Into the Ice is a journey of discovery to the vast masses of ice and the secret of our future that the ice harbours. Director Lars Ostenfeld accompanies three of the world’s leading glaciologists on pioneering scientific expeditions to and into the Greenland ice sheet.  Cool and hardworking Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, sensitive and politically engaged Jason Box, and daring and fearless Alun Hubbard are all working to collect new crucial data that can help us answer some key questions of our time:  How fast is the ice melting? How quickly are sea levels rising? How much time do we have left to change the course of the Earth? As the scientists are caught in the dilemma of collecting new evidence to an inconvenient truth while people in power are not prepared to take action to prevent the earth from dying, the film brings us breathtaking images from a place that soon will be lost as we know it now.  A documentary tale about science, nature and adventure.

This visually and artistically unique documentary explores the physical and emotional aspects of a community of Canadian west coast tree planters. Deftly weaving together still photos and film footage, Rita Leistner, an award-winning photographer, photojournalist, filmmaker and erstwhile tree planter (who has been nominated for a 2022 Canadian Screen Award for Best Cinematography for her work in this film), depicts the contradictions in the experiences of the tree planters—the hardship and the healing; the solitude and the joy of belonging—creating an eloquent cinematic metaphor for the human condition. Alone with their thoughts, the planters describe for the camera how the work has helped them overcome a myriad of personal issues ranging from addiction and mental illness to self-doubt, heartbreak and grief. Finding common cause, self-knowledge and meaning in their formidable task, the tree planters restore themselves and each other in the process of restoring the environment.

Conservation groups, First Nations communities and scientists come together in this timely, talented short film about how a decades-long battle to protect endangered old-growth forests in BC escalates at Fairy Creek (the last unprotected, intact valley on Southern Vancouver Island). This story explores the characters’ individual relationships with ancient forests and why it’s imperative that we collectively protect them. It touches on potential solutions, such as a transition away from old-growth logging and providing Indigenous sovereignty.

Beyond Extinction traces Indigenous matriarchs who revive traditions and fight to save an ancient burial ground in BC’ Slocan Valley. Declared “extinct” by the Indian Act, the film documents their intimate living histories and their decades long struggle for recognition. It weaves together observational footage, contemporary interviews, oral histories, survival stories told by matriarchs, personal as well as public archives, to tell a story never told before. This documentary traces through generations to find out how the Indian Act, colonialism, residential schools, and borders led to the Canadian government declaring the Sinixt people to be “extinct”.

The live screening on Saturday, October 15th will be preceded by the short film NUISANCE BEAR (Canada, 14mins)

In early November 2018, raging wildfires killed 88 residents and destroyed tens of thousands of homes in the cities of Malibu and Paradise, two very different California communities. Bring Your Own Brigade captures the heroism and horror of that unfathomable disaster. The “Big Short” of wild fire, this character-driven revelatory investigation takes us on an eyewitness journey with firefighters, residents and experts to understand the causes of these hellish annual fires and how to survive them. Award-winning writer/director/narrator Lucy Walker discovers that the solution may have been here all along.

Eulogy for the Dead Sea is a poetic experimental documentary chronicling the disappearance of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea borders Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. It constitutes the lowest place on earth and is known for its therapeutic high-sodium and mineral-rich waters. Despite its name, the Dead Sea basin is a host to many wildlife species and the Jordan Valley in which it is situated enjoys a warm climate and fertile soil. Unfortunately, due to the diversion of water from the Jordan River and mass mineral extraction through evaporation pools, the Dead Sea’s water reduction currently measures at 1.3m annually. Through sites of existing and abandoned infrastructure, marking its current and former shores, the film seeks to unify inter-national conflicts through the lens of ecology.

In a remote Himalayan region, the villagers of Maikot are preparing for the harvest of a mysterious aphrodisiac caterpillar-mushroom worth more than gold. Lalita, a young mother, had to let go of her dreams after getting married because of the social pressures of her community. As the whole village departs to the mