All Films Archive
2026 Films
Join Illinois Tech, Gary Comer Youth Center, Organic Oneness, and the Bronzeville Trail Taskforce for an inspiring double-feature screening of Planet Walker and Rooted. These powerful films explore the profound intersection of environmental stewardship, personal resilience, and community heritage.
Especially for youth and families, these acclaimed short films are a curated selection of winning One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest films from over the years by and for youth looking to celebrate our planet and be inspired to protect it.
Synopsis: In a post-apocalyptic world with food scarcity, a Black family of Canadian farmers descended from American Civil War migrants defend their homestead against cannibals trying to seize their resources.
Synopsis: In Our Nature explores how environmental education - and the people who teach with it - can help heal some of our most pressing social, emotional, and political divides. Through stories of resilience and reconnection, the film reveals why nature belongs at the heart of what it means to be truly educated.
Synopsis: From Rails to Trails explores the origins of America’s trails movement, a political movement that emerged from the enthusiasm and passion of citizen activists who sought to protect unused rail corridors to create safe spaces for people to walk, bike and be active outside.
Planetwalker Synopsis: After witnessing a devastating oil spill, a man takes a vow of silence and gives up motorized transport, embarking on a 17-year journey across the US to raise awareness about environmental issues, armed only with a banjo and his principles.
Chasing Time Synopsis: Chasing Time follows photographer James Balog concluding his 15-year Extreme Ice Survey, blending breathtaking imagery of melting glaciers with a personal meditation on mortality and, mentorship.
Synopsis: How To Power A City explores the front lines of the clean energy revolution. From zeitgeist solar adopters to hurricane survival and communities fighting to keep the lights on, How To Power A City showcases a diverse group of people leading the way to our nation’s clean energy future.
Synopsis: In this food justice documentary, activist and urban farmer Germaine Jenkins is taking on the power structure in Charleston, SC, to counter the tide of toxic food that has ravaged her community for decades. Will this oasis in a food desert survive and advance civil rights' latest frontier, or become another mirage in the battle against food apartheid?
Synopsis: Beyond Zero (2022) is a documentary following Ray Anderson, CEO of industrial giant Interface, who experiences a life-altering epiphany about his company's environmental impact. He embarks on a high-stakes, 20-year mission to transform the company into a restorative enterprise, overcoming intense skepticism and investor pressure to prove that sustainable business is profitable.
Synopsis: Drowned Land (2025) is a documentary directed by Choctaw filmmaker Colleen Thurston that follows Indigenous water protectors fighting to save the ecologically diverse Kiamichi River in Oklahoma. The film highlights the struggle against, and the cycle of, displacement and environmental exploitation, featuring stories of local advocacy to preserve a vital community lifeline.
Synopsis: The film follows journalist Ziya Tong as she explores how plastic particles infiltrate our bodies, organs, and blood, urging a rethink of our relationship with plastics.
Earth Day, Wednesday 4/22/2026
Film Row Cinema 8th Floor: 1104 S Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60605, 6-9PM
$80 per ticket/ two for $150
Accessibility Note: A live captioner and ASL interpreter will be present during this event.
Synopsis: Through the stories of communities fighting for safe, affordable water and sanitation, Whose Water examines how the erosion of democracy prevents millions of people from accessing this basic necessity of life, and offers concrete solutions to address this unprecedented human rights crisis.
2025 Films
Celebrate Power In Unity for our Planet!
Date: April 22, 2025
Location: Sarabande, 2718 W. Roscoe St., Chicago, IL 60618
Time: 6:30 - 9:00 pm
Tickets:$80 individual/two for $150
Unite, celebrate, and help build resilient communities and a healthier planet!
Be a part of the 14th One Earth Film Festival official launch on April 22nd, 2025 at Chicago’s thoughtfully modern Sarabande–located steps away from the Chicago River. It’s the perfect time on our planet and the perfect party backdrop to celebrate the power found in unity, as we rally around our essential yet endangered natural resources.
Celebrate! Yes there IS cause for celebration–even amidst great challenges.
Together, in unity, we are helping create more resilient communities and a healthier planet.
Expect to Enjoy:
A chance to escape, recharge, and party with like-minded filmmakers and advocates in a stunning space
Gourmet plant-based heavy hors d'oeuvres, sweet treats and sips
An inspiring toast from the illustrious 2025 OEFF filmmakers
A brief program celebrating our Chicago River and local waterways, including opening remarks from the City of Chicago Chief Sustainability Officer and Commissioner of the Department of Environment, Angela Tovar; a screening of One Earth’s Young Filmmakers Contest winner Bohdana Bihdan’s film, Ocean Monologue; and more
A Chicago River-themed interactive art weaving experience by our partners at the Nowhere Collective; guests are invited to please bring any textiles to recycle (especially in colors blue and white) through this group arts experience
The chance to win a smart, stylish, and sustainable Radio Flyer Folding Cargo Bike and other incredible prizes
Film Description: Companies and organizations are increasingly leading the way to a United States economy driven by renewable energy and sustainability. In this series comprised of short documentaries, CEOs and upper management at a variety of companies, non-profits and government agencies will present their science based solutions and visions for the future. We also focus on young leaders that are making those visions of the future a reality. They will present the challenges that lie ahead, and how they are endeavoring to solve big problems and make a difference through their work. Government can set the policy agenda, but for real change to occur the private sector must be incentivized and fully engaged. Companies and organizations are in a unique position to innovate and have a significant impact in a shorter time. An educated and motivated work force is a critical part of affecting change from within every industry. We want to infuse this series with a sense of hope to empower all people, and instill in them a call to action to join the country's move toward a more sustainable future.
Film Description: BAD RIVER, narrated by Quannah ChasingHorse and Academy-Award nominee, Edward Norton; written and directed by award-winning filmmaker, Mary Mazzio; and produced by Grant Hill (Owner of the Atlanta Hawks) and Allison Abner (writer for Narcos, West Wing and descendant of the Stockbridge Munsee Band), is a new documentary film which chronicles the Wisconsin-based Bad River Band and its ongoing fight for sovereignty, a story which unfolds in a groundbreaking way through a series of shocking revelations, devastating losses, and a powerful legacy of defiance and resilience, which includes a David vs. Goliath battle to save Lake Superior, the largest freshwater resource in America. As Eldred Corbine, a Bad River Tribal Elder declares: “We gotta protect it… die for it, if we have to.” Winner of the EMA
Film Description: Cafeteria Man takes a behind the scenes look at Tony Geraci’s sweeping, tenacious efforts to kick start school lunch reform in Baltimore’s schools, a large urban district that serves 83,000 students, and later in Memphis schools, with 200,000 kids. As the newly hired Food and Nutrition Director of the Baltimore’s public school district, Geraci hatches an ambitious, multi-faceted plan to feed students healthy, locally-sourced meals, teach them nutritional awareness, and offer them training and vocational opportunities in the world of food. His bold vision includes a 33-acre teaching farm, school vegetable gardens, student-designed meals, and meatless Monday’s. Cafeteria Man follows Geraci as he partners with a dedicated group of parents and students to overhaul a long-established, dysfunctional lunch program and battle the entrenched bureaucracy behind it. The film profiles Baltimore’s experience as it becomes recognized as part a burgeoning national movement, and includes appearances by food author Michael Pollan, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Assistant White House Chef Sam Kass.
Film Description: The documentary about a Los Angeles woman who has made it her life’s mission to rehabilitate injured hummingbirds has a gentle sweetness that feels like a balm. Terry Masear, the subject of writer-director Sally Aitken’s film, has a no-nonsense demeanor, but her affection for these tiny creatures is unmistakable. She gives them names like Raisin, Cactus and Wasabi. She assigns them narratives as she observes their behavior. She painstakingly builds them elaborate aviaries and lovingly feeds them from a syringe. And she devotes every inch of her sprawling Hollywood Hills property, inside and out, to their care.
Film Description: Food, Inc. 2 is a 2023 documentary that examines the food industry's corporate consolidation and its impact on consumers and the environment. The film is a sequel to the 2008 Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc. This movie, directed by Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo, picks up where the first one left off in exposing the at-times mind-bogglingly unwholesome practices of America’s corporate food concerns in manipulating us to consume that which is bad for us. But it begins by sharing the ostensibly good news, which is that increased food consciousness is making healthy and still delicious options more available to us.
We will also be screening one of the One Earth Young Filmmakers winning films Monarchs in Motion by Mason Mirabile.
Film Description: Plastic is vital in so many ways to our modern way of life and well-being—but not all forms of it. In search of why more and more single-use plastic debris enters the ocean despite all efforts to recycle, SINGLE-USE PLANET goes upstream to where millions of tons of raw plastic are being made amidst the ruins of America's bygone steel industry in Pennsylvania. Further upstream, we see the economic and political realities that have boosted the new industry—realities reaching all the way to rural Louisiana where plans are laid to build the biggest plastic plant in the world. Can the powerful industry be persuaded to temper their production of single-use plastic? Our search leads to Washington D.C.—where a federal bill to regulate the industry remains stalled—and finally to France, where the prohibition of campaign donations by corporations may provide a key to the effective reduction of plastic pollution.
Film Description: SLAY is a feature documentary film exploring the interwoven harms caused by fashion’s use of fur, leather and wool. Following investigative filmmaker Rebecca Cappelli as she travels the world uncovering some of fashion’s best kept secrets, a harrowing story of greenwashing, environmental destruction, unjust treatment of workers, and animal exploitation unravels. SLAY asks an important question to the public, and the fashion industry itself: Is it acceptable to kill animals for fashion? Winner of the 2022 International Vegan Film Festival’s Best Vegan-Themed Feature Film.
Film Description: The film outlines a global warming reaction by several nation states, where the powerful use force, economics and illegal mercenaries to take control of food and water stocks. The narrative begins with the 2014 purchase of US-based Smithfield Foods by Chinese WH Group, which the filmmakers say gave away control of a quarter of all pigs in the US. It then follows other hard-to-explain deals, such as the purchase of arid land in Arizona by a Saudi company. Russians hiring American cowboys to work in a region too cold for farmland. And Blackwater deals to secure land in Africa. All these strange commercial arrangements are linked by "following the money", a phrase heard several times in the film, which identifies connections between governments, commercial enterprises and legal and illegal military actors such as mercenary companies. The filmmakers ultimately draw the conclusion that it is all planned responses to changes stemming from climate change.
The Hills Film Description: When the steel mills on Chicago’s Southeast Side closed decades ago, they left behind toxic sites that look harmless to the naked eye. Deriving its title from a deserted 67-acre hill made up of slag that Republic Steel/LTV dumped there during the 1950s–80s, The Hills is a place-based documentary where contaminated land, water, and wildlife play a leading role alongside the voices of community members. Easily mistaken for gravel, slag is a byproduct of steelmaking and contains arsenic, chromium, lead, and other toxins. Recently declared a superfund site by the EPA, the abandoned Schroud property has long attracted heavy recreational use and toxins from the slag continue to leach into the adjacent Indian Creek. Providing a rich habitat for fish, beavers, and birds, Indian Creek links Wolf Lake, a major recreational fishing area, to the Calumet River which in turn connects to Lake Michigan, Chicago’s source of drinking water. The Hills uses this singular site as starting point to consider the area’s industrial history, labor, and current environmental justice struggles, including the fight against General Iron and the proposed expansion of the Army Corps of Engineer’s Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) right at the shore of Lake Michigan, the source of Chicago's drinking water.
Film Description: From the makers of the international proclaimed films Why We Cycle and Together We Cycle. When We Cycle is a feature-length documentary considering different developments in society and the role of cycling in these possible futures. It takes a look into the great unknown, asking whether the fast and efficient cyclist gets priority or are other scenarios conceivable? In the documentary, various experts and everyday cyclists take you on this journey through different imaginable futures for cycling.
Film Description: Innovative women are redefining our relationship with carbon by repurposing living materials, reengineering waste into valuable chemicals that clean the climate, and driving decarbonization in our built environment. They share life/work challenges while thriving in male-dominated industries. Their collective wisdom comes together to form a singular belief and purpose to restore, protect and ultimately preserve the planet. The secret lies in the Earth itself. Told through a feminine lens, the story delves into the minds and spirits of dedicated, driven and dynamic 21st century trailblazers whose work is placing them at the core of decarbonization, human health and economic opportunity.
2024 Films
Daniella Ortega and Niobe Thompson/2022/86 min/Climate, Conservation, Energy, Built Environment, Historical Perspectives
Virtual, Tuesday, April 23, 6 p.m. CDT
FILM DESCRIPTION: With Carbon in the news every day, you might think you know everything about her. But you’d be wrong. This spectacular and surprisingly unorthodox documentary reveals the paradoxical story of the element that builds all life, and yet may end it all. Narrated in first person by Sarah Snook (Succession), “Carbon” tells of her birth in the violent core of an exploding star and of turbulent sagas through the fabric of our evolving Earth. Accompanied by celebrated scientists, unique animations and a stunning orchestral score, “Carbon” reminds us of our humble participation in the most extraordinary story in the universe.
Rebecca Tickell and Josh Tickell/2023/105 min/Climate, Food & Agriculture, Conservation, Health, Wildlife
In Person, Sunday, April 21, 12 p.m. CDT
Action Fair, 2nd Floor Rotunda
Chicago Cultural Center [Central]
In Person, Sunday, April 21, 1:30 p.m. CDT
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum [North]
Bronzeville IIT, Chicago [South]
Three Brothers Theatre [North]
Oak Park Public Library [W Suburbs]
FILM DESCRIPTION: From the filmmakers of “Kiss the Ground” (Netflix) comes the follow-up documentary “Common Ground,” winner of the Tribeca Film Festival. “Common Ground” is an important new documentary film featuring Laura Dern, Jason Momoa, Woody Harrelson, Ian Somerhalder, Donald Glover, Rosario Dawson, Mark Hyman, Gabe Brown, and many others. This film provides hope for future generations with concrete ways to fix a broken planetary system. “Common Ground” explores how regenerative agriculture can help heal the soil, our health and the planet.
The short film “Hope” by Jodi Wu will precede the feature film. ”Hope” tied for the Animation Prize in the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest 2023.
In Person, Friday, April 19, 5 p.m. CDT
Kehrein Center, Chicago [West]
In Person, Friday, April 19, 6 p.m. CDT
Unity Temple, Oak Park [W Suburbs]
Triton College, River Grove [W Suburbs]
Maggie Hart and Brittany Zampella/2023/19 min/Waste, Health, Justice
FILM DESCRIPTION: “A Good Neighbor” is a feature-length documentary about a Latina single mother’s fight against racism and climate change as she campaigns for city council in one of the nation’s most polluted zip codes.
Farhoud Meybodi/2023/48 min/Waste, Health, Justice, Built Environment, People & Cultures
FILM DESCRIPTION: Amidst a catastrophic plastic waste crisis in her hometown of Nairobi, Nzambi Matee risks everything to pioneer technology that transforms plastic waste into sustainable paving bricks.
The short film “The Speech of Txai Surui” by the students of Escola Parque (in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) will precede the feature films. This film won two awards in the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest 2023.
In Person + Virtual
Wednesday, April 17, 6 p.m. CDT
Radio Flyer, Chicago [West]
Join us! One Earth launches its 13th festival season by sharing reel stories that speak to the real change we can make for our planet when we're united together.
Enjoy the beautiful, state-of-the art LEED Platinum Radio Flyer worldwide headquarters (a Certified B Corporation)
Chance to watch the Emmy-winning short film "Taking Flight"
Enjoy a toast from the amazing filmmakers behind the 2024 One Earth Film Fest film lineup
See the Young Filmmakers Contest post-graduate winning film “My Brand New Car” as part of a short program beginning promptly at 7 p.m.
Enter the raffle to win a Radio Flyer Electric Bicycle and other terrific, sustainable prizes
Camilo de Castro, Brad Allgood/2023/80 min/Conservation, Climate, Justice, Food & Agriculture, Historical Perspectives, People & Cultures, Wildlife
Virtual, Monday, April 22, 6 p.m. CDT
FILM DESCRIPTION: Nicaragua is facing an escalating crisis. Illegal cattle ranchers and miners are decimating the Indio-Maiz Biological Reserve—one of the last remaining rainforests in Central America. Climate change and deforestation are leading to destruction of biodiversity and traditional ways of life. Commodities produced on illegally converted lands are finding their way to unsuspecting consumers in the US and other major markets. The indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples are addressing the threat head on—fighting back to protect their territory and way of life.
Katja Esson/2023/85 min/Climate, Justice, Built Environment, Historical Perspectives
In Person, Saturday, April 20, 6 p.m. CDT
Bethel New Life, Chicago [West]
FILM DESCRIPTION: Liberty City, Miami, was home to one of the oldest segregated public housing projects in the U.S. Now with rising sea levels, the neighborhood’s higher ground has become something else: real estate gold. Wealthy property owners push inland to higher ground, creating a speculators’ market in the historically Black neighborhood previously ignored by developers and policy-makers alike.
The short film “Painting by Numbers” by Radheya Jegatheva will precede the feature film. “Painting by Numbers” won the Sally Stovall Planet Warrior Prize for Creativity in the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest 2023.
In Person, Thursday, April 18, 5 p.m. CDT
Epiphany Center, Chicago [Central]
Park Ridge Community Church [North]
In Person, Thursday, April 18, 5:15 p.m.
Good Shepherd Luth. Church [W Suburbs]
Maggie Burnette Stogner/2023/30 min/Water Justice, Conservation, Health
FILM DESCRIPTION: "Upstream, Downriver" takes viewers into the heart of the battle for water justice. Powerful stories with frontline community activists are interwoven with historical context about landmark regulations.
Giorgio Ghiotto/2023/30 min/Water Justice, Conservation, Health, People & Cultures
FILM DESCRIPTION: Vidal Merma, a Peruvian Indigenous journalist, risks his life daily to secure a future where his son, Erik, can savor the simple joy of drinking clean water. This film won the 2023 Gold Medal in the Student Academy Awards.
Two short films will precede the feature films: “The Island” by Mahmut Taş and “Submerged” by Neo Sky James. “Submerged” tied for the Animation Prize in the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest 2023.
In Person, Saturday, April 20, 1:30 p.m.
Oak Park Public Library [W Suburbs]
Austin Branch Library [West]
Join us to see 7 short, winning films from the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest.
Badlands Bloom by Atiyeh Hess and Honei Semsar/2017/4 min; Green Gone by
Tess Moretti-Hill, Gabriel Jeffers, Mahea Dunn, Keanu Frith/2019/3 min; Bad Bugs by Bryn Wright/2021/2 min; Sporktagion by students of Heritage Middle School (Berwyn, Illinois)/2013/8 min; Submerged by Neo Sky James/2023/4 min; No Time to Waste, by students of Dryden Elementary School (Arlington Hts., Illinois)/2019/3 min; and My Brand New Car by Paulina Verdalet/2023/3 min.
2023 Films
Saturday, March 4, 10 a.m. CST
In Person, Oak Park Public Library
Oak Park, IL [W Suburbs]
Saturday, March 4, 10 a.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
We welcome our youngest environmentalists to join us for four award-winning short films, engaging discussions, and an interactive Weather Jam! At-home Watch Party attendees, bring some fun handheld instruments or noisemakers to the virtual screening, to join us as we jam.
CLOUD CHAOS
Athena Ousley/2021/2 min/Wildlife, Family
COOL FOR YOU
Sherene Strausberg/2022/3 min/Climate Change, Family
HUSH HUSH LITTLE BEAR [Čuči čuči]
Māra Liniņa/2022/4 min/Wildlife,Family
SWEET COCOON
Matéo Bernard, Matthias Bruget, Jonathan Duret, Manon Marco, Quentin Puiraveau/2014/6 min/Wildlife, Family
Tickets available to North American viewers only.
Saturday, March 4, 10:45 a.m. CST
In Person, Oak Park Public Library
Oak Park , IL [W Suburbs]
Saturday, March 4, 10:45 a.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
Young environmentalists, join us for three award-winning short films and discussion, where we'll get loud about our planet! We'll also settle in to contemplate and celebrate the power of creativity, art, and nature.
BIRTH OF FORM [Kuumba Umbo]
Ekaterina Ogorodnikova/2021/7 min/People & Culture, Wildlife, Historical Perspectives, Family
CRACKED
Mahmut Taş/2021/5 min/Water, Climate Change, Family
HARGILA
Gerrit Vyn/2022/28min/Wildlife, Conservation, People & Culture, Environmental Advocacy, Family
Lucas Sabean, Peter Hutchison/2021/82 min/Health & Environment, Energy, Historical Perspectives
Sunday, March 5, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
MIDWEST PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Uniquely structured upon the personal storytelling of native West Virginians, “Devil Put The Coal In The Ground” is a meditation on the suffering and devastation brought on by the coal industry and its decline. From the realities of a crumbling economy, to the ravages of the opioid epidemic, to the irreparable environmental damage and its tragic impact on human health—the film is a cautionary tale of unfettered corporate power, and an elegy to a vanishing Appalachia.
Friday, March 10, 6:30 p.m. CST
In Person, North Park Village
Nature Center, Chicago , IL [North]
Friday, March 10, 6:30 p.m.
In Person, Windsor Park Evangelical
Lutheran Church, Chicago, IL [South]
Friday, March 10, 6:30 p.m. CST
In Person, Euclid Ave. United
Methodist Church, Oak Park [W Suburbs]
Friday, March 10, 6:30 p.m. CST
In Person, Four Rivers Environmental
Education Ctr., Channahon [Will County]
Friday, March 10, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
THE FALCONER
Annie Kaempfer/2021/75 min/Wildlife, Conservation, Environmental & Social Justice, Youth
FILM DESCRIPTION: This intimate portrait film follows master falconer Rodney Stotts on his mission to build a bird sanctuary and provide access to nature for his stressed community.
MARDI & THE WHITES
Paula Champagne/2022/11 min/Wildlife, Conservation, People & Culture, Youth
FILM DESCRIPTION: Mardi Fuller has a rich relationship with nature that has evolved and deepened throughout her life.
Richard Dale, Nigel Walk/2021/90 min/Waste & Recycling, Built Environment
PRE-FEST
Tuesday, February 21, 5 p.m. CST
In Person, Loyola University, Chicago, IL [North]
Thursday, March 9, 6:30 p.m. CST
In Person, Waubonsee Com. College
Aurora, IL [Kane County]
Thursday, March 9, 6:30 p.m. CST
In Person, Maine South High School
Park Ridge, IL [North]
$8 Admission
Thursday, March 9, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: “Going Circular” dares to imagine a future where humankind not only survives, but flourishes, by rethinking global paradigms and respecting the limits of our planetary resources.
Meet four groundbreaking thinkers who navigate environmental, economic, and social crises of the modern age. They each discover that the solutions for creating a circular economy and planet have already been perfected in nature itself.
Lars Henrik Ostenfeld/2022/86 min/Climate Change
Monday, March 6, 6:30 p.m. CST
In Person, Gorton Center
Lake Forest, IL [Lake County]
$10 Admission, $5 Students
Monday, March 6, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Lars Henrik Ostenfeld travels to Greenland with three of the world’s leading glaciologists to see just how fast the ice sheet is melting, and to understand the consequences of climate change. The ice at the poles is melting, which will result in enormous rises in sea level and have major consequences for the world. But how fast will it really go?
In the Greenland ice sheet we can see our future. The film travels with pioneering glaciologists on their expeditions into the inland ice of Greenland. Top-notch science meets breathtaking visuals when one of them descends into a 200 meter deep moulin hole to find out about the bottom of the ice sheet. What they find may sound the alarm for our planet's climate and is a clear call to act now.
Tickets available to U.S. viewers only.
