Film Archives

Year:  2017  |  2016  |  2014  |  2013  |  2012  |  2010  |  2009  |  2008  |  All
 
 

Among Giants

Directed by Ben Mullinkosson, Sam Price-Waldman, and Chris Cresci

In the midst of California’s coastal redwood region, Green Diamond Resource Company continues to clearcut redwood forests, devastating habitats and leaving scars across the land. Farmer, a direct action environmental activist in his late 20s, decides to tree-sit in the McKay Tract -- a 60-acre grove of ancient redwoods that is home to spotted owls, deer, flying squirrels, and countless other life forms. Among Giants begins three years into the McKay tree-sit. Atop his tiny platform a hundred feet up in the ancient redwood canopy, Farmer must battle the elements and avoid isolation as he fights for a sustainable future. What does it mean to follow one’s beliefs and make a difference in the world? Trailer and screening times >>

Short Film

Bag It (2013 EcoKids Presentation)

Directed by Suzan Beraza

Try going a day without plastic. Plastic is everywhere and infiltrates our lives in unimaginable and frighten- ing ways. In this touching and often flat-out-funny film, we follow “everyman” Jeb Berrier, who is admittedly not a tree hugger, as he embarks on a global tour to unravel the complexities of our plastic world. What starts as a film about plastic bags evolves into a wholesale investigation into plastic and its affect on our waterways, oceans, and even our own bodies. We see how our crazy-for-plastic world has finally caught up to us and what we can do about it. Today. Right now. Trailer and screening times >>

EcoKids Film, Feature Film

Bidder 70

Directed by Beth Gage and George Gage

Bidder 70 follows Tim DeChristopher, a University of Utah student, who on December 19, 2008, in a dazzling act of civil disobedience, derailed the outgoing Bush administration’s illegal Bureau of Land Management oil and gas auction. As bidder #70, Tim bid 1.8 million dollars and won 22,000 pristine acres surrounding Utah’s National Parks. He had no intention to pay or drill. In February 2009, the new Obama administration agreed the land should be safeguarded and invalidated the entire auction. Nevertheless, Tim was indicted on two federal felonies with penalties of up to ten years in prison. A personal portrait, Bidder 70 illuminates how the choices we make determine our future and the world we live in. Tim DeChristopher puts a face on Time Magazine’s 2011 Person of the Year, the Protestor. Trailer and screening times >>

Feature Film

Cafeteria Man

Directed by Richard Chisolm and Sheila Kinkade

Cafeteria Man is a story of positive movement that shows what's possible in our nation's schools. It’s about the aspiration of activists and citizens coming together to change the way kids eat at school. It’s about overhauling a dysfunctional nutritional system. And, it’s the story of what it takes, and who it takes, to make solutions happen. Leading the charge to replace pre-plated, processed foods with locally-grown, freshly-prepared meals is Tony Geraci, food-service director for the city’s public schools. A charismatic chef from New Orleans, Geraci's bold vision includes school vegetable gardens, student-designed meals, meatless Mondays, and nutrition education in the classroom. His mission is as audacious as it is practical. Among the protagonists in this story are parents, teachers, administrators, farmers, chefs, and dozens of creative and motivated students. Their collective efforts are proof positive that a ‘village’ is indeed required to transform school food. Trailer and screening times >>

Feature Film

Cafeteria Man: Memphis Schools Makeover

Directed by Richard Chisolm and Sheila Kinkade

After chef Tony Geraci left Baltimore, he was recruited to be the Executive Director of Memphis City Schools Nutrition Services, which serves over 200,000 meals a day to 110,000 students. Since his arrival in Fall 2011, he has increased participation in the Breakfast in the Classroom program, initiated an “At Risk Supper Meal Program”, expanded the farm to school program to $10 million a year, and established a 100-acre farm. Tony also was recently named one of the top 20 most influential Food Service people in the country by Food Service Director magazine. Trailer and screening times >>

EcoKids Film, Short Film

Cape Spin! An American Power Struggle

Directed by John Kirby, Robbie Gemmel, Daniel Coffin, and Libby Handros

Cape Spin! An American Power Struggle is the surreal, fascinating, tragicomic tale of the battle over America’s largest clean energy project. When energy entrepreneur Jim Gordon first proposed putting 130 wind turbines in fabled Nantucket Sound, he had no idea that a firestorm would erupt. Cape Spin! tells the incredible tale of how America’s first proposed offshore wind farm triggered a schism in this idyllic coastal region, pitting neighbor against neighbor and environmentalist against environmentalist. Revealing the root causes of their furor, the filmmakers enjoyed unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the key players on both sides of the controversy. The tale frames the battle over Nantucket Sound as a microcosm of America’s struggle towards energy sustainability. After 10 years, $70 million and 8,000 pages of analysis the Federal Government approved the wind farm project on April 28, 2010. But the controversy continues… Trailer and screening times >>

