https://vimeo.com/503281211

To Which We Belong

To Which We Belong is a documentary that highlights farmers and ranchers leaving behind conventional practices that are no longer profitable or sustainable.

These unsung heroes are improving the health of our soil and sea to save their livelihoods — and our planet.

Years of industrialized agriculture have brought the world to the brink of climate disaster. To Which We Belong follows a new generation of farmers and ranchers who seek to rebuild their businesses and their planet by embracing the interconnectedness of living things.

On land long depleted by monocultured crops, Trey Hill fills the fields with colorful tangles of plant life, revivifying the soil and bringing new richness to the harvest. In Chihuahua, Mexico ranchers like Alejandro Carrillo practice revolutionary techniques in cattle herding, carving out space for wildlife to thrive again. And off the coast of Connecticut, Bren Smith re-seeds the ocean with kelp, mussels, oysters, and scallops, restoring ecosystems ravaged by commercial fishing.

Despite their difference in culture and location, these farmers and ranchers are rooted in the same belief: that to work with nature, not against it, is the answer.

Science is showing that if we draw down enough carbon from the sky back into the soil through regenerative agricultural practices, we can actually reverse climate change bringing carbon dioxide down to pre-industrial revolution levels.

So, now it’s our turn: to bring awareness and support to the ranchers and farmers doing the work to renew the earth through these simple, yet profound practices.

To Which We Belong tells the stories of nine farms and ranches going against the grain to bravely leave behind practices that are no longer profitable or sustainable.

These unsung heroes just might save their livelihoods – and our world itself.

And in this time of turmoil, it might be the best news you receive all year.

#ToWhichWeBelong #documentary #film #nature #environment #interconnectedness #soil #food #food-growing #farmers #ranchers #regenerative-agriculture #LindsayRichardson #PamelaTannerBoll #docu-films

https://vimeo.com/283716447

Gift

http://www.passionriver.com/gift.html

Creative documentary inspired by Lewis Hyde’s The Gift. Chronicling gift-based cultures around the world and challenging the logic of global capitalism, the film provokes the question: is life about getting, or giving?

Gift is a feature-length documentary and crossmedia project inspired by Lewis Hyde’s classic bestseller The Gift: “a brilliant defense of the value of creativity and it’s importance in a culture increasingly governed by money and overrun with commodities.”

Gift invites us to question our fundamental economic values, proposing the possibility of a new collective narrative. Following its characters and the challenges they encounter, it explores the questions and contradictions involved in giving and receiving - and inspired by Hyde’s approach, asks what it might mean to “share our gifts” in more meaningful ways. As the film unfolds, it explores the openness and receptivity required to receive our gifts-the things willpower alone cannot produce.

“My concern is the gift we long for, the gift that, when it comes, speaks commandingly to the soul and irresistibly moves us.”

― Lewis Hyde, The Gift

#Gift #documentary #film #life #sharing #generosity #kindness #openness #receptivity #capitalism #giftivism #gift-based #cultures #gift-giving #values #creativity #crossmedia #project #RobinMcKenna #LewisHyde #TheGift #IntuitivePictures #GaudeteFilms #docu-films

https://vimeo.com/577405913

River

A profound cinematic and musical reflection on how rivers have shaped both the planet’s elaborate landscapes and all human existence.

Throughout history, rivers have shaped our landscapes and our journeys; flowed through our cultures and dreams. River takes its audience on a journey through space and time; spanning six continents, and drawing on extraordinary contemporary cinematography, including satellite filming, the film shows rivers on scales and from perspectives never seen before. Its union of image, music and sparse, poetic script create a film that is both dream-like and powerful, honouring the wildness of rivers but also recognising their vulnerability.

River is the sequel to the 2017 hit documentary Mountain, reuniting the creative team of director Jennifer Peedom, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, narrator Willem Dafoe and writer Robert Macfarlane.

#RiverFilm #RiverDocumentary #documentary #film #river #wildness #rivers #water #watershed #waterways #waterislife #AustralianChamberOrchestra #DocumentaryAustraliaFoundation #WillemDafoe #RobertMacfarlane #SimonNjoo #Jo-anneMcGowan #JenniferPeedom #Dogwoof #MadmanFilms #StrangerThanFictionFilms #docu-films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RVTpDSE9H0&t=369s

The Response: How Puerto Ricans Are Restoring Power to the People

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, a quiet revolution began percolating on the island of Puerto Rico. What started as an impromptu community kitchen meant to help feed survivors in the town of Caguas quickly grew into an island-wide network of mutual aid centers (Centros de Apoyo Mutuo) with the ultimate goal to restore power — both electric and civic — to the people.

