Guardian (2019)

Sea Gypsies: The Far Side of the World

The vessel is Infinity, a 120-foot hand-built sailboat, crewed by a band of miscreants. The journey, an 8,000 mile Pacific crossing from New Zealand to Patagonia, with a stop in Antarctica. Unlike all the other boats heading to the Southern Ocean, Infinity is no ice-reinforced super-yacht crewed by professional sailors; rather, Infinity lives in the moment and sails on a whim. What can be found in abundance on board is blood, sweat, enthusiasm, risk tolerance, disdain for authority, and an ample supply of alcohol – all in all a mad voyage of reckless adventure just for the sheer joy of it. Along the way the crew will battle a hurricane of ice in the Ross Sea, assist the radical environmental group Sea Shepherd in their fight with illegal whalers, and tear every sail they have. At the heart of their journey is a quest for awe and a sense of wonder with the raw power of the natural world.

Arise

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. The list of impassioned, indefatigable female environmental activists featured in this film includes Winona LaDuke, a Native American who has championed the use of solar and wind power on reservations; Theo Colborn, head of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, who fights against toxic chemicals in our water supplies; Beverly Grant, who’s created a vibrant farmer’s market in a black neighborhood of Denver, Colo.; Dana Miller, who spearheads an “urban agriculture movement” in the same city; and Vandana Shiva, who champions organic farming in India.

Mururoa 1973

In 1973 Alister Barry joined the crew of a protest boat (The Fri) to Mururoa Atoll, where the French Government were testing nuclear weapons. Barry records the assembly of the crew, the long journey from Northland, and their reception in the test zone; when The Fri was boarded and impounded by French military he had to hide his camera in a barrel of oranges.

Raising Joey

The fires that have devastated Australia left behind countless injured and orphaned animals. This is the story of rescued joeys and their adoption by human carers. World-renowned animal photographer and advocate for rescued animals, Alex Cearns OAM, leads us into the quirky world of kangaroo care in this heart-warming journey that sheds light on the work of Wildlife Care WA Inc.

An Inconvenient Truth

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

Sacro GRA

After the India of Varanasi’s boatmen, the American desert of the dropouts, and the Mexico of the killers of drugtrade, Gianfranco Rosi has decided to tell the tale of a part of his own country, roaming and filming for over two years in a minivan on Rome’s giant ring road—the Grande Raccordo Anulare, or GRA—to discover the invisible worlds and possible futures harbored in this area of constant turmoil. Elusive characters and fleeting apparitions emerge from the background of the winding zone: a nobleman from the Piemonte region and his college student daughter sharing a one-room efficiency in a modern apartment building along the GRA.

The Ants and the Grasshopper

Anita Chitaya has a gift: she can help bring abundant food from dead soil, she can make men fight for gender equality, and maybe she can end child hunger in her village. Now, to save her home in Malawi from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real. Traveling from Malawi to California to the White House, she meets climate sceptics and despairing farmers. Her journey takes her across all the divisions that shape the USA: from the rural-urban divide, to schisms of race, class and gender, and to the American exceptionalism that remains a part of the culture. It will take all her skill and experience to help Americans recognise, and free themselves from, a logic that is already destroying the Earth.

A Thousand Pines

In this tale of labor and family that shines a light on the precarity of temporary work visas, Raymundo Morales leads a crew of workers who have to make the challenging decision to leave their families in rural Mexico to plant commercial pine forests in the United States.

Koyaanisqatsi

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

Higher Grounds

Panama is reimagining coffee, and driving new standards for both quality and economics. Explores variety, farming practice, and processing innovation—notions traditionally associated only with winemaking. Through collaborative competition, Panamanian growers are banding together to raise the bar for coffee worldwide. Featuring interviews with award-winning coffee producers in Panama and global coffee celebrities, as well as stunning footage of Panama’s breathtaking highlands, Higher Grounds concludes with a hard look at the sustainability of specialty coffee, the implications for developing-region producers, and how Panama offers a model for the rest of the world.

Drowning in Plastic

Liz Bonnin is setting out on a global mission to reveal the full scale of the world’s plastic problem – and explore ways in which this looming environmental disaster might be averted. As she chases plastic around the world, Liz is going to show us that this is a crisis far greater than we’d ever imagined…

The Secret Life of Landfill: A Rubbish History

In a unique science experiment, Dr George McGavin and Dr Zoe Laughlin chronicle the history of rubbish and explore how what we throw away tells us about the way we live our lives. With unprecedented access to one of the UK's largest landfill sites, the team of experts spend three days carrying out tests all over the site, revealing the secret world of rubbish. They also carry out three other 'archaeological' digs into historic landfills to chart the evolution of our throwaway society. Ultimately, their quest is to discover whether the items we throw away today have any value for tomorrow's world.

From Billions to None: The Passenger Pigeon's Flight to Extinction

The passenger pigeon, the most abundant bird species in North America for thousands of years, became extinct by human hands in a geologic heartbeat. Its story remains relevant to conservation challenges today, and there are even plans for its possible revival. Rare archival material, CGI animation, and aerial cinematography combine to recreate the awe-inspiring nature of these birds.

