stunning visuals and cutting-edge science, Borealis offers an immersive portrait of life in Canada’s iconic wilderness.
Short: The Story of Kuark Forest
4 minutes | Australia | 2020 Director: David Franjic
“We are living in the age of fire.” This stunning short film shows the devastating impact of the bushfires on a single forest in East Gippsland. Through the eyes of a nature photographer and ecologist, and breathtaking before/after footage, we see what was destroyed.
Citizen Nobel
89 minutes | Switzerland | 2020 Director: Stéphane Goël
The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry transforms Jacques Dubochet’s life. Passing from the shadows to the light, he is solicited from all sides. What can he do with this voice, which is now being heard by everyone? How to define the struggles to be fought? How to become a “Citizen Nobel”, with the objective of assuming responsibility as a researcher and member of the human community? A speech by Greta Thunberg turns everything upside down…
Experimental Shorts
Experience the world from a new perspective with these mesmerising films about the wonder, beauty and mystery of our beloved planet.
Elementa 43 minutes | New Zealand | 2020 Director: Richard Sidey
Vestiges (an archipelago) 40 minutes | Austria, Australia | 2020 Director: Enar de Dios Rodríguez
Rewilding Honeybees 09:14 | USA | 2020 Director: Cameron Nielsen
Solar Echoes 15:30 | France, Spain | 2020 Director: Mathilde Lavenne
Forever 07:23 | USA | 2020 Director: Mitch McGlocklin
#Imaginefor1Minute 1 minute | UK | 2020 Directors: Tom Mustill & Alex Kiehl
Feature: The Hidden Life of Trees
96 minutes | Germany | 2020 Director: Joerg Adolph
When Peter Wohlleben published his book The Hidden Life of Trees in 2015, he stormed all the bestseller charts overnight. His writings opened our eyes to the wonder, glory and intelligent complexity of our beloved woods. Now, in the documentary of the same name, Wohlleben explores and celebrates the beauty and magic of the forests, and reminds us of our need to protect them.
Short: Beyond the Burning
25 minutes | Australia | 2021 Director: David Franjic
Now the smoke has cleared, how can we move forward from last summer’s devastating bushfires? Through intimate personal stories, Beyond the Burning explores the terrible toll of this tragedy, the underlying causes of climate change and destructive logging, and two inspiring local solutions – handing back forest management to Traditional Owners and rebuilding with renewables.
Feature: Inherent Good
56 minutes | USA | 2020 Director: Steve Borst
Inherent Good introduces an increasingly popular grassroots policy, Universal Basic Income (UBI), as a vehicle to transform the economy into one that is thriving, sustainable, and centered around the well-being of all people.
Short: Goodwill Dumping
27 minutes | the Netherlands | 2018 Director: Teddy Cherim
The stylised fashion documentary Goodwill Dumping brings the enormity of the industry surrounding donated secondhand clothing to light. The film showcases the journey that discarded pieces of clothing make and what kind of impact this has on local industries.
Invisible Hand
85 minutes | USA | 2020 Directors: Joshua Boaz Pribanic & Melissa A. Troutman
Narrated by movie star and activist Mark Ruffalo and directed by award-winning filmmakers Joshua B. Pribanic and Melissa A. Troutman, Invisible Hand is a ‘paradigm shifting’ documentary that takes us inside one of the defining battles of our time and reveals a new future for society and the environment – the creation of the ‘Rights of Nature’.
Making A Mountain
51 minutes | Denmark | 2020 Director: Rikke Selin Fokdal, Kaspar Astrup Schröder
Internationally renowned architect Bjarke Ingels makes the impossible possible. Making a Mountain follows the progress of the famously ambitious ‘CopenHill’ project, the world’s cleanest waste-to-energy plant with an artificial ski slope on the roof as the literal icing on the cake.
Short: Instruments in the Architecture
14 minutes | UK | 2019 Director: Austen McCowan & Will Hewitt
Pianos are being thrown away at a tremendous rate – hauled away, set on fire and their valuable heavy metal sold for scrap. Tim, Leon and their team of inspired artists, musicians and volunteers have reclaimed these unloved instruments to build the world’s first 100-seater amphitheater made entirely from up-cycled pianos.
Megafires
93 minutes | France | 2020 Director: Cosima Dannoritzer
Megafires delves deep into the world of forest fires and their staggering scale and destruction. Showcasing personal stories and cutting-edge science, Megafires explores the present and future risks facing us all and highlights the environmentally-friendly solutions to the devastating wildfires of tomorrow.
