Environmental Selection

The New Environmentalists – USA (2016)

Directed by:  John Antonelli

Narrated by:  Robert Redford

The New Environmentalists – from Peru to Tanzania – share a common goal – safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution, while fighting for justice in their own communities. This Emmy award winning series features inspiring portraits of six passionate and dedicated activists. These are true environmental heroes who have placed themselves squarely in harm’s way to battle intimidating adversaries while building strong grassroots support.

Environmental Selection

Under An Arctic Sky – USA (2017)

Directed by:  Chris Burkard

The film follows six surfers along with adventure photographer Chris Burkard and filmmaker Ben Weiland as they seek out unknown swell in the remote fjords of Iceland’s Hornstrandir Nature Reserve. Chartering a boat, they depart from Isafjordur on the cusp of the largest storm to make landfall in twenty-five years. With the knowledge that storm brings legendary swell, the crew are optimistic, but face failure when the storm forces them back to shore. Making the decision to carry the expedition on by road they experience the brutality of Iceland’s winter and being to question if searching out the unknown is worth risking their lives for. Despite setbacks the team pushes on and finds that uncertainty is the best ingredient for discovering the unimaginable. 

Under An Arctic Sky premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 23, 2017

Print courtesy of Sweatpants Media

Environmental Selection

Beyond the Brink – USA (2017)

Directed by:  James Thebaut

Beyond the Brink focuses on California’s San Joaquin Valley and the ever increasing difficulties for farmers and the local produce industry die to drought and water scarcity. The San Joaquin Valley is representative of a global crisis due to dwindling sources of agriculture around the planet. As these agricultural “food baskets become increasingly unable to produce for its dramatically growing population, the critical ramifications on the social fabric and our national security become obvious. The film also examines a multitude of solutions and technologies currently being formulated, invented and utilized in modern day agriculture.

Director James Thebaut will introduce the film

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