Tuesday, March 7, 6:30 p.m. CST
In Person, Southeast Environmental
Task Force, Chicago, IL [South]
Tuesday, March 7, 6:30 p.m. CST
In Person, McKinley Park Fieldhouse, Chicago, IL [South]
Tuesday, March 7, 6:30 p.m. CST
In Person, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Oak Park, IL [W Suburbs]
Tuesday, March 7, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
NO CLIMATE. NO EQUITY. NO DEAL.
Fenell Doremus, Danny Alpert/2022/21 min/Environmental & Social Justice, Climate Change, Energy, Environmental Advocacy
FILM DESCRIPTION: This film follows the grassroots movements in Illinois that led to the passage of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act.
WASTELAND: IOWA
Elisa Gambino/2022/28 min/Environmental & Social Justice, Health & Environment, Environmental Advocacy, Food & Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: For more than 150 years farmers in Iowa have been raising corn & pigs and the people of Iowa have been drinking untreated water from rivers polluted with nitrogen fertilizers, pesticides and livestock excrement.
Friday, March 3, 6:30 p.m. CST
Filmmakers Toast, 6 p.m.
In Person, Park Tavern, Chicago [West]
Friday, March 3, 7:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
Help make some noise for the planet, as One Earth launches its 12th festival season! Enjoy appetizers, drinks, and mingling with filmmakers, environmentalists, activists, and like-minded guests—all ready to rally for our one Earth. A brief program will begin promptly at 7:30 p.m., with a previous One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest-winning film (“A Revolution Dance Against Petcoke”); opening remarks by Angela Tovar, Chicago’s Chief Sustainability Officer; and the exclusive screening of a short film (that’s not on the week’s festival schedule), followed by a keynote from Jahmal Cole, Founder & CEO of the change-making Chicago-based youth nonprofit, My Block, My Hood, My City (M3). M3’s mission speaks to how justice and empowerment—tools for restoring both people and planet—can remake our blocks, our neighborhoods, our cities, our countries, and our world.
Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso/2022/77 min/Energy, Environmental & Social Justice, People & Culture, Historical Perspectives
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
VIEW & BREW
Wednesday, March 8, 6:30 p.m.
In Person, Pilot Project Brewing
Chicago, IL [North]
$25 Admission
Wednesday, March 8, 6:30 p.m. CST
In Person, Oak Park Public Library
Oak Park, IL [W Suburbs]
Wednesday, March 8, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: A young Navajo filmmaker investigates displacement of Indigenous people and devastation of the environment caused by the same chemical companies that have exploited the land where she was born. On this personal and political journey she learns from Indigenous activists across three continents.
Tickets available to North American viewers only.
Camilla Becket, James Becket/2021/82 min/Historical Perspectives, Food & Agriculture, Environmental Advocacy, People & Culture
Saturday, March 4, 6:30 p.m. CST
In Person, First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, Chicago [Central]
Saturday, March 4, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: From the Himalayan forests to the Sydney Peace Prize: how environmental activist, author and Indian scientist Dr. Vandana Shiva became the rock star of the organic food movement.
Impressed by Einstein at an early age, Shiva studied physics then philosophy in India and Canada. She came to understand that science cannot be ‘one-eyed' and must consider all elements at play. This attitude led her to form Navdanya in 1991, a national movement to protect living resources. The grassroots initiative established over 40 seed banks across India, and her galvanizing activism put her at loggerheads with GMO multinational Monsanto and others. Not just a voice for the environment, Shiva also championed social justice, farmers' and women's rights. In 2010, she was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize.
Tickets available globally except to viewers in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.
Rachel Lears/2022/106 min/Environmental Advocacy, Climate Change, Youth
VIEW & BREW
Sunday, March 12, 11 a.m. CDT
In Person, Tavern at Haymarket Pub & Brewery, Chicago, IL [West]
$25 Admission
Sunday, March 12, 11 a.m. CDT
In Person, The Well Spirituality Center
LaGrange Park, IL [W Suburbs]
Sunday, March 12, 11 a.m. CDT
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: Filmed over four years of hope and crisis, “To the End” captures the emergence of a new generation of leaders and the movement behind the most sweeping climate change legislation in U.S. history. The award-winning team follows four exceptional young women— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, activist Varshini Prakash, climate policy writer Rhiana Gunn-Wright, and political strategist Alexandra Rojas—as they grapple with new challenges of leadership and power and work together to defend their generation’s right to a future.
Alejandro Loayza Grisi/2022/87 min/Water, People & Culture
Saturday, March 11, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: This visually jaw-dropping debut feature by photographer-turned-filmmaker Alejandro Loayza Grisi is lensed by award-winning cinematographer Barbara Alvarez (Lucrecia Martel’s “The Headless Woman”) and won the Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema Dramatic) at the Sundance Film Festival.
In the arid Bolivian highlands, an elderly Quechua couple has been living a tranquil life for years. While he takes their small herd of llamas out to graze, she keeps house and walks for miles with the other local women to fetch precious water. When an uncommonly long drought threatens everything they know, Virginio and Sisa must decide whether to stay and maintain their traditional way of life or admit defeat and move in with family members in the city. Their dilemma is precipitated by the arrival of their grandson Clever, who comes to visit with news.
Tickets available to viewers in the state of Illinois only.
2022 Films
Damon Gameau/2019/92 min/ Environmental & Social Justice, People & Cultures, Climate Change
Monday, March 7, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: Motivated by concerns about the planet that his 4-year-old daughter would inherit, award-winning director Damon Gameau embarked on a global journey to meet innovators and change-makers in the areas of economics, technology, civil society, agriculture, education and sustainability. This journey is the central premise for the documentary 2040, a story of hope that looks at the very real possibility that humanity could reverse global warming and improve the lives of every living thing in the process. It is a positive vision of what ‘could be’, instead of the dystopian future we are so often warned about.
Tickets available to viewers in the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. only.
Friday, March 4, 6 p.m. CST
The Plant, Chicago
The Festival Launch Party will feature a riveting filmmakers panel, award-winning short films from our Young Filmmakers Contest, and other special guest appearances. We'll end the evening with pizza and drinks at the adjoining Whiner Beer Company downstairs for our in-person guests, and some continuing online festivities for our virtual attendees. What a fun way to usher in a brand new spring season. Plus, proceeds from this event help us to keep our change-making events free, so that more people can participate in climate action. Join us!
Raj Patel and Zak Piper/2021/74 min/Climate Change, Environmental & Social Justice, Sustainable Food-Agriculture
Wednesday, March 9, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
Wednesday, March 9, 6 p.m. CST [West]
In Person, Chicago Public Library, Austin Branch
FILM DESCRIPTION: Anita Chitaya has a gift; she can help bring abundant food from dead soil, she can make men fight for gender equality, and she can end child hunger in her village. Now, to save her home from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real. Traveling from Malawi to America, she meets climate skeptics and despairing farmers. Her journey takes her across all the divisions shaping the US, from the rural-urban divide, to schisms of race, class and gender, to the thinking that allows Americans to believe they live on a different planet from everyone else. It will take all her skill to help Americans free themselves from a logic that is destroying the Earth.
Tickets available to U.S. viewers only.
Lucy Walker/2021/127 min/Climate Change, Conservation, Sustainable Architecture
Saturday, March 5, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: Raging, out-of-control wildfires have become part of the new normal around the globe, leaving heartbreaking devastation and death in their wake. In California, this harsh reality was underscored on Nov. 8, 2018, when several parts of the state were ablaze: the Camp Fire was ravaging most of the Northern California town of Paradise, and the Woolsey Fire was roaring through Malibu in the south. In the aftermath, residents face unthinkable loss. As they struggle to rebuild, they debate what could be done to prevent further tragedy.
Tickets available to U.S. viewers only.
Mads Ellesøe/2020/58 min/Environmental Advocacy, Historical Perspectives, Energy
Sunday, March 13, 3 p.m. CDT
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: The planet's largest oil companies were among the first to detect global warming. Instead of taking action, they launched a campaign that has derailed the fight against climate change. A shocking investigation uncovers what these institutions have done to impede the battle against climate change. Companies fired scientists who spoke out, and public perception was purposely manipulated. As the scale and urgency of the climate crisis are becoming undeniably clear, the impact these actions may have had on the race to save the planet is more startling than ever.
Tickets available to North American viewers only.
Will screen with Let Us Breathe.
Holly Morris/2022/88 min/People & Cultures, Environmental & Social Justice, Environmental Advocacy
International Women’s Day
Tuesday, March 8, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: During one of the most chaotic polar seasons in history, 11 women from the Arab World and the West struggle together to reach climate change ground zero: The North Pole. As the travelers face wild challenges—from Russian helicopter crashes and moving Arctic sea ice to punishing frostbite and navigation of the harsh, barren landscape—Exposure tells an exciting story of resilience and intense camaraderie.
Tickets available to viewers from the Midwest to East Coast only.
Serena Davies/2020/58 min/Wildlife, Climate Change, Health
Sunday, March 13, 6:30 p.m. CDT
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: English broadcaster and historian, Sir David Attenborough, has encountered some of the world's most extraordinary animals and plants. But many of these wonders may now be destined to disappear from our planet forever. With 1 million species at risk of extinction, the huge variety of life on earth, known as biodiversity, is being lost at a rate never seen before in human history. This is a crisis not just for the natural world but for every one of us. This mass extinction threatens our food and water security, undermines our ability to control our climate and even puts us at greater risk for more pandemics.
Tickets available to U.S. viewers only.
Irja von Bernstorff/2021/88 min/Environmental Advocacy, Environmental & Social Justice, Health, Sustainable Food-Agriculture, Waste, Water
Sunday, March 13, 11 a.m. CDT
Virtual Watch Party
Sunday, March 13, 10:30 a.m. CDT
In Person, Institute of Cultural Affairs, Chicago [North]
FILM DESCRIPTION: Girls for Future follows four girls from Senegal, Indonesia, Australia and India who fight for a better future. Between the ages of 11 and 14, they are all directly affected by the consequences of environmental destruction. In the film, we see the global water crisis as it is playing out in Senegal. A visit to the girl from Indonesia highlights plastic waste pollution. A segment on the girl from India reveals the effects of the agricultural crisis. Finally, the Australian girl reveals the fatal destruction found within oceans and on land due to climate change.
Recommended for middle school+ general audiences.
Tickets available globally except to viewers in Germany, Switzerland, France and Austria.
Chris Cresci/2020/10 min/Environmental & Social Justice, Conservation, People & Cultures
Saturday, March 12, 11 a.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: Join Teresa Baker and a group of diverse outdoor leaders as they become the first members of the public to explore Harold Richardson Redwoods Reserve, a massive, newly discovered, old growth redwood grove recently protected by Save The Redwoods League. #EveryoneOutside is focused on creating a more inclusive and culturally diverse outdoor community by elevating the profiles, work, and stories of marginalized athletes, leaders, organizations, and affinity groups, as well as empowering minority members of our community by increasing access to essential outdoor skills and activities.
Will screen with Understory: A Journey Through the Tongass.
Costa Boutsikaris and Anna Palmer/2020/76 min/Health, Sustainable Food-Agriculture, Historical Perspectives
Saturday, March 12, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
Saturday, March 12, 6 p.m. CST
In Person, First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, Chicago [Central]
FILM DESCRIPTION: Inhabitants follows five Native American Tribes as they restore their relationships to the land using ancient practices that nurture life. For millennia Native Americans stewarded and shaped their landscapes, but centuries of colonization have disrupted their ability to maintain traditional land management practices. From deserts, coastlines, forests, mountains and prairies, Native communities are restoring their ancient relationships with the land. As the climate crisis escalates, these time-tested practices of North America's original inhabitants are becoming increasingly essential in a rapidly changing world.
Lizabeth Frohwein, Alisa Gao, Katie Jahns, Alexandria Wilt/15 min/2021/Environmental & Social Justice, Climate Change, Health
Sunday, March 13, 3 p.m. CDT
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: Follow the story of two teenagers as they go up against a serial polluter (General Iron scrap metal) moving into their already overly industrialized neighborhood in the southeast side of Chicago. Destiny and Greg show us what it's like to grow up in an area with dangerous air pollution and why they deserve better.
Created by four student filmmakers from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
Will screen with The Campaign Against the Climate.
Namak Khoshnaw/2021/59 min/Climate Change, Environmental Advocacy, Environmental & Social Justice
Saturday, March 5, 3 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: With 2021 marked as the fifth hottest year on record, Life at 50 Degrees reveals how extreme temperatures around the world are wreaking havoc on nature, forcing climate migration, causing water shortages and triggering dangerous health conditions. By following people in seven countries, the film reveals the resourcefulness and resilience of many communities as they struggle to adapt and survive.
Anna Fitch/2019/53 min/Wildlife, Conservation, Water
Sunday, March 6, 3 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
Sunday, March 6, 2 p.m. CST
In Person, Urban Village Church-West, River Forest [W Suburbs]
FILM DESCRIPTION: The octopus may be the closest we get to meeting an alien. They evolved from a common cousin more than 500 million years ago and have proven themselves as intelligent creatures with problem-solving abilities. So what happens when you invite an eight-legged alien into your living room? This documentary follows marine biologist David Scheel as he tracks his evolving relationship with an octopus.
Recommended for ages 8+ general audiences.
Tara Eng, Kristen Harrison, Alex Klein, and Alisha Tamarchenko/2021/25 min/Environmental & Social Justice, Health, Climate Change, Energy
Sunday, March 6, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
Sunday, March 6, 5:30 p.m. CST
In Person, Euclid Ave. United Methodist Church, Oak Park [W Suburbs]
FILM DESCRIPTION: On the Fenceline: A Fight for Clean Air is an urgent call for justice for Philadelphia's low-income communities. After years of living on the fenceline of the east coast’s largest oil refinery and suffering from several critical health issues – including cancer, asthma, and COPD – residents have come together to stand up to CEOs and fight for their right to breathe.
Will screen with The Sacrifice Zone: Life in an Industrial Wasteland.
Robin Frohardt/2021/57 min/Waste, Water, People & Cultures
Friday, March 11, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
Friday, March 11, 6 p.m. CST
In Person, McKinley Park Fieldhouse, Chicago [South]
Friday, March 11, 6 p.m. CST
In Person, Maine South High School Library, Park Ridge [North]
Friday, March 11, 6 p.m. CST
In Person, Philadelphia Church, Chicago [North}
FILM DESCRIPTION: A dynamic series of stories that traverse ancient history, the present day and a future dystopia, employing inventive puppetry, humor and craft to explore how the hordes of plastic waste we leave behind today might be misinterpreted by future generations.
Recommended for ages 12+ general audiences.
Peter Nelson/2019/92 min/Sustainable Food-Agriculture, Conservation, Wildlife
Sunday, March 6, 11 a.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
Sunday, March 6, 10 a.m. CST [Central]
In Person, Navy Pier, Peoples Energy Welcome Pavilion
FILM DESCRIPTION: Honey bee colonies are dying at extraordinary rates. Close to half of the bee colonies in the United States are collapsing every year. The Pollinators takes us on a cinematic journey across the United States following migratory beekeepers and their truckloads of honey bees as they pollinate the flowers that become the fruits, nuts and vegetables we eat. Hear farmers, scientists, chefs, economists and academics explain the threats to honey bees and what it means to our food security.
Tickets available to U.S. viewers only.
Julie Winokur/2020/32 min/Environmental & Social Justice, Health, Climate Change
Sunday, March 6, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
Sunday, March 6, 5:30 p.m. CST
In Person, Euclid Ave. United Methodist Church, Oak Park [W Suburbs]
FILM DESCRIPTION: The Ironbound district of Newark, New Jersey, is one of the most toxic neighborhoods in the country. Maria Lopez-Nuñez, a Honduran-American resident there, is waging war for environmental justice. She is part of the Ironbound Community Corporation, one of the country's most effective environmental justice organizations. The Sacrifice Zone follows Maria as she leads a group of activists determined to break the cycle of communities impacted by environmental racism, serving as dumping grounds for our consumer society.
Will screen with On the Fenceline: A Fight for Clean Air.
Margarida Cardoso/2021/40 min/Conservation, Wildlife, Health
Saturday, March 12, 11 a.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: Understory follows three women who set sail on a 350 mile expedition through Alaska’s massive Tongass National Forest. With individual connections to the rainforest, their goal is to explore how clearcut logging in this coastal rainforest could affect local communities and our planet’s climate while taking audiences on a journey through the beautiful, wild Tongass.
Will screen with Here We Stand.
Saturday, March 5, 11 a.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
The Short Story of a Fox and a Mouse
Camille Chaix, Hugo Jean, Juliette Jourdan, Marie Pillier, and Kevin Roger/2017/6.5 min/Wildlife, Environmental Advocacy
FILM DESCRIPTION: Watch this beautiful and touching award-winning 3D animated short as a lonesome fox hunts a mouse—and their relationship evolves as two owls begin to interfere with the hunt.
Blackout
J. Williams-Wood/2013/7 min/People & Cultures, Health, Environmental Advocacy
FILM DESCRIPTION: Narrated by Oscar-nominee Stanley Tucci, the almost-luminously animated Blackout focuses on a young boy and his family in a city apartment on a hot summer night.
Hopper’s Day
Jingqi Zhang/2021/5 min/Water, Wildlife
FILM DESCRIPTION: Water is a precious resource in an abandoned quarry, where a small grasshopper competes for access with an army of ants while trying to avoid a hungry crow and lizard. The water Hopper wants is not just a selfish desire, but for a glorious garden oasis hidden in an old boot.
Recommended for ages 3 to 8+.
"Once upon a time I conquered," said the Climate Catastrophe. "Once upon a time I changed the story," Climate Activists replied. —Vanessa Nakate
Saturday, March 12, 3 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
We invite you to join us for the 10th season of the Young Filmmakers Contest Awards & Screenings. You'll see the incredible films of motivated and inspired young people from ages 8 to 25. Their efforts show us there is a new generation of talented and wise environmental leaders and communicators. Join us at the premiere screenings of the winning films, to be inspired by their creativity, and to learn more about the non-profit organizations that will benefit from matching grants the winners receive. Founding Director of the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest Sue Crothers will introduce guest host, Adam Joel, of Aggressively Compassionate, for another entertaining awards event.
Recommended for ages 8+ general audiences.
Slater Jewell-Kemker/2021/89 min/Climate Change, Environmental Advocacy, People & Cultures, Environmental & Social Justice
Thursday, March 10, 6:30 p.m. CST
Virtual Watch Party
FILM DESCRIPTION: Youth Unstoppable takes us inside the rise of the Global Youth Climate Movement. 15-year-old Slater Jewell-Kemker began documenting the untold stories of youth on the front lines of climate change, refusing to let their futures slip away. Over the course of 12 years and set against stunning visuals of a planet in crisis, Slater follows the evolution of a diverse network of youth rising up to shape the world they will live in.
General audiences/teens + young adults especially encouraged to attend!
2021 Films
Friday, March 5, 6:30 p.m. CST
A decade...A 10-spot...two hands...whatever you call it, we’ve made it 10 years! Help us celebrate, whether you’ve been with us since 2012 or are just joining us this year. Jenn White, host of NPR’s nationally syndicated show, 1A, will lead a riveting online conversation with three special guest filmmakers: Anthony Baxter, Director of “Flint: Who Can You Trust?” Christi Cooper, Director of “Youth v Gov;” and Sanjay Rawal, Director of “Gather.” We’ll also see trailers and a Young Filmmakers Contest winning film. Angela Tovar, Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Chicago will help us kick things off.
Dave Mayers/2020/18 min/Health, People & Cultures, Social Justice
Monday, March 8, 6:30 p.m. CST
International Women’s Day
FILM DESCRIPTION: Not seeing herself reflected in the community she loves, mountain biker, skier and artist Brooklyn Bell created her own role model: a hand-drawn hero called Ruby J. With Ruby J as a guide, Brooklyn spent the next few years trying to “live like her, breathe like her, be unapologetically black like her,” and in the process shaped her own identity, one that intertwines her love for dirt, snow and art—and a voice with which to advocate for diversity and inclusion.
This film will precede “Maxima.”
Michael Peterson and Steven Hawley/2019/51 min/Water, Wildlife
Wednesday, March 10, 6:30 p.m. CST
FILM DESCRIPTION: For eons, a one-of-a-kind population of killer whales has hunted chinook salmon along the Pacific Coast of the United States. For the last 40 years, renowned whale scientist Ken Balcomb has closely observed them. He’s familiar with a deadly pattern, as salmon numbers plummet, the whales starve.
These important mammals need roughly a million salmon a year. Where can we find them? The solution, says Balcomb, is getting rid of four fish-killing dams 500 miles away on the largest tributary to what once was the largest chinook producing river on earth.
This film will follow “Mermaids Against Plastic.”
Anjali Nayar and Senain Kheshgi/2020/23 min/Energy, Social Justice, Health
Sunday, March 14, 3 p.m. CDT
FILM DESCRIPTION: Sadly, the majority of Los Angeles industrial oil drilling activity takes place in communities of color and low-income communities. “District 15” highlights the hope and tenacity of the young activists of Wilmington, California, as they push the L.A. City Council to prohibit new and existing oil and gas drilling operations within 2,500 feet of homes, schools and hospitals. Communities for a Better Environment is behind this effort. The group does critical work on environmental justice and empowers Californian communities to stand up to polluting industries and build a green energy future.
This film will precede “Reclamation: The Rise at Standing Rock.”
Louie Schwartzberg/2019/81 min/Wildlife, Conservation, Food & Agriculture, Waste
Sunday, March 14, 6:30 p.m. CDT
FILM DESCRIPTION: When so many are struggling for connection, inspiration and hope, “Fantastic Fungi” brings us together as interconnected creators of our world. “Fantastic Fungi” is a consciousness-shifting film about the mycelium network that takes us on an immersive journey through time and scale into the magical earth beneath our feet, an underground network that can heal and save our planet. Through the eyes of renowned scientists and mycologists like Paul Stamets, best-selling authors like Michael Pollan, Eugenia Bone, Andrew Weil and others, we become aware of the beauty, intelligence and solutions that fungi kingdom offers in response to some of our most pressing medical, therapeutic, and environmental challenges.
Tickets available to North American viewers only.
Anthony Baxter/2020/119 min/Social Justice, Water, People & Cultures, Health
Saturday, March 6, 6:30 p.m. CST
FILM DESCRIPTION: Filmed over 5 years and long after the story was front page news, “Flint: Who Can You Trust?” is full of new twists and turns. Journalist/filmmaker Anthony Baxter goes beyond the headlines in Flint, Michigan, where a government poisoned its own citizens’ water supply, to show the complete breakdown of authority, public trust and faith in the truth itself. “Flint” is a powerful investigation of the breathtaking scope of toxic pseudo-science, celebrity activism, and official negligence. The film reveals the devastating impact on poor people and people of color, which make up the majority of the residents in Flint, as they continue to seek justice and clean water. Featuring Marc Ruffalo and narrated by Alec Baldwin. Produced by Richard Phinney and Sabrina Schmidt Gordon.
Tickets available to U.S. viewers only.
Sanjay Rawal/2020/83 min/Food & Agriculture, Historical Perspectives, People & Cultures, Social Justice
Saturday, March 6, 3 p.m. CST
FILM DESCRIPTION: “Gather” is an intimate portrait of the growing movement among Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide. “Gather” follows Nephi Craig, a chef from the White Mountain Apache Nation (Arizona), opening an Indigenous café as a nutritional recovery clinic; Elsie Dubray, a young scientist from the Cheyenne River Sioux Nation (South Dakota), conducting landmark studies on bison; and the Ancestral Guard, a group of environmental activists from the Yurok Nation (Northern California), trying to save the Klamath river.