Feature Film

Chasing Ice

Directed by Jeff Orlowski

In the spring of 2005, acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment for National Geographic: to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate. 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. Winner of multiple awards, including Excellence in Cinematography, Sundance Film Festival 2012. Nominated for an Oscar® in the Best Song category. Trailer and screening times >>

Feature Film

Dear Governor Cuomo

Directed by Jon Bowermaster

On a rainy night last May, a unique coalition of musicians, scientists and activists gathered in Albany, New York on the governor’s front door step, calling for a ban on hydraulic-fracturing (“fracking”). With the news that Governor Andrew Cuomo might lift the moratorium on fracking in New York any day, a concert event was assembled in less than a month. Two rehearsals in twenty-four hours, and it was show time. The goal of the extremely varied participants, many of whom had never met before this night, was to explain in clear terms the threats of fracking and to motivate people to rise up against the practice using song. Under the musical direction of Natalie Merchant, the event was filmed by Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex Gibney. The film features actors Mark Ruffalo and Melissa Leo, environmental biologist Sandra Steingraber and musicians ranging from Joan Osborne and Citizen Cope to Medeski Martin and Wood and The Felice Brothers. Trailer and screening times >>

Feature Film

Gaia Soil

Directed by Directed by Philip Buccellato and Jesse Ash

Paul Mankiewicz is the creator of Gaia Soil, a lightweight soil used for urban gardens. His work couples ecological engineering and restoration with the integration of human communities in natural systems. Gaia Soil is part of the GE Focus Forward film series, a new series of 30 three-minute stories about innovative people who are reshaping the world through act or invention, directed by the world’s most celebrated documentary filmmakers. Trailer and screening times >>

Short Film

Irish Folk Furniture

Directed by Tony Donoghue

An animated documentary about repair and recycling in rural Ireland. In rural Ireland old hand painted furniture is often associated with hard times, with poverty and with a time many would rather forget. Because of this association, much of the country's furniture heritage lies abandoned in barns and sheds. In the making of this film 16 pieces of abandoned folk furniture were restored and returned back into daily use. This film was shot in a green and environmentally friendly way using local craftspeople, local narrators and inexpensive secondhand equipment. Only natural light was used to shoot this film. Short Film Jury Award Winner (Animation) at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Trailer and screening times >>

Short Film

Last Call at the Oasis

Directed by Jessica Yu

Firmly establishing the urgency of the global water crisis as the central issue facing our world this century, this documentary illuminates the vital role water plays in our lives, exposes the defects in the current system and shows communities already struggling with its ill-effects. Featuring activist Erin Brockovich, respected water experts including Peter Gleick, Jay Famiglietti and Robert Glennon and social entrepreneurs championing revolutionary solutions, the film posits that we can manage this problem if we are willing to act now. Trailer and screening times >>

Feature Film

Living Tiny

Directed by Paul Donatelli and Paul Meyers

“People like having lots of stuff, Americans in particular,” says one of the characters in the charming documentary Living Tiny. In a country obsessed with growth and progress, there is a small, but growing, population of people who are rejecting the axiom that “bigger is better” and are downsizing. Their tiny abodes, no larger than 200 square feet, are not caging them, but liberating them from a culture of consumption. “Ultimately you can only occupy 12 square feet of space at a time. Everything else is just a place to keep your stuff.” Trailer and screening times >>

Short Film

Quagga

Directed by Olga and Tatiana Poliektova

A reminder about the importance of protecting animals from extinction for the sake of our children. Music: "Veloma” by Fabrizio Paterlini (www. fabriziopaterlini.com) Trailer and screening times >>

Short Film

Ripple Effect Film Project Finalist Showcase

Directed by Various

The Ripple Effect Film Project is sponsored by the Athens-Clarke County Water Conservation Office with FilmAthens and EcoFocus Film Festival as its partners. In Fall 2012, Athenians were asked to be a part of creating a ripple effect of water conservation in our community by submitting a super-short film (30-seconds) about water conservation. This showcase includes the finalists from that competition. See the finalists' films at Lily Anne Phibian's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4HYkthv1Uko8itpfyUAAvg. Trailer and screening times >>

Short Film

Switch

Directed by Harry Lynch

What will it really take to go from the energies that built our world to the energies that will shape our future? Our transportation and housing, food and water, communications, light, heat and cooling – our entire modern life depends on energy. For more than a century, that energy has been mostly provided by oil and coal. With concerns about environmental impact and supply, we’ve begun the shift to energy alternatives. Join Dr. Scott Tinker on a global journey to find out how. In Switch, he explores the world’s leading energy sites, from coal to solar, oil to biofuels, many highly restricted and never before filmed, and gets straight answers from international leaders of government, industry and academia. He investigates the leading issues of energy: If coal is dirty, why do we keep using it? Will oil get more expensive? Will it run out? How risky is hydraulic fracturing? How dangerous is nuclear? What are the biggest challenges, and most promising solutions, to our energy transition? With a keen eye and a balanced perspective, Dr. Tinker unravels complex problems and sidesteps the politics to offer a path to our future that is both surprising and remarkably pragmatic. Trailer and screening times >>