In 2018, a little more than nine months after Maria, Shareable began working with a team of filmmakers, writers, audio engineers, partners, and funders on “The Response” documentary to share this story with the world.

The 30-minute award-winning micro-budget documentary explores community-led disaster response and recovery efforts in Puerto Rico; letting the people involved in the mutual aid centers tell their own stories of the storm, recovery, and the tenuous relationship between the Puerto Rican people and the government.

Despite the grave nature of this storm, which many believe to be the worst disaster to hit the United States or its colonies in the past 100 years, this story is also celebratory. For some, there is a deep joy that has accompanied the sadness; a feeling of solidarity and possibility that didn’t previously exist in the same way before the storm.

The film also acts as a reminder of how damaging climate-fueled disasters can be and urges us to consider how resilient our communities are, how best to adapt for the changes ahead, and how to respond and rebuild in a just and equitable way with extra consideration for the most vulnerable populations.

20 lessons from The Response: How communities are changed by disasters
https://community.systemschangealliance.org/t/20-lessons-from-the-response-how-communities-are-changed-by-disasters/511

#TheResponse #documentary #film #hurricane #Maria #mutual-aid #grassroots #solidarity #resilience #PuertoRico #RobertRaymond #TomLlewellyn #JuanDavila #systemschangealliance #Shareable #docu-films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q51FMbTOn_Q

More of everything

A film about Swedish Forestry

Subtitles are available in #English, #German, #Portuguese, #Finnish and #Swedish

Mankind has caused a two-fold global existential crisis. Interlinked threats of climate change and loss of biodiversity are now our most difficult challenges. The policy decisions made in the next few years will be critical. How we manage the world’s forests is central to maintaining biodiversity, protecting ecosystem functions and preserving the climate. Halting the destruction and fragmentation of natural forests as well as restoring, expanding and adapting the world’s forests to climate change is fundamental.

Scientists and the environmental movement have for decades warned about the negative effect that burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) has on climate and environment. There is no question - the fossil era is over. We must urgently phase out fossil energy, as quickly as possible. The focus, however, must be on reducing all combustion and decreasing energy use, not to replace one carbon-source with another.

At the international level and within the EU, various solutions and policies aim to regulate emissions and stimulate what is hoped to be sustainable solutions. Biofuels from forests are highlighted as a climate-friendly important piece of the puzzle by lobbyists from the biomass and forest industry. In the film, we ask whether burning trees really is a climate-smart alternative?

Decisions will be made, or have already been made, on climate and energy policies that affect the world’s forests. Policies on bio-economy and energy from biomass risk being in strong conflict with protecting biodiversity and mitigating climate change.

The Swedish forestry model is promoted as a success story, promising both climate change mitigation and safeguarding of biodiversity, but is this really true? In this film, a number of prominent independent scientists and experts are helping us examine the claims that the forest industry is spreading about the Swedish forestry model and the bio-economy.

The impact of the Swedish forestry model is not limited to Sweden but has implications for the rest of the world as well. Some of the world’s and EU’s largest forestry, hygiene, paper, furniture and wood companies such as SCA, Holmen, Stora Enso, Sveaskog, IKEA and Essity, all originate from or have their base in Sweden. Some of these companies source wood and pulp and operate in many parts of the world, thus spreading the Swedish forestry model around the globe.

In times of climate change, the forest industry claims to hold the magic wand: Wood. Wood is to be used for everything from energy, disposable articles in cardboard and paper, packaging and makeup, to fuel, for an ever-expanding transport sector. To push this narrative, the forest industry spends millions on advertising, public relations and lobbying in order to present their products and raw materials as the solution for a sustainable future. Representatives of the forest industry and members of Swedish parliament praise the Swedish forestry model which they claim has taken Sweden from ”a more or less deforested nation” hundred years ago to a rich forested nation today.