Jared P. Scott/2019/92 min/Climate Change, Health, Social Justice, People & Cultures
Tuesday, March 9, 6:30 p.m. CST
FILM DESCRIPTION: Take an epic journey along Africa's Great Green Wall—an ambitious vision to grow an 8,000km "Wall" of trees stretching across the entire width of the continent to restore land and provide a future for millions of people. Traversing Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Niger and Ethiopia, Malian musician and activist, Inna Modja follows the burgeoning Great Green Wall through Africa’s Sahel region—one of the most vulnerable places on earth (temperatures are rising 1.5 times faster than the global average)—laying bare the acute consequences of accelerating climate change the Wall aims to counteract: drought, resource scarcity, radicalization, conflict and migration. By Executive Producer Fernando Meirelles (Academy Award and Golden Globe Nominated Director of City of God and the Constant Gardener).
Tickets available to U.S. viewers only.
Philip Hunt/2020/36 min/Family, Advocacy, Wildlife
Saturday, March 6, 11 a.m. CST
FILM DESCRIPTION: “Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth” is about a precocious 7-year-old who, over the course of Earth Day, learns about the wonders of the planet from his parents and from a mysterious exhibit at the aptly titled Museum of Everything. Based on the best-selling book by Oliver Jeffers. Voiced by film stars Chris O'Dowd (Moone Boy), Ruth Negga (Preacher and Loving), Jacob Tremblay (Room and Wonder) and the inimitable Meryl Streep.
Rebecca Tickell and Josh Tickell/2020/84 min/Food & Agriculture, Climate Change, Health, Waste
Saturday, March 13, 11 a.m. CST
FILM DESCRIPTION: Narrated and featuring Woody Harrelson, “Kiss the Ground” is an inspiring and groundbreaking film that explores the first viable solution to our climate crisis. “Kiss the Ground” reveals that, by regenerating the world’s soils, we can completely and rapidly stabilize Earth’s climate, restore lost ecosystems and create abundant food supplies. Using compelling graphics and visuals, along with striking NASA and NOAA footage, the film artfully illustrates how, by drawing down atmospheric carbon, soil is the missing piece of the climate puzzle. This movie is positioned to catalyze a movement to accomplish the impossible–to solve humanity’s greatest challenge, to balance the climate and secure our species’ future.
Ann Kaneko/2020/82 min/Historical Perspectives, Social Justice, Water, People & Cultures
Sunday, March 7, 3 p.m. CST
FILM DESCRIPTION: “Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust” provides a fresh interpretation of the Japanese American confinement site by examining the environmental and political history behind the World War II camp. Prior to the war, Manzanar was where Native Americans were driven out and farmers and ranchers were bought out by the L.A. Department of Water and Power (LADWP). By connecting this camp to California’s environmental history, this film shows the intersectionality of how Japanese Americans, Indigenous communities, and locals have been mistreated by government entities that have not served the interests of all of their citizenry. This film aspires to bridge these communities and engage in important public discussion. Manzanar is a site of conscience that all of these communities can claim as their own.
Tickets available to U.S. viewers only.
Claudia Sparrow/2019/53 min/People & Cultures, Social Justice, Historical Perspectives, Water
Monday, March 8, 6:30 p.m. CST
International Women’s Day
FILM DESCRIPTION: “Maxima” follows Peruvian indigenous farmer Máxima Acuña in her fight to protect her land as she stands up to the largest gold producer in the world: US-based Newmont Mining Corporation. Throughout Máxima’s fight for justice, the film provides an illustrative case study in the tactics used by transnational corporations to commit human rights violations and environmental crimes, the role played by non-profits and The World Bank, and, ultimately, the resilience of one woman who refuses to back down.
Tickets available to U.S. viewers only.
This film will follow “Becoming Ruby.”
Sylvia Johnson/2020/10 min/Waste, Water, Health, Wildlife
Wednesday, March 10, 6:30 p.m. CST
FILM DESCRIPTION: “Mermaids Against Plastic: Tamara,” is a short film revealing the extent of the marine plastic pollution problem in the Mexican Caribbean. The film follows a diver as she searches for solutions to protect the ocean she loves. Tamara is from the ocean and water runs in her veins. Born in a fishing village on the Mexican coast, she returned to her roots to become 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.
This film will precede “Dammed to Extinction.”
Debby Lee Cohen and Atsuko Quirk/2019/79 min/Family, Youth, Waste, Advocacy, Health
Sunday, March 14, 11 a.m. CDT
FILM DESCRIPTION: “Microplastic Madness” is the story of 56 fifth graders from Public School 15 in Red Hook, Brooklyn, living in the frontline of the climate crisis. Their actions on plastic pollution morph into extraordinary leadership and scalable victories. With stop-motion animation, heartfelt kid commentary, and interviews of experts and renowned scientists who are engaged in the most cutting edge research on the harmful effects of microplastics, this alarming, yet charming narrative, conveys an urgent message in user-friendly terms.
Scott Saunders/2020/68 min/Conservation, Health, Wildlife, Food & Agriculture
Friday, March 12, 6:30 p.m. CST
FILM DESCRIPTION: “The Nature Makers” is a moving portrait of passionate people and the extraordinary creatures they’re fighting to preserve. In a world increasingly dominated by humans, three teams of wildlife conservationists go to seemingly unnatural lengths to try to save threatened species and habitat in the American heartland. Stunningly photographed in the Grand Canyon and on the American prairie, “The Nature Makers” follows rugged biologists who’ve deployed helicopters, giant bulldozers and a host of human tools to defend wild nature. In the 21st century, defending the wild often requires, quite paradoxically, technology and aggressive human intervention.
Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan/2020/106 min/Social Justice, Climate Change, Health, Food & Agriculture
Saturday, March 13, 6:30 p.m. CST
FILM DESCRIPTION: In the face of fracturing societies, climate change, and the hollowing out of democracy, “The New Corporation” is a cry for social justice, deeper democracy, and transformative solutions. From Joel Bakan and Jennifer Abbott, filmmakers of the multi-award-winning global hit “The Corporation,” comes this hard-hitting and timely sequel. “The Corporation” (2003) examined an institution within society. ”The New Corporation” reveals a world now fully remade in the corporation’s image, perilously close to losing democracy. We trace the devastating consequences, connecting the dots between then and now, and inspire with stories of resistance and change from around the world.
Tickets available to U.S. viewers only.
David Garrett Byars/2020/98 min/Conservation, Energy, Social Justice, People & Culture
Sunday, March 7, 6:30 p.m. CST
FILM DESCRIPTION: Our public lands and waters are under threat. Despite support from voters across the political spectrum, our public lands face unprecedented threats from extractive industries and the politicians in their pockets. Part love letter, part political exposé, “Public Trust” investigates how we arrived at this precarious moment through three heated conflicts—a national monument in the Utah desert, a mine in the Boundary Waters and oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—and makes a case for their continued protection.
Michele Noble/2018/23 min/Energy, Water, Social Justice, Health, People & Cultures
Sunday, March 14, 3 p.m. CDT
FILM DESCRIPTION: In 2016, Indigenous youth unite the Native Nations and rise up in spiritual solidarity against the Dakota Access Pipeline. These young Native Leaders honor their destiny by leading a peaceful movement of resistance which awakens the world.
Tickets available to U.S. viewers only.
This film will follow “District 15.”
Arne Gielen and Gertjan Hulster/2020/70 min/Transportation, Climate Change, Social Justice, People & Cultures
Sunday, March 7, 11 a.m. CST
FILM DESCRIPTION: The film “Together We Cycle” investigates the critical events that have led to the revival of Dutch cycling culture. For most people, cycling in the Netherlands seems a natural phenomenon. However, until the 1970s the development of mobility in the Netherlands followed trends across the globe. The bicycle had had its day, and the future belonged to the car. The only thing that had to be done was to adapt cities to the influx of cars.
Then Dutch society took a different turn. Against all odds people kept on cycling. Why this happened in the Netherlands has no easy answer. In “Together We Cycle,” key players tell the story of the bumpy road which led to the current state, where cycling is an obvious choice for most citizens.
Tickets available to viewers in any country except The Netherlands.
“The eyes of all future generations are upon you.” —Greta Thunberg
Saturday, March 13, 3 p.m. CST
We invite you to join us for the 9th season of the Young Filmmakers Contest Awards & Screenings. You'll see the incredible films of motivated and inspired young people from ages 8 to 25. Their efforts show us there is a new generation of talented and wise environmental leaders and communicators on the horizon. Join us at the premiere screenings of the winning films, to be inspired by their creativity, and to learn more about the non-profit organizations that will benefit from matching grants the winners receive. Founding Director of the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest Sue Crothers will introduce guest host, Adam Joel, of Aggressively Compassionate. He is a former contest winner for the film, "The Green Burger Challenge."
Christi Cooper/2020/109 min/Family, Youth, Climate Change, Advocacy, Social Justice
Thursday, March 11, 6:30 p.m. CST
FILM DESCRIPTION: “YOUTH v GOV” is the story of America’s youth taking on the world’s most powerful government. Since 2015, 21 plaintiffs, now ages 13 to 24, have been suing the U.S. government for violating their constitutional rights to life, liberty, personal safety, and property through its willful actions in creating the climate crisis these young people will inherit.
This is the story of empowered youth finding their voices and fighting to protect their rights and our collective future. This is a revolution designed to hold those in power accountable for the past and responsible for a sustainable future. And many of the movement’s leaders aren’t even old enough to vote. (Yet.)
Tickets available to U.S. viewers only.
2020 Films
Damon Gameau/2019/92 min/
Environmental & Social Justice, People & Culture , Climate Change
Thursday, Feb. 20, 6:30 p.m. [South]
Calumet College, Whiting, IN
Saturday, March 7, 3 p.m. [North]
St. Clement Parish School, Chicago
Wednesday, March 11, 6:30 p.m. [North]
Loyola University, Chicago
Thursday, Nov. 5, 7 p.m. [Lake C.]
Gorton Community Center, Lake Forest
Admission $10, Students $5
Simultaneous free virtual screening
POSTPONED
Friday, March 13, 6:30 p.m. [Central]
Navy Pier, Crystal Garden
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Motivated by concerns about the planet that his 4-year-old daughter would inherit, award-winning director Damon Gameau embarked on a global journey to meet innovators and change-makers in the areas of economics, technology, civil society, agriculture, education and sustainability.
Victor Velle/2019/76 min/Climate Change, Environmental Advocacy, People & Culture
Saturday, March 7, 12 p.m. [Central]
First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, Chicago
Saturday, March 7, 2 p.m.. [Lake County]
Catlow Theater, Barrington
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: “8 Billion Angels” tells the truth about the conflict between the size of our global population and the sustainability of our planet. It dispels the misconception that technology can save us, that reducing consumption is the answer, and that the blame lies solely in the developing world. With passion, humility, and honesty, experts explain the indisputable connection between our environmental catastrophes, unsustainable population and increasing consumption.
Krista Schyler/2019/57 min/Wildlife, Conservation , Environmental & Social Justice
Saturday, March 7, 3 p.m. [Lake County]
Waukegan Library, Waukegan
Wednesday, March 11, 6:30 p.m. [West]
Universidad Popular, Chicago
POSTPONED
Saturday, March 14, 3 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Triton College, River Grove
This film will screen with “Biomimicry.”
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: “Ay Mariposa” tells a story of three characters in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas whose lives are upended by plans to build a US-Mexico border wall. Meanwhile the butterfly, la mariposa, fights its own daily battle for survival in a landscape where more than 95 percent of its habitat is long gone and much of what remains lies directly in the path of the wall.
Ian Mauro/2018/49 min/Environmental & Social Justice, Health & the Environment, Historical Perspectives, Climate Change
POSTPONED
Saturday, March 14, 3 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: 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. Shot throughout the province over many years, the collective wisdom and perspectives of Indigenous leaders, local communities, scientists, and policymakers are featured.
John Chester/2018/91 min/Sustainable Food & Agriculture, Environmental Advocacy, People & Culture
Sunday, March 8, 5 p.m. [Central]
Cruz Blanca Brewery & Taqueria, Chicago
View & Brew
POSTPONED
Friday, March 13, 6:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Good Earth Greenhouse, River Forest
FILM DESCRIPTION: “The Biggest Little Farm” chronicles the 8-year quest of John and Molly Chester as they trade city living for 200 acres of barren farmland and a dream to harvest in harmony with nature. Through dogged perseverance and embracing the opportunity provided by nature's conflicts, the Chesters unlock and uncover a biodiverse design for living that exists far beyond their farm, its seasons, and our wildest imaginations. Featuring breathtaking cinematography, captivating animals, and an urgent message to heed Mother Nature’s call, “The Biggest Little Farm” provides us all a vital blueprint for better living and a healthier planet.
Leila Conners/2015/22 min/Environmental Advocacy, Wildlife, Health & the Environment
POSTPONED
Saturday, March 14, 3 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Triton College, River Grove
FILM DESCRIPTION: Janine Benyus describes how biomimicry has been applied to create design solutions that capture carbon, conserve water, eschew toxic chemicals in favor of structural approaches, and rethink materials, among others. “When you’re asking how to be better adapted on this planet, there are no better models than the species that have preceded us for billions of years,” said Benyus in the film.
“Biomimicry” is brought to you by Leonardo DiCaprio and his team. This film will screen with “Ay Mariposa.”
Presented in partnership with Wild Ones West Cook.
Chiwetel Ejiofor/2019/113 min/Energy, Environmental & Social Justice, People & Culture
Sunday, March 8, 11 a.m. [South]
St Benedict the African Parish, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: Against all the odds, a 13-year-old boy in Malawi invents an unconventional way to save his family and village from famine. “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” is based on the best selling book and true story of William Kamkwamba. Directed by and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and introducing Maxwell Simba.
Marcos Negrão/2019/90 min/People & Culture, Environmental Advocacy , Environmental & Social Justice
POSTPONED
Saturday, March 14, 10:15 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
POSTPONED
Saturday, March 14, 1 p.m. [South]
Jackson Park Fieldhouse, Chicago
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Captured over the course of three years, “Child of Nature” follows five stories of children from Kenya, Philippines, Syria, Canada, and Germany who, against all odds, are transforming their lives and their communities. These are stories of courage, hope, and generosity that will both amaze the mind and touch the heart.
Judith Helfand/2018/75 min/Historical Perspectives, Social Justice, Climate Change
Saturday, March 7, 11 a.m. [West]
Chicago Public Library, Austin Branch
Sunday, March 8, 2 p.m. [South]
Windsor Park Evangelical Lutheran Church, Chicago
Sunday, March 8, 2 p.m. [Lake County]
St. Joseph Church, Libertyville
Sunday, March 8, 2:30 p.m. [Central]
Old St. Patrick's Church, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: Chicago suffered the worst heat disaster in U.S history in 1995, when 739 residents – mostly elderly and black – died over the course of one week. As “Cooked” links the heat wave’s devastation back to the underlying manmade disaster of structural racism, it delves deeply into one of our nation’s biggest growth industries: Disaster Preparedness.
Sergio Mata’u Rapu and Elena Rapu/2018/70 min/Waste & Recycling, Climate Change, People & Culture
POSTPONED
Saturday, March 14, 3 p.m. [South]
Plant Chicago @ The Firehouse, Chicago
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: The iconic statues and sensationalized "mysteries" of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) have drawn the interest of the world for centuries, attracting curious visitors to its shores. Today, this tiny, barren island is experiencing an economic boon as tourism skyrockets. Yet the indigenous culture and the island’s fragile environment are suffering. In their own voices, these Rapanui reveal the reality of modern life and the actions they are taking to preserve their culture and environment amidst rapid development. “Eating Up Easter” reveals and suggests ways forward in tackling the universal complexities of balancing growth and sustainability faced by local communities worldwide.
Director/2019/53 min/Wildlife, Conservation, Family
Sunday, March 8, 12 p.m. [North]
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: For decades, Yellowstone National Park's ecosystem was out of balance. Its wolves had vanished, and its grizzly bears were pushed to the edge of extinction. Now, through conservation efforts and one of the most ambitious restoration projects in history, the carnivores have returned in record numbers. Host Bill Pullman gives you an up-close look into nature's dramas over the course of a year.
POSTPONED
Sunday, March 15, 4 p.m.
The Hatchery Chicago
135 N. Kedzie Ave., Chicago
It’s a wrap! We’ve marveled at the beauty and power of nature, discovered actions that can reverse climate change, and perhaps made a new friend or two. Now it’s time to use “The Power of We” to reflect on and celebrate the closing of One Earth's Day of Earth Action, as well as the conclusion of our 9th season.
Visit with action partners offering more opportunities to up your climate action game and dive deeper into the issues. Enjoy a brief program including a short, award-winning selection from our Young Filmmakers Contest. Plus -- mix, mingle and dance to the sounds of DJ Taz -- while enjoying soup, bread, beer and wine, as well as non-alcoholic beverages.
Louie Psihoyos/2018/85 mins/People & Culture, Health & the Environment, Sustainable Food & Agriculture
Saturday, March 7, 10 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Classic Cinemas Lake Theatre, Oak Park
FILM DESCRIPTION: Directed by Oscar®-winning documentary filmmaker Louie Psihoyos and executive produced by James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, Lewis Hamilton, Novak Djokovic, and Chris Paul, “The Game Changers” tells the story of James Wilks—elite Special Forces trainer and The Ultimate Fighter winner—as he travels the world on a quest to uncover the optimal diet for human performance. Showcasing elite athletes, special ops soldiers, visionary scientists, cultural icons, and everyday heroes, what James discovers permanently changes his understanding of food and his definition of true strength.
Werner Boote/2019/93 min/Environmental & Social Justice, Historical Perspectives
Tuesday, March 3, 7 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Dominican University, River Forest
Admission $7
FILM DESCRIPTION: “The Green Lie” questions the sustainable marketing images big global players made up over the past years to get back trust from the rising crowd of skeptical customers. What about fair palm oil? Is BP really Beyond Petrol? The camera follows the two protagonists around the globe, doing research and interviews with company speakers, philosophers, and with those fighting for a better and living friendly world.
Connor DeVane, Kristen Mico, and Cassie Goodluck-Johnson/2018/90 min/ Environmental Advocacy, Climate Change
Saturday, March 7, 1 p.m. [Lake County]
Prairie Crossing School, Grayslake
VIRTUAL
Thursday, March 12, 6:30 p.m. [North]
Truman College, Chicago
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: “Hike the Divide” follows jaded millennial Connor DeVane 2,700 miles from Canada to Mexico on the Continental Divide Trail as he seeks hope in the face of climate breakdown. The film, structured around a physical journey through environments both harsh and breathtakingly beautiful, shares the stories of the community activists and problem solvers Connor meets, marking a trail from apathy and resignation to hope and engagement.
Josh Fox/2016/125 min/Climate Change
Tuesday, February 18, 3:30 p.m. [Central]
UIC Latino Cultural Center, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: In How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can't Change, Oscar Nominated director Josh Fox (GASLAND) continues in his deeply personal style, investigating climate change – the greatest threat our world has ever known. Traveling to 12 countries on 6 continents, the film acknowledges that it may be too late to stop some of the worst consequences and asks, what is it that climate change can’t destroy? What is so deep within us that no calamity can take it away?
Danielle Ryan and James Sherwood /2018/95 min/Water, Climate Change, Conservation
Wednesday, March 11, 5:30 p.m. [Central]
Reception at 5:30 p.m., Film at 6:30 p.m.
Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: From Executive Producer Martin Sheen, “The Map to Paradise” is an adventure-filled and spectacularly gorgeous tale about the birth of the global movement to protect the sea. From underwater worlds of ice to glistening coral sanctuaries, discover what it takes to build a movement and to create positive change. Filmed across six continents, we meet a prince, a president, a pirate, and also an island chief — among others — who are all playing a role in the quest to save the planet.
Bob Dolgan, Mitchell Wenkus, Pat Nabong/2019/22 min/Wildlife , Conservation
LIVE VIRTUAL EVENT
Saturday, March 14, 12:30 p.m.
FILM DESCRIPTION: "Monty and Rose" tells the story of a pair of endangered piping plovers that successfully nested at Chicago's Montrose Beach in the summer of 2019, the first of the species to nest in Chicago in 64 years. The film chronicles these special birds and an unpredictable series of events including a proposed music festival that propelled the birds to national headlines. "Monty and Rose" features interviews with an array of key players in the story, including biologists, birders, volunteers and the advocates who spoke out when the music festival was proposed.
Liz Canning/2019/86 min/Built Environment: Transportation, People & Culture
Saturday, March 7, 6:30 p.m. [South]
Experimental Station, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: “Motherload” is a crowdsourced documentary about a new mom's quest to understand and promote the cargo bike movement in a gas-powered, digital and divided world. As Liz explores the burgeoning global movement to replace cars with purpose-built bikes, she learns about the bicycle's history and potential future as the ultimate "social revolutionizer." Her experiences as a cyclist, as a mother, and in discovering the cargo bike world, teach Liz that sustainability is not necessarily about compromise and sacrifice but that there are few things more empowering, in an age of consumption, than the ability to create everything from what seems to be nothing.
Rob Herring and Ryan Wirick/2019/96 min/Sustainable Food & Agriculture, Climate Change
Monday, March 9, 6 p.m. [Kane County]
Action Fair 6 p.m., Film 7 p.m.
Waubonsee Community College, Aurora
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: In a race against the end of farmable soil, three individuals fight for change in the industry of agricultural food production, calling for a revolution. "The Need to Grow" delivers alarming evidence on the importance of healthy soil — revealing not only the potential of localized food production working with nature, but our opportunity as individuals to help regenerate our planet’s dying soils and participate in the restoration of the Earth.
Friday, March 6, 5 to 9 p.m.
Tesla Gold Coast
901 N. Rush St., Chicago
$20 Champagne Toast, 5 p.m.
$20 Opening Launch Party, 6 p.m.
Attend our Pre-Party Filmmaker Toast, starting at 5 p.m. Take the opportunity to mix and mingle in a smaller, more intimate gathering. Join us for the official champagne toast to open the 2020 season and celebrate another year of engaging audiences and encouraging them to take action.
Then at 6 p.m., the bigger party begins. Enjoy food, wine, beer and soft drinks while you mix and mingle with friends. Meet filmmakers, hear what's hot at this year's Fest, and preview top trailers and Young Filmmakers Contest shorts. Plus, get your first peek at ways you can get involved and take action through One Earth.
Soozie Eastman/2019/68 min/Health & the Environment, People & Culture
Wed., March 11, 6:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
POSTPONED
Saturday, March 14, 3 p.m. [North]
Wilmette Theatre, Wilmette
Admission $10
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Soozie Eastman learns that hundreds of synthetic toxins are now found in every baby born in America and the government and chemical corporations are doing little to protect citizens and consumers. With guidance from world-renowned physicians and environmental leaders, interviews with scientists and politicians, and stories of everyday Americans, Soozie uncovers how we got to be so overloaded with chemicals and if there is anything we can do to take control of our exposure.
Louie Psihoyos/2015/90 min/Climate Change, Wildlife, Conservation, Water
POSTPONED
Thursday, March 12, 6 p.m. [Central]
Harold Washington Library Center
Chicago Public Library
FILM DESCRIPTION: We are in the midst of the 6th mass extinction. In “Racing Extinction,” a team of artists and activists exposes the hidden world of extinction with never-before-seen images that will change the way we see the planet. Two worlds drive extinction across the globe, potentially resulting in the loss of half of all species. The international wildlife trade creates bogus markets at the expense of creatures that have survived on this planet for millions of years. And the other surrounds us, hiding in plain sight — a world that the oil and gas companies don’t want the rest of us to see.