Feature Film

The Artificial Leaf

Directed by Jared P. Scott

Dan Nocera has a simple formula to save the planet: sunlight + water = energy for the world. The Artificial Leaf is part of the GE Focus Forward film series, a new series of 30 three-minute stories about innovative people who are reshaping the world through act or invention, directed by the world’s most celebrated documentary filmmakers. Trailer and screening times >>

Short Film

The Human Scale

Directed by Andreas Møl Dalsgaard

U.S. Premiere! Fifty percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas. By 2050 this figure is expected to increase to eighty percent. The megacity is both enchanting and scary. But how do we plan these cities in a way that takes human behavior into account? In the 20th Century the struggle to provide large numbers of people with proper housing, work spaces and transport led the modernists to create gigantic systems of high-rise buildings, industrial estates and highways. The material gains are evident. What are the costs? Danish architect and professor Jan Gehl’s thesis is that basic human needs for interaction, inclusion and intimacy was somewhat forgotten during this process. Today we face peak oil, climate change and severe health issues due to our rapid growth. With en exploding population we need to double our urban capacity within 30 years. Can human-oriented urban planning be the solution? From the slum of Bangladesh to the financial district in New York. What is a happy life, and can a city make us happy? What is a good city? Is it made of highways, gated communities and high-rise structures? Or is it made of bikeways, parks and walking streets? Can architecture meet our human needs in the face of future challenges? The Human Scale meets thinkers, architects and urban planners across the globe to explore what happens when we put people into the center of our planning. Trailer and screening times >>

Feature Film

The Last Ice Merchant

Directed by Sandy Patch

For the last five decades, Baltazar Ushca has made a living harvesting glacial ice from the tallest mountain in Ecuador. His brothers, Gregorio and Juan, have long since retired from the mountain. This is a tale of cultural change in a small indigenous community and how three brothers have adapted to it. Trailer and screening times >>

Short Film

The Lost Bird Project

Directed by Deborah Dickson

Gone and nearly forgotten, the Labrador Duck, Great Auk, Heath Hen, Carolina Parakeet and Passenger Pigeon have left a hole in the American landscape and in our collective memory. Moved by their stories, sculptor Todd McGrain set out to bring their vanished forms back into the world by permanently placing his elegant, evocative bronze memorials at the location of each bird’s demise. “These birds are not commonly known and they ought to be, because forgetting is another kind of extinction,” McGrain said. “It’s such a thorough erasing.” The film tells the story of how these birds came to meet their fates and the journey that leads McGrain from the swamps of Florida, the final roosting ground of the Carolina Parakeet, to a tiny island off the coast of Newfoundland, where some of the last Great Auks made their nests and where the local townspeople still mourn their absence 150 years later. The Lost Bird Project is a film about public art, extinction and memory. It is an elegy to five extinct North American birds and a thoughtful, moving, sometimes humorous look at the artist and his mission. Trailer and screening times >>

Feature Film

The Man Who Lived on His Bike

Directed by Guillaume Blanchet

What can you do on a bicycle? For Guillaume Blanchet, the question is what can’t you do? In this two-minute homage to bikes and the bike obsessed, Blanchet eats, sleeps, showers, shaves, works, cooks and even dates — all from atop his man-powered machine. Trailer and screening times >>

Short Film

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

Directed by Lucy Walker

Oscar-nominated director Lucy Walker set out to make “a visual haiku about cherry blossoms” in Japan but changed her plans radically following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the country on March 11, 2011. Taken with the cherry blossom’s beauty and ability to symbolize the ephemeral quality of life, Walker links the disaster with the power of Japan’s most beloved flower to heal and inspire in this stunning visual poem. Opening with a long clip of jaw-dropping real life footage of the tsunami, the film shows water sweeping houses and buildings along like toys, lifting up cars and swallowing people. Interviews with survivors in a northern Japanese village in the heart of the disaster, whose residents share their traumatic personal experiences of the tsunami, are framed by the metaphor of cherry blossoms, a symbol deep in Japanese culture that suggests rebirth. Trailer and screening times >>

Feature Film

Trash Dance

Directed by Andrew Garrison

Sometimes inspiration can be found in unexpected places. Choreographer Allison Orr finds beauty and grace in garbage trucks, and in the men and women who pick up our trash. Filmmaker Andrew Garrison follows Orr as she joins city sanitation workers on their daily routes to listen, learn, and ultimately to convince them to collaborate in a unique dance performance. Hard working, often carrying a second job, their lives are already full with work, family and dreams of their own. But some step forward and, after months of rehearsal, two dozen trash collectors and their trucks perform an extraordinary spectacle. On an abandoned airport runway, thousands of people show up to see how in the world a garbage truck can "dance." Trailer and screening times >>

Feature Film