Films A – Z
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Ahmed and the Return of the Phoenix is the story of a handful of visionary men who are fighting to protect what is left of the biodiversity of Al Badia, the semi-arid desert steppe stretching from the Iraqi border to almost the Mediterranean coast. Their efforts will be rewarded by the discovery of the last Middle Eastern breeding colony of the Bald Ibis (Geronticus ermita) in the wild, one of the rarest migratory birds and a symbol of wisdom for the Bedouins of the desert.
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AMERICAN MASTERS John James Audubon: Drawn from Nature traces Audubon's life from its unlikely beginning to its unfortunate end and includes every triumph and tragedy the artist experienced along the way. Audubon not only illustrated Birds of America, he was the writer, publisher and promoter. The man who had failed at selling penny nails in the backwoods of Kentucky discovered that he could sell an unfinished folio for a thousand dollars in the finest homes in Edinburgh, Manchester, Leeds, London, and Paris.
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Beyond Closed Doors goes behind the rhetoric and politics of agriculture to confront issues in animal welfare that have the potential to affect all Americans. The film's unique approach uses minimal graphic footage of factory farms and drives straight down the center of often polarizing issues. Interviews with scientists, veterinarians, farmers, professionals, welfare groups, and consumers illuminate important issues rarely covered in the mainstream media.
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Chickens in the City is a chicken-level view of two backyard coops in San Francisco. The film playfully explores the ways in which keeping chickens shapes the philosophies behind what and how urban chicken-owners eat. These chickens force their owners to face the means of modern food production, and they don't always like what they find.
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Crude is a documentary spanning 160 million years of the Earth's history to reveal the story of oil. Filmed in 11 countries across five continents, this film takes a journey through time from the birth of oil deep in the dinosaur-inhabited past, to its ascendancy as the indispensable ingredient of modern life. This film takes a step back from day to day news to illuminate the Earth's extraordinary carbon cycle and the role of oil in our impending climate crisis.
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Edens Lost and Found: Chicago "City of the Big Shoulders" focuses on how Chicago has emerged as a leader in urban sustainability, with Mayor Daley as a powerful advocate for strategies like green architecture, and citizen activists mobilizing to protect and enhance wilderness areas and the city's waterways.
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Garden Insects combines colorful close-up photography and an original music score with facts about insect habitats and life cycles offering viewers a documentary film that is aesthetically pleasing, awe-inspiring, and informative. Learn about the multitude of insects in your own garden—which ones are beneficial and which ones are destroying vegetables, who eats whom, and why.
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Global Focus IV: The New Environmentalists features intimate portraits of six passionate and dedicated activists. These are true environmental heroes who have placed themselves squarely in harm's way to battle corrupt governments, greedy corporations, and other intimidating adversaries. Their goal: safeguarding the Earth's natural resources from shortsighted exploitation and unbridled pollution.
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Happy Feet Emperor penguins are born to sing. All except young Mumble, who was born to dance... tap dance. Such un-penguin-like behavior eventually gets Mumble kicked out of Emperor Land and into the big, cold world, joined by his Adelie Amigos and an all-knowing Rockhopper penguin named Lovelace. Mumble embarks on an epic journey and ultimately proves that by being true to yourself, you can make all the difference in the world.
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Keepers of Eden* chronicles the struggles of the Huariani tribe, indigenous people of Ecuador who have lived in the cradle of the Amazon rainforest for thousands of years, but now that cradle is being rocked by the oil industry. The socio-political film traces the pollution, toxic poisoning, and environmental devastation wrought by profit-driven industries while shedding light on the Ecuadorian government's failure to protect its indigenous people and effectively regulate the practice of oil companies.
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* this film contains nudity, may not be suitable for children
Kilowatt Ours traces the wires from our light switches to environmental catastrophes such as mountain top removal, air pollution, childhood asthma, and global climate change. The filmmaker takes viewers on a thought-provoking search for solutions that save consumers money, strengthen America's economy, and improve the quality of our lives and environment.
