Social & External
The people behind it
Rex Weyler
From far up, humans look like ants. Or like a virus, driven by consumption and mass production, attacking the earth's resources.
Spoonie, the spoon-billed sandpiper, would have long since gone extinct without Dr. Christoph Zöckler and a tight-knit group of international ornithologists. As if that weren’t bad enough, the migration route of this sparrow-sized wading bird—with its peculiar spoon-shaped bill—runs from Russia through North Korea and China all the way to Myanmar, passing through several of the world’s crisis regions of the past decade. The work of the task force is therefore also a political challenge. It requires diplomatic sensitivity in coordinating with the countries along the flyway. In the tragicomic story of Spoonie’s fate, the struggle for threatened biodiversity in an increasingly fragile world is reflected.
An epic documentary film that sends nine scientists to extraordinary parts of the world to uncover unexpected answers to some of humanity’s biggest questions. How did life begin? What is time? What is consciousness? How much do we really know? By introducing researchers from diverse backgrounds for the first time, then dropping them into new, immersive field work they previously hadn’t tackled, the film pushes the boundaries of how science storytelling is approached. What emerges is a deeply human trip to the foundations of discovery and a powerful reminder that the unanswered questions are the most crucial ones to pose. Directed by Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ian Cheney and advised by world-renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog, The Most Unknown is an ambitious look at a side of science never before shown on screen.
When the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise set sail in 2013 to protest the first ever oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean, none of the people on board could have known what was coming. Seized at gunpoint by Russian special forces, the 'Arctic 30' were thrust into headlines all over the world, facing up to 15 years in prison and finding themselves at the centre of a bitter international dispute.
In the docudrama "Les Derniers Secrets de l'humanité" (The Last Secrets of Humanity), author and director Jacques Malaterre and paleoanthropologist and professor at the Collège de France Yves Coppens reveal the incredible adventure of Asian prehistory. How does science help to reconstruct these bygone times in images? Thanks to discoveries made at excavation sites and in analysis and genetics laboratories, researchers are now revealing this distant, vanished past.
"When the shamans stop dancing and life in the rainforest loses its balance, the sky will collapse and come to crush everything." This wisdom is passed down from generation to generation by the Yanomami of Brazil. But gold miners are polluting the rivers, shamans are dying, the rainforest is disappearing and the earth is getting hotter. Davi Kopenawa, a tribal leader and spokesman for the Yanomami, has been fighting relentlessly against the colonization of his land for 40 years. He warns Westerners that when the sky collapses, they too will be crushed. Why don't they listen? Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
A whimsical filmmaker turns to his rational zoologist mother to help film animals. As memories of tigers and pet rabbits surface, the zoologist is compelled to question her relationship with animals.
A sensory record of the relationships of affinity and enmity with fire in the conservation of the Cerrado biome. In the company of local residents hired to act as brigadiers and, more recently, as management agents, the short film explores the affections established with fire in the midst of combat pyrophobias and management pyrophilias. In addition to documenting fire fighting and manipulation techniques, the cinematographic experiment points to a more than human visual anthropology, where environmental forces such as heat, vegetation and wind make up an alterity whose condition remains ambiguous.
Filmmaker Marshall Curry explores the inner workings of the Earth Liberation Front, a revolutionary movement devoted to crippling facilities involved in deforestation, while simultaneously offering a profile of Oregon ELF member Daniel McGowan, who was brought up on terrorism charges for his involvement with the radical group.
Humanity’s ascent is often measured by the speed of progress. But what if progress is actually spiraling us downwards, towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, “A Short History Of Progress” inspired “Surviving Progress”, shows how past civilizations were destroyed by “progress traps”—alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world’s resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilization escape a final, catastrophic progress trap? With potent images and illuminating insights from thinkers who have probed our genes, our brains, and our social behaviour, this requiem to progress-as-usual also poses a challenge: to prove that making apes smarter isn’t an evolutionary dead-end.
