Environmental movies - Inspiring short list
This is a list of inspiring and positive environmental movies. See also our longer list of environmental movies here: [link]www.imdb.com/list/ls075735345[/link]
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- DirectorLeila ConnersNadia ConnersStarsLeonardo DiCaprioKenny AusubelThom HartmannA look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems.
- DirectorRon MannStarsWoody HarrelsonKen KeseyTom BallancoWoody Harrelson and a group of friends take a road trip on a bio-fueled bus to demonstrate ways to be environmentally responsible and visit people who live by that principle.
- DirectorSuzan BerazaStarsJeb BerrierJared BlumenfeldMartin BourqueAn average guy makes a resolution to stop using plastic bags at the grocery store. Little does he know that this simple decision will change his life completely. He comes to the conclusion that our consumptive use of plastic has finally caught up to us, and looks at what we can do about it. Today. Right now.
- DirectorDavid BondStarsMichael DepledgeSusan GreenfieldJay GriffithsFilmmaker David Bond invites parents everywhere to help their kids re-connect with nature in our digital age.
- DirectorTonje Hessen ScheiStarsJames BarrettTaylor BlakeJerald BlockInvestigates the consequences of a childhood removed from nature. At a time when children play more behind screens than outside, this documentary unplugs a group of tech savvy teens and takes them on their first wilderness adventure, documenting the wonder that comes from time spent in nature and inspiring action for a sustainable future.
- DirectorLaura GabbertJustin ScheinStarsColin BeavanMichelle ConlinFollow the Manhattan-based Beavan family as they abandon their high consumption 5th Avenue lifestyle and try to live a year while making no net environmental impact.
- DirectorGrant BaldwinStarsArlene LangLuke MartinDavid B. StarksThe Clean Bin Project is about a regular couple and their quest to answer the question 'is it possible to live completely waste free?' Partners Jen and Grant go head to head in a comedic battle to see who can swear off consumerism and produce the least amount of garbage in an entire year. Their light-hearted competition is set against a compelling examination of the sobering problem of waste in our 'throw-away' society. Featuring interviews with renowned artist and TED lecturer, Chris Jordan and marine pollution expert, Captain Charles Moore, The Clean Bin Project presents the serious topic of waste reduction with optimism, humor, and inspiration for individual action.
- DirectorChris PaineStarsMartin SheenTom HanksMel GibsonA documentary that investigates the birth and death of the electric car, as well as the role of renewable energy and sustainable living in the future.
- DirectorJeff Orlowski-YangStarsJames BalogSvavar JónatanssonLouie PsihoyosFollow National Geographic photographer James Balog across the Arctic as he deploys time-lapse cameras designed for one purpose: to capture a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers.
- DirectorLouis FoxStarsAnnie LeonardFor most of the world, consumption has been the unquestioned duty of every individual. Then garbage activist Annie Leonard brought her two-hour lecture to Free Range who helped her turn it into a 20-minute animated revolution. Shown in thousands of classrooms, endlessly blasted by Fox News, viewed more than 10 million times, The Store of Stuff finally opens the door to a serious cultural dialog about the costs of consumption.
- DirectorNils AguilarStarsRachel BakerClaude BourguignonMartin CrawfordVoices of the Transition is an enthusiastic documentary on farmers- and community-led responses to food insecurity in a scenario of climate change and peak oil. How to create local resilience? How to create a production system that enhances life? What role could the trees play? Different 'voices from the Transition', from Cuba, France and the UK, tell us of a future society where our deserts will once again be living soil, where fields will be introduced into our cities, and where independence from oil will help us to live a richer, more fulfilling life.
- DirectorAnn DunskySteve DunskyDave SteinkeStarsPeter CoyoteAldo LeopoldCurt MeineAldo Leopold is considered the most important conservationist of the twentieth-century. He is the father of the national wilderness system, wildlife management and ecological restoration. His classic book A Sand County Almanac inspires us to see the natural world as a community to which we belong. Green Fire explores Leopold's personal journey of observation and understanding and reveals how his ideas resonate today with people across the entire American landscape, from inner cities to the remotest wildlands. The film challenges viewers to contemplate their own relationship with the land community.
- DirectorMark LewisStarsJanet BonneyJoseph MartinezJoel VavraThrough interviews and reenactments, The Natural History of the Chicken investigates the role of the chicken in American life and tells several remarkable stories. A Maine farmer says she found a chicken frozen stiff, but was able to resuscitate it. Colorado natives tell a story of the chicken who lost its head-- and went on living. A Virginia farmer tells about (and demonstrates) the benefits of raising chickens for his own consumption. Perhaps most surprising is the case of the Florida woman: she bathes her pet bird, and takes it both swimming and shopping. Through these and other stories, this documentary illuminates the role that chickens play in (some of) our lives.