Annie Speicher & Matt Wechsler/2019/75 min/Sustainable Food & Agriculture, Health & the Environment , Environmental & Social Justice, Water
Sunday, March 8, 2:30 p.m. [South]
Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago
Monday, March 9, 6:30 p.m. [Central]
Northwestern University, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: Through the riveting stories of five American communities, “Right to Harm” exposes the devastating public health impact that factory farming has on many of our country's most disadvantaged citizens. Known formally as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations—or CAFOs—these facilities produce millions of gallons of untreated waste that destroy the quality of life for nearby neighbors. Fed up with the lack of regulation, these citizens-turned-activists band together from across the country to demand justice.
Ines Sommer/2019/83 min/Food & Agriculture, Climate Change
Sunday, March 8, 1 p.m. [Dupage County]
Elmhurst College, Elmhurst
CANCELED BY PATAGONIA
Thursday, March 12, 5:30 p.m. [Central]
Reception 5:30 p.m., Film 6:30 p.m.
Patagonia Chicago, Magnificent Mile
Admission $20
View & Brew
FILM DESCRIPTION: For a quarter-century, Henry Brockman has worked alongside nature to grow delicious organic vegetables on his idyllic Midwestern farm. But farming takes a toll on his aging body and Henry dreams of scaling back. While his former apprentices run the farm, Henry spends a “fallow year” with his wife Hiroko in Japan. But things don’t turn out as planned, and Henry must grapple with the future of farming in a changing climate on personal, generational, and global levels.
Deia Schlosberg/2019/90 min/Waste & Recycling
Tuesday, March 10, 5:30 p.m. [Central]
Reception 5:30 p.m., Film 6:30 p.m.
Malcolm X College, Chicago
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: “The Story of Plastic” is a seething expose uncovering the ugly truth behind the current global plastic pollution crisis. Striking footage shot over three continents illustrates the ongoing catastrophe: fields full of garbage, veritable mountains of trash; rivers and seas clogged with waste; and skies choked with the poisonous runoff from plastic production and recycling processes with no end in sight. Original animations, interviews with experts and activists, and never-before-filmed scenes reveal the disastrous consequences of the flood of plastic smothering ecosystems and poisoning communities around the world – and the global movement rising up in response.
Mat Hames/2018/63 min/Energy, Water
Tuesday, March 10, 6:30 p.m. [North]
Northwestern University, Evanston
POSTPONED
Friday, March 13, 6:30 p.m. [Lake]
College of Lake County, Grayslake
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: “Thirst for Power” is adapted from Dr. Michael E. Webber’s book “Thirst for Power: Energy, Water, and Human Survival.” Combining anecdotes and personal stories with insights into the latest science of energy and water, both the book and the documentary identify a hopeful path toward wise, long-range, water-energy decisions and a more reliable and abundant future for humanity.
Céline Cousteau/2019/78 min/People & Culture, Conservation
VIRTUAL
Thursday, March 12, 6:30 p.m. [North]
Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: The Vale do Javari is the second largest Indigenous territory in Brazil and is home to 5,000 Indigenous peoples from 6 tribes as well as the largest population of people living without any contact with the outside world in the entire Amazon, and some say the world. Though the Javari has been designated for the tribes living there, there is looming pressure to increase harmful resource extraction which in other parts of the Amazon has led to environmental degradation. With Hepatitis rates as high as 50-80%, this preventable infectious disease brought in by outsiders is decimating the population and threatening their very survival.
Rakel Garðarsdóttir & Ágústa M. Ólafsdóttir/2018/55 min/Environmental & Social Justice, People & Culture, Waste & Recycling , Sustainable Food & Agriculture, Conservation
Saturday, March 7, 10 a.m. [North]
Pickwick Theatre, Park Ridge
Admission $8
POSTPONED
Saturday, March 14, 11 a.m. [West]
Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: In the documentary "UseLess," the filmmakers try to find out why food and fashion waste has become a pressing social and environmental problem, and what we can do to change it. The documentary is seen through the eyes of a young Icelandic mother who is trying to understand the issues and change her ways. Interviews with experts, designers, activists, and producers shed light on the problem as well as offer many solutions to the audience.
Richard Power Hoffman/2013/38 min/Family, Sustainable Food & Agriculture
POSTPONED
Saturday, March 14, 8:45 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
FILM DESCRIPTION: “Watermelon Magic” chronicles a season on the family farm, as Sylvie grows a patch of watermelons to sell at market. With time, patience, and tender loving care, Sylvie nurtures the seeds from tender sprouts to sprawling vines and flowers that become the fruit that she harvests. But when it's time to say goodbye to her watermelon babies, can she part with them? Journey with Sylvie as she learns how to care for plants in various stages, discovers the magic of growing healthy food in her garden, and realizes the greatest joy of all: sharing.
Saturday, March 7, 10:30 a.m. [Central]
Screenings + awards at 11 a.m.
Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago
“The eyes of all future generations are upon you.” Greta Thunberg
For the last eight years, our eyes have been upon the incredible films of motivated and inspired young people from ages 8–25. We have offered them the opportunity to research, produce, and show their original films as part of our Young Filmmakers Contest. We invite you to join us at the premier screenings of the winning films, to be inspired by their creativity, and to learn more about the non-profit organizations that will benefit from matching grants the winners receive. Founding Director of the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest Sue Crothers will announce the winners.
2019 Films
George Potter & Andrew Adkins/2014/68 min/People & Culture
Saturday, March 9, 12:30 p.m. [West]
Chicago Public Library, Austin Branch
Saturday, March 9, 5 p.m. [South]
Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: “An American Ascent” documents the first African-American expedition to tackle North America's highest peak, Denali. In only a few decades the United States will become a majority-minority nation, as people of color will outnumber today's white majority for the first time ever. Yet, a staggering number of people in this soon-to-be majority do not consider the outdoors as a place for them. By taking on the grueling, 20,310 foot peak of the continent's biggest mountain, nine African-American climbers set out to shrink this adventure gap by building a legacy of inclusion in the outdoor/adventure community.
Susan Todd & Andrew Young/2018/45 min/Wildlife
Tuesday, March 5, 6:30 p.m. [South}
The Ancona School, Chicago
Saturday, March 9, 11 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
FILM DESCRIPTION: In “Backyard Wilderness,” we follow Katie, a young girl, and her modern family living next to the woods who are blind to the real-life spectacle around them, absorbed by an array of electronic devices in their busy lives. Katie gradually discovers the intricate secrets that nature has hidden so close to her front door and we experience the joy she finds in her interactions with this new world. The film showcases a stunning array of unique wildlife images and behavior captured by cameras mounted inside dens and nests to reveal inhabitants in rare and breathtaking intimacy.
Jeffrey Kimball/2013/60 min/Wildlife
Sunday, March 3, 11 a.m. [South]
St Benedict the African Parish, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: “Birders: The Central Park Effect” reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds who grace Manhattan’s celebrated patch of green, and the equally colorful New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration. The lively cast of characters features author Jonathan Franzen, as well as an idiosyncratic trombone technician, a septuagenarian bird-tour leader, and others. This charming, lyrical documentary transports the viewer to the dazzling, hidden world of America’s most famous park.
Jeffrey McKay/2016/52 min/Conservation
Sunday, March 3, 1:30 p.m. [South]
St. James Church, Chicago
Sunday, March 10, 10:30 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
Forest walk 9:30 a.m.
Sunday, March 10, 2 p.m. [Lake County]
St. Joseph Church, Libertyville
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: The science and enchantment of the global forest provides us with answers to modern dilemmas. “Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees” follows scientist and acclaimed author Diana Beresford-Kroeger as she investigates our profound biological and spiritual connection to forests. Beresford-Kroeger explores the most beautiful forests in the Northern Hemisphere from the sacred sugi and cedar forests of Japan to the great boreal forest of Canada. She shares the amazing stories behind the history and legacy of these ancient forests while also explaining the science of trees and the irreplaceable roles they play in protecting and feeding the planet.
Marcelina Cravat & Eric Katsuleres/ 2018/86 min/Conservation
Sunday, March 3, 2 p.m. [South]
Windsor Park Lutheran Church, Chicago
Wednesday, March 6, 6:30 p.m. [Lake]
College of Lake County, Grayslake
Saturday, March 9, 2 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Triton College, River Grove
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: “Dirt Rich” shifts the focus from greenhouse gas emissions to carbon drawdown, a viable solution for reversing the effects of runaway global warming in a timely manner. In “Dirt Rich,” Marcelina Cravat (“Angel Azul”) and Eric Katsuleres shine a light on geo-therapy strategies. 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.
Bonnie Hawthorne/2018/77 min/Sustainable Food & Agriculture
Saturday, March 2, 7 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Good Earth Greenhouse, River Forest
Monday, March 4, 6 p.m. [Central]
Great Central Brewing Company, Chicago
OEFF After Hours Event
Admission $20, includes reception
Wednesday, March 6, 6:30 [South]
Beverly Arts Center, Chicago
Admission $6
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Donald Vetter grew up in Nebraska, farming 800 acres with horses. When he came back from WWII and learned about the new agricultural uses for wartime chemicals, Don enthusiastically embraced the Chemical Age. In 1953, he quit spraying, after realizing the chemicals didn’t deliver on promises and they were damaging his soil and killing farm wildlife. Since then, the Vetter farm’s most important “crop” was its soil. “Dreaming of a Vetter World” comes at a time when interest in regenerating soil has exploded worldwide. Others are realizing what the Vetters have known for decades: Soil is key to our very survival.
Saturday, March 9, 9:15 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
Watch four short films with your children ages three to eight. Topics range from wildlife to seasons to magical cranes. Featured films include "The Wishing Cranes" (2017, 3 min), “Starlight” (2018, 5 min), "Autumn" (2016, 3 min), “Great Big Story” (2017, 1 min), and "The Short Story of a Fox and a Mouse" (2016, 6 min).
Families and children will enjoy lively facilitated post-film discussion with a children’s educator, as well as a book reading of “African Unicorn” (another name for the endangered Okapi), interactive activities, and healthy snacks. Families will leave wanting to continue discussion on the topics of these short but rich films.
Sunday, March 10, 3 to 6 p.m.
The Hatchery Chicago
135 N. Kedzie Ave., Chicago
It’s a wrap! We’ve marveled at the beauty and power of nature, discovered actions that can reverse climate change and perhaps made a new friend or two. Now it’s time to go “All In” in celebrating the closing of our 8th season. Join us at The Hatchery Chicago, the city’s coolest and newest food business incubator, which helps local food entrepreneurs grow and workers build skills. More than a dozen action partners will offer more opportunities to up your climate action game and dive deeper into the issues, from the Green New Deal to Sunrise Chicago to regenerative agriculture. Plus, enjoy drinks and bites, and mix and mingle.
Michael Bonfiglio/2017/82 min/Energy
Thursday, March 7, 5 p.m. [West]
Reception at 5 p.m., film begins at 6 p.m.
University of Illinois at Chicago
Thursday, March 7, 7 p.m. [North]
Northwestern University, Evanston
FILM DESCRIPTION: “From the Ashes” captures Americans in communities across the country as they wrestle with the legacy of the coal industry and what its future should be under the Trump Administration. From Appalachia to the West's Powder River Basin, the film goes beyond the rhetoric of the "war on coal" to present compelling and often heartbreaking stories about what's at stake for our economy, health, and climate. The film invites audiences to learn more about an industry on the edge and what it means for their lives.
Peter McBride & Jake Norton/2016/60 min/Health & Environment
Saturday, March 2, 1 p.m. [Central]
First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, Chicago
Tuesday, March 5, 7 p.m. [Central]
Patagonia Chicago, Chicago
OEFF After Hours Event
Admission $20, includes reception
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: This film takes you on an dramatic adventure to Ma Ganga (“Mother Ganges”), a waterway that is divine and defiled, revered and reviled. Once celebrated for its purity, India’s Ganges River now carries contaminates from its glacial headwaters, where freshly fallen snow contains zinc from industrial emissions. Water is diverted from the river for agriculture and other uses, and the 500 million people in the Ganges basin further pollute the river. “Holy (un)Holy River” asks the essential question: Can the Ganges survive?
Yann Arthus-Bertrand/2009/90 min/Conservation
Saturday, March 2, 3 p.m. [South]
Jackson Park Fieldhouse, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: 10 Year Anniversary screening of “Home,” featuring breathtaking photography of our planet by award-winning photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand! In the past 200,000 years, humans have upset four billion years’ worth of evolutionary balance on planet Earth. Humanity has little time to reverse the trend and change its patterns of consumption. Through visually stunning aerial footage from over 50 countries, Yann Arthus–Bertrand shows us a view most of us have never seen. He shares with us his sense of awe about our planet and his concern for its health. With this film, Arthus-Bertrand hopes to provide a stepping-stone to further the call to action to take care of our “Home.”
Neil Gelinas/2018/93 min/Environmental & Social Justice
Sunday, March 3, 2 p.m. [Lake County]
Gorton Community Center, Lake Forest
Admission $10, Students $5
Thursday, March 7, 7 p.m. [Dupage County]
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn
FILM DESCRIPTION: The Okavango River Basin provides a vital source of water to about one million people, the world’s largest population of African elephants, and significant populations of lions, cheetahs and hundreds of species of birds. However, this once unspoiled oasis is now under siege due to increasing pressure from human activity. From National Geographic Documentary Films, “Into the Okavango” chronicles a team of modern-day explorers on their first epic four-month, 1,500-mile expedition across three countries to save the river system that feeds one of our planet’s last wetland wildernesses.
Laura Nix/2018/87 min/Climate Change
Sunday, March 3, 2 p.m.[North]
Wilmette Theatre, Wilmette
Admission $8
Monday, March 4, 6 p.m. [SW Suburbs]
Advocate Children’s Hospital, Oak Lawn
Thursday, March 7, 6 p.m.[West]
Namaste Charter School, Chicago
Saturday, March 9, 4 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
FILM DESCRIPTION: Meet passionate teenage innovators from around the globe who are creating cutting-edge solutions to confront the world’s environmental threats—found right in their own backyards—while navigating the doubts and insecurities that mark adolescence. Youth ages 9–13+ are encouraged to take a journey with these inspiring teens as they prepare their projects for the largest convening of high school scientists in the world, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
Susan Kucera/2018/86 min/Climate
Saturday, March 2, 10 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Classic Cinemas Lake Theatre, Oak Park
Admission $8
Saturday, March 2, 1 p.m. [Lake County]
Prairie Crossing School, Grayslake
Monday, March 4, 6 p.m. [South]
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: In this beautifully photographed tour de force of original thinking, Academy Award® winner Jeff Bridges shares the screen with scientists, profound thinkers, and a dazzling array of Earth’s living creatures to reveal eye-opening concepts about ourselves and our past, providing fresh insights into our subconscious motivations and their unintended consequences.
Jordan Osmond & Antoinette Wilson/2018/85 min/Conservation
Thursday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m. [South]
Calumet College, Whiting, IN
Thursday, Feb. 28, 7 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Dominican University, River Forest
Admission $7
Wednesday, March 6, 6 p.m. [West]
Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: “Living the Change” explores solutions to the global crises we face today—solutions any of us can implement—through the inspiring stories of people pioneering change in their own lives and in their communities in order to live in a sustainable and regenerative way. From forest gardens to composting toilets, community supported agriculture to timebanking, “Living the Change” offers solutions being used now that we can employ to combat climate change today
Friday, March 1
DIRTT, 325 N. Wells St.
#1000 (10th Floor), Chicago
Opening Night Launch Party
5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
$20, includes reception
Opening Night After Party
8:30 to 10 p.m.
$20, includes reception
Perfect for a date night or night out with friends! Come out and celebrate the launch of our 8th season at one of the city’s most unique spaces overlooking the Chicago River. Enjoy savory heavy hors d'oeuvres, wine and beer, as you mix and mingle with friends. Then take the opportunity to linger longer in a smaller, more intimate gathering at the After Party. Join us for a dessert and champagne reception. Open to all, non-members and members.
Sidney Beaumont & Michael Bonfiglio/2018/77 min/Climate
Sunday, March 3, 12:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Action Fair 12:30 p.m.
Film begins at 1:30 p.m.
St. Giles Catholic Church, Oak Park
Sunday, March 3, 1 p.m. [Dupage County]
Elmhurst College, Elmhurst
Tuesday, March 5, 6:30 p.m. [North]
Truman College, Chicago
Friday, March 8, 6 p.m. [South]
Catholic Theological Union, Chicago
Friday, March 8, 6:30 p.m. [Lake County]
College of Lake County, Grayslake
FILM DESCRIPTION: The Paris Agreement was monumental in uniting all nations in the fight against climate change. With the United States’ withdrawal from the agreement, citizens around the country are taking matters into their own hands. “Paris to Pittsburgh” explores the very real social and economic impacts of climate change-fueled disasters and features voices from local leaders and everyday Americans from Pittsburgh to Puerto Rico.
Saturday, March 9, 10:30 a.m.
[Lake County]
Warren Township High School, Gurnee
FILM DESCRIPTION: Four short films will tell personal stories of youth and their life-shaping experiences in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. The youth have gone on to advocate for permanent protection of this treasured wilderness area. Sulfide-ore copper mining has been proposed by Twin Metals (a Minnesota company owned by Chilean mining conglomerate Antofagasta) less than a mile from the Boundary Waters. The U.S. Forest Service denied mining leases held by Twin Metals due to the extreme environmental risks they posed to the Boundary Waters. Following the lease denial, the Forest Service began a two-year environmental review to determine if sulfide-ore copper mining should be banned in the Boundary Waters watershed.
David McIlvride & Roger Williams/2017/52 min/Water
Wednesday, Feb. 20, 7 p.m. [North]
Loyola University, Chicago
Saturday, March 2, 3 p.m. [Central]
Columbia College, Music Center, Chicago
Thursday, March 7, 7 p.m. [South]
U. of C. Green Line Performing Arts Center, Chicago
Saturday, March 9, 1 p.m.. [Lake County]
Catlow Theater, Barrington
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Following international river conservationist, Mark Angelo, “RiverBlue” spans the globe to infiltrate one of the world’s most pollutive industries, fashion. Narrated by actor and clean water advocate Jason Priestley, this groundbreaking documentary examines the destruction of our rivers, the effects on humanity, and the solutions inspiring hope for a sustainable future. Through harsh chemical manufacturing processes and the irresponsible disposal of toxic chemical waste, one of our favorite iconic clothing items has destroyed rivers and impacted the lives of people who count on these waterways for their survival.
Marie-Monique Robin/2018/93 min/Health & the Environment
Tuesday, March 5, 6:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
U.S. PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: After her best-selling film and book, The World According to Monsanto, award-winning journalist Marie-Monique Robin presents her new documentary, “Roundup Facing Its Judges,” on the global use of glyphosate-based herbicides. She deconstructs the mechanisms of one of the greatest environmental and health scandals in modern history, and showcases an exceptional investigation on a subject that concerns all of us, because glyphosate is everywhere: in the soils, the water, the food and the air. The guiding thread of the documentary is the Monsanto International Tribunal, held in the Hague in October 2016, and its recommendation for a new international law against “ecocide.”
Robert Nixon/2017/48 min/Water
Wednesday, March 6, 5:30 p.m. [Central]
Reception at 5:30 p.m., Film at 6:30 p.m.
Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: “Sea of Hope” is a stunningly filmed action adventure documentary that follows ocean legend Sylvia Earle, renowned underwater National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry, and writer Max Kennedy. Joined by their crew of teenage aquanauts, the team embarks on a year-long quest to deploy science and photography to inspire President Obama to establish new Blue Parks to protect essential habitats across an unseen American wilderness.
Bruce Parry & Mark Ellam/2017/97 min/People & Cultures
Sunday, March 3, 4 p.m. [W. Suburbs]
Unity Temple, Oak Park
OEFF After Hours Event
Admission $20,
includes reception at 6 p.m.
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Tawai is the word the nomadic hunter-gatherers of Borneo use to describe their inner feeling of connection to nature. In this philosophical and sociological look at life, explorer Bruce Parry travels the world to learn from people living lives very differently from our own. From the jungles of Malaysia to the tributaries of the Amazon, “Tawai” is a quest for reconnection, providing a powerful voice from the heart of the forest itself.
Benoît Bringer/2018/71 min/Sustainable Food & Agriculture
Saturday, March 2, 12 p.m. [West]
Loretto Hospital, Chicago
Sunday, March 3, 6 p.m. [South]
St. Paul & the Redeemer, Chicago
Sunday, March 10, 12:30 p.m. [Central]
Old St. Patrick's Church, Chicago
U.S. PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Benoît Bringer questions what we give our children to eat. To feed a growing population, the world has embarked on a race to frenetic productivity that generates cruelty against animals, but also major health and environmental issues. Bringer reveals the terrible excesses of industrial breeding and meets women and men who invent another way of farming, respectful of nature and animals. “The Carnivore’s Dilemma” puts together positive and concrete initiatives that are already working and that could be our way of consumption tomorrow.
Stephanie Soechtig/2018/88 min/Environmental & Social Justice
Saturday, March 2, 2 p.m. [North]
Wilmette Theatre, Wilmette
Admission $8
FILM DESCRIPTION: “The Devil We Know” is the story of how one synthetic chemical, used to make Teflon products, contaminated a West Virginia community. But new research hints at a much broader problem: Nearly all Americans are affected by exposure to non-stick chemicals in food, drinking water, and consumer products, yet there is very little oversight of the chemical industry in the United States. “The Devil We Know” invites you to learn more about the issue and how you can protect yourself and your family.
Ben Crosbie & Tessa Moran/2018/70 min/Wildlife
Sunday, March 3, 12 p.m. [North]
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago
Wednesday, March 6, 6 p.m. [West]
Chicago Public Library, Toman Branch
Saturday, March 9, 2 p.m. [Lake County]
Waukegan Library, Waukegan
Saturday, March 9, 7 p.m. [West]
St. Malachy + Precious Blood, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: A visually dazzling meditation on the delicate balance between human and nature, “The Guardians” elegantly interweaves the lives of the iconic monarch butterfly with an indigenous community in Mexico. Shot over three years, this intimate documentary takes viewers on a cinematic journey through the butterfly dense mountaintops of Michoacan as the community works to build a sustainable path forward. Rarely has the communion of human and nature been told in such an evocative and surprising way, leaving viewers with a new perspective on the ecological challenges facing us all. In Spanish with English subtitles: Everyone is welcome!
Matthew Testa/2018/76 min/Climate
Saturday, March 2, 6:30 p.m. [North]
St. Clement Parish School, Chicago
Sunday, March 3, 3 p.m. [South]
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
Admission $10
Sunday, March 3, 5 p.m. [Lake County]
Gorton Community Center, Lake Forest
Admission $10, Students $5
Monday, March 4, 6 p.m. [Kane County]
Action Fair 6 p.m., Film 7 p.m.
Waubonsee Community College, Aurora
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY CELEBRATION with WOMEN IN GREEN
Friday, March 8, 5:30 p.m. [West]
Malcolm X College, Chicago
OEFF After Hours Event
Reception 5:30 to 6:45 p.m., $20
Film screening 7 p.m. free to all
Saturday, March 9, 10 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Classic Cinemas Lake Theatre, Oak Park
Admission $8
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Renowned photographer James Balog (prominently featured in “Chasing Ice”) uses his camera to reveal how environmental change is affecting the lives of everyday Americans. Following the four classical elements—air, earth, fire and water—to frame his journey, Balog explores wildfires, hurricanes, sea level rise, coal mining, and the changes in the air we breathe. He takes it further by examining the effects of the fifth element—the human element—to tell an urgent story while giving inspiration for a more balanced relationship between humanity and nature.