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King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food culture. Join two friends on their journey to discover where their food comes from and their attempt to follow corn from seed through the food system. You will discover what is needed to grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of soil and learn the truth about how we eat—and how we farm.
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Learning to Sea is an underwater experience that compares animal behaviors in two seas separated by more than 7,000 miles. The film takes you on tours through both oceans simultaneously. Ziggy Livnat shares his cross-global underwater experiences and shows the correlation of the marine inhabitants. With amazing portraits of sea creatures, narration by the filmmaker and an original score by Esta, the film created compassion for conservation of our underwater oasis.
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One Man, One Cow, One Planet is a film about the biodynamic revolution in India and one elderly man out to save the world. The film exposes globalization and its mantra of infinite growth in a finite world for what it really is: an environmental and human disaster. However, across India marginal farmers are reviving an arcane form of agriculture, saving their poisoned lands and exposing the bio-colonialism of multinational corporations.
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Out of Balance examines the history of ExxonMobil and the corporation's refusal to take action against climate change. Leading climate scientists such as Michael Oppenheimer and Robert Watson, environmentalists from Exxpose Exxon, Greenpeace, and other organizations join with a former Exxon executive, US government whistle-blower Rick Piltz, and leading authors such as Bill McKibben, Elizabeth Kolbert, and Ross Gelbspan to explain how we have gotten to this challenging place with the climate, and the role that ExxonMobil has played.
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Penguin Science, a National Science Foundation supported film, follows three California ecologists to the bottom of the world to see how Adelie penguins are coping with rapid and unprecedented climate change. Travel inside "penguin cities," where millions of penguins converge to rear their young. Discover how giant icebergs, disappearing sea ice, and shifting weather patterns are affecting penguins, changing Antarctica, and forecasting trouble for our planet.
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Revolution Green: A True Story of Biodiesel in America is a revealing documentary about the renewable energy called biodiesel and its importance to the world economy. The film follows the dream of two pioneers to create the first biodiesel refinery and their journey to bring this product mainstream.
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River of Renewal looks through the eyes of Jack Kohler, a city-raised California Indian who is exploring his ancestral roots while trying to understand the fight over the waters of the Klamath Basin in California and Oregon. The film explores the example of joint efforts that are taken to influence humanity's response to the global challenge of providing water and energy to a growing population without destroying the web of life on which human life depends.
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Sharks: Stewards of the Reef examines escalating threats such as habitat destruction of reef ecosystems and over fishing. These threats are causing Pacific reef shark populations to plummet, including the most brutal assault threatening shark populations: that of shark finning. Compelling interviews with leading shark conservation experts reveal the driving forces behind the drastic reduction of shark populations, and offer solutions such as the newly established Marine National Monument in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
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Silence of the Bees is the first in-depth look to uncover what is killing the honeybee. The film goes beyond the unsolved mystery to tell the story of the honeybee itself and its invaluable impact on our diets, and instills in viewers a sense of urgency to help these extraordinary animals.
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Suzuki Speaks captures the passion, vision, and inspiration of world renowned scientist and environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki as he speaks about the human animal and our place in the universe. Dr. Suzuki delivers the most important message of his career in an intimate and dramatic presentation. His powerful words, mixed with stunning live action and digital images, create a documentary that you won't just watch—you experience!
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The 11th Hour describes the last moment when change is possible. The film explores how humanity has arrived at this moment; how we live, how we impact the earth's ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course. The film dialogues with experts, scientists, leaders, and thinkers from around the world who present the facts and discuss the most important issues that face our planet.
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The Great Warming sweeps around the world to reveal how a changing climate is affecting the lives of people everywhere. Neither political nor negative, the film is uplifting–and unique in suggesting that climate change is a moral, ethical, and spiritual issue. Narrated by Keanu Reeves and Alanis Morissette, filmed in eight countries on four continents, this film includes hard-hitting comments from scientists and opinion-makers about the lack of leadership in what is certainly the most critical environmental issue of the 21st century.