The forest industry portrays Sweden as a country with vast and increasing forests. The industry goes as far as to claim that: “The forest industry is making biodiversity possible” and that Swedish forestry is balancing the needs of the economy and the environment, and that 2 to 3 trees are being planted for each tree that is felled. Slogans like; for more than 100 years Sweden has been planting more trees than it cuts down, are being spread.

More of everything?

Can we really say that a planted monoculture of pine or spruce in straight lines is a forest? Or is a forest something more than just trees?

#MoreOfEverything #documentary #film #nature #environment #trees #forest #biodiversity #ecosystem #forestry #Sweden #ErikEriksson #ProtectTheForest #docu-films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIqFsePvAqg

#TreesAreTheKey

This inspirational 40-minute documentary has been made in conjunction with The Word Forest Organisation, a Dorset charity that plants trees, builds classrooms and facilitates education in rural Kenya. It also shines a spotlight on the women’s empowerment group, Mothers of the Forest.

Tim Tyson Short is an outstanding filmmaker and over the past three decades he has made films for broadcasters and developmental organisations worldwide. Back in February 2019, he accompanied a small team of Word Forest volunteers to Boré, Coast Province, Kenya. His remit was to tell the story of why we need to plant more trees in the tropics and why we need to support the people who are taking care of the forests. “If we don’t address both of these urgent requirements, we’ll find ourselves at existential o’clock”, says Word Forest CEO, Tracey West.

Tim captured remarkable stories from the tree planters of Boré, including charting the success of the 40 Mothers of the Forest, with group facilitator, Eva Jefa. “I hope by sharing our model for positive change through environmental education, we’ll be able to encourage others to adopt it too,” says, Eva.

Simon West, Chair of Trustees, adds: “Understanding sustainability via #permaculture, for example, allows the community to better resist climate chaos. We’re trying to fill the gaps left by governments and undo the damage done by big corporations.”

Over the past 2 years, the Mothers have addressed social isolation and depression amongst the women in their community by building a framework of sisterly support and resilience. Eva continues: “Women do the majority of the tree planting here. We come together to share knowledge on the best ways to take care of the forest; the planet benefits and we benefit too.”

#TreesAreTheKey #documentary #film #tree-planting #trees #forests #food #food-growing #protection #preservation #conservation #resilience #Kenya #MothersOfTheForest #TimTysonShort #TheWordForestOrganisation #docu-films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtBGQUSj37s

Together We Grow

Together We Grow (2022) is a 40-minute documentary telling the story of Common Unity Project Aotearoa.

Introducing a thriving hub helping to build resilience into its local community by #growing, #sewing, #repairing, #sharing – you name it, Common Unity is doing it!

Too many of our communities, here and around the world, are facing #housing-crises, food-insecurity, social-isolation, and more. In addition, the multiple impacts of the Covid pandemic and #climate-change are current and ongoing. How can we most effectively confront these challenges, and help our communities thrive in an economic system that leaves many feeling trapped in poverty?

Founder Julia Milne and her team have created a completely replicable model for developing strong, connected, resilient communities – a model that could be put in place across thousands of communities in Aotearoa and millions of communities across the world. They’ve proven it can be done, this film was made to help them share the story!

#TogetherWeGrow #documentary #film #local #community #thriving #hub #food-growing #resilience #resilient-communities #JuliaMilne #HappenFilms #docu-films

https://vimeo.com/464318719

Harry Chapin

When in Doubt, Do Something

Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something is the inspiring story of Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter/activist Harry Chapin (“Cat’s in the Cradle”). Chapin sold over 16 million albums and was one of his generation’s most beloved artist-activists who spent his fame and fortune trying to end world hunger before his tragic passing.

The film features Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Peter Seeger, Sir Bob Geldof, Kenny Rogers, Graham Nash, Pat Benatar, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Robert Lamm, Richie Havens, and Harry Belafonte intimately reflecting on Chapin’s larger-than-life impact on music and the world including his founding, along with Bill Ayres, of WhyHunger – the nonprofit organization leading the movement to end hunger and advance the human right to nutritious food in the U.S. and around the world.