Ann Shin/2018/66 min/Environmental & Social Justice
Tuesday, March 5, 7 p.m. [Dupage County]
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn
Wednesday, March 6, 6 p.m. [South]
U. of C. Laboratory Schools, Chicago
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Every year, the western world is introduced to a new “superfood” that boasts extraordinary nutritional features, and year after year we buy them. “The Superfood Chain” explores the facts and myths behind superfoods, and reveals the ripple effect of the superfood industry on farming and fishing families around the world. This film follows filmmaker Ann Shin as she meets families in Bolivia, Ethiopia, Philippines, and Haida Gwaii affected by the superfood industry.
Jeremy Workman/2018/95 min/Architecture & Sustainable Building
Saturday, March 9, 6:30 p.m. [South]
Experimental Station, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: There are 8,000 miles of roads and paths in New York City and for the past six years Matt Green has been walking every street, park, cemetery, beach, and bridge. Executive produced by Oscar® nominee Jesse Eisenberg, “The World Before Your Feet” is a “walkumentary” that Hyperallergic calls “A celebration of using what short time we all have to better connect with the world.”
Gertjan Hulster, Arne Gielen, Marco te Brömmelstroet and Jeroen Dirks/2017/57 min/Transportation
Saturday, March 2, 1 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
Saturday, March 9, 7 p.m. [Central]
Patagonia Chicago, Chicago
OEFF After Hours Event
BIKE RIDE CANCELED
Admission $20, includes reception & after party
FILM DESCRIPTION: There are more bicycles than people in the Netherlands, but the Dutch don’t seem to notice what a special bike culture they have. Going beyond the obvious health and economic benefits of cycling, “Why We Cycle” explores the egalitarian nature of cycling, as well as its less-obvious effects on a city’s planning and development, its residents, and society as a whole.
Saturday, March 2, 11:30 a.m. [Central]
Screenings + awards at 12 p.m.
Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago
This year’s theme is “All In,” which means that we all need to contribute our passion and voices to make meaningful changes in the fight for our climate. That’s why, for the last seven years, we’ve given motivated and inspired young people from ages 8–25 the opportunity to research, produce, and show their original films as part of our Young Filmmakers Contest. We invite you to join us at the contest winners’ screenings, to be inspired by their creativity and dedication, and to learn more about the non-profit organizations who will benefit from matching grants the winners receive.
Slater Jewell-Kemker/2018/86 min/Climate
Saturday, March 2, 10 a.m. [North]
Pickwick Theatre, Park Ridge
Admission $8
Wed., March 6, 6 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: “Youth Unstoppable: My Decade in the Youth Climate Movement” (formerly “An Inconvenient Youth”) captures the vibrant untold story of the global youth climate movement. Decisions made today are shaping the world they will live in, and they are no longer willing to sit idly as the planet is degraded for the short term gain of the older generations. Director Slater Jewell-Kemker has been interviewing celebrities and politicians about the environment since the age of ten, now she is telling the stories of these remarkable young people on the front lines of climate change. This is the story of the youth of today fighting for their planet, their future.
2018 Films
Melinda Janko/2016/76 min/Historical Perspectives
Saturday, March 3, 3 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Triton College, River Grove
FILM DESCRIPTION: This compelling film tells the story of Elouise Cobell, a petite Blackfeet warrior from Montana, who waged a 30-year fight for justice on behalf of 300,000 Native Americans. The U.S. government had grossly mismanaged their resource-rich lands for a century. Her battle led her to bring the largest class action lawsuit ever filed against the federal government. Her unrelenting spirit never quit, and Cobell eventually prevailed and made history. Shown at many prestigious festivals across the globe, this film is one of several One Earth Film Festival selections highlighting strong women.
Jon Bowermaster/2015/62 min/Health-Environment
Wednesday, March 7, 6:30 p.m. [North]
Institute of Cultural Affairs, Chicago
Thursday, March 8, 7 p.m. [Dupage County]
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn
FILM DESCRIPTION: When the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig exploded, it spilled more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in the worst ecological disaster in North American history. Now, activist and filmmaker Jon Bowermaster takes stock and asks hard questions: What is the current health of the Gulf and its marine life? How sick are the fish, and how sick are the people? How has the oil industry changed since the spill … and how have we changed?
Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk/2017/100 min/Climate Change
Tuesday, Feb. 27, 7 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Dominican University, River Forest
Admission $7, free for Dominican students, faculty and staff
Thursday, March 8, 7 p.m. [North]
Northwestern University, Evanston
Sunday, March 11, 1 p.m. [Downtown]
Old St. Patrick's Church, Chicago
SOLD OUT!
FILM DESCRIPTION: Although the United States has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Accord, our country’s fight is not over. We are still in. A decade after An Inconvenient Truth brought the climate crisis into the heart of popular culture, comes this riveting follow-up, which follows Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore as he continues his tireless fight, traveling around the world to influence international climate policy. Don't miss your chance to see this award-winning film and be inspired by people all over the world doing their part. Teens and young adults encouraged to attend. May contain heavy themes and graphic images.
Rebekah Wingert-Jabi/2015/69 min/Architecture
Wed., March 7, 6:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: What are the conditions in which nature and social equity can flourish together? As communities across Chicago – and America – try to answer this question, this film provides a blueprint. Another Way of Living explores the vision of Robert Simon (1914-2015). While 1950s suburban sprawl fostered individualism and homogeneity, Simon dreamed of another way: one that integrated citizens across racial, economic and religious divides. The result? Reston, Virginia. Despite early challenges, the town became an international sensation and continues to inspire us today.
Jeff Orlowski and Larissa Rhodes/2017/91 min/Water
Saturday, March 3, 10 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Classic Cinemas Lake Theatre, Oak Park
Admission $6
Wed., March 7, 5:30 p.m. [Downtown]
Reception at 5:30 p.m. Film at 6:30 p.m.
Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why. Chasing Coral was filmed over three years, capturing more than 500 hours of underwater footage from 30 countries, and with the support of 500 people around the world. This film won the U.S. Documentary Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Teens and young adults encouraged to attend. May contain heavy themes or graphic images.
Jeff Orlowski/2012/76 min/Climate Change
Sunday, March 4, 2 p.m. [South]
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
Admission $12
FILM DESCRIPTION: Acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers, he deployed revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture the world’s changing glaciers. Chasing Ice showcases a master photographer at the edge of his physical and creative capabilities, risking everything to deliver evidence of climate change and offer hope to our carbon-powered planet. This film won accolades at Sundance and other prestigious, international festivals for cinematography, musical score and overall excellence. Teens and young adults encouraged to attend.
Sunday, March 11, 3 to 5 p.m. [West]
Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago
Join us as we conclude the 7th annual One Earth Film Fest with a Closing Celebration focused on hearing, telling and sharing stories! Enjoy food, drink, and a brief storytelling program -- and don't miss the chance to connect with friends old and new who want to do their part in building a more resilient future. Reflect upon the films you saw, the ideas and inspiration they brought, and the ways in which this is the moment for us to act and protect the environment.
Fitz Cahall/2015/7 min/Conservation
Tuesday, March 6, 7 p.m. [Downtown]
Patagonia Chicago, Chicago
Admission $20, includes reception
FILM DESCRIPTION: Josh Ewing narrates this short film which explores how his love of climbing morphed into a mission to protect the public lands of Southeastern Utah known as Bears Ears from aggressive oil and gas companies and careless visitation. This history-rich landscape is sacred to Native Americans and is full of archaeological sites, including the Valley of the Gods, the Abajo Mountains and Indian Creek.
Peter Bratt/2017/95 min/Social Justice-Economic Justice
Monday, March 5, 5:30 [Downtown]
Google, Chicago
Admission free, $12 donation appreciated, reception included
SOLD OUT!
Saturday, March 10, 4:30 p.m. [South]
Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago
Saturday, March 10, 2 p.m. [Lake County]
Waukegan Library, Waukegan
FILM DESCRIPTION: Dolores Huerta is one of the most important, yet least known, activists in American history. She has made enormous contributions, including co-founding the first farm workers unions with Cesar Chavez. This important biopic reveals the raw, personal stakes involved in committing one’s life to social change, as Huerta, a mother to 11 children, tirelessly leads the fight for women’s rights and racial and labor justice. One of five One Earth films highlighting strong women, this Sundance selection won top awards at both the Seattle and Denver film festivals. Teens and young adults encouraged to attend. May contain heavy themes or graphic images.
Mark Kitchell/2017/85 min/Food-Agriculture
Saturday, March 3, 6:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Good Earth Greenhouse, River Forest
Admission $20, includes reception
Sunday, March 4, 6 p.m. [South]
St. Paul & the Redeemer, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: This is the story of organic agriculture, told by those who built the movement. Narrated by actress Frances McDormand, and featuring songs by The Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen and others, the film shows how a motley crew of back-to-the-landers, spiritual seekers and farmers’ sons and daughters rejected chemical farming and set out to explore organic alternatives. Written and directed by Academy Award nominee Mark Kitchell, this film also looks ahead to exciting innovations. Teens and young adults encouraged to attend. Brief nudity. Strong Language.
Saturday, March 10, 9 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
Includes three short films. The Song for Rain Yawen Zheng/2012/8 min. This heart-warming, dialogue-free, animated film teaches how friends and small gifts from nature can brighten the day. Sweet Cocoon Matéo Bernard/2017/6 min. This delightful Oscar-nominated animation follows two insects who help a struggling caterpillar in her metamorphosis. Piper Alan Barillaro/2017/6 min. Academy-award winning animated short Piper tells the exciting tale of a hungry sandpiper who ventures from her nest for the first time to dig for food. Featuring an endearing mother/child relationship and an important message about independence, Piper urges viewers to overcome their greatest fears.
Saturday, March 10, 11 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
Three short films will be shown: Straws Linda Booker/2017/32 min. Through colorful animation and live action, Straws shows us the problems caused by plastic pollution and empowers us to be part of the solution. The film features an 11-year old from Costa Rica who developed the #NoStrawChallenge that has become a world-wide movement. The Discarded Annie Costner, Adrienne Hall and Carla Dauden/2016/18 min. Filmmakers juxtapose stunning, drone-captured images of Rio de Janiero’s natural beauty with sewage and garbage that pour into its bay. The film asks, What does it mean to ignore subsets of society, to label some as worthy, and others as discarded? Verge ChingTien Chu/2017/3 min. This non-dialogue, high-quality animated short follows a young sea turtle’s ocean voyage through polluted water. Teens and young adults are encouraged to attend.
Ellie Walton and Hawah Kasat/2015/59 min/People-Culture
Saturday, March 3, 12 p.m. [West]
Chicago Public Library, Austin Branch
Sunday, March 11, 11 a.m. [South]
St. Benedict the African Parish, Chicago
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: When DC teens head into the mountains for eight days, they embark on a journey to break the cycles of poverty and violence and rewrite their future. As the youth play in streams and sing under stars, they become filled with new ideas and hope. But when they return home, the same old specters confront them. This award-winning film chronicles the youths’ struggle, but also their strength. Teens and young adults encouraged to attend. May contain heavy themes or graphic images. Contains strong language.
Susan Rockefeller/2014/22 min/Food-Agriculture
Sunday, March 4, 2 p.m. [Lake County]
St. Joseph Church, Libertyville
Saturday, March 10, 6 p.m. [North]
St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Park Ridge
(please enter at Crescent Ave. entrance)
Resource Fair 6 p.m., Film at 7 p.m.
Admission $7
FILM DESCRIPTION: We want our food fast, convenient and cheap, but at what cost? As farms have become supersized, our environment suffers and so does the quality of our food. Food for Thought, Food for Life explains the downsides of current agribusiness practices, and brings to the table farmers, chefs, researchers, educators, and advocates who are active in the local food movement. The film is both poetic and practical; its powerful examination of the connections between our planet and our well-being is accompanied by specific strategies that protect both.
Friday, March 2, 6 to 9:30 p.m. [Downtown]
Fourth Presbyterian Church, Gratz Center
115 E. Delaware Place, Chicago
Admission $75, in advance
Please join us as we kick off the 7th annual One Earth Film festival with food, drink, a brief program, and a celebration of sustainability. Mingle with like-minded friends. Meet filmmakers and leaders in the environmental community. Tickets required.
The Gala will take place in Fourth Presbyterian Church's sparkling contemporary addition: the LEED-certified Gratz Center. Completed in 2013, this sleek space honors the original, neo-Gothic, 1914 structure via large overlooking windows.
James Redford/2017/71 min/Energy
Sunday, March 4, 1 p.m. [Dupage County]
Elmhurst College, Elmhurst
Sunday, March 4, 2 p.m. [South]
Windsor Park Lutheran Church, Chicago
Tuesday, March 6, 7 p.m. [Lake County]
Gorton Community Center, Lake Forest
Admission $7
Tuesday, March 6, 7 p.m. [Downtown]
Patagonia Chicago, Chicago
Admission $20, includes reception
SOLD OUT!
Friday, March 9, 6:30 p.m. [Lake County]
College of Lake County, Grayslake
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: When the issue of renewable energy comes up, it’s common to think about it abstractly as something in the future. But in reality, the clean energy revolution is already here.
Cyrus Sutton/2016/64 min/Advocacy
Sunday, March 4, 3 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
Tuesday, March 6, 7 p.m. [North]
Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago
Alumni Hall, Student Union
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Less than 200 years ago, native Hawaiians fed themselves using some of the most sustainable agricultural practices ever documented. But no longer. Today, Hawaiians are the “canaries in the coal mine” for food issues affecting the entire planet. Island Earth is a rich, complex tale of a young scientist's journey through the corn fields of GMO companies and the loi patches of traditional Hawaiian elders. Be prepared to learn about modern truths and ancient values that can save our food future. May contain heavy themes or graphic images.
Brett Morgan/2017/90 min/Wildlife
Saturday, March 3, 10 a.m. [North]
Pickwick Theatre, Park Ridge
Admission $7
Saturday, March 10, 1 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
FILM DESCRIPTION: Drawing from more than 100 hours of never-before-seen footage from the National Geographic archives, Oscar-nominated director Brett Morgan tells the story of Jane Goodall, a woman whose chimpanzee research challenged the prevailing scientific consensus and revolutionized our understanding of the natural world. Set to music by composer Philip Glass, the film offers an intimate portrait of one of the world’s most admired conservationists. Jane is one of several One Earth Film Festival selections highlighting strong women. Teens and young adults encouraged to attend. May contain heavy themes and graphic images.
Craig Norris/2016/29 min/Climate Change
Saturday, March 10, 10 a.m. [Lake County]
Warren Township High School, Gurnee
FILM DESCRIPTION: Nearly ten years ago a tiny island called Kokota was hit hard by the effects of climate change and deforestation. But over time, the people learned to change their practices and heal their land. This short film won top prizes at the DC Environmental Film Festival and at India's largest eco film festival. High school students planned this event which includes two other shorts: Youth as Solutionaries (TEDx), and Kid Warrior: The Xiuhtzcatl Martinez Story. Teens and young adults encouraged to attend.
Brendan Walsh and Jessica Walsh/2016/69 min abbreviated festival cut/Conservation
Saturday, March 3, 3 p.m. [South]
Jackson Park Field House, Chicago
Sunday, March 4, 12 p.m. [Downtown]
Peggy Notebaert Museum, Chicago
SOLD OUT!
Sunday, March 4, 12:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
St. Giles Catholic Church, Oak Park
FILM DESCRIPTION: This local film takes viewers below the surface of the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem to understand how this ancient, beautiful and valuable resource right on Chicago's shores is being transformed by invasive species. Learn why the future of the Great Lakes is at stake, and what we can do to protect it. Wonderfully narrated by Chicago news legend Bill Kurtis, this fine documentary won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement for Topical Documentary.
John Hoffman, Beth Aala, and Susan Froemke/2016/103 min/Food-Agriculture
Saturday, March 3, 3 p.m.[North]
Wilmette Theatre, Wilmette
Admission $7
Monday, March 5, 6:30 p.m. [Kane County]
Sustainability Resource Fair, 6:30 p.m.
Film begins at 7 p.m.
Waubonsee Community College, Aurora
FILM DESCRIPTION: Come see this inspiring tribute to heartland conservation heroes who are feeding the world while stewarding the land and water. One of the darlings of last year’s Sundance Film Festival, the film celebrates agricultural entrepreneurs who are rebuilding the fertility, biodiversity and resilience of soil while forging alliances to protect the Rocky Mountain Front. Directed by Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmakers, this gorgeous film has abundant visual appeal and is narrated by journalist Tom Brokaw.
Michelle Latimer/2017/44 min/People-Culture
Saturday, March 3, 3 p.m. [Downtown]
Columbia College, Music Center, Chicago
Sunday, March 4, 12:30 p.m. [Pilsen]
National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: As the people of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation of North and South Dakota fight to stop a pipeline bringing tar sands oil from Canada through their land, this film chronicles their efforts. The Dakota Access Pipeline would snake its way across four states, bisecting sacred sites and burial grounds along the route. Rise portrays the Sioux people’s battle to defend sacred water and preserve their way of life for future generations. Teens and young adults encouraged to attend. May contain heavy themes or graphic images.
Julia Barnes/2017/60 min/Water
Sunday, March 4, 1 p.m. [South]
St. James Church, Chicago
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Award-winning filmmaker Julia Barnes takes audiences on a provocative journey through the most stunning ecosystems on the planet. Sadly, they are also the most threatened. The film urges us to rise up in the face of catastrophe and have the courage to fight for what we love. At 16, Barnes was so inspired by a documentary film that she decided to make her own. She bought a camera, learned to dive, and produced and directed this film. Sea of Life is one of several One Earth selections that features a strong female role model. Teens and young adults encouraged to attend.
Maya Khosla/2017/31 min/Conservation
Saturday, March 3, 2 p.m. [Lake County]
Prairie Crossing School, Grayslake
Wednesday, March 7, 6 p.m. [West]
Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Nature has a secret power for rejuvenating itself: wildfire. This film showcases the rapid and amazing comeback of forests after wildfire. Follow teams of scientists and firefighters through the post-fire areas in the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range and beyond. They find rare black-backed woodpeckers, goshawks, spotted owls and their young, and many other animals flourishing. Their presence offers a new sense of hope for all.
Lee Botts and Pat Wisniewski/2016/57 min/Conservation
Thursday, Feb. 15, 7 p.m. [South]
Calumet College, Whiting, IN
Friday, Feb. 16, 3 p.m. [South]
U. of Chicago, Ida Noyes Hall, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: This film tells the story of how our beloved Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore came to be. It’s one of the most unique ecological marvels in the world, and certainly one of the most studied landscapes in America. In the nineteenth century, its natural wonders were almost lost because its location also attracted some of the most powerful industrial companies, turning it into one of the most polluted regions of the country. Through the passionate work of ordinary citizens, the rejuvenation of the Dunes led to game-changing environmental policies with worldwide impact. Photo by Pete Doherty.
Linda Booker/2017/32 min/Waste
Saturday, March 3, 2 p.m. [Lake County]
Prairie Crossing School, Grayslake
Saturday, March 10, 11 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
Saturday, March 10, 6 p.m. [North]
St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Park Ridge
(please enter at Crescent Ave. entrance)
Resource Fair at 6 p.m. Film at 7 p.m.
Admission $7
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: It’s time to ditch your straw. With colorful animation and segments narrated by Oscar winner Tim Robbins, this award-winning, 32-minute film explains the problems stemming from plastic pollution and empowers you to be part of the solution. Americans use once and then toss an estimated 500 million straws every day. Ocean Conservancy ranks plastic straws as the fifth most common items on beaches. They also wind up in landfills, litter streets and add to the estimated 8.5 metric tons of plastic debris in oceans annually. Teens and young adults encouraged to attend.
Annie Costner, Adrienne Hall and Carla Dauden/2016/18 min/Waste
Saturday, March 10, 11 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
FILM DESCRIPTION: Filmmakers Annie Costner (actor Kevin Costner’s daughter), Adrienne Hall and Carla Dauden juxtapose stunning drone-captured images of Rio de Janiero’s natural beauty with sewage and garbage that pour into its bay. In Portuguese with English subtitles, the film is narrated by locals, including a 9-year old boy who sails the garbage-choked waters and an elderly man who turns debris into art. Teens, athletes, scientists, and policymakers speak about the seemingly insurmountable challenges of Rio’s pollution crisis and reasons for hope. Filmmakers show the city’s effort to bandage the problem with expensive one-time solutions to serve tourists for the Summer Olympics. Viewers are also left with big questions: What does it mean to ignore subsets of society, to label some as worthy, and others as discarded?
Johanna Kelly and Cameron Marshad/2017/84 min/Food
Tuesday, March 6, 6 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Roosevelt Middle School, River Forest
Admission $7
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Over two billion people in 80 percent of the world’s countries eat insects for protein. While entomophagy, or bug eating, has been practiced for thousands of years, Westerners are just now discovering the nutritional advantages. Chef Andrew Zimmern, from The Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods series, is among the experts in the film. The Gateway Bug also brings to the table a discussion of world hunger, our diminishing food supply and the environmental benefits of eating insects. Middle schoolers, teens and young adults are encouraged to attend.
Chris Malloy/2016/22 min/Food-Agriculture
Sunday, March 4, 2 p.m. [Lake County]
St. Joseph Church, Libertyville
FILM DESCRIPTION: If you want to eat healthy food, you need to ask a lot of questions. Where does it come from? Who grows it? What happens to the soil it grows in? Currently, we produce most of our food using methods that reduce biodiversity, damage soil and contribute to climate change. But our food can and should be a part of the solution to the environmental crisis. Unbroken Ground tells the story of four pioneering groups raising livestock, growing crops and fishing in ways that sustain the earth.
Chanda Chevannes/2017/93 min/Health-Environment
Thursday, March 8, 6 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Nineteenth Century Club, Oak Park
Admission $20, includes reception
CHICAGO AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: A hopeful documentary about fighting with your whole heart, Unfractured follows introspective biologist and mother Sandra Steingraber as she reinvents herself as an outspoken activist and a leader in New York’s biggest grassroots movement in decades. Branded a “toxic avenger” by Rolling Stone Magazine, Sandra became determined to fight the oil and gas industry to win a statewide ban on fracking. This film hits at the intersection of energy justice and social justice. It’s also one of several One Earth Film Festival selections highlighting a strong female role model. Teens and young adults are encouraged to attend. May contain heavy themes or graphic images.
Dan Protess/2017/5 to 10 min/Wildlife & Conservation
Wednesday, March 7, 6 p.m. [West]
Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: If you know where to look, you’ll find the most surprising slices of nature thriving in America’s largest cities. We will screen several episodes of WTTW’s digital series Urban Nature, in which University of Chicago evolutionary biologist Marcus Kronforst leads audiences on tours of overlooked ecosystems in Chicago, New York and San Francisco. He’ll hop on a bike, grab a kayak, and even take the subway, to seek out unlikely habitats hidden among the skyscrapers. We’ll discover how these havens are essential to the health of our cities—and the future of our planet.
Chingtien Chu/2017/3 min/Wildlife
Saturday, March 10, 11 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
FILM DESCRIPTION: This non-dialogue, high-quality animated short follows a young sea turtle’s ocean voyage through polluted water. As only 1 in 1,000 baby sea turtles survive to adulthood, this small film shows the big struggle facing marine life today.
Film Director Chingtien Chu was born on Penghu, a small island on the Taiwan Strait. Based in New York City, Chingtien recently received his MFA in computer animation at the School of Visual Arts, focusing on lighting, look development and compositing.
Nari Kye and Anna Chai/2017/90 min/Waste
Wednesday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m. [North]
Loyola University, Chicago
SOLD OUT!
VIEW AND BREW [Downtown]
Sunday, March 4, 3 p.m.
Haymarket Pub & Brewery, Chicago
Admission $7
SOLD OUT!
Tuesday, March 6, 7 p.m. [Dupage County]
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn
SOLD OUT!
Wed., March 7, 6:30 p.m. [Lake County]
College of Lake County, Grayslake
Saturday, March 10, 11:30 a.m. [South]
Covenant United Church of Christ
South Holland, Film at 12 p.m.