- DirectorDeborah Koons GarciaThe origins of the Transition movement with founder Rob Hopkins, interviewed in one of the original Transition Towns, Totnes, England.
- DirectorFrédéric BackStarsPhilippe NoiretChristopher PlummerThe story of a shepherd's single handed quest to re-forest a barren valley.
- DirectorAlan DaterLisa MertonStarsLarisa EryominaNjogu KahareLeah KisomoTaking 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.
- DirectorFaith MorganStarsBruce CromerJorge MarioRachel BruhnkeThe documentary, "The Power of Community - How Cuba Survived Peak Oil," was inspired when Faith Morgan and Pat Murphy took a trip to Cuba through Global Exchange in August, 2003. That year Pat had begun studying and speaking about worldwide peak oil production. In May Pat and Faith attended the second meeting of The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, a European group of oil geologists and scientists, which predicted that mankind was perilously close to having used up half of the world's oil resources. When they learned that Cuba underwent the loss of over half of its oil imports and survived, after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, the couple wanted to see for themselves how Cuba had done this. During their first trip to Cuba, in the summer of 2003, they traveled from Havana to Trinidad and through several other towns on their way back to Havana. They found what Cubans call "The Special Period" astounding and Cuban's responses very moving. Faith found herself wanting to document on film Cuba's successes so that what they had done wouldn't be lost. Both of them wanted to learn more about Cuba's transition from large farms or plantations and reliance on fossil-fuel-based pesticides and fertilizers, to small organic farms and urban gardens. Cuba was undergoing a transition from a highly industrial society to a sustainable one. Cuba became, for them, a living example of how a country can successfully traverse what we all will have to deal with sooner or later, the reduction and loss of finite fossil fuel resources. In the fall of 2003 Pat and Faith had the opportunity to return to Cuba to study its agriculture. It was a wonderful trip. They saw much of the island, met many farmers and urban gardeners, scientists and engineers - traveling more than 1700 miles, from one end of Cuba to the other. It was all they had hoped for and more. In 2004 Community Service, Inc. (CSI) began raising money and organizing a third trip (October), to film in Cuba. Greg Green, cinematographer and director of The End of Suburbia documentary, was the chief videographer. Faith Morgan shot the second camera, John Morgan did still photography and Megan Quinn, Outreach Director of CSI, was sound director. After their return from Cuba, they secured assistance and direction from Tom Blessing IV, producer, and Eric Johnson, post-production supervisor and editor. Together, they bring over 40 years combined experience in film and television production. The goals of this film are to give hope to the developed world as it wakes up to the consequences of being hooked on oil, and to lift American's prejudice of Cuba by showing the Cuban people as they are. The filmmakers do this by having the people tell their story on film. It's a story of their dedication to independence and triumph over adversity, and a story of cooperation and hope. Several Cubans expressed the belief that living on an island, with its natural boundaries, breeds awareness that there are limits to natural resources. Everyone who has worked on the documentary hopes that, seeing this film, people will also see the world on which we live, as another, much larger, island.
- DirectorJeremy KallerStarsBob BessoArthur Robinson BooneMike CasadyFor decades the San Francisco Bay Area has been a hub for the recycling movement. Even the garbage companies have a long history of recycling practices. After the first Earth Day celebration in 1970, community, non-profit recycling centers began to pop up in schools, garages, and neighborhood centers all sharing the goal of bringing recycling to their cities. Now in 2006, only two non-profit recycling organizations remain in San Francisco. Despite the lack of surviving community recycling centers, the Bay Area is still home to a unique community of recyclers who push the envelope of possibilities. Featuring interviews with recycling pioneers and music by Rube Waddell, "The Recyclergy" is an entertaining examination of a fading subculture.
- DirectorYann Arthus-BertrandStarsYann Arthus-BertrandGlenn CloseJacques GamblinWith aerial footage from fifty-four countries, 'Home' is a depiction of how Earth's problems are all interlinked.
- DirectorStephanie SoechtigJason LindseyStarsSally BetheaEarl BlumenauerAmanda BrownExamines the role of the bottled water industry and its effects on our health, climate change, pollution, and our reliance on oil.