#HarryChapinWhenInDoubtDoSomething #documentary #film #HarryChapin #WhenInDoubtDoSomething #WhyHunger #charity #activism #HarryBelafonte #RichieHavens #RobertLamm #DarrylMcDaniels #PatBenatar #GrahamNash #KennyRogers #BobGeldof #PeterSeeger #BillyJoel #BruceSpringsteen #RickKorn #GreenwichEntertainment #docu-films

https://vimeo.com/578161231

Before They Fall

Conservation groups, First Nations, and scientists come together in this timely, upcoming short film, as a decades-long battle to protect endangered old-growth forests in BC escalates at Fairy Creek (the last unprotected, intact valley on southern Vancouver Island).

The film explores the characters’ individual relationships with ancient forests, and why it’s imperative we collectively protect them. It touches on potential solutions, like a transition away from old-growth in the future of logging, and Indigenous sovereignty.

#BeforeTheyFall #documentary #film #nature #environment #trees #old-growth #forests #protection #preservation #conservation #activism #grassroots #movement #FairyCreek #FirstNations #Indigenous #sovereignty #CamMacArthur #ecologyst #ecologystfilms #docu-films

https://vimeo.com/345810127

Understory

Tongass Documentary

“Understory” is a short film that takes us deep into Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest remaining temperate rainforest on the planet. Our guide, Elsa Sebastian, is a young local fisherman who grew up “off-grid” in a remote village surrounded by the vast, ancient forest. When Elsa learns that the U.S. federal government is axing environmental protections for nine million acres of the Tongass, she is driven to action–first fixing up an old sailboat, and then setting sail on a 350-mile expedition along the rainforest’s coast.

Elsa is joined by Dr. Natalie Dawson, a biologist who has spent decades studying Alaska’s wildlife, and artist Mara Menahan. For a month the team documents old-growth trees threatened by logging, witnesses the dark aftermath of clearcuts, visits streams teeming with salmon, and learns about indigenous cultural connections to the Tongass. As Elsa, Natalie, and Mara personally and directly face the devastating impacts of the timber industry on the old growth forest, they struggle to hold onto hope. With the end of their journey comes the realization that saving our last ancient rainforests is more urgent than they could have imagined.

Director Colin Arisman deftly unpacks and presents the story of greed and mis-guided government management that has defined decades of logging in the Tongass. Through breathtaking cinematography and poignant personal experience, Understory makes the case that saving ancient forests like the Tongass is critical to both the resilience of humans and the future of our planet’s climate.

New film documents threats to Tongass National Forest, need for protection

https://www.wilderness.org/articles/blog/new-film-documents-threats-tongass-national-forest-need-protection

#Understory #documentary #film #nature #environment #logging #trees #old-growth #forests #rainforests #protection #preservation #conservation #indigenous #cultural #connections #MarinaAnderson #MaraMenahan #NatalieDawson #ElsaSebastian #Tongass #Alaska #TongassNationalForest #LastStands #tongasslaststands #ColinArisman #TheWildernessSociety #WildConfluence #docu-films

https://vimeo.com/581108863/306d2d2647

Standing with the Ancients

A poetic and in-depth immersion into the forest activists blockading logging roads on Vancouver Island in a fervid attempt to stop old growth logging in Fairy Creek.

When construction of a new logging road was discovered cresting into the untouched Fairy Creek watershed near Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island, a group of activists quickly set up a road blockade to stop old growth logging in the area. For nine months, these forest defenders halted road building and old growth logging in the unprotected valley. But when the Supreme Court grants an injunction to remove the camps through police arrests, the blockaders find themselves at the intersection of activism and grief. Will the encroaching threat of arrest stop their efforts to protect Canada’s last ancient forests from being cut down?

In a deja vu of the memorable ‘War in the Woods’ in Clayoquot Sound 30 years ago, Standing with the Ancients is a hybrid mid-length character-driven documentary about the current historical Fairy Creek blockade movement. The film blends an observational, cinema vérité approach with experimental soundscapes and artful archival imagery to create a surrealistic and enveloping embedment into the first-hand experiences of the impassioned forest defenders fighting in the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/standingancients/standing-with-the-ancients-a-film-about-fairy-creek

#StandingwiththeAncients #documentary #film #logging #old-growth #trees #forests #activism #resistance #protection #preservation #conservation #FairyCreek #JenMuranetz #EstoriaProductions #docu-films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxAbkqRGxqY

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me is a feature-length documentary about legendary Memphis band Big Star. While mainstream success eluded them, Big Star’s three albums have become critically lauded touchstones of the rock music canon. A seminal band in the history of alternative music, Big Star has been cited as an influence by artists including REM, The Replacements, Belle & Sebastian, Elliot Smith and The Flaming Lips, to name just a few. With never-before-seen footage and photos of the band, in-depth interviews and a rousing musical tribute by the bands they inspired, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me is a story of artistic and musical salvation.

excerpt: https://vimeo.com/397275318

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18212-big-star-nothing-can-hurt-me/

#BigStarNothingCanHurtMe #BigStar #NothingCanHurtMe #documentary #film #music #history #DrewDenicola #MagnoliaPictures #docu-films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tK-5dydqp8

The Last Forest

In powerful images, alternating between documentary observation and staged sequences, and dense soundscapes, Luiz Bolognesi (Director) documents the Indigenous community of the Yanomami and depicts their threatened natural environment in the Amazon rainforest.

The native Yanomami people live in the northern region of Brazil, in a mountainous terrain of the Amazon forest surrounded by landscapes that are quite distinct from what we are used to seeing. Vast tablelands, waterfalls, and streams can be found in the dense woodland, while the exotic savannas often overlap with the clouds at the top of the forest.

In these exotic and unusual landscapes, the Yanomami write a rare history of cultural resistance. As other native tribes are forced into the assimilation of white identity – be it through the invasion of evangelical churches, or the entry of loggers, miners, and engineers that are opening roads or building dams – the Yanomami, guided by their leader and great shaman Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, fight to preserve their spiritual and daily culture. In order to protect their identities, they battle a real war filled with numerous internal conflicts. Such as the desire of young people of owning a smartphone or of leaving the forest in search of the city-life.

The film “The Last Forest” is a documentary feature that aims to introduce these characters and this conflict through the observation of the Yanomami’s everyday life. It is from the interaction with them, from the desire of listening and understanding them in their own terms, that our film is born.

#TheLastForest #documentary #film #nature #environment #indigenous #peoples #community #cultural #resistance #identities #Amazon #Amazonia #Yanomami #Brazil #LuizBolognesi #Berlinale #AÚltimaFloresta #docu-films

https://vimeo.com/642701499

Water is Love

The climate crisis is changing everything, and humanity finds itself at a crossroads.

Unprecedented wildfires, floods and droughts rage across the planet; millions rise for radical climate action; and still, governments continue to prioritize short-term profits over everyone’s future.

​​Will our species continue our current trajectory towards extinction or will we enter into a synergistic cooperation with Earth?

​This documentary will invite us to make sense of the climate crisis as a moment of possibility for regeneration and systemic change. We go on a journey to discover how a renewed relationship to water and each other can enable us to regenerate damaged ecosystems and and heal trauma, in the face of a radically changing world. We explore how healing love and restoring the broken relations between one another and healing our broken relation with the Earth are mutually interdependent.

Featuring stories of Indigenous elders and community leaders, regenerative design experts and activists.

#waterislove #documentary #film #series #narture #environment #ecosystem #climate #crisis #regeneration #systemic #change #waterislife #interdependence #Sankalpa #FenwickFoundation #Tamera #TameraMedia #docu-films

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/passelandepictures

Dirt Rich

Dirt Rich shifts focus from greenhouse gas emissions to carbon draw down which is the only viable solution for reversing the effects of runaway global warming in a timely manner. Through exploration of geo-therapy strategies, Dirt Rich shines light on their value and beauty which undeniably are our last hope for protecting life as we know it on this challenged planet. Through regenerative agricultural practices, reforestation of abandoned land, protection/restoration of carbon rich wetlands and keystone species, Dirt Rich illustrates how implementing these strategies will return our atmosphere to safe levels of carbon while growing soil, our most precious resource.

The science is clear. Global warming is worse than predicted and we are now at a tipping point. Currently our CO2 levels are at 400 parts per million (ppm) putting us way over the safe level of 260 ppm. Even if we were to stop all fossil fuel use today, the climate effects will continue for the next 1000 years because much of that carbon is stored in the ocean and it takes that long for it to cycle out. The only chance we have to halt the effects of runaway global warming is to quickly draw carbon back down into the soils where it belongs. This not only sequesters the carbon but serves to revitalize our collapsed soils by allowing natural processes like photosynthesis and microbial growth to take back over. Scientists are predicting that on our current trajectory we have 70 harvests left and a very short window of time to make the impactful changes necessary to prevent runaway global warming. Dirt Rich will illustrate for viewers the strategies necessary to accomplish this.