Action Fair/refreshments at 11:30 a.m.
Saturday, March 10, 12 p.m. [West]
Loretto Hospital, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: WASTED! shows us how each of us can make small changes to solve one of the greatest problems of the 21st Century.
Cullen Hoback/2017/89 min/Social Justice/Economic Justice
Wednesday, March 7, 7:30 [South]
Beverly Arts Center, Chicago
Admission $6
FILM DESCRIPTION: In this riveting film, investigative filmmaker Cullen Hoback travels to West Virginia to uncover the truth behind a massive chemical spill that left 300,000 people without drinking water for months. The investigation spirals in a surprising and disturbing direction, and we learn the truth about what lies upstream of us all. Teens and young adults encouraged to attend.
Saturday, March 3, 1 p.m. [Downtown]
Columbia College, Music Center, Chicago
Come see the winning films of our Young Filmmakers Contest. This year, we received a record number of entries. Enjoy the films, applaud the young filmmakers as they receive their prizes in several categories from elementary through college age, and learn about the nonprofit organizations they have chosen to receive matching grants. The three- to eight-minute films and 45-second (or longer) animations will cover energy, food, transportation, waste, water, or open space/ecosystems. Stay for a reception with food to celebrate their achievements.
2017 Films
Jared P. Scott/2016/80 min/Climate Change
Saturday, March 4, 3 p.m. [North]
Institute of Cultural Affairs, Chicago
SOLD OUT!
Sunday, March 5, 6 p.m. [Downtown]
Old St. Patrick's Church, Chicago
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: The Age of Consequences investigates the impacts of climate change on increased resource scarcity, migration, and conflict through the lens of US national security and global stability.
Through unflinching case-study analysis, distinguished admirals, generals and military veterans take us beyond the headlines of the conflict in Syria, the social unrest of the Arab Spring, the rise of radicalized groups like ISIS.
John Papola and Lisa Versaci/2016/90 min/Food-Agriculture
Saturday, March 4, 2:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
FILM DESCRIPTION: Filmmaker and omnivore John Papola, together with his vegetarian wife Lisa, offer up a timely and refreshingly unbiased look at how farm animals are raised for our consumption. With unprecedented access to large-scale conventional farms, Papola asks the tough questions behind every hamburger, glass of milk and baby-back rib. What he discovers are not heartless industrialists, but America’s farmers — real people who, along with him, are grappling with the moral dimensions of farming animals for food.
Fisher Stevens/2016/93 min/Climate Change
Sunday, March 5, 12:30 p.m. [South][VR]
St. Benedict the African-East, Chicago
Saturday, March 11, 6:30 p.m. [Lake Cnty]
College of Lake County, Grayslake
ENGLISH SOUNDTRACK WITH SPANISH SUBTITLES: If you could know the truth about the threat of climate change — would you want to know? Before the Flood, presented by National Geographic, features Leonardo DiCaprio on a journey as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, traveling to five continents and the Arctic to witness climate change firsthand. He goes on expeditions with scientists uncovering the reality of climate change and meets with political leaders fighting against inaction.
Delila Vallot/2015/84 min/Food-Agriculture
Saturday, March 4, 3 p.m. [West]
Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago
Tuesday, March 7, 7 p.m. [South]
St. Paul & the Redeemer Church, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: South Los Angeles. What comes to mind is gangs, drugs, liquor stores, abandoned buildings and vacant lots. The last thing that you would expect to find is a beautiful garden sprouting up through the concrete, coloring the urban landscape. Calling for people to put down their guns and pick up their shovels, these "gangster gardeners" are creating an oasis in the middle of one of the most notoriously dangerous places in America.
Forest Preserves of Cook County + WYCC PBS Chicago +Juneteenth Productions/2016/21 or 60 min/Conservation
SOLD OUT!
Saturday, March 11, 11 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
Sunday, March 12, 1 p.m. [South]
St. James Church, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: Like many natural wonders, the Forest Preserves are “hidden in plain sight.” While the Preserves are well-known for family parties and cook-outs, many are unaware of its vast biodiversity – the flora and fauna of the urban preserves and the diversity of native plants that struggle to flourish against invasive species. Chicago’s True Nature takes viewers beyond the picnic groves and introduces them to the nearby wonders of nature.
SOLD OUT!
Sunday, March 12, 3 to 5 p.m. [West]
Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago
The Closing Celebration for the 6th Annual One Earth Film Festival. Arrive early, beginning at 2 p.m., to see the short virtual reality film "Under the Canopy," provided by Conservation International. Enjoy food, drink, mingling and brief program.
Don't miss the chance to reminisce with friends about the films you saw and the ideas that changed your life for the better. Connect with others who want to do their part to make a habitable and healthy world for the next generation.
Suree Towfighnia/2015/57 min/Water
Tuesday, March 7, 7 p.m. [Dupage County]
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn
ENGLISH SOUNDTRACK WITH SPANISH SUBTITLES: When Debra White Plume’s drinking water tests high for radiation, she sets out to determine the cause. What she finds alarms her. A nearby uranium mining operation is extracting ore from deep in the ground by tapping the High Plains/Ogllala Aquifer, a huge underground cache of water covering 174,000 square miles from Texas to South Dakota which supplies drinking water to 82 percent of the people who live within the aquifer boundary. The mine's planned expansion further threatens the aquifer.
Ernesto Cabellos/2015/52 min/People-Culture
Saturday, March 4, 12 p.m. [Pilsen]
Lincoln United Methodist Church, Chicago
SPANISH SOUNDTRACK WITH ENGLISH SUSBTITLES. At the height of the Peruvian gold rush, Nelida, an Andean woman able to communicate with water spirits, uses her powers to prevent a mining corporation from destroying the body of water she considers her mother. A gold deposit valued at billions of dollars lies just beneath Nelida’s lakes and leads farmers and Latin America’s biggest gold producer into conflict.
Sue Williams/2016/74 min/Waste
Wednesday, March 8, 7 p.m. [North]
Northwestern University, Evanston
Thursday, March 9, 7 p.m. [Dupage County]
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn
FILM DESCRIPTION: In an investigation that spans the globe, filmmaker Sue Williams investigates the underbelly of the electronics industry and reveals how even the smallest devices have deadly environmental and health costs. Death by Design tells a story of environmental degradation, of health tragedies, and the fast approaching tipping point between consumerism and sustainability.
Jeremy Seifert/2009/53 min/Waste
SOLD OUT!
VIEW AND BREW [Downtown]
Sunday, March 12, 12:30 p.m.
Haymarket Pub & Brewery, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: Inspired by a curiosity about our country's careless habit of sending food straight to landfills, the multi award-winning documentary DIVE! follows filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and friends as they dumpster dive in the back alleys and gated garbage receptacles of Los Angeles' supermarkets. In the process, they salvage thousands of dollars worth of good, edible food - resulting in an inspiring documentary that is equal parts entertainment, guerilla journalism and call to action.
Saturday, March 4, 9:30 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
Habitats! Join us for a morning of sing a-longs about animals in their habitats, plus short films Slugs and Bugs, and Kid of the Wild. Families will learn about opportunities for connecting with local nature through Go Green Oak Park, The Frog Lady (who will bring her reptile friends), the Park District of Oak Park/Austin Gardens Nature Center, and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County's Trailside Museum. Light refreshments will be served.
Saturday, March 4, 10:30 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
Join us for a screening of Stories of Trust: California and Stories of Trust: Arizona, featuring remarkable plaintiffs from the first-ever landmark US climate youth lawsuit. Families and youth will learn about opportunities for connecting with local nature through Go Green Oak Park, The Frog Lady (who will bring her reptile friends), the Park District of Oak Park/Austin Gardens Nature Center, and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County's Trailside Museum. An optional game called Scorpion Touch will be on offer. Light refreshments will be served.
Leo Horrigan and Mike Milli/2016/36 min/Food-Agriculture
Wednesday, March 8, 7 p.m. [South]
Harper Theater, Chicago
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Food Frontiers showcases six projects from around the United States that are increasing access to healthy food in varied ways – from a pioneering farm-to-school project to creative supermarket financing to cooking classes in a doctor’s office and a teen-managed grocery store.
Gwendolen Cates/2016/66 min/Social Justice
Saturday, March 4, 3 p.m. [South]
U. of Chicago, Ida Noyes Hall, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: The Onondaga Nation in central New York State is the Central Fire of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy). This sovereign indigenous government, which follows the Great Law of Peace, inspired American democracy. The Onondagas advocate for the environment and share prophecies about climate change, while engaged in a battle with the state over ancestral lands stolen in defiance of a treaty with George Washington.
Friday, March 3, 6 to 9:30 p.m. [Downtown]
Fourth Presbyterian Church, Gratz Center, Chicago
Mingle with like-minded friends who believe in sustainability and creativity. Meet leaders of the environmental movement and filmmaking community. This is a place where ideas and art merge, where people who care about the planet express themselves frankly and elegantly.
Join us for our Sixth Annual Green Carpet Gala at 6 p.m. Friday, March 3, at Fourth Presbyterian Church's sparkling contemporary addition: the LEED-certified Gratz Center. Completed in 2013, this sleek space honors the original, neo-Gothic, 1914 structure via large overlooking windows.
Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette/2013/60 min/Food-Agriculture
Saturday, March 4, 12 p.m. [West]
Chicago Public Library, Austin Branch
FILM DESCRIPTION: Take road trip with the filmmakers to meet the men and women who are challenging the way this country grows and distributes its food, one vacant city lot, rooftop garden, and backyard chicken coop at a time. Join them as they discover that good food isn’t the only crop these urban visionaries are harvesting. Urban farmers are producing stronger and more vibrant communities, too.
Catherine Zimmerman/2016/90 min/Wildlife
Saturday, March 4, 1:30 p.m. [Lake County]
Prairie Crossing School, Grayslake
Saturday, March 4, 2:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Triton College, River Grove
Sunday, March 5, 3:30 p.m. [Downtown]
Peggy Notebaert Museum, Chicago
Monday, March 6, 7 p.m. [Kane County]
Waubonsee Community College, Aurora
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Hometown Habitat features renowned entomologist Dr. Douglas Tallamy, whose research, books and lectures on the use of non-native plants in landscaping, sound the alarm about habitat and species loss. Tallamy provides the narrative thread that challenges the notion that humans are here and nature is someplace else.
Josh Fox/2016/125 min/Climate Change
Thursday, March 2, 7 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Dominican University, River Forest
FILM DESCRIPTION: In How to Let Go of the World and Love All The Things Climate Can't Change, Oscar Nominated director Josh Fox (GASLAND) continues in his deeply personal style, investigating climate change – the greatest threat our world has ever known. Traveling to 12 countries on 6 continents, the film acknowledges that it may be too late to stop some of the worst consequences and asks, what is it that climate change can’t destroy? What is so deep within us that no calamity can take it away?
Matt D'Avella/2016/79 min/Waste
Tuesday, February 21, 7 p.m. [North]
Loyola University, Damen Student Center, Chicago
SOLD OUT!
Saturday, March 4, 7 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Good Earth Greenhouse, River Forest
FILM DESCRIPTION: How might your life be better with less? Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things examines the many flavors of minimalism by taking the audience inside the lives of minimalists from all walks of life—families, entrepreneurs, architects, artists, journalists, scientists, and even a former Wall Street broker—all of whom are striving to live a meaningful life with less
Greg MacGillivray/2016/45 min/Conservation
SOLD OUT!
Sunday, March 5, 3 p.m. [South]
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
A trio of adventurers’ quest to experience America’s wildest, most historic and most naturally beautiful places becomes the ultimate off-trail adventure in National Parks Adventure, narrated by Academy Award® winner Robert Redford. Immersive IMAX® 3D takes audiences soaring up exposed rock faces, hurtling down steep mountain cliffs and exploring other-worldly realms found within America’s most legendary outdoor places. Along the way, the film becomes at once an action-packed celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the U.S. National Park Service and a soulful reflection on what wilderness means to us all.
Daniel Stilling/2015/52 min/Environmental Advocacy
Sunday, March 12, 1 p.m. [South]
St. James Church, Chicago
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Natureplay features the most endangered species in the wild today - our children, and devises ways to save humanity's connection to nature in the next generation. Filmed in Denmark, Norway and Sweden and the USA, Natureplay portrays the Scandinavian method of teaching, living and enjoying nature, juxtaposed with the high stakes testing/high stress Edu culture of "rigor." Featuring Matt Damon.
Guy Reid/2015/42min/Climate Change
SOLD OUT!
Sunday, March 5, 12:30 p.m. [Downtown]
Adler Planetarium, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: Planetary is a provocative and breathtaking wakeup call – a cross continental, cinematic journey, that explores our cosmic origins and our future as a species. It is a poetic and humbling reminder that now is the time to shift our perspective. Planetary asks us to rethink who we really are, to reconsider our relationship with ourselves, each other and the world around us – to remember that we are PLANETARY.
Craig Leeson/2016/100 min/Waste
Friday, March 10, 6:30 p.m.
[Lake County][VR]
College of Lake County, Grayslake
SOLD OUT!
Saturday, March 11, 3 p.m. [Downtown]
Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: In the center of the Pacific Ocean gyre our researchers found more plastic than plankton. A Plastic Ocean documents the newest science, proving how plastics, once they enter the oceans, break up into small particulates that enter the food chain where they attract toxins like a magnet. These toxins are stored in seafood’s fatty tissues, and eventually consumed by us.
Bob Nesson/2014/32 min/Transportation
Wednesday, March 8, 7 p.m. [South]
Harper Theater, Chicago
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: The film portrays the transformative vision and extraordinary efforts of Wenzday Jane, a woman whose mechanical skills and innovative actions are reshaping her community. Wenzday goes to the heart of the sustainability issue by offering solutions, and suggests that things don’t have to be the way they are.
A self-taught innovator and revolutionary community leader, she heads an urban movement to replace trucks with cargo bicycles for local delivery, municipal waste-hauling for the city of Cambridge, and agricultural distribution.
Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz/2016/93 min/Food-Agriculture
Monday, March 6, 6:30 p.m. [North]
North Shore Country Day, Winnetka
FILM DESCRIPTION: In our modern world, seeds are in grave danger. In less than a century of industrial agriculture, our once abundant seed diversity—painstakingly created by ancient farmers and gardeners over countless millennia—has been drastically winnowed down to a handful of mass-produced varieties. Under the spell of industrial “progress” and lust for profit, our quaint family farmsteads have given way to mechanized agribusinesses sowing genetically identical crops on a monstrous scale.
Mark London and Cidney Hue/2012/60 min/Social Justice
Saturday, March 11, 10 a.m. [South]
Harper Theater, Chicago
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: After 30 years of experience in the Amazon, author and lawyer Mark London shares a unique perspective on an issue with global consequences: Can twenty-one million people and the rainforest share the same space? With levels of deforestation approaching the point of no return at an alarming rate, London poses a provocative alternative to the age-old mantra, “Leave the forest untouched.” Learn more at Shark Loves Amazon.
Lee Botts and Pat Wisniewski/2016/57 min/Conservation
Monday, March 6, 7 p.m. [South]
Pullman National Monument Information Center, Chicago
Thursday, March 9, 7 p.m. [West]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
Saturday, March 11, 2:30 p.m.
[Lake County]
Waukegan Public Library, Waukegan
FILM DESCRIPTION: Shifting Sands tells the story of how one region, where rare plants grow in the shadows of smokestacks, sparked a movement for a national park; a movement which eventually led to game-changing environmental policies with worldwide impact and unique partnerships on the path to a more sustainable world.
Pamela Tanner Boll/ 2015/71 min/ People-Culture
Sunday, March 5, 12:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
St. Giles Catholic Church, Oak Park
Sunday, March 5, 3:30p.m. [North]
Wilmette Theatre, Wilmette
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: For the longest time, we’ve been living as though the more we have—the more money, the more goods, the more territory—the happier we’ll be. Surprisingly, over the last fifty years as our standard of living has improved, our happiness has not. A Small Good Thing examines how our ideal of the American Dream has come to the end of its promise. The film tells the stories of people moving away from a philosophy of ‘more is better’ toward a more holistic conception of happiness — one based on a close connection to their bodies and health, to the natural world, and to the greater good.
Michelle Dougherty and Daniel Hinerfield/2016/60 min/Wildlife
SOLD OUT!
Thursday, March 9, 7 p.m. [North]
Institute of Cultural Affairs, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION FROM DISCOVERY.COM: "Sonic Sea travels beneath the ocean's surface to uncover the damaging consequences of increased ocean noise pollution and what can be done to stop it. Narrated by Academy Award-nominated actress Rachel McAdams and featuring interviews with marine ecologists, ocean life experts, and wildlife activists, including Grammy-Award winning musician, human rights and environmental activist Sting, Sonic Sea highlights how noise from a range of man-made sources has affected whales in recent years, including the mass stranding of whales around the planet."
Matt Wechsler/2016/92 min/Food-Agriculture
Saturday, March 4, 10 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Lake Theatre, Oak Park
FILM DESCRIPTION: A vital investigation of the economic and environmental instability of America’s food system, from the agricultural issues we face — soil loss, water depletion, climate change, pesticide use — to the community of leaders who are determined to fix it. Sustainable is a film about the land, the people who work it and what must be done to sustain it for future generations.
Alejandro Ramirez Anderson/2014/60 min/Social Justice
Saturday, March 11, 12 p.m. [Pilsen]
Lincoln United Methodist Church, Pilsen
SPANISH SOUNDTRACK WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES: In the district of Alamar, a 26-acre farming co-op provides employment for dozens of workers, while producing vegetables and medicinal plants for the local community and beyond. What began as necessity—farming without pesticides and chemical fertilizers—has become a source of provision to coop members. They fertilize with compost and cow manure, raise their own insects for biological pest control, and have even created a fully biodegradable alternative to the plastic bag for use with seedlings.
Charles Ferguson/2015/94 min/Climate Change
JUST ADDED
Sunday, March 5, 10 a.m. [Dupage County]
Elmhurst College, Elmhurst
SOLD OUT!
Sunday, March 5, 1 p.m. [Dupage County]
Elmhurst College, Elmhurst
FILM DESCRIPTION: Oscar-winning documentary director Charles Ferguson captures the urgency and innovation of this critical moment in his new film.
Time to Choose also features world-renowned innovators, and thought leaders who point the way to a better world. Dr. Jane Goodall connects climate to the places and animals we love. Governor Jerry Brown urges leaders to join the path to sustainability and Chinese wind and solar manufacturers discuss how they’ve built some of the largest renewable energy installations in the world.
Melanie Laurent and Cyril Dion/2015/115 min/Environmental Advocacy
Sunday, March 5, 2 p.m. [South]
Windsor Park Lutheran Church, Chicago
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Showing solutions, telling a feel-good story… this may be the best way to solve the ecological, economical and social crises that our countries are going through. After a special briefing for the journal Nature announced the possible extinction of a part of mankind before the end of the 21st century, Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent, together with a team of four people, carried out an investigation in ten different countries to figure out what may lead to this disaster and above all how to avoid it.
Martin Boudot/2016/55 min/Health-Environment
Saturday, March 11, 3 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
FILM DESCRIPTION: Is our dependence on pesticides harming the health of our children? Every day, children are exposed to up to 130 chemical pollutants from pesticides. All around the world, scientists and doctors are raising the alarm, linking increases in child cancers, birth defects and even the explosion of autism with exposure to chemicals in pesticides.
David Gelber, Joel Bach and more/2016/50 min/Energy
Saturday, March 11, 12 p.m. [West]
Loretto Hospital, Chicago
Saturday, March 11, 3 p.m. [South][VR]
Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: David Letterman travels to India for the first time to find out what the world’s soon-to-be most populous country is going to do to expand its inadequate energy grid. “Saturday Night Live” cast member Cecily Strong travels to Florida and Nevada to investigate what’s blocking the growth of solar energy in the U.S.
David Gelber, Joel Bach and more/2016/50 min/Energy
Sunday, March 5, 5 p.m. [Lake County]
Christ Episcopal Church, Waukegan
FILM DESCRIPTION: America Ferrera journeys to Waukegan, Illinois, where tension has developed over an active coal plant between those who suffer from health effects and those who depend on it for their livelihood. Sigourney Weaver explores China’s explosive economic growth and the impact it is having on the environment, not only locally but on a massive global scale.
Saturday, March 4, 3 p.m. [Downtown]
Columbia College Chicago, Music Center, Chicago
Join us to see the premier screenings of top films from the Young Filmmakers Contest. Students in grades 3 through college submitted a 3 to 8-minute film about one of six sustainability topics: energy, food, transportation, waste, water. or open space and ecosystems.
Cash prizes will be awarded at the elementary school ($75), middle school ($100), high school ($250), and college levels. Each winner will also donate a matching gift to the sustainability organization of their choice.
2016 Films
John Murray/ 2015/ 74 min/ Food & Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: A Farmer’s Road is a documentary about changing the American food system one meal at a time. At the heart of A Farmer’s Road is a story of how two PhD soil scientists traded the security of academic tenure at a major research university for the relentless challenges and economic uncertainty of operating a Grade A goat dairy and farmstead creamery in central Illinois.
Deia Schlosberg/ 2013/ 28 min/ Energy
FILM DESCRIPTION: Energy companies pursue increasingly difficult methods of fossil fuel extraction at increasing costs to the people and the environment. “Backyard” examines four states that are presently in different stages of hydro-fracking development. The results are several powerful stories of people at odds with the natural gas extraction occurring around them.
Dennis Delestra & Sandrine Feydel/ 2014/ 52 min/ Social Justice: Economy
FILM DESCRIPTION: Banking Nature is a provocative documentary that looks at the growing movement to monetize the natural world—and to turn endangered species and threatened areas into instruments of profit. It’s a worldview that sees capital and markets not as a threat to the planet, but as its salvation—turning nature into “natural capital” and fundamental processes such as pollination and oxygen generation into “ecosystem services.”
Bea Johnson/ 2015/ 8 min/ Waste, Recycling
FILM DESCRIPTION: Bea Johnson’s Zero Waste Home raises questions such as, how much do you throw away each year and how about each day? The numbers are mind boggling, but what if the waste you produced in a single year fit into a quart size jar? That’s what one family of four is doing!
Fredrik Gertten/ 2015/ 88 min/ Transportation
FILM DESCRIPTION: From bike activists in Sao Paulo and Los Angeles, who are fighting for safe bike lanes, to the City of Copenhagen, where forty percent commute by bike daily, Bikes vs Cars will look at both the struggle for bicyclists in a society dominated by cars and the revolutionary changes that could take place if more cities moved away from car-centric models.
Maarten van Rouveroy/ 2013/ 53 min/ Social Justice, Youth (Middle School +)
FILM DESCRIPTION: When the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise set sail 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. Black Ice is a film about social justice and attendance is acceptable for middle school + aged viewers.
Jon Bowermaster/ 2015/ 7 min/ Energy
FILM DESCRIPTION: For many years, the Hudson river, like so many waterways, was treated like an infinite waste barrel, a receptacle for poisonous chemicals, hazardous waste and trash of all descriptions. However, in the past forty years, thanks to a committed group of environmentalists and their agencies (Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson, Clearwater and more) the river has become markedly cleaner. While it is still an under-utilized natural resource, increasingly it is used by boaters, kayakers, even swimmers as a recreational playground. But the river has had a “foot on its neck” for one hundred years and still today, despite the efforts to clean it up, there are environmental risks and concerns.
Mark Titus/2014/ 85 min/ Water
FILM DESCRIPTION: When fishing guide and filmmaker Mark Titus learns why wild salmon populations plummeted in his native Pacific Northwest, he embarks on a journey to discover where the fish have gone and what might bring them back. Along the way, Titus unravels a trail of human hubris, historical amnesia and potential tragedy looming in Alaska – all conspiring to end the most sustainable wild food left on the planet. Visit The Breach‘s official site.