Tomorrow's Power

Tomorrow’s Power is a feature length documentary that showcases three communities around the world and their responses to economic and environmental emergencies they are facing. In the war-torn, oil-rich Arauca province in Colombia, communities have been building a peace process from the bottom up. In Germany activists are pushing the country to fully divest from fossil-fuel extraction and complete its transition to renewable energy. In Gaza health practitioners are harnessing solar power to battle daily life-threatening energy blackouts in hospitals.

La grâce du sillon

A scarecrow wanders in the countryscape of the french department of the Mayenne. It watches secretly over the transformation of the rural world since the end of the peasantry civilization. This film explores the memory of the local landscape that retains traces of ancient heritage. But this memory is endangered.

Amazônia - O Despertar da Florestania

How has Brazil dealt with nature and its natural resources in the early 20th century? What state is the Amazon Forest in? Based on specialties with specialties from the most diverse areas and with the rescue of historical figures, we discuss the notion of forestry, that is, the citizenship of the forest, a term necessary to reflect on Brazilian identity.

SEED: The Untold Story

A film about the importance of heirloom seeds to the agriculture of the world, focusing on seed keepers and activists from around the world.

Acoustic Ocean

Acoustic Ocean is an artistic exploration of the sonic ecology of marine life in the North Atlantic. Located on the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway, the video centers on the performance of a marine-biologist diver who is using a life-size model of a submersible equipped with all sorts of hydrophones and recording devices. In this science-fictional quest, her task is to sense the submarine space for acoustic and bioluminescent forms of expression.

Waste Land

By 2045, twenty localities in Germany will be resettled because of brown coal open pit mining. The film Waste Land follows the inhabitants of three villages in the Rhenish coal-mining district during their last years in their old home and documents how an entire region prepares for its collective relocation.

Being Caribou

April 8, 2003: Karsten Heuer + Leanne Allison left the remote community of Old Crow,Yukon, to join the Porcupine Caribou Herd on their epic life journey. For 5 months the Canadians migrated on foot with the 123,000-member herd from wintering to calving grounds in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and back again — 1500km across snow and tundra. They completed their journey on Sept. 8, 2003.

Once You Know

Today, like a ship entering the storm, the world faces climate change induced collapse. Once You Know, by director Emmanuel Cappellin, is a poetic and poignant exploration of how four of the world’s leading climate scientists and energy experts find truth, chaos, and hope in their work.

Ruptures

Their destiny was well mapped out: brilliant studies, the promise of a good job and a big salary. However, nothing happened as planned. Aurélie, Maxime, Hélène, Emma, or Romain are graduates of Polytechnique, Sciences Po, Centrale or business schools. They have made a radical choice: to give up the future they were promised for a life they consider more compatible with the environmental and societal issues of our time. This film tells their story. For a year, the young director Arthur Gosset, himself a student at Centrale Nantes, followed the journey of six young people, their sometimes difficult decisions, their often painful breaks and their courageous choice to live in accordance with their convictions, whatever the cost. Discover the documentary that tells their story.

The Islands and the Whales

The whale hunters of the Faroe Islands believe that hunting is vital to their way of life, but, when a local professor makes a grim discovery about the effects of marine pollution, environmental changes threaten their way of life forever.

John Muir in the New World

The life and the career of John Muir come to life through this inspiring and beautiful documentary set against the magnificent landscapes of the American West. The Scottish-born naturalist was one of the first nature preservationists in American history, inspiring others through his writing and his advocacy to keep the wilderness wild. Shot in high definition in the spectacular landscapes that shaped Muir - and were, in turn, shaped by his devotion.

Eco-Hack!

Conservation biologist Tim Shields sees urgency in the field and finds that traditional conservation practices are lacking when it comes to saving desert tortoise populations from ravens. He goes rogue, employing an arsenal of lasers, exploding model turtles, drones and desert rovers as a means of protecting the tortoise's dwindling numbers.

The End of the Line

Examines the devastating effect that overfishing has had on the world's fish populations and argues that drastic action must be taken to reverse these trends. Examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications of a future world with no fish that would bring certain mass starvation.

White Earth

An oil boom has drawn thousands to America’s Northern Plains in search of work. Against the backdrop of a cruel North Dakota winter, the stories of three children and an immigrant mother intertwine among themes of innocence, home, and the American Dream.

When Glaciers Go

A diminishing water supply is driving people from their land in a remote region of Nepal. The younger generation of the Gurung family adapts by commuting from their ancestral home, where subsistence depends on grazing goats and cows, to a village that has a commercial apple orchard, fed by irrigation. “We cannot give up cultivating our fields,” a elderly man explains. “The apple farm is not going to be able to feed us easily.” The older generation believes that water shortages stem from road building and bulldozing, upsetting the natural order, a young man explains. Both generations fly prayer flags, beseeching water.

Before the Flood

A look at how climate change affects our environment and what society can do to prevent the demise of endangered species, ecosystems, and native communities across the planet.

Climat déréglé, santé en danger

Plot unavailable

Without Water

A resilient crop-farmer endeavours to preserve his land, legacy and way of life in the face of Australia’s ongoing ‘big dry’.

Seven Rivers Walking - Haere Mārire

Documentary about the degraded state of Canterbury's (New Zealand) rivers