- DirectorBill BenensonGene RosowEleonore DaillyStarsJamie Lee CurtisBill LoganVandana ShivaThe only remedy for disconnecting people from the natural world is connecting them to it again.
- DirectorJørn Nyseth RanumInge WeggeStarsJørn Nyseth RanumInge WeggeTwo young men decide to spend an archive circle Norwegian winter in the isolated and uninhabited bay of Norway. Their home is built from salvaged material washed up onshore. They surf every day with much time for self reflection.
- DirectorBen KnightTravis RummelStarsEdward AbbeyBruce BabbittLori BodiThis powerful film odyssey across America explores the sea change in our national attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the growing awareness that our own future is bound to the life and health of our rivers.
- DirectorCaroline BacleStarsCaroline BacleOnce 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. That's because urban dwellers are on a quest to reconnect with this denigrated natural world. LOST RIVERS takes us on an adventure down below and across the globe, retracing the history of these lost urban rivers by plunging into archival maps and going underground with clandestine urban explorers. We search for the disappeared Petite rivière St-Pierre in Montreal, the Garrison Creek in Toronto, the River Tyburn in London, the Saw Mill River in New York, and the Bova-Celato River in Bresica, Italy. Could we see these rivers again? To find the answer, we meet visionary urban thinkers, activists and artists from around the world.
- DirectorChristian CordeauxToby EtchellsStarsAmber CordeauxDaniel CordeauxJeremy CordeauxDeep in the darkest battery hen cage, a chicken secretly pens a short film screenplay on an egg. That egg was fortuitously discovered in an egg carton by a couple of hungry film makers.
- DirectorShelley Lee DaviesOr ShlomiStarsT. Colin CampbellRichard DollGidon EshelThe story of three men's life-long search for a diet which is good for our health, the environment and the future of our planet - showcasing some of the best food you have ever seen.
- DirectorDeborah Koons GarciaStarsIgnacio ChapelaDan BarberVandana ShivaDrawing 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. The film also examines our human relationship with soil, the use and misuse of soil in agriculture, deforestation and development, and the latest scientific research on soil's key role in ameliorating the most challenging environmental issues of our time. Filmed on four continents, featuring esteemed scientists and working farmers and ranchers, Symphony of the Soil is an intriguing presentation that highlights possibilities of healthy soil creating healthy plants creating healthy humans living on a healthy planet.
- DirectorJeremy KonnerStarsJeremy IronsA plastic bag encounters enemies and escapes death on its epic migration to its final destination: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
- DirectorJohn GussmanJessica PlumbStarsEnvironmental ActivistsLower Elwha Kllalam Tribe Ben CharlesLower Elwha Klallam Tribe Frances Charles'Return of the River' tells the story the largest dam removal in history, currently unfolding on the Elwha River in Washington State. The film explores an extraordinary community effort to set the river free, and shows an unlikely victory for environmental justice. Told by an ensemble cast of characters, 'Return of the River' offers hope amid grim environmental news, chronicling a dramatic success story that has drawn international attention to the Olympic Peninsula.
- DirectorMerete MuellerChristopher SmithStarsDaryl GibsonMerete MuellerJay ShaferTwo young people decide to downsize their lives by building a 'tiny home' on a flatbed trailer.
- DirectorRoko BelicStarsMarci ShimoffEd DienerRichard DavidsonHappy takes us on a journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the slums of Kolkata in search of what really makes people happy.
- DirectorBen HamiltonA young wildlife filmmaker ventures to Alaska to discover the importance of Wilderness today.
- DirectorRyan AoStarsAna AldersteinAlline AndersonPema AntoniottiWithin Reach explores one couple's pedal-powered search for a place to call home. Mandy and Ryan gave up their jobs, cars, and traditional houses to 'bike-pack' 6500 miles around the USA seeking sustainable community. Rather than looking in a traditional neighborhood, they begin to recognize that community is the secret ingredient to living sustainably on this planet. Along the way, they explored 100 ecovillages, cohousing communities, co-op houses, communes, transition towns, and their own principles and commitment. In the end they return to the timeless truth that community is people; they are everywhere; and there is room for everyone. After circling the country and interviewing hundreds of Americans, they have found that by reaching within, sustainable community is within reach. In fact, it's already here.
- DirectorGrant BaldwinStarsGrant BaldwinJenny RustemeyerDana GundersWe all love food. As a society, we devour countless cooking shows, culinary magazines and foodie blogs. So how could we possibly be throwing nearly 50% of it in the trash? Filmmakers and food lovers Jen and Grant dive into the issue of waste from farm, through retail, all the way to the back of their own fridge. After catching a glimpse of the billions of dollars of good food that is tossed each year in North America, they pledge to quit grocery shopping and survive only on discarded food. What they find is truly shocking.