Shalini Kantayya/ 2013/ 75 min/ Energy
FILM DESCRIPTION: Through the stories of workers and entrepreneurs in the U.S. and China, Catching the Sun is a feature length documentary that explores the global race to a clean energy future. Catching the Sun follows the hope and heartbreak of unemployed American workers seeking jobs in the solar industry and sheds light on the path to an economically and environmentally sustainable future.
Susan Rockefeller/ 2014/ 22 min/ Food, Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: A short documentary film, Food for Thought, Food for Life, educates people about the negative impact our current methods of agriculture have on the earth. In addition to providing vital information, the film gives viewers the necessary tools to make a difference in their own lives. It explores the connection between the planet and our health and suggests that strengthening that connection will only benefit our future.
Jeff & Jennifer Spitz/ 2014/ 73 min/ Food, Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: A midwestern mother whose son nearly died from contaminated food embarks on a roller coaster journey to understand the food industry and improve her family’s eating habits. Surprising, funny, and poignant, this personal film unfolds from one family’s story into a powerful consumer movement. Food Patriotsfeatures food advocates from all walks of life who are trying to hatch a revolution to change the way Americans eat and buy food and educate the next generation of consumers.
JLove Calderón/ 2015/ 13 min/ Food & Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: Organic gardener and vegan chef Ietef Vita is an award winning international recording artist and activist who uses Hip-Hop culture to inspire young people to connect to the earth by teaching them how to grow food and cultivate healthy eating habits. Through his lyrics and gardens, Ietef is planting the seeds of the food movement extending from his hometown of Denver, Colo., toacross the globe.
Oliver Hodge/ 2007/ 87 min/ Architecture & Building
FILM DESCRIPTION: Garbage Warrior features the epic story of radical Earthship eco-architect, Michael Reynolds, and his fight to build off the grid, self-sufficient communities.
Dana Nachman/ 2013/ 80 min/ Health & the Environment
FILM DESCRIPTION: The Human Experiment lifts the veil on the shocking reality that thousands of untested chemicals are in our everyday products, our homes and inside of us. Simultaneously, the prevalence of many diseases continues to rise. From Oscar® winner Sean Penn and Emmy® winning journalists Dana Nachman and Don Hardy, The Human Experiment tells the personal stories of people who believe their lives have been affected by chemicals and takes viewers to the front lines as activists go head-to-head with the powerful and well-funded chemical industry. These activists bring to light a corrupt system that’s been hidden from consumers… until now.
Costa Boutsikaris/ 2015/ 92 min/ Wildlife
FILM DESCRIPTION: Inhabit is a feature length documentary introducing permaculture: a design method that offers an ecological lens for solving issues related to agriculture, economics, governance, and more. The film presents a vast array of projects, concepts, and people, and it translates the diversity of permaculture into something that can be understood by an equally diverse audience.
Jen Rustemeyer/ 2014/ 75 min/ Food & Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: An award-winning documentary about the staggering amounts of food that go to waste in households and farm fields, “Just Eat It” was one of three audience favorites in the online balloting that began the weekend of One Earth Film Festival 2015. A five-person jury screened three films, reaching the decision to select “Just Eat It” as One Earth Film Festival 2015 First Choice winner.
Brad Allgood, Alejandra Amarilla/ 2015/ 84 min/ Waste, Recycling
FILM DESCRIPTION: Landfill Harmonic follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a paraguayan musical youth group of kids that live next to one of South America’s largest landfills. This unlikely orchestra plays music from instruments made entirely out of garbage. When their story goes viral, the orchestra is catapulted into the global spotlight. With the guidance of their music director, they must navigate this new world of arenas and sold out concerts. However, when a natural disaster devastates their community, the orchestra provides a source of hope for the town. The film is a testament to the transformative power of music and the resilience of the human spirit.
Gary Paul Nabhan/ 2015/ 8 min/ Food, Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: What goes on behind the scenes of the food system in the United States? What problems do we face? Man in the Maze showcases a diverse group of people, throughout the US borderlands, who come up with innovative solutions to mend our broken food system.
Petri Luukkanen/ 2013/ 52 min/ Waste, Recycling
FILM DESCRIPTION: Petri Luukkanen, 26, is amidst an existential crisis when he begins filming My Stuff. He arrives at the idea that his happiness might be found by rebuilding his everyday existence. What does he really need – and what about all that stuff? See what he discovers about himself and the “stuff” he really needs
Nelson Campbell/ 2015/ 95 min/ Food, Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: The documentary film Plant Pure Nation tells the story of three people on a quest to spread the message of one of the most important health breakthroughs of all time. After renowned nutritional scientist and bestselling author, T. Colin Campbell, gives a stirring speech on the floor of the Kentucky House of Representatives, his son, Nelson, and Kentucky State Representative, Tom Riner, work together to propose a pilot program documenting the health benefits of a plant-based diet. Once the legislation goes into Committee, agribusiness lobbyists kill the plan.
Tonje Hessen Schei/ 2010/ 82 min/ Health & the Environment
FILM DESCRIPTION: This moving and humorous documentary follows six teenagers who, like the “average American child,” spend five to fifteen hours a day behind screens. Play Again unplugs these teens and takes them on their first wilderness adventure – no electricity, no cell phone coverage, no virtual reality. Through the voices of children and leading experts including a journalist, sociologist, environmental writer, educator, neuroscientist, parks advocate, and geneticist, Play Again investigates the consequences of a childhood removed from nature and encourages action for a sustainable future.
Louie Psihoyos/ 2015/ 90 min/ Climate Change & Community Response
FILM DESCRIPTION: Racing Extinction follows a team of artists and activists who expose the hidden world of extinction with never-before-seen images that will change the way we see the planet forever. See what could be going extinct right in front of our eyes.
Louie Psihoyos/ 2015/ 90 min/ Climate Change & Community Response
FILM DESCRIPTION: Racing Extinction follows a team of artists and activists who expose the hidden world of extinction with never-before-seen images that will change the way we see the planet forever. See what could be going extinct right in front of our eyes.
Sandy McLeod/ 2013/ 77 min/ Food, Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: A perfect storm is brewing as agriculture pioneer Cary Fowler races against time to protect the future of our food. Seed banks around the world are crumbling, crop failures are producing starvation and rioting, and the accelerating effects of climate change are affecting farmers globally. Communities of indigenous Peruvian farmers are already suffering those effects, as they try desperately to save over 1,500 varieties of native potato in their fields. But with little time to waste, both Fowler and the farmers embark on passionate and personal journeys that may save the one resource we cannot live without: our seeds. Visit Seeds of Time official site.
Peter Byck/ 2014/ 12 min/ Food, Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: Meet Allen Williams, Gabe Brown and Neil Dennis – heroes and innovators! These ranchers now know how to regenerate their soils while making their animals healthier and their operations more profitable. They are turning on their soils, enabling rainwater to sink into the earth rather than run off. And these turned on soils retain that water, so the ranches are much more resilient in drought. Soil Carbon Cowboys is an amazing story that has just begun.
Justin Cerone/ 2015/ 22 min/ Architecture & Building
FILM DESCRIPTION: The Sustainable is a documentary about a couple in Upstate New York and their decision to design and build their home to produce its own electricity. Watch the trailer to see their home’s amazing transformation and how this project changed their lives.
Lisa Merton and Alan Dater/ 2008/ 81 min/Food, Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy—a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration.
Naomi Klein, Avi Lewis/ 2015/ 89 min/ Climate Change & Community Response
FILM DESCRIPTION: Filmed over 211 shoot days in four years, nine countries and five continents, This Changes Everything is an epic attempt to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change. Directed by Avi Lewis, and inspired by Naomi Klein’s international non-fiction bestseller, This Changes Everything, the film presents seven powerful portraits of communities on the front lines, from Montana’s Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from the coast of South India to Beijing and beyond. Interwoven with these stories of struggle is Klein’s narration, connecting the carbon in the air with the economic system that put it there. Throughout the film, Klein builds to her most controversial and exciting idea: that we can seize the existential crisis of climate change to transform our failed economic system into something radically better.
Andrew Morgan & Michael Ross/ 2015/ 92 min/ Waste, Recycling
FILM DESCRIPTION: The True Cost is about the clothes we wear, the people who make them and the impact the industry is having on our world. The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. The True Cost is a groundbreaking documentary film that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and asks us to consider, who really pays the price for our clothing?
2015 Films
Lori Joyce and Candice Orlando/ 2012/ 88 min/ Social Justice
FILM DESCRIPTION: A film that captures the portraits and stories of extraordinary women around the world who are coming together to heal the injustices against the earth, weaves together poetry, music, art and stunning scenery to create a hopeful and collective story that inspires us to work for the earth.
Lori Joyce and Candice Orlando/ 2012/ 88 min/ Social Justice
FILM DESCRIPTION: A film that captures the portraits and stories of extraordinary women around the world who are coming together to heal the injustices against the earth, weaves together poetry, music, art and stunning scenery to create a hopeful and collective story that inspires us to work for the earth.
Amy Browne/ 2014/ 102 min/ Health & Environment
FILM DESCRIPTION: What if our last act could be a gift to the planet? Determined that his final resting place will benefit the earth, musician, psychiatrist, and folk dancer Clark Wang prepares for his own green burial while battling lymphoma. The spirited Clark and his partner Jane, boldly facing his mortality, embrace the planning of a spiritually meaningful funeral and join with a compassionate local cemetarian to use green burial to save a North Carolina woods from being clear-cut.
Evan Abramson & Carmen Elsa/ 2011/ 23 min/ Water
FILM DESCRIPTION: The award-winning short film by Evan Abramson & Carmen Elsa Lopez brings to life the daily struggles experienced by millions of residents living in western Kenya without easy access to safe drinking water. But the film is also about hope. It showcases a unique new public health program providing the region with sustainable access to clean water. The film chronicles the program start-up, when nearly 880,000 water filters were distributed for free to almost all homes in the region. It shows how this program’s unique carbon financing model ensures sustainability at no cost to residents, governmental agencies or donor groups.
Amy Miller/ 2012/ 90 min/ Health & Environment
FILM DESCRIPTION: From indigenous rain forest dwellers having their way of life completely threatened, to dozens of Campesinos assassinated, to the livelihood of waste pickers at landfills taken away, THE CARBON RUSH travels across four continents and brings us up close to projects working through the United Nations, Kyoto Protocol designed Clean Development Mechanism. This groundbreaking documentary feature asks the fundamental questions “What happens when we manipulate markets to solve the climate crisis? Who stands to gain and who stands to suffer?”
Kip Andersen/ 2014/ 91 min/ Wildlife
FILM DESCRIPTION: Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret is a groundbreaking feature-length environmental documentary following intrepid filmmaker Kip Andersen as he uncovers the most destructive industry facing the planet today – and investigates why the world’s leading environmental organizations are too afraid to talk about it
Andrew Hasse/ 2012/ 55 min/ Food & Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: Edible City is a fun, fast-paced journey through the Local Good food movement that's taking root in the San Francisco Bay Area, across the nation and around the world. Introducing a diverse cast of extraordinary and eccentric characters who are challenging the paradigm of our broken food system, Edible City digs into their unique perspectives and transformative work, finding hopeful solutions to monumental problems.
Jared Flesher/ 2013/ 53 min/ Wildlife
FILM DESCRIPTION: Field Biologist is the story of 22-year-old Tyler Christensen, a talented but underemployed high school graduate from New Jersey still trying to figure out what to do with his life. Tyler’s great love is being outside, chasing birds and studying wildlife. One day he decides—brushing aside his lack of a college degree or scientific credentials—to drop everything and travel to Costa Rica to start doing his own conservation-oriented research on birds in the tropics.
David Mrazek/ 2014/ 57 min/ Wildlife
FILM DESCRIPTION: From Billions to None: The Passenger Pigeon's Flight to Extinction reveals the compelling story of the unlikely extinction of the passenger pigeon. For millennia, the sleek long-distance flyer was the most abundant bird in North America and perhaps the world. Then, in a matter of decades, it was hunted to extinction.
Jen Rustemeyer/ 2014/ 75 min/ Food & Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: An award-winning documentary about the staggering amounts of food that go to waste in households and farm fields, “Just Eat It” was one of three audience favorites in the online balloting that began the weekend of One Earth Film Festival 2015. A five-person jury screened three films, reaching the decision to select “Just Eat It” as One Earth Film Festival 2015 First Choice winner.
Caroline Bacle/ 2013/ 72 min/ Water
FILM DESCRIPTION: Once upon a time, in almost every industrial city, countless rivers flowed. We built houses along their banks. Our roads hugged their curves. And their currents fed our mills and factories. But as cities grew, we polluted rivers so much that they became conduits for deadly waterborne diseases like cholera, which was 19th century's version of the Black Plague. Our solution two centuries ago was to bury rivers underground and merge them with sewer networks. Today, under the city, they still flow, out of sight and out of mind… until now.
Amy Miller/ 2013/ 75 min/ Food & Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: No Land No Food No Life is a hard-hitting film which explores sustainable small scale agriculture and the urgent call for an end to corporate global land grabs. This feature length documentary gives voice to those directly affected by combining personal stories, and vérité footage of communities fighting to retain control of their land.
Steve Ellington/ 2013/ 20 min/ Wildlife
FILM DESCRIPTION: This story follows Steve Repasky, a beekeeper in Pittsburgh, Pa., during his beekeeping efforts throughout the year. Urban beekeeping is not only about honey production. Educating the public, managing feral bee colonies and capturing swarms around the city keep Steve very busy, in addition to dealing with the calamity of Colony Collapse Disorder.
David Bond/ 2013/ 120 min/ Health & Environment
FILM DESCRIPTION: Filmmaker David Bond is a worried man. His kids' waking hours are dominated by a cacophony of marketing, and a screen dependence threatening to turn them into glassy-eyed zombies. Like city kids everywhere, they spend way too much time indoors - not like it was back in his day. He decides it's time to get back to nature – literally.
Jessica Plumb/ 2014/ 69 min/ Water
FILM DESCRIPTION: Return of the River offers a story of hope and possibility amid grim environmental news. It is a film for our time: an invitation to consider crazy ideas that could transform the world for the better. It features an unlikely success story for environmental and cultural restoration. Fundamentally, the Elwha River in Washington State is a story about people and the land they inhabit. The film captures the tenacity of individuals who would not give up on a river, mirroring the tenacity of salmon headed upstream to spawn.
Deborah Koons/ 2013/ 104 min/ Food & Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: Drawing from ancient knowledge and cutting edge science, Symphony of the Soil is an artistic exploration of the miraculous substance soil. By understanding the elaborate relationships and mutuality between soil, water, the atmosphere, plants and animals, we come to appreciate the complex and dynamic nature of this precious resource.
David Sington & Simon Lamb/ 2013/ 74 min/ Climate Control
FILM DESCRIPTION: Climate science has been coming under increasing attack. Geologist Simon Lamb takes a look at what’s really happening with global warming by filming scientists at work in the Arctic, the Antarctic and around the world. The result is a unique exploration of the science behind global warming, and an intimate portrait of a global community of researchers racing to understand our planet’s changing climate.
Andrew Garrison/ 2013/ 68 min/ Waste
FILM DESCRIPTION: Choreographer Allison Orr finds beauty and grace in garbage trucks, and in the unseen men and women who pick up our trash. Filmmaker Andrew Garrison follows Orr as she rides along with Austin sanitation workers on their daily routes to observe and later convince them to perform a most unlikely spectacle.
Ed Brown/ 2013/ 90 min/ Waste
FILM DESCRIPTION: Unacceptable Levels examines the results of the chemical revolution of the 1940s through the eyes of affable filmmaker Ed Brown, a father seeking to understand the world in which he and his wife are raising their children. To create this debut documentary, one man and his camera traveled extensively to find and interview top minds in the fields of science, advocacy, and law.
Nailah Jefferson/ 2014/ 91 min/ Health & Environment
FILM DESCRIPTION: Vanishing Pearls is the story of paradise lost – an ongoing, environmental David and Goliath struggle between multinational oil and gas company BP plc (Beyond Petroleum) and a 300 person,
Orlando von Einsiedel/ 2014/ 100 min/ Wildlife
FILM DESCRIPTION: In the forested depths of eastern Congo lies Virunga National Park, one of the most bio-diverse places on Earth and home to the planet’s last remaining mountain gorillas. In this wild, but enchanted environment, a small and embattled team of park rangers - including an ex-child soldier turned ranger, a caretaker of orphan gorillas and a dedicated conservationist - protect this UNESCO world heritage site from armed militia, poachers and the dark forces struggling to control Congo's rich natural resources.
Orlando von Einsiedel/ 2014/ 100 min/ Wildlife
FILM DESCRIPTION: In the forested depths of eastern Congo lies Virunga National Park, one of the most bio-diverse places on Earth and home to the planet’s last remaining mountain gorillas. In this wild, but enchanted environment, a small and embattled team of park rangers - including an ex-child soldier turned ranger, a caretaker of orphan gorillas and a dedicated conservationist - protect this UNESCO world heritage site from armed militia, poachers and the dark forces struggling to control Congo's rich natural resources.
2014 Films
Sarah Dupont/2012/53 min/Health & Environment
Narrated by Academy Award winners Sissy Spacek and Herbie Hancock, Amazon Gold is the disturbing account of a clandestine journey into the Amazon rainforest. Ron Haviv and Donovan Webster, two war journalists led by a Peruvian biologist uncover the savage unraveling of pristine rainforest. They bear witness to the apocalyptic destruction in the pursuit of illegally mined gold with consequences on a global scale. An animated Agouti springs to life to tell the story of his ecosystem. Left in the wake of surreal images of once extraordinary beauty turned into hellish wasteland, Amazon Gold reaffirms the right of the rainforest to exist as a repository of priceless biodiversity.
Gabriela Cowperthwaite/2013/90 minutes/Wildlife
Many of us have experienced the excitement and awe of watching 8,000 pound orcas, or “killer whales,” soar out of the water and fly through the air at sea parks, as if in perfect harmony with their trainers. Yet, in our contemporary lore this mighty black and white mammal is like a two-faced Janus-beloved as a majestic, friendly giant yet infamous for its capacity to kill viciously. Blackfish unravels the complexities of this dichotomy, employing the story of notorious performing whale Tilikum, who-unlike any orca in the wild-has taken the lives of several people while in captivity. So what exactly went wrong?
Dave Danesh, Sean Donnelly, and Kate Kressmann-Kehoe/2013/67 min/ Health & Environment
Comfort Zone brings the global issue of climate change to a local and personal level. It’s the story of what happens when we try to translate this global problem to our individual lives. What is at stake? What can I do about it? What if dealing with this problem asks things of me that I’m not yet ready to give? The climate is already changing. Now what about us?
Kelly Nyles and Jared P. Scott/2013/44 min/ Carbon
It’s simple math: we can emit 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide and stay below 2°C of warming — anything more than that risks catastrophe for life on earth. The only problem? Burning the fossil fuel that corporations now have in their reserves would result in emitting 2,795 gigatons of carbon dioxide – five times the safe amount.
Jeremy Seifer/2013/90 min/Economy
GMO OMG director and concerned father Jeremy Seifert is in search of answers. How do GMOs affect our children, the health of our planet, and our freedom of choice? And perhaps the ultimate question, which Seifert tests himself: is it even possible to reject the food system currently in place, or have we lost something we can’t gain back?
John D. Liu/2012/48 min/Health & Environment
Environmental filmmaker John D. Liu documents large-scale ecosystem restoration projects in China, Africa, South America and the Middle East, highlighting the enormous benefits to people and planet of undertaking these efforts globally. This documentary is not just a tale of hope, it’s evidence of hope – it’s proof that we do not need to give in to apathy and despair. Instead, we see we have the simple solutions right in front of us.
Dan Susman/2013/60 min/Food & Agriculture
In their search for answers, filmmakers Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette take a road trip and meet the men and women who are challenging the way this country grows and distributes its food, one vacant city lot, rooftop garden, and backyard chicken coop at a time. Join them as they discover that good food isn’t the only crop these urban visionaries are harvesting. They’re producing stronger and more vibrant communities, too.
Stuart Sender/April 2012/90 min/Health & Environment
Based on his book and narrated by HRH Charles, the Prince of Wales, HARMONY captures on film in a way we’ve never seen before, an authentic leader on critical global issues. For the better part of three decades, The Prince of Wales has worked side by side with a surprising and dynamic array of environmental activists, business leaders, artists, architects and government leaders. They are working to transform the world, address the global environmental crisis and find ways toward a more sustainable, spiritual and harmonious relationship with the planet.
Carey Lundin/2013/55 min/ Health & Environment
This award winning documentary portrays how Danish-born Jens Jensen (1860 – 1951) rose from street sweeper, to ‘dean of landscape architecture’, to pioneering conservationist in troubled, early Chicago. At great risk to his family, he battles corruption and unbridled industrial expansion to bring ‘the living green’ into the wretched lives of Chicago’s workers. Jensen leverages relationships with Frank Lloyd Wright, Julius Rosenwald, and Henry Fordto create a conservation fervor that stopped the steel mills from industrializing an entire Indiana shoreline.
Uli H. Streckerbach/ 2012/ 6 min/ Food & Agriculture
This animated film tells the reality of soil resources around the world, covering the issues of degradation, urbanization, land grabbing and overexploitation; the film offers options to make the way we manage our soils more sustainable.
Oliver Jeffers/ 2008/ 24 min/ Wildlife
A magical tale of friendship and loneliness, Lost and Found tells the story of a little boy who finds a penguin on the doorstep of his house one morning. Although at first he is unsure about what to do, the boy becomes determined to help the penguin find his way back home, even if that means rowing a small boat all the way to the South Pole!
Markus Imhoof/ 2013/ 95 min/ Food & Agriculture
Over the past 15 years, numerous colonies of bees have been decimated throughout the world, but the causes of this disaster remain unknown. Depending on the world region, 50% to 90% of all local bees have disappeared, and this epidemic is still spreading from beehive to beehive – all over the planet. Everywhere, the same scenario is repeated: billions of bees leave their hives, never to return.
Maxine Trump/2012/80 min/ Health & Environment
Musicwood is an adventure-filled journey, a political thriller with music at its heart. An unusual band of the most famous guitar-makers in the world (Bob Taylor of Taylor guitars, Chris Martin of Martin Guitars and Dave Berryman of Gibson Guitars) travel together into the heart of one of the most primeval rainforests on the planet. Their mission: to negotiate with Native American loggers and change the way this forest is logged before it’s too late for acoustic guitars.
Brandi Fullwood/2013/6 minutes/ Food & Agriculture
Miya’s Sushi is a short film that showcases the use of invasive species in sushi, focusing on how the culinary arts impact environmental conscious.
Angela Sun/2013/82 min/ Waste/ Water
Thousands of miles away from civilization, Midway Atoll is in one of the most remote places on earth. And yet its become ground zero for The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, syphoning plastics from three distant continents. In this independent documentary film, journalist/filmmaker Angela Sun travels on a personal journey of discovery to uncover this mysterious phenomenon. Along the way she meets scientists, researchers, influencers, and volunteers whom shed light on the effects of our rabid plastic consumption and learns the problem is more insidious than we could have ever imagined.
Rob Stewart/2012/85 min/ Health & Environment
Revolution is a film about changing the world. The true-life adventure of Rob Stewart, this follow-up to his acclaimed Sharkwater documentary continues his remarkable journey; one that will take him through 15 countries over four years, and where he’ll discover that it’s not only sharks that are in grave danger – it’s humanity itself. In an effort to uncover the truth and find the secret to saving the ecosystems we depend on for survival, Stewart embarks on a life-threatening adventure.
