Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge...
The adventurous life of Natacha Rambova (1897-1966), an American artist, born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy, who reincarnated herself countless times: false Russian dancer, silent film actress, scenographer and costume designer, writer, spiritist, Egyptologist, indefatigable traveler, mysterious and curious; an amazing 20th century woman who created the myth of Rudolph Valentino.
Over 2 billion people on earth eat insects for protein. The Gateway Bug explores how changing daily eating habits can feed humanity in an uncertain age, one meal at a time.
Alice Waters, winner of the San Francisco Foundation 2006 Community Leadership Awards (The John R. May Award) - for transforming our relationship with food. Through her promotion of sustainable agriculture and the slow food movement, she fights obesity and fosters a clearer understanding of how the natural world sustains us. Alice and the Chez Panisse Foundation's Edible Schoolyard educates public school children on the importance of growing and cooking fresh, nutritional food.
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.
A short documentary illustrating how art can influence public perception towards environmental issues. Green Patriot Posters is a highly acclaimed multimedia design campaign that challenges artists to deepen public understanding and ignite collective action in the fight against climate change. So far, it has reached five million people through print media, public space and digital culture. The film features interviews with key Green Patriot Posters contributors (Shepard Fairey, Michael Bierut, DJ Spooky, Mathilde Fallot) and its founders (The Canary Project, Dmitri Siegel).
Takes viewers inside the homes of people seriously affected by increasingly ferocious floods hitting the UK. With one in six British homes now at risk of flooding, residents across the country count the cost, both financial and mental, to their communities affected by flooding over the last decade.
The cod fishery off the east coast of Newfoundland was a way of life, the backbone of society -- until it collapsed. A review of the history leading up to the crisis and the subsequent call for a moratorium of the northwest Atlantic cod fishery.
The human being feels generally as fascinated as fearful before death and the inevitable fact of dying. Workers at the cemetery of Palma de Mallorca, in Spain, face this harsh reality every day, so they have found a way to deal with it.
As society tackles the problem of feeding our expanding population safely and sustainably, a schism has arisen between scientists and consumers, motivated by fear and distrust. Food Evolution, narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, explores the polarized debate surrounding GMOs. Looking at the real-world application of food science in the past and present, the film argues for sound science and open-mindedness in a culture that increasingly shows resistance to both.
Mini-documentary about a man on a mission: to get rid of all the plastic in the oceans. To raise awareness for his mission he tried to kitesurf from The Netherlands to England, on a board made from disposed PET-bottles.
At the height of the summer tourist season, the Spanish beach town Magaluf turns into a hellscape of the low-cost travel industry. For eight weeks every year, over one million mostly British vacationers ride an alcohol-soaked tide of public urination, fisticuffs and ambulance sirens for recreation. Instead of assembling a clip-reel of "balconing," when drunk idiots jump into hotel pools from their balconies, filmmaker Miguel Ángel Blanca crafts a far deeper and atmospheric look at a place where visitors and locals alike are driven by pleasure. Long-time resident Maria has little time left, so she takes in a seasonal lodger who listens to her relive her glory days. An enterprising real estate agent peddles an extravagant development, while a young gay man drifts without any plans beyond robbing a tourist for kicks. Part ghost story, part foreboding parable, this is a stylish and vivid impression of people and a place dreaming of escape. Myrocia Watamaniuk (Hot Docs)
Waste Not is a film about where your garbage goes, who sorts it for you, and what it is worth if it isn't just tossed into landfill. It's easier and cheaper to retrieve gold from old computers for instance, than to dig it up. Organics can be used to create fertiliser and green electricity and yet each Australian sends half a tonne of food waste to landfill each year where it is contaminated with chemicals and e-waste. We recycle only 50% of all our waste. There is an alternative to environmental apocalypse and we don't have to wait for the politicians to make it happen. All we really need to do is be creative and use our imaginations to turn this waste into wealth again. Waste Not talks to scientists, workers at waste depots, environment campaigners, gardeners and even a famous chef about how easy it is to save the planet by simply recycling properly.
The plight of small-scale farmers in Africa and Asia forced off their land by an unprecedented corporate land grab. If they refuse they are subject to horrific violence, which has led to women miscarrying and deaths. Exploring the personal stories of those affected, this documentary gives a voice to threatened subsistence farmers throughout the developing world. If your livelihood was ripped away from you, how would you cope?
From the Black Earth is a collaboration between Bristol based company Cables and Cameras, and a local farmer Humphrey Lloyd. Employing both lucid speakers and poetic camera work, the film poses stark questions such as; why does food poverty exist in a nation of plenty, and why are people of colour so under represented not only in our countryside and farms, but in the environmental movement more broadly? By giving a platform to people of colour who are connecting with nature and working the land, this short documentary starts to unpick these questions...
A local fisherwoman navigates her way through a male dominated environment to work in an industry that has been essential to island life for hundreds of years.
In 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono embark on a search for a girl named Kyoko. On April 23rd, they are arrested by the police at a hotel in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Redemptive Fashion follows three emerging designers who reclaim pre-loved or surplus fabric and transform it into meaningful, beautiful new work. As each designer confronts the creative and emotional challenges of working against a system built on overproduction, their stories build toward an underground zero-waste fashion show where their collections are unveiled. In this raw, alternative runway, discarded materials become symbols of resilience and possibility. Through their intertwined journeys, Redemptive Fashion reframes sustainability not as a trend but as a radical act of imagination, challenging fashion’s cycles of excess and celebrating the beauty of renewal.
Tu nourriras le monde
This short film focuses on the Bajo of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, highlighting their strong bond with the sea and the challenges small-scale fishing communities face. Impacted by overfishing, pollution, and biodiversity loss, they are struggling to survive.