Environmental Selection

Jane – USA (2017)

Directed by:  Brett Morgan

No one had studied Africa’s chimpanzees in the wild before 26-year-old Jane Goodall set up camp in Tanzania’s Gombe forest. This documentary, using never-before-seen 1960s footage by famed National Geographic photographer Hugo van Lawick, captures that revolutionary encounter. Narrated by Jane herself – with a moving original score by Philip Glass – shows the young researcher at work, jade eyes focused, her wry smile barely hiding her disbelief that her childhood dream has come true. As the chimpanzees grow to trust Jane, she sits among them, until she’s feeding and grooming them. Jane fell in love in Africa: with science, with the animals, and with Lawick, whom she married. Yet Jane kept returning to Gombe and her wild family. Today, Jane’s loose ponytail is white, but her message, which still rocks science, is unwavering – intelligence and compassion are not ours alone – but shared. Thus, we must protect Africa’s wildlife.

Premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 10, 2017

Environmental

Water & Power:  A California Heist – USA (2017)

Directed by:  Marina Zenovich

Emmy award-winning director Marina Zenovich’s Water & Power: A California Heist, executive produced by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney and produced by Jigsaw Productions, unfolds like a real-life version of the 1974 film noir “Chinatown,” uncovering the ruthless exploits of California’s notorious water barons, who profit off the state’s resources while everyday citizens endure a debilitating water crisis. In the midst of a historic drought that has left many residents without access to safe drinking water, this film peels back the layers of California’s history of water manipulations and examines pivotal events that now jeopardize the state’s groundwater reserves, putting at risk the future of its fertile farmlands – which provide nearly half the country’s fruits, nuts and vegetables.

Water & Power: A California Heist premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival

Print courtesy of National Geographic Films

(Environmental Section)

Environmental Selection

What Lies Upstream – USA (2017)

Directed by:  Cullen Hoback

In this detective story, filmmaker Cullen Hoback investigates the largest chemical drinking water contamination in a generation. But something is rotten in state and federal regulatory agencies, and through years of persistent journalism, we learn the shocking truth about what’s really happening with drinking water in America. What Lies Upstream is a powerful document for the world at large on the perils of believing government organizations and corporations will take care of the human species. Cullen Hoback has discovered what the protesters of Standing Rock, the Flint activists and the unsung heros of many environmental groups. We all must join in the movement to protect water now and for generations to come.

Winner – Documentary Competition Award – Seattle International Film Festival

Nominated – Grand Jury Prize – Dallas International Film Festival

Print courtesy of The Film Collaborative