- StarsDaryl HannahMichael PollanAnnie LeonardNATURAL HEROES is the Emmy Award-winning Public Television series showcasing independent films about people making positive environmental changes for our world.
- DirectorFrédéric BackStarsPaul HébertDonald SutherlandThe environmental history of the St. Lawrence River and the impact of human exploitation of it.
- DirectorJenny SteinStarsHarold BrownCheri Ezell-VandersluisHoward LymanPeaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home explores the powerful struggle of conscience experienced by several people from traditional farming backgrounds who come to question the basic assumptions of their way of life. A riveting story of transformation and healing, the documentary portrays the farmers' sometimes amazing connections with the animals under their care, while also providing insight into the complex web of social, psychological and economic forces that have led to their inner conflict. Interwoven with the farmers' stories is the dramatic animal rescue work of a newly-trained humane police officer whose sense of justice puts her at odds with the law she is charged to uphold. With strikingly honest interviews and rare footage demonstrating the emotional lives and intense family bonds of animals most often viewed as living commodities, this groundbreaking documentary shatters stereotypical notions of farmers, farm life, and perhaps most surprisingly, farm animals themselves.
- DirectorRobert StoneStarsStewart BrandRachel L. CarsonBill ClintonThe story of our growing awareness and understanding of the environmental crisis and emergence, during the 1960's and '70's, of popular movement to confront it.
- DirectorRamin BahraniStarsWerner HerzogBarbara WeetmanA plastic bag, thrown out in the trash, attempts to find his way back to his owner and along the way discovers the world.
- DirectorBen EvansStarsWill AllenJanine BenyusBob BerkebileYERT (Your Environmental Road Trip) is an adventure and a celebration of the American spirit in the face of adversity - a thought-provoking, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious, documentary about the courageous and creative individuals, groups, businesses and leaders of this country who are tackling the greatest environmental threats in history. Called into action by the ever increasing threats of planetary catastrophe (from climate change to toxic pollution, from water scarcity to habitat destruction), the three of us - Mark Dixon, Ben Evans, and Julie Dingman Evans - upended our lives, pooled our collective life-savings, and set off on a first-of-its-kind, 50-state, year-long journey of discovery to personalize sustainability and to answer a critical question: Are we doomed?
- DirectorMichael B. CliffordWhy is the bicycle back in fashion? The film explores this and tells the story of cycling in the land that invented the modern bicycle, it's birth, decline and re birth from Victorian origins to today.
- DirectorLouis FoxStarsAnnie LeonardThe ugly truth of 'toxics in, toxics out'.
- DirectorMark DworkinMelissa YoungStarsDavid SuzukiA look at how local farmers and ranchers in the Pacific Northwestern part of the United States develop sustainable and organic agriculture.
- DirectorChristopher MongerStarsKaiulani LeeCaptures Rachel Carson, the mother of the environmental movement and author of Silent Spring, in the final months of her life as she defends her book and battles with cancer.
- DirectorOliver HodgeStarsMichael ReynoldsChris ReynoldsShauna MalloyGarbage Warrior" tells the epic story of maverick architect Michael Reynolds, his crew of renegade house builders from New Mexico and their fight to introduce radically different ways of living.
- DirectorCharlie HoxieStarsCharlie Hoxie20 years ago, European physicists synthesized a package of design principles that reduces a dwelling's heating and cooling energy use by nine tenths. Over 20,000 buildings in Europe have been built to the Passive House standard, and today, a burgeoning community of enthusiasts in the U.S. actively works to spread the concept.
- DirectorIan Cheney'Truck Farm' is a whimsical, musically-narrated, documentary film about urban agriculture. Filmmaker Ian Cheney (KING CORN, THE GREENING OF SOUTHIE, THE CITY DARK) planted a 1/1000th-acre farm in the back of his 1986 Dodge pick-up-truck in the spring of 2009, after coming to New York City and lacking any other place of his own to grow food. Using green-roof materials, heirloom seeds, and a healthy dose of optimism and humor, Ian created a mobile community farm that yielded a wide range of vegetables and led to the discovery and exploration of other creative, quirky, community-based agriculture efforts all over the city.
- DirectorDavis GuggenheimStarsAl GoreBilly WestGeorge BushFilmmaker Davis Guggenheim follows Al Gore on the lecture circuit, as the former presidential candidate campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of global warming and calls for immediate action to curb its destructive effects on the environment.