Dirt Rich takes the viewer on a journey through a multiplicity of carbon draw down strategies that focus on natural solutions that simultaneously address the revitalization of soil and stabilization of atmospheric carbon levels. Currently the planets soils are desperately depleted as the microbial life within them has been greatly destroyed. Scientists are predicting that on the current trajectory there is only enough good soil to support 64 more harvests. This film couldn’t be more timely. Through regenerative agricultural practices, reforestation of abandoned land, protection and the restoration of carbon rich wetlands, Dirt Rich educates and inspires viewers to contemplate how our choices matter, and how everything on this planet connects.

#DirtRich #documentary #film #nature #environment #pollution #fossil #fuel #global-warming #climate-change #soil #carbon #resources #reforestation #protection #restoration #regenerative #practices #MarcelinaCravat #PasselandePictures #docu-films

https://vimeo.com/385946287

When the River Runs Dry

In January 2019, a viral video showed grown men near Menindee weeping as they held dead Murray Cod, decades old, which had perished in yet another environmental disaster. Australians were horrified, and politicians blamed drought, while ecologists and water management specialists claimed it was due to the over-allocation and over-extraction of water.

​Two weeks later, it was forgotten.

News that the Darling River, or Barka, as it is known to its people, was in a state of ecological collapse had disappeared from the media and, although people were shouting about what was happening, no one was listening. Who was to blame? And what could be done?

Director’s Statement:

When the River Runs Dry was born on an impulse. In January 2019, images and videos began to filter through social media of a massive fish-kill on the Darling/Baarka River near Menindee in NSW. The devastating sight of enormous Murray Cod, dead in a man’s arms, led first to distress, and then anger.

​Sensing that this was a pivotal moment in Australia’s environmental history, we, (Peter Yates and Rory McLeod) moved quickly, and were on the road to Menindee within a few hours, to document the event and its impact on the people of the river.

We arrived too late in Menindee – all the fish had sunk to the bottom, leaving only foul green water and a horrible stench. Then began a harrowing period, interviewing people, camping by and filming the remains of the Darling, simply capturing the moment. Problems on the Darling had been on the periphery of many people’s awareness for years, but now here was ‘the bill’, the cost of over-extraction of water and institutional indifference manifest in a dying river.

​We did not approach the research and filming of When the River Runs Dry from a partisan position, unless that partisan position was the side of the River. It simply could not be right that where the Darling was not dry it was a lurid green, and that millions of fish were dying.

​With his background in anthropology, it was the most natural thing for Peter to interview the people of the river – the #Barkindji, and to hear their stories of disenfranchisement: anguished wounds that stretched back over generations, but which now bled afresh with the realisation that the #Baarka, their Mother, was close to ecological death.

​To the voices of indigenous people, we added balance and explanation in the form of interviews with eminent scientists, other community members who were affected, and environmental lawyers.

​Interviews were to be shot using predominantly natural light in locations relevant to the subject matter which was generally along the river. This was a story of loss, but it was important to show that there was still plenty to save along the Darling/Baarka.

To show some of the things still there we focused on bird life, particularly around the river floodplains and the dwindling #Menindee lakes. The on-going drought in western NSW provided ample opportunity (shifting sands, starving kangaroos) to build a sense of the catastrophe that was engulfing ordinary people and the land. That this catastrophe was is large part man-made is conveyed through footage of the dry riverbed, off-take pipes, massive earth-wall dams and laser-levelled irrigation farms: mute testament to a river system drained of its resilience.

#WhenTheRiverRunsDry #documentary #film #Darling #river #water #extraction #scarcity #resources #watershed #indigenous #people #community #waterislife #Australia #PeterYates #RoryMcLeod #docu-films

https://vimeo.com/395966760

Beijing Spring

Beijing Spring chronicles modern China’s first democracy movement and forgotten struggle for freedom of expression. In 1978, Deng Xiaoping tolerated the open posting of grievances, liberal ideas and art on Democracy Wall near Tiananmen Square.

The “Stars”, a group of self-taught artists (including Ai Weiwei) exposed the inhumanity of the Cultural Revolution and challenged propaganda art, while Wei Jingsheng called for democracy.