Feature: Microplastic Madness
76 minutes | USA | 2019 Director: Atsuko Quirk and Debby Lee Cohen
With stop-motion animation, heartfelt kid commentary, and interviews of experts and renowned scientists, Microplastic Madness is a fun and inspirational exploration of how kids can lead the world to a future free from microplastics.
Short: The Beauty
04:14 | Germany | 2019 Director: Pascal Schelbli
The Beauty transports audiences to an aquatic world where plastic and ocean life coexist symbiotically; the film tells a dystopian tale where polluted underwater landscapes and fantastical marine life convey a thought-provoking social commentary on the human impact on our oceans.
Now
73 minutes | Germany | 2020 Director: Jim Rakete
Now shows how young activists from around the globe such as Felix Finkbeiner (Plant for the Planet), Luisa Neubauer, Greta Thunberg (Fridays for Future) and Vic Barrett (Youth v. Gov) are currently challenging the status quo and pushing for social and political change.
Once You Know
104 minutes | France | 2020 Director: Emmanuel Cappellin
A profound, personal exploration of what it means to wake up to the truth about climate change and its future impacts. Travelling the world on container ships to meet five of the world’s leading climate and energy experts, Once You Know asks ‘how can we live, love and dream in the face of what is coming?’
Feature: An Ocean Story
70 minutes | The Netherlands | 2019 Director: Sander van Weert
From the once pristine shores of the world’s most idyllic beaches to the neighbourhoods of the planets most enticing tourist attractions, the oceans we love are under threat. An Ocean Story takes us on a global adventure, showcasing the solutions and changemakers giving us hope for a better future.
Short: From Kurils With Love
25 minutes | Russian Federation | 2020 Director: Taylor Rees
Vladimir, a scrappy Russian marine biologist, stows away aboard a boat filled with adventure junkies and a world-renowned cybersecurity expert to help fulfil his quest to understand and protect the Kuril Islands. Set in one of the most inaccessible volcanic island chains in the world, the film introduces us to a true warrior for the planet on an intimate journey of visual bliss, sea lion chaos, and ultimately a greater hope for the Earth.
Short: How a Song Saved a Species
2 minutes | France, Spain | 2019 Director: Rémi Cans
In the 60’s, commercial whale hunting caused the whale population to fall by an estimated 90% from what it used to be in the XIX century. The discovery of Roger Payne and his team, that whales are intelligent animals that play a crucial role in maintaining the ocean healthy, contributed to the creation of a global movement which led, years later, to a moratorium on industrial whaling.
The Truth Has Changed
116 minutes | USA| 2021 Director: Josh Fox
Tracing the arc of misinformation and propaganda in the United States from 9/11 to Trump and this year’s elections, Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award–winning filmmaker Josh Fox (Gasland) offers a riveting solo performance that confronts us with the truth about the climate crisis in a “post-truth” world.
The Walrus and the Whistleblower
89 minutes | Canada | 2020 Director: Nathalie Bibeau
An animal trainer becomes an unlikely whistleblower and is sued for $1.5 million for plotting to steal a walrus, falling down the rabbit hole of a personal quest while a larger movement grows to end marine mammal captivity.
Feature: Where There Once Was Water
74 minutes | United States | 2021 Director: Brittany App
A story about water. A song for the sacred in all of us. A documentary centered on solutions. Where There Once Was Water takes a look at the driest of places – California and the Southwest USA – and the deepest of spaces – our inner worlds. It presents an invitation to change our perspective and heal our relationship with water … one watershed, one meal, one raindrop, at a time.
Short: Oil & Water
14 minutes | Canada | 2020 Director: Anjali Nayar
Women of Northern Kenya navigate the opportunities and challenges of a massive oil discovery; as the promises fail to materialise they must face the complicated web that stands in their way: greed, politics and the patriarchal fabric of their world.
Feature: Youth On Strike!
48 minutes | Australia | 2020 Director: Rob Innes
Youth On Strike! is the story of how young Aussies defied calls to stay in school and organised one of the largest youth-led movements Australia has ever seen, told by twelve diverse students who vlogged the whole thing.
Short: CitizenKid: Earth Comes First
23 minutes | Canada | 2020 Director: Stefan Scaini
In CitizenKid, four Canadian youth activists, Hannah Alper, Sophia Mathur, Charlene Rocha and Cooper Price set out to show how people can change the world no matter their age. They journey to Toronto, Ottawa, Washington and beyond, to engage with government leaders, fellow climate activists and to learn from an Indigenous Elder.