- DirectorMark DevriesStarsSteven BestRichard DawkinsGary FrancioneA young man begins investigating the underworld of "factory farming" and soon discovers a growing political and intellectual movement that considers animals as important as humans.
- DirectorDuncan BridgemanJamie CattoStarsNoam ChomskyDeepak ChopraStewart CopelandOne Giant Leap have created a unique music, TV and film project. What About Me? is the culmination of 4 years work visiting 50 global locations collecting wisdom and musical jewels. It's an inspiring and alarming look at our collective insanity: how we are ego-driven, needy in relationships, insatiable in desire, addicted to status, wounded by childhood and unable to stop thinking, but how we still manage to be inspired and creative. The backbone of the project is the music that One Giant Leap make. They start with pre-composed backing tracks in a laptop studio. The music grows as each layer is added, seamlessly mixing international stars like Alanis Morissette, KD Lang and Michael Franti, with Bedouin Musicians, Chinese rappers, Gabonese Pygmies, Tuvan throat singers, Egyptian folk musicians, Japanese taiko drummers, and also the royalty of today's world music scene including Baaba Maal, Lila Downs, Rokia Traore, Oumou Sangare, Zap Mama, all expanding on the same One Giant Leap musical vision. While Duncan & Jamie sought out wisdom from the likes of Noam Chomsky, Eckhart Tolle & Stephen Fry and the cream of the worlds thinkers, writers, and entertainers they also met many people just getting on with their lives - gravediggers, taxi drivers, brain surgeon's, street kids. Unscripted, with no storyboard, these conversations all reveal how we are connected not only through our creativity and our beliefs but most of all through our madness! When Duncan & Jamie left on their global journey they thought they were in control but how could they predict what would happen.
- DirectorJeremy SeifertStarsJeremy SeifertFollow filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and his circle of friends as they dumpster dive in the back alleys and gated garbage receptacles of L.A.'s supermarkets. In the process they uncover thousands of dollars worth of good food and an ugly truth about waste in America: grocery stores know they are wasting and most refuse to do anything about it.
- DirectorTaggart SiegelStarsJohn PetersonAnna NielsenJohn EdwardsThe epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer. Castigated as a pariah in his community, Farmer John bravely transforms his farm amidst a failing economy, vicious rumors, and arson. He succeeds in creating a bastion of free expression and a revolutionary form of agriculture in rural America.
- DirectorJesper WachtmeisterMicrotopia explores how architects, artists and ordinary problem-solvers are pushing the limits to find answers to their dreams of portability, flexibility - and of creating independence from the grid. Microtopia deals with contemporary urgent ideas that are addressed, and solved, in very surprising ways.
- DirectorJerry RothwellStarsRobert HunterPatrick MoorePaul WatsonIn 1971, a group of friends sail into a nuclear test zone, and their protest captures the world's imagination. Using never before seen archive that brings their extraordinary world to life, How To Change The World is the story of the pioneers who founded Greenpeace and defined the modern green movement.
- DirectorAvi LewisStarsNaomi KleinStacey Arwen RaabA look at seven communities around the world with the proposition that we can seize the crisis of climate change to transform our failed economic system into something radically better.
- DirectorMischa HedgesStarsEd Begley Jr.James CromwellMarc GrossmanOver nine months, Mischa Hedges and Digital Sense Productions traveled the west coast to learn more about our food system. During production, he found that the standard methods of producing food do not take environmental or human health costs into consideration. He also explored the many alternatives to the current agricultural system. Sustainable Table includes interviews with: Howard Lyman: Author of "Mad Cowboy" Kenneth Williams: Champion Vegan Bodybuilder Fred Kirschenmann, PhD: Fellow, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture Marc Grossman: Spokesman for United Farm Workers Actors/activists Ed Begley Jr., James Cromwell and many more. Digital Sense worked with individuals representing The Sierra Club, P.E.T.A., The University of California at Davis, Organic Valley Dairy Farms, Chapman University and many others while producing this film. The result is a documentary that takes an unadulterated look into the food you eat. VIEWER QUOTES "...it all goes down with little sense of preachiness. In fact, the film's overall impression is that it is oriented toward getting the average American to watch without fear or alienation." -VegNews Magazine "I can't tell you how many times we told our children to eat their steak or they wouldn't get any dessert. This film has profoundly affected the way I will feed my family in the future." -Anonymous viewer "There is no question that the film itself brings up a lot of interesting topics, and if nothing else really does make you stop and think about what you are consuming and why."-Sacatomato food blog "I have been showing it to everyone and really trying to spread the word. I have become vegetarian and am doing what I can to help. It made a huge impact on me and I know it will to many more people also." -Viewer
- DirectorAna Sofia JoanesStarsDiana EndicottJohn IkerdAndrew KimbrellThere are still efficient ways to produce healthy fresh organic food in a time where most food is being mass produced by corporations in less than hygienic ways. Country farmers and urban farmers explain.