By 1979, Deng became fearful and cracked down, closing Democracy Wall, imprisoning some, and shutting the door on this brief period of reform.

One filmmaker, Chi Xiaoning, dared stand on top of Democracy Wall, camera in hand, recording it all.

When he died, no one knew his film’s whereabouts. After years of searching, this never-before-seen footage was tracked down by the film’s director, now shown for the first time ever in Beijing Spring.

These brave voices of this officially censored moment in Chinese history will surely inspire all of today’s freedom fighters.

#BeijingSpring #documentary #film #freedom-of-expression #artistic #freedom #democracy #cultural #revolution #Stars #StarsMovement #DemocracyWall #TiananmenSquare #DengXiaoping #WeiJingsheng #ChiXiaoning #AiWeiwei #China #GaylenRoss #AndrewCohen #ACFilms #docu-films

https://vimeo.com/470534261

Don’t Let the Gene Out of the Bottle

Don’t Let The Gene Out of the Bottle. This film exposes the world-altering effects of genetic engineering, featuring chilling testimony from experts: Dr. Elaine Ingham, Dr. Jonathan Latham, Claire Robinson, and Jim Thomas.

Don’t Let the Gene Out of the Bottle is a powerful tool to convey the seriousness of permanently corrupting and replacing nature’s gene pool. It presents real world examples of #GMOs that have the capacity to cause catastrophes. There is a form of GE bacteria that could theoretically end terrestrial plant life, another variety that could alter weather patterns, and (in the final version) a lab enhanced GE virus that is far more dangerous than COVID-19.

#DontLetTheGeneOutOfTheBottle #documentary #film #genetically-modified-organisms #genetic #engineering #genetic-engineering #ElaineIngham #JonathanLatham #ClaireRobinson #JimThomas #InstituteForResponsibleTechnology #ProtectNatureNow #docu-films

https://vimeo.com/295238989

Beyond Climate

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recent report, entitled Global Warming of 1.5°C, indicates that it is possible to stabilize the climate provided we act within the next decade to be globally carbon neutral by 2050. Indeed, having already warmed by 1°C already - since pre-industrial times - we are already seeing the impacts, especially in Canada.

​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.

Beyond Climate takes viewers beyond the headlines and into the heart of the issues. The film holistically connects the larger patterns of #climate-change with the human dimension, and what it looks like across BC from the top of the mountains to the depths of the oceans. Shot throughout the province over many years, the collective wisdom and perspectives of Indigenous leaders, local communities, scientists, and policymakers are featured.

Dr. David Suzuki - renowned scientist, broadcaster and environmentalist - helps guide the journey as the narrator of the film. But, David is more than just narrator, he’s a long-term resident of BC, having lived most of his life in Vancouver, and this film is part of his enduring legacy. Now, in his 80s, Suzuki reflects back on his life, how his home province is changing, and offers his personal perspectives on the environment, economy, and opportunity to navigate our complex future if we “pull back and give nature a chance.”

Addressing many of the pressing issues facing BC - from pipelines, liquified natural gas, salmon, and Indigenous rights - the film is a timely contribution to the province and country as we grapple with climate change, the paramount issue of our time.

#BeyondClimate #documentary #film #nature #environment #climate #global-warming #indigenous #perspectives #collective #wisdom #DavidSuzuki #IanJMauro #docu-films

Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/138431

Ladakh, or ‘Little Tibet’, is a wildly beautiful desert land high in the Western Himalayas. It is a place of few resources and an extreme climate. Yet for more than 1,000 years, it has been home to a thriving culture. Traditions of frugality and cooperation, with an intimate and location-specific knowledge of the environment, enabled the Ladakhis not only to survive, but to prosper.

Then came “development”. Now in Leh, the capital, one finds pollution and divisiveness, inflation and unemployment, intolerance and greed. Centuries of ecological balance and social harmony are under threat from modernization.

Ancient Futures is much more than a film about Ladakh. The breakdown of Ladakh’s culture and environment forces us to re-examine what we really mean by “progress” – not only in the ‘developing’ parts of the world, but in the industrialized world as well. The story of Ladakh teaches us about the root causes of environmental, social and psychological problems, and provides valuable guidelines for our own future.

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