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The Man Who Planted Trees is heralded as "a masterpiece of animated art," this timeless film tells the inspirational story of a solitary shepherd who patiently plants and nurtures a forest of thousands of trees, single–handedly transforming his arid surroundings into a thriving oasis. Undeterred by two World Wars, and without any thought of personal reward, the shepherd tirelessly sows his seeds and acorns with the greatest care. As if by magic, a landscape that seemed condemned grows green again.A film of great beauty and hope, this story is a remarkable parable for all ages and an inspiring testament to the power of one person.
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The Meadow is a magical and highly entertaining trip full of surprises through a flower meadow. This ocean of colors and fragile shapes offers a home, a genuine paradise to countless species of animals. Some live underground, some among the blades of grass; still others populate in the colorful canopy. Filmed with a high definition camera with special lenses, this shows the development of a meadow from the Ice Ages to today.
The Mercury is Rising reveals the truth about one of the most toxic naturally occurring elements on the planet. This film follows the path of mercury in the environment, from source to effect, offering solutions on how to mitigate the presence of this poisonous substance.
The Next Industrial Revolution tells the story of the movement led by architect Bill McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart to bring together ecology and human design. Shot in Europe and the United States, the film explores how businesses are transforming themselves to work with nature and enhance profitability. Narrated by Susan Sarandon.
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The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil focuses on when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990 and Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half and food by 80 percent, people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships, struggles, community, and creativity of the Cuban people, as they share how they transitioned from mechanized agriculture to organic farming and urban gardens. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis, is an example of options and hope.
The Story of Stuff is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patters. The film exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social concerns, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all of the stuff in your life forever.
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Thin Ice: Saattuq explores the Inuit of the high Arctic, literally the first Canadians to feel global climate change's effects underneath their feet. Saattuq, the Inuit word for ice, is their lifeline for food and a major contributor to their way of life, and it is melting away. This film takes viewers to the front line of global climate change in the Arctic and the environmental justice issues associated with this issue.
Titans of the Coral Sea is a film about stewardship and a community taking control of their future. The Titan people of Northern Papua New Guinea, are adapting as they learn how to move from a subsistence culture to a cash culture. This move has created a conflict between the needs of a people and the limits of what an environment can support. These communities have been fishing the same reefs for more than 40,000 years, and now for the first time, are running out of fish.
Voces del Darien looks in-depth at Darien, home to Darien National Park, Central America's second largest reserve and World Heritage Site. For more than 500 years, Darien has been home to diverse ethnicities with rich cultural history. Today, logging and road construction is destroying both the forest and the civilization, threatening the region beyond itself. This film suggests that a brighter future for all lies in a committed partnership between government, non-government, and Darienitas working together to preserve Darien for future generations.
We are Traffic! chronicles the history and development of the legendary "Critical Mass" bicycle movement. By demonstrating a vibrant alternative in hundreds of car-choked cities around the world, monthly Critical Mass rides temporarily transform the streets, filling them with bicyclists. This creates dynamic, pollution-free, social spaces which overflow with camaraderie, a completely different kind of rush hour.
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Weaving Together is a story of the relationship between the Karuk Tribe and the Forest Service working together in Klamath National Forest on forest management. Together, they create ideal conditions for basket making materials with easy access for elders and young people. Locally created, this film aims to inspire forest managers to work with their local tribes, and local tribes to work with their forest managers.
Wolverines: Hyenas of the North takes a close look at the life of one of the shyest and most elusive predators of the Northern hemisphere. Wildlife photographer Antti Leinonen has followed wolverines for more than 18 years in Finland and has contrived a lot of tricks on how to overcome the cleverness of the big marten. In this way, director Oliver Goetzl and cameraman Ivo Norenberd were able to film wild wolverines for the first time.