- DirectorAndrew HasseEdible City is a feature-length documentary film that tells the stories of extraordinary people who are digging their hands into the dirt, working to transform their communities and doing something truly revolutionary: growing local Good Food systems that are socially just, environmentally sound, and economically resilient.
- DirectorMarkus ImhoofStarsFred JaggiRandolf MenzelJohn MillerAn in-depth look at honeybee colonies in California, Switzerland, China and Australia.
- DirectorMara MourãoStarsRodrigo SantoroWHO CARES is a 93-minute High Definition feature documentary about social entrepreneurs around the world. People who are making changes, bringing solutions, generating huge social impact and most of all, inspiring people to do the same. A film that searches the world for brilliant people with simple solutions to the hard global issues. The goal of WHO CARES is to inspire people around the world, especially young people from ages 14 years-old up, to learn more about, become excited by and want to be engaged in the social entrepreneurship revolution. We want this film to encourage, inspire and spark a global movement of changemakers. The movie mixes interviews, images of their social work and computer graphics creating a very dynamic feature.
- StarsPeter CoyoteWilliam CrononDayton DuncanThe history of the U.S. National Parks system, including the initial ideas which led to the world's first national parks and the expansion of the system over 150 years.
- DirectorChris MalloyStarsYvon ChouinardDoug TompkinsKeith MalloyThe film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
- DirectorLisa MolomotNo classroom for these kindergarteners. In Switzerland's Langnau am Albis, a suburb of Zurich, children 4 to 7 years of age, go to kindergarten in the woods every day, no matter what the weatherman says. The filmmakers follow the forest kindergarten through the seasons of one school year to make their documentary film 'School's Out: Lessons from a Forest Kindergarten'. This eye-opening film looks into the important question of what it is that children need at that age. There is laughter, beauty and amazement in the process of finding out.
- DirectorJennifer BaichwalEdward BurtynskyStarsInocencia González SainzMarcus SchubertBill NanceA documentary on how water shapes humanity.
- DirectorAngela SunStarsLewis GoldsmithWallace J. NicholsAngela SunAngela Sun's journey of discovery to one of the most remote places on Earth, Midway Atoll, to uncover the truth behind the mystery of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Along the way she encounters scientists, industry, legislators and activists who shed light on what our society's vast consumption of disposable plastic is doing to our oceans, and what it may be doing to our health.
- DirectorDan SusmanGrowing Cities is a documentary film that examines the role of urban farming in America and asks how much power it has to revitalize our cities and change the way we eat.
- StarsFiona BlackhallMatthew EvansWhen Matthew Evans (former chef and food critic turned Gourmet Farmer) leaves his Tasmanian farm to discover where the seafood on Australian plates comes from, he's quickly dragged hook, line and sinker into the complex, often shocking truths behind of international seafood production. His journey through this world will transform him into the leader of a nation-wide sustainable seafood revolution.
- DirectorLiz MarshallStarsMarcel SabaLori ReesePerrie WardellA cinematic documentary that illuminates the lives of individual animals living within and rescued from the machine of our modern world.
- DirectorIsaac BrownEric FlaggStarsGary BradshawJay DanekVirginia Scott JenkinsGimme Green is a humorous look at the American obsession with the residential lawn and the effects it has on our environment, our wallets and our outlook on life. From the limitless subdivisions of Florida to sod farms in the arid southwest, Gimme Green peers behind the curtain of the $40-billion industry that fuels our nation's largest irrigated crop-the lawn.
- DirectorJonathan TaggartOff-grid is not a state of mind. It is not about being out of touch, living in a remote place, or turning off your mobile phone. Off-grid simply means living without a connection to the electric and natural gas infrastructure. From 2011 to 2013 Jonathan Taggart (Director) and Phillip Vannini (Producer) spent two years travelling across Canada to find 200 off-gridders and visit them in their homes. They met off-gridders in every single province and territory and through their film they narrated our travels and chronicled in depth the experiences, challenges, inventions, aspirations, and ways of life of people who have chosen to radically re-invent daily life in a dramatically innovative but also quite traditional way.