This documentary takes a look at Hayedeh Shirzadi and her husband's attempt to put an end to the dumping and burial of urban garbage. Due to their hard work and ingenuity, 100% of the city of Kermanshah's garbage is now recycled and the bio waste is made into organic fertilizers. Shirzadi studied recycling in Germany. She returned to Iran in order to clean up the environment, to stop the destruction of arable land, and to curb air and water pollution.
"Where the Waters Meet on the Breathing Shore" is a 25 minute science documentary exploring the Mullica River-Great Bay Estuary in Tuckerton, NJ, where freshwater rivers meet the saltwater sea. Graduate student and science storyteller Shaniya Utamidata joins marine scientists at Rutgers University Marine Field Station, Dr. Thomas Grothues, Dr. Ken Able, Dr. Oscar Schofield, and Lisa Auermuller to reveal how these “breathing shores” sustain biodiversity, filter water, and buffer communities against climate change. Blending scientific insight with reflection, the film transforms field research into a personal journey of discovery. Using a Science-in-Action Storytelling Model, we invite young audiences, especially students from underrepresented backgrounds, to see themselves in the story of science. In connecting the marshes of New Jersey to the coasts of Indonesia, "Where the Waters Meet on the Breathing Shore" shows how one estuary’s story belongs to the entire planet.
"H.O.P.E. What You Eat Matters" is a life-changing documentary uncovering and revealing the effects of our typical Western diet on our health, the environment and animals. Featuring Jane Goodall, T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Vandana Shiva, Melanie Joy and many other experts, the film has a clear message: By changing our eating habits, we can change the world!
Evara is a critique consisting of questioning, resistance, observation and feelings and is reflected through performance art.
Tamara is from the ocean and water runs in her veins. Born in a fishing village on the Mexican coast, she became a full-time scuba instructor. When she discovers plastic in her beloved ocean, she sets out to get the diving industry to stop using single-use plastic.
Never-before-seen footage shows how our living in lockdown opened the door for nature to bounce back and thrive. Across the seas, skies, and lands, Earth found its rhythm when we came to a stop.
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
A look at how climate change affects our environment and what society can do to prevent the demise of endangered species, ecosystems, and native communities across the planet.
An astonishing journey revealing the awesome power of the natural world. Over the course of one single day, we track the sun from the highest mountains to the remotest islands to exotic jungles.
A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.
An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.
This documentary follows oceanographer Sylvia Earle's campaign to save the world's oceans from threats such as overfishing and toxic waste.
Passionate about ocean life, a filmmaker sets out to document the harm that humans do to marine species — and uncovers an alarming global conspiracy.
A decade after An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change into the heart of popular culture comes the riveting and rousing follow-up that shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution. Vice President Al Gore continues his tireless fight, traveling around the world training an army of climate champions and influencing international climate policy. Cameras follow him behind the scenes—in moments private and public, funny and poignant—as he pursues the empowering notion that while the stakes have never been higher, the perils of climate change can be overcome with human ingenuity and passion.
A documentary about the making of season five of the acclaimed AMC series Breaking Bad.
Sheds light on an alternative approach to farming called “regenerative agriculture” that could balance our climate, replenish our vast water supplies, and feed the world.
Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.
As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.
David Attenborough and scientist Johan Rockström examine Earth's biodiversity collapse and how this crisis can still be averted.
Just two years away from turning 30, participants in Michael Apted's documentary series are facing serious questions of identity and purpose, wondering whether they've found their place in the world.
This revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier—iconic actor, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Featuring interviews with Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Halle Berry, and more.
This special explores the return of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to the screen, as well as Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen to their classic roles. Director Deborah Chow leads the cast and crew as they create new heroes and villains that live alongside new incarnations of beloved Star Wars characters, and an epic story that dramatically bridges the saga films.
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.
Alex Gibney explores the phenomenon of Stuxnet, a self-replicating computer virus discovered in 2010 by international IT experts. Evidently commissioned by the US and Israeli governments, this malware was designed to specifically sabotage Iran’s nuclear programme. However, the complex computer worm ended up not only infecting its intended target but also spreading uncontrollably.