Ian MacKenzie /2012/12 min/ Economy
Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, revealing how the money system has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity, destroyed community, and necessitated endless growth. Today, these trends have reached their extreme – but in the wake of their collapse, we may find great opportunity to transition to a more connected, ecological, and sustainable way of being.
Irene Taylor Brodsky/2011/40 min/ Wildlife
Nearly 9,000 birds were found in the oily waters of the Gulf Coast in the wake of the 2010 BP oil spill. One of them was a young pelican coated by oil near his nest in Louisiana. Saving Pelican 895 is the story of the 895th bird to be rescued and rehabilitated by a dedicated team of wildlife experts and every day people, many of whom travel the world responding to oil disasters. The tale of a single animal and the compassionate people deployed to save him, Saving Pelican 895 shows how the process of saving one life restored a degree of humanity for the rest of us.
Mark Hall/2012/75 min/ Food & Agriculture
ushi, a cuisine formerly found only in Japan, has grown exponentially in other nations, and an industry has been created to support it. In a rush to please a hungry public, the expensive delicacy has become common and affordable, appearing in restaurants, supermarkets and even fast food trailers. The traditions requiring 7 years of apprenticeship in Japan have given way to quick training and mass-manufactured solutions elsewhere. This hunger for sushi has led to the depletion of apex predators in the ocean, including bluefin tuna, to such a degree that it has the potential to upset the ecological balance of the world’s oceans, leading to a collapse of all fish species.
Helena Norberg-Hodge and Steven Gorelick/2011/69 min/ Economy
Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly every problem we face: fundamentalism and ethnic conflict; climate chaos and species extinction; financial instability and unemployment. There are personal costs too. For the majority of people on the planet, life is becoming increasingly stressful. We have less time for friends and family and we face mounting pressures at work. The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions.
Peter Young/2013/84 min/ Water
The Ross Sea Antarctica is the most pristine stretch of ocean on Earth. Scientists describe it as our last ‘living laboratory’, a place that can teach us about the workings of all marine ecosystems. But the fishing industry recently found its way to the Ross Sea, targeting Antarctic toothfish and unless stopped, the natural balance of this unique ecosystem will be lost forever. The Last Ocean tells the story of the race to protect Earth’s last untouched ocean from our insatiable appetite for fish, and raises the simple ethical question: do we fish the last ocean or do we protect it?
Will Parrinello/ 2013/ 28 min/ Health & Environment
Robert Redford narrates this multiple Emmy Award-winning series featuring inspiring portraits of 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. The New Environmentalists share a common goal – safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution, while fighting for environmental justice in their communities.
Jill Cloutier/ 2013/ 28 min/ Climate Control
A powerful solution to the climate crisis can be found right beneath our feet—in the soil. By harnessing the immense power of photosynthesis, we can convert atmospheric carbon, a problem, into soil carbon, a solution. Emerging science proves that shifting to regenerative forms of agriculture such as agroecology, agroforestry, cover-cropping, holistic grazing and permaculture will allow us to store excess carbon safely in the ground.
Louis Fox/ 2013/ 9 min/ Economy
The Story of Solutions, released in October 2013, explores how we can move our economy in a more sustainable and just direction, starting with orienting ourselves toward a new goal. In the current ‘Game of More’, we’re told to cheer a growing economy – more roads, more malls, more Stuff! – even though our health indicators are worsening, income inequality is growing and polar icecaps are melting. But what if we changed the point of the game? What if the goal of our economy wasn’t more, but better – better health, better jobs and a better chance to survive on the planet? Shouldn’t that be what winning means?
Merete Mueller/ 2013/ 120 min/ Architecture
TINY is a documentary about home, and how we find it. The film follows one couple’s attempt to build a “tiny house” from scratch, and profiles other families who have downsized their lives into homes smaller than the average parking space. Through homes stripped down to their essentials, the film raises questions about good design, the nature of home, and the changing American Dream.
James Redford and Kirby Walker/ 2013/ 91 min/ Health & Environment
TOXIC HOT SEAT tells the story of a growing tide of activists, journalists and citizen groups who are bringing an end to the era of manipulation and misinformation about hidden toxic chemicals. The film shows the struggle to remove toxic flame retardant chemicals from our couches, environment and bodies. These chemicals are linked to lower IQ in children, thyroid disease, infertility, cancer and other rising rates of health problems. They are found in every living being on earth.
Candida Brady/ 2012/ 98 min/ Waste
In the new docu-feature TRASHED, a Blenheim Films production, produced and directed by British filmmaker Candida Brady (Madam and the Dying Swan), which was selected to receive a Special Screening at the Cannes Film Festival, Irons sets out to discover the extent and effects of the global waste problem, as he travels around the world to beautiful destinations tainted by pollution. This is a meticulous, brave investigative journey that takes Irons (and us) from scepticism to sorrow and from horror to hope. Brady’s narrative is vividly propelled by an original score created by Academy Award winning composer Vangelis.
Mark MacInnis/ 2011/ 94 min/ Food & Agriculture
URBAN ROOTS is a documentary that tells the story of the spontaneous emergence of urban farming in the city of Detroit. Detroit, once an industrial powerhouse of a lost American era, is a city devastated by the loss of half its population due to the collapse of manufacturing. By the looks of it, the city has died. But now, against all odds, in the empty lots, in the old factory yards, and in-between the sad, sagging blocks of company housing, seeds of change are taking root.
Richard Hoffman/ 2013/ 38 min/ Food & Agriculture
FILM INFORMATION: Watermelon Magic is like no other film. It’s a sweet combination of story and science and the first big screen film devoted one of our most basic human needs: healthy food. International audiences will delight in this nearly wordless burst of color and music. Weaving together documentary and narrative elements, Watermelon Magic chronicles a season on the family farm, as young Sylvie grows a patch of watermelons to sell at market. How will she let her babies go?
2013 Films
Travis Kidd/2012/11 min/Health & Environment
A Forest in Flux explains the impacts of a recent mountain pine beetle outbreak in the Rocky Mountains. The film takes a narrative approach to explain the ecology of the mountain pine beetle to kids aged 8-12. We follow a young boy on his quest to discover what is killing all the pine trees in his back yard. He uses a smart phone to do take photos of what he sees and does research about the clues he is finding.
Barbara Ettinger/2009/60 min/Wildlife
Imagine a world without fish. It’s a frightening premise, and it’s happening right now. A Sea Change follows the journey of retired history teacher Sven Huseby on his quest to discover what is happening to the world’s oceans. After reading Elizabeth Kolbert’s “The Darkening Sea,” Sven becomes obsessed with the rising acidity of the oceans and what this “sea change” bodes for mankind. His quest takes him to Alaska, California, Washington, and Norway as he uncovers a worldwide crisis that most people are unaware of.
Verónica Moscoso/2011/26 min/Climate Control
A Wild Idea is an award-winning documentary about the Yasuni-ITT Initiative, Ecuador’s unprecedented proposal for fighting global climate change. In exchange for payments from the world community, the country will leave untouched its largest oil reserves. If the proposal is accepted, it willconserve the Amazon’s biodiversity, protect the rights of indigenous people and avoid the emission of millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Suzan Beraza/2010/74 min/Waste
Bag It has been garnering awards at film festivals across the nation. What started as a documentary about plastic bags evolved into a wholesale investigation into plastics and their effect on our waterways, oceans, and even our bodies. Join the Bag It movement and decide for yourself how plastic your life will be.
Marc Francis and Nick Francis/2006/78 min/Food & Agriculture
Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil. But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields.
Monte Thompson/2010/60 min/Health & Environment
All over the world species are becoming extinct at an astonishing rate, from 1000 to 10,000 times faster than normal. The loss of biodiversity has become so severe that scientists are calling it a mass extinction event. Call of Life: Facing the Mass Extinction is the first feature documentary to investigate the growing threat to Earth’s life support systems from this unprecedented loss of biodiversity.
Jeff Orlowski/2012/76 min/Water
Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers.
Stefan Schaefer/2008/57 min (25 min clip)/Transportation
Through interviews with leading historians, urban planners, and government officials, Contested Streets: Breaking New York City Gridlock explores the history and culture of New York City streets from pre-automobile times to the present. This examination allows for an understanding of how the city, though the most well served by mass transit in the United States, has slowly relinquished what was a rich, multi-dimensional conception of the street as public space to a mindset that prioritizes the rapid movement of cars and trucks over all other functions.
Ellen Tripler/2011/26 min/Health & Environment
Have you chosen to live a greener life? One man has and he has taken it one step further: he not only wants to live green but he wants die green as well and is helping others do the same. Dying Green is a short documentary set in the foothills of the Appalachians, explores one man’s vision of using green burials to conserve land.
Rob Holmes (Founder/Pres. GLP)/2012/5 min/Economy
Fairtrade Africa is a group making sure African coffee bean farmers earn a fair income for helping homes around the world brew the perfect cup of coffee. In this short film GLP Films visits Fairtrade Africa as they work in the interest of farmers and fair trade-certified producers in Africa, helping them connect to consumers worldwide.
Jeff & Jennifer Spitz/ 2014/ 73 min/ Food & Agriculture
FILM DESCRIPTION: A midwestern mother whose son nearly died from contaminated food embarks on a roller coaster journey to understand the food industry and improve her family’s eating habits. Surprising, funny, and poignant, this personal film unfolds from one family’s story into a powerful consumer movement. Food Patriots features food advocates from all walks of life who are trying to hatch a revolution to change the way Americans eat and buy food and educate the next generation of consumers.
Hypatia Angelique Porter/2007/15 min
What is the cost of convenience? For the Price of a Cup of Coffee is a short environmental documentary examining the life cycle of a paper cup and the repercussions of a society reliant on convenience. Why are less than 1% of coffeeshop patrons bringing their own cup? Why do we have so much garbage, and where does it go? What is the true cost of a disposable culture?
Jeffrey Smith & Institute for Responsible Technology/2012/85 min/Food & Agriculture
Shocking. Life-Changing. You won’t look at food the same way again. Genetic Roulette exposes the dirt behind Big-Biotech’s Big failed experiment. Never-Before-Seen-Evidence points to genetically engineered foods as a major contributor to rising disease rates in the US population, especially among children. Gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, inflammatory diseases, and infertility are just some of the problems implicated in humans, pets, livestock, and lab animals that eat genetically modified soybeans and corn.
Žiga Virc/2010/52 min/Energy
Step inside the energy capital of the world, to hear the hard truth about oil, straight from the Texas oilmen themselves. For decades American presidents have warned of our nation’s dependence on foreign oil. See just how the U.S. Energy Policy turned into a strategy of defense, not offense; the recent Gulf disaster, an inevitable tragedy. Today, in the midst of unsolvable wars, global warming, recession, peak oil, and oil spills, the world’s energy demand continues to skyrocket. The U.S. energy demand alone is predicted to go up 50% in the next 20 years. Hear the confessions of oilmen, who work in the trenches every day, scrambling to feed America’s ferocious appetite.
Robert Bates/2009/67 min/Food & Agriculture
American food is in a state of crisis, but a movement to put good food back on the table is emerging. What began 30 years ago with chefs demanding better flavor, has inspired consumers to seek relationships with nearby farmers. This is local food. At the focal point of this movement, and of this film, are the farmers and chefs who are creating a truly sustainable food system. Their collaborative work has resulted in great tasting food and an explosion of consumer awareness about the benefits of eating local. Attention being paid to the local food movement comes at a time when the failings of our current industrialized food system are becoming all too clear.
Jessica Yu/2011/105 min/Water
Illuminating the vital role water plays in our lives, exposing the defects in the current system and depicting communities already struggling with its ill-effects, Last Call at the Oasis features activist Erin Brockovich and such distinguished experts as Peter Gleick, Alex Prud’homme, Jay Famiglietti and Robert Glennon. Developed, financed and executive produced by Participant Media, the company responsible for AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, FOOD, INC. andWAITING FOR “SUPERMAN”, Last Call at the Oasis presents a powerful argument for why the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century.
Leslie Iwerks/2011/39 min/Water
Across the heartland of America, farmers and landowners are fighting to protect their land, their water, and their livihood in what has become the most controversial environmental battle in the U.S. today: The Keystone XL Pipeline. Routed from Hardity, Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, this tar sands pipeline is set to cross the country’s largest fresh water resource, the Ogallala Aquifer and the fragile Sandhills of Nebraska, posing devastating consequences to human health, livestock and agriculture.
Tonje Hessen Schei/ 2010/ 82 min/ Health & Environment
FILM DESCRIPTION: This moving and humorous documentary follows six teenagers who, like the “average American child,” spend five to fifteen hours a day behind screens. Play Again unplugs these teens and takes them on their first wilderness adventure – no electricity, no cell phone coverage, no virtual reality. Through the voices of children and leading experts including a journalist, sociologist, environmental writer, educator, neuroscientist, parks advocate, and geneticist, Play Again investigates the consequences of a childhood removed from nature and encourages action for a sustainable future.
2012/60 min/Health & Environment
Dr. Richard Jackson explains the link between our health and the way our communities — especially our suburbs — are designed. Obesity, asthma, diabetes and heart disease are all aggravated by the auto-centric way we live our lives today. It’s no secret that today’s generation of children are likely to have shorter lives than their parents because of their unhealthy lifestyles. It doesn’t have to be this way. Well-designed communities can improve both physical and mental health, as Dr. Jackson explains in this four-part public television series and the accompanying book. Searching for Shangri-La is part four of the series.
Byron Hurt/2011/63 min/Food & Agriculture
Soul Food Junkies explores the health advantages and disadvantages of Soul Food, a quintessential American cuisine. Soul food will also be used as the lens to investigate the dark side of the food industry and the growing food justice movement that has been born in its wake.
Debra Anderson/2009/76 min/Energy
Imagine discovering that you don’t own the mineral rights under your land, and that an energy company plans to drill for natural gas two hundred feet from your front door. Imagine having little recourse, other than accepting an unregulated industry in your backyard. Split Estate maps a tragedy in the making, as citizens in the path of a new drilling boom in the Rocky Mountain West struggle against the erosion of their civil liberties, their communities and their health.
Kelly Matheson; Christi Cooper-Kuhn/2012/9 min per segment/Climate
Stories of TRUST: Calling for Climate Recovery, is about the perfect trifecta of youth, law and justice. This series of short documentaries features the voices of daring youth from across the country who went to court to compel the government to protect our atmosphere, in trust, for future generations. Calling for Climate Recovery is a 10-part groundbreaking documentary series of nine young people who bravely share their stories of harm, activism and hope around the climate crisis.
Martin Scorsese, Mathieu Roy, and Harold Crooks/2011/86 min/Climate Control
“Every time history repeats itself the price goes up.” Surviving Progress presents the story of human advancement as awe-inspiring and double-edged. It reveals the grave risk of running the 21st century’s software — our know-how — on the ancient hardware of our primate brain which hasn’t been upgraded in 50,000 years. With rich imagery and immersive soundtrack, filmmakers Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks launch us on journey to contemplate our evolution from cave-dwellers to space explorers.
Franny Armstrong/2009/92 min/Climate Control
Launched at a Guinness World Recording-winning solar-powered premiere in London’s Leicester Square, the film was released in cinemas worldwide, topped the UK box office (by screen average), became one of the most talked-about films of 2009 and garnered sensational reviews: The Telegraph called it “Bold, supremely provocative and hugely important”, the News of the World described it as “A deeply inconvenient kick up the backside”, ABC Australia said “So tightly constructed and dynamic you leave the cinema energised rather than terrified… hits home like a hammer blow” and the LA Times said “Think ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, but with a personality”.
Grant Baldwin/2010/87 min/Waste
Is it possible to live completely waste free? In this multi-award winning, festival favourite, partners Jen and Grant go head to head in a competition to see who can swear off consumerism and produce the least garbage. Their light-hearted competition is set against a darker examination of the problem waste.
Jeremy Konner/2010/4 min/Waste
This mockumentary is narrated by Academy Award-winner Jeremy Irons and tracks the “migration” of a plastic bag from a grocery store parking lot to the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” in the Pacific Ocean.
Kevin McMahon/ 2009/ 49 min/ Water
Water’s journey from streams entering Lake Superior to the mouth of the Saint Lawrence Seaway takes 350 years. Waterlife follows the epic cascade of the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. From the icy cliffs of Lake Superior to the ornate fountains of Chicago to the sewers of Windsor, this documentary tells the story of the last huge supply (20 per cent) of fresh water on Earth.
Stephen Titra/ 2012/ 5 min/ Transportation
Follows the Chicago organization by the same name that removes discarded bikes from the waste stream and then rehabs the bikes for donation.
2012 Films
Chris Bentley/2011/16 min/Food & Agriculture
A film about Angela Taylor her community garden on Chicago's west side.
Bill Finnegan/2011/56 min/Health & Environment
Biophilic Design is an innovative way of designing the places where we live, work, and learn. We need nature in a deep and fundamental fashion, but we have often designed our cities and suburbs in ways that both degrade the environment and alienate us from nature. . . . Biophilic Design points the way toward creating healthy and productive habitats for modern humans.
Bill Plympton/2010/6 min/Wildlife
The Cow Who Wanted to be a Hamburger is a children's fable about the power of advertising, the meaning of life and ultimately the test of a mother's love.
Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow/2009/86 min/Health & Environment
DIRT! The Movie--directed and produced by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow--takes you inside the wonders of the soil. It tells the story of Earth's most valuable and underappreciated source of fertility--from its miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation.
Mark Kitchell/2012/119 min/Climate Control
A Fierce Green Fire is the first film to take on environmentalism as a whole, to bring together all the parts and eras, from conservation to climate change. It explores how the issues built into an international cause, the largest movement the world has ever seen and perhaps the most crucial in terms of what’s at stake.
Jeff & Jennifer Spitz/ 2014/ 73 min/ Food & Agriculture
A midwestern mother whose son nearly died from contaminated food embarks on a roller coaster journey to understand the food industry and improve her family’s eating habits. Surprising, funny, and poignant, this personal film unfolds from one family’s story into a powerful consumer movement. Food Patriots features food advocates from all walks of life who are trying to hatch a revolution to change the way Americans eat and buy food and educate the next generation of consumers.
Ana Sofia Joanes/2009/70 min/Food & Agriculture
FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.
Josh Tickell/2008/112 min/Energy
Eleven years in the making, FUEL is the in-depth personal journey of filmmaker and eco-evangelist Josh Tickell, who takes us on a hip, fast-paced road trip into America’s dependence on foreign oil. Combining a history lesson of the US auto and petroleum industries and interviews with a wide range of policy makers, educators, and activists such as Woody Harrelson, Sheryl Crow, Neil Young and Willie Nelson.
Bret Malley/2010/51 min/Health & Environment
Featuring renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben and business executive Scot Case, Greenwashers is a satirical documentary that blurs the line between green and greed, truth and believability, environmentalism and marketing. Misleading consumers about the environmental benefits of a product or service has become a new marketing standard and Greenwashers takes this practice to the extreme. Following a pair of Greenwashers, the film illustrates the various strategies, sins, and consequences of greenwash.
David Bunting/2011/6 min/Health & Environment
An immersive, animated documentary taking you into the heart of the Ecuadorian rainforest. A child's eye view of a life changing expedition by their teacher, Mrs Jones and their joint mission to preserve these vital forests. Pupils at Bricknell Primary School collaborated with animator David Bunting and local campaigning organisation, One Hull on Rainforest to create an animated campaign film about the Ecuadorian rainforest.
David John Kennard/2011/57 min/Health & Environment
Using his skills as a masterful storyteller, acclaimed author and evolutionary philosopher Brian Swimme connects such big picture issues as the birth of the cosmos 14 billion years ago – to the invisible frontiers of the human genome – as well as to our current impact on Earth’s evolutionary dynamics. Through his engaging and thoughtful observations audiences everywhere will discover the profound role we play in this intricate web of life.
Bill Haney/2011/95 min/Health & Environment
In the valleys of Appalachia, a battle is being fought over a mountain. It is a battle with severe consequences that affect every American, regardless of their social status, economic background or where they live. It is a battle that has taken many lives and continues to do so the longer it is waged. It is a battle over protecting our health and environment from the destructive power of Big Coal.
Christoph Fauchere/2011/54 min/Health & Environment
Mother, the film, breaks a 40-year taboo by bringing to light an issue that silently fuels our most pressing environmental, humanitarian and social crises - population growth. In 2011 the world population reached 7 billion, a startling seven-fold increase since the first billion occurred 200 years ago. . . Grounded in the theories of social scientist Riane Eisler, the film strives not to blame but to educate, to highlight a different path for humanity.
Taggart Siegel/2010/82 min/Wildlife
Taking us on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of bees and the mysterious world of the beehive, this engaging and ultimately uplifting film weaves an unusual and dramatic story of the heartfelt struggles of beekeepers, scientists and philosophers from around the world including Michael Pollan, Gunther Hauk and Vandana Shiva. Together they reveal both the problems and the solutions in renewing a culture in balance with nature.
Field Museum/2010/20 min/Climate Control
“We want people to come away from the exhibition realizing that conservation is much more than they may have previously thought — it’s science that helps us understand our world, but it’s also a lifestyle we can practice every day. . .We want to effect an attitude change – to make people care about nature instead of just learning about it. We’re trying to inspire.” (- Chicago’s Field Museum)
Peter Bratt/2007/56 min/Health & Environment
Her 1963 warnings about the effects of pesticides and herbicides - especially DDT - sparked a revolution in environmental policy and created a new ecological consciousness.
Christopher Monger/2010/30 min/Health & Environment
When pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, the backlash from her critics thrust her into the center of a political maelstrom. Despite her love of privacy, Carson's convictions about the risks posed by chemical pesticides forced her into a very public and controversial role.
Lisa Merton and Alan Dater/2010/30 min/Health & Environment
Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy—a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration.
Stephanie Soechtig/2010/76 min/Water
Is access to clean drinking water a basic human right, or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce? Stephanie Soechtig's debut feature is an unfliching examination of the big business of bottled water. From the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car and I.O.U.S.A., this timely documentary is a behind-the-scenes look into the unregulated and unseen world of an industry that aims to privatize and sell back the one resource that ought never to become a commodity: our water.
Nick Hilligoss/1996/9 min/Wildlife
In this highly acclaimed animated film, a lone sea turtle travels through space, her breath creating a whole new atmosphere. This becomes filled with forests, rivers, mountains and enterprising monkeys...so enterprising that they are forced to learn about sustainability the hard way.
Disney/2008/98 min/Waste
What is mankind had to leave earth and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? After hundreds of years doing what he was built for, WALL-E discovers a new purpose in life when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL-E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans. Meanwhile, WALL-E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most imaginative adventures ever brought to the big screen.
Ruby Yang/2010/39 min/Food & Agriculture
Villagers in central China take on a chemical company that is poisoning their land and water. For five years they fight to transform their environment and as they do, they find themselves transformed as well.
Lucy Walker/2010/100 min/Waste
Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives.
Liz Marshal/2010/79 min/Water
Water on the Table follows Council of Canadians activist Maude Barlow in her campaign to have water declared a human right and during her tenure as senior adviser on water to the UN. Barlow has been campaigning since the 1980s to get special protection for Canadian water and prevent it being sold commercially.
Catherine Gund/2010/76 min/Food & Agriculture
Whats on Your Plate? is a witty and provocative documentary produced and directed by award-winning Catherine Gund about kids and food politics. Filmed over the course of one year, the film follows two eleven-year-old multi-racial city kids as they explore their place in the food chain. Sadie and Safiyah take a close look at food systems in New York City and its surrounding areas. With the camera as their companion, the girl guides talk to each other, food activists, farmers, new friends, storekeepers, their families, and the viewer, in their quest to understand what’s on all of our plates.