- DirectorYann Arthus-BertrandStarsLuis CancuAtmanBerthonyA collection of stories about and images of our world, offering an immersion to the core of what it means to be human.
- DirectorAndrew MorganStarsLivia GiuggioliStella McCartneyRichard D. WolffThe True Cost is a documentary film exploring the impact of fashion on people and the planet.
- DirectorMatt D'AvellaStarsDan HarrisRyan NicodemusRick HansonHow might your life be better with less?
- DirectorMichael J. LutmanStarsNeil BlakeAfter hearing about expansive amounts of plastic waste in every ocean, Port Phillip Baykeeper Neil Blake discovers the sands of his local beaches are also insidiously turning into a kind of micro-plastic confetti. In his journey to measure just how far plastics have invaded the bay, Blake finds his community is eager to help before its diverse ecology is lost.
- DirectorSuzanne CrockerStarsSuzanne CrockerGerard ParsonsA documentary that chronicles life's natural unfolding when a family tries to live by the seasons instead of by the clock.
- DirectorGuy ReidSimon RieberSteve Watts KennedyStarsJanine BenyusRonald GaranJoan HalifaxWe are in the midst of a global crisis of perspective. We have forgotten the undeniable truth that everything is connected. PLANETARY is a provocative and breathtaking wakeup call, a cross continental, cinematic journey, that explores our cosmic origins and our future as a species. PLANETARY is a poetic and humbling reminder that it's 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. In a stunning visual exploration, the film interweaves imagery from NASA Apollo missions with visions of the Milky Way, Buddhist monasteries in the Himalayas, and the cacophonous sounds of downtown Tokyo and Manhattan, with intimate interviews from renowned experts including astronauts Ron Garan and Mae Jemison (the first African American woman in space), celebrated environmentalist Bill McKibben, National Book Award winner Barry Lopez, anthropologist Wade Davis, to National Geographic Explorer Elizabeth Lindsey, and Head of the Tibetan Buddhist Kagyu school, the 17th Karmapa. They shed new light on the ways our worldview is profoundly affecting life on our planet.
- DirectorMatthias von GuntenStarsRasmus AvikeLars JeremiassenPatrick MalakiWhen the ice melts in Thule, Tuvalu drowns in the ocean. A touching portrait of people whose joint fates are intimately linked though they live at two completely distant corners of the world.
- DirectorSteven GorelickHelena Norberg-HodgeJohn PageStarsJan BarhamRonald ColmanEliana Amparo Apaza Espillico'The Economics of Happiness' features a chorus of voices from six continents calling for systemic economic change. The documentary describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance - and, far from the old institutions of power, they're starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm - an economics of localization.
- DirectorMarisa Miller WolfsonStarsMarisa Miller WolfsonChloe DavisCody TarlowVegucated is a guerrilla-style documentary that follows three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks and learn what it's all about.
- DirectorShaun MonsonStarsAaron PaulAdam LevineAdrian GrenierA study in the duality of man. Even after thousands and thousands of years, mankind still can't get along with each other, the animals, or the environment, despite the advent of science, literature, technology, philosophy and religion.
- DirectorCyril DionMélanie LaurentStarsAnthony BarnoskyOlivier De SchutterCyril DionThe world's climate is changing. Instead of showing the worst that can happen, this documentary focuses on the people suggesting solutions and their actions.
- DirectorCosta BoutsikarisStarsLisa DepianoCharles EisensteinBen FalkInhabit explores the many environmental issues facing us today and examines solutions that are being applied using the ecological design process called 'Permaculture'. Permaculture is a design lens that uses the principles found in ecosystems to help shift our impact from destructive to regenerative. Focused mostly on the Northeastern and Midwestern regions of the United States, Inhabit provides an intimate look at permaculture peoples and practices ranging from rural, suburban, and urban landscapes.
- DirectorDelila VallotStarsRon FinleyCan You Dig This explores the urban gardening revolution currently taking place in South Central Los Angeles, one of the largest food deserts in the country. We follow the inspirational personal journeys of five 'gangster gardeners,' all planting the seeds for a better life.
- StarsDerek MullerHost and physicist Dr. Derek Muller unlocks the mysteries of uranium, one of the Earth's most controversial elements.
- DirectorMatt WechslerStarsMarty TravisDan BarberRick BaylessAmerica is facing a food crisis driven by profitability and a lack of consumer education. While the window to transforming our heartland continues to shrink, passionate individuals have emerged who provide hope that the health of our nation might still remain within our grasp. Sustainable weaves together expert analysis of America's food and farming system with a powerful narrative of one extraordinary farmer who is determined to create a sustainable future for his community. Amidst the cornfields of Illinois lives the hero of the film - Marty Travis, a seventh-generation farmer who watched his land and community fall victim to the pressures of big agribusiness. Determined to create a proud legacy for his son, Marty transforms his profitless wasteland and pioneers the sustainable food movement in Chicago. The film unearths the future of agriculture - a marriage of age-old tradition and groundbreaking science. Industry pioneers from around the nation reveal the secrets behind human health and environmental protection. Woven into these stories are the foremost experts of the food industry - connecting the dots between agriculture, the environment, economics and public health. Their stories are a reminder of America's troubled past and the devastating consequences that await the country if left unchanged. Sustainable empowers audiences and gives them hope for the future - that through this food revolution, we can all save humanity.
- DirectorJon BetzTaggart SiegelStarsVandana ShivaAndrew KimbrellJane GoodallA film about the importance of heirloom seeds to the agriculture of the world, focusing on seed keepers and activists from around the world.
- DirectorFrank RijavecSouthwest Australia is one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world. However, this area has witnessed environmental destruction on a massive scale over the past 50 years. Successive governments have sold off and encouraged the release of millions of acres for agribusiness, resulting in long-term devastating impacts, including severe soil erosion and salinization. These factors have led to the complete degradation of this natural heritage and caused economic devastation for many farming families. The documentary traces the history of this ecological, man-made disaster and reveals its effects on the landscape, Australia's unique fauna and flora. It also highlights the efforts of some individuals to reverse decades of disastrous management and proposes a new ethic for the country.
- DirectorJonathan TaggartOff-grid is not a state of mind. It is not about being out of touch, living in a remote place, or turning off your mobile phone. Off-grid simply means living without a connection to the electric and natural gas infrastructure. From 2011 to 2013 Jonathan Taggart (Director) and Phillip Vannini (Producer) spent two years travelling across Canada to find 200 off-gridders and visit them in their homes. They met off-gridders in every single province and territory and through their film they narrated our travels and chronicled in depth the experiences, challenges, inventions, aspirations, and ways of life of people who have chosen to radically re-invent daily life in a dramatically innovative but also quite traditional way.
- DirectorKip AndersenKeegan KuhnStarsBruce HamiltonKip AndersenAl GoreFollow the shocking, yet humorous, journey of an aspiring environmentalist, as he daringly seeks to find the real solution to the most pressing environmental issues and true path to sustainability.
- DirectorLee FulkersonStarsLee FulkersonMatthew LedermanAlona PuldeExamines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.
- DirectorRobert KennerStarsMichael PollanEric SchlosserRichard LobbAn unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry.
- DirectorChris RenaudKyle BaldaStarsZac EfronTaylor SwiftDanny DeVitoA 12-year-old boy searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world.
- DirectorNathanaël CosteMarc De La MénardièreMarc de la MénardièreStarsNathanaël CosteMarc de la MénardièreHervé KempfTwo childhood friends travel the world to meet some of the greatest thinkers of our time. This incredible voyage, full of moments of doubt and moments of joy, will lead them to question the very beliefs that have shaped Western civilization. This film captures the change in human consciousness currently happening all over the planet, and the desire to live in harmony with oneself and the world.
- DirectorLuc JacquetStarsClaude LoriusMichel PapineschiJacques-Yves CousteauA documentary about global warming.
- StarsDavid AttenboroughPierce BrosnanPeter ScoonesMammoth series, five years in the making, taking a look at the rich tapestry of life in the world's oceans.
- DirectorGary HustwitStarsAmanda M. BurdenRem KoolhaasNorman FosterA documentary about the design of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world's foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers.
- DirectorRobert NixonFisher StevensStarsBarbara BlockJames CameronMichael deGruyFeature documentary about legendary oceanographer, marine biologist, environmentalist, and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle and her campaign to create a global network of protected marine sanctuaries.
- StarsOprah WinfreyDavid AttenboroughDoug AllanDavid Attenborough's legendary BBC crew explains and shows wildlife all over planet earth. From giving an overview of the challenges facing life to hunting the deep sea and various major evolutionary groups of creatures.
- DirectorLouie PsihoyosStarsElon MuskJoel SartoreLouie PsihoyosA documentary that follows undercover activists trying to stave off a man-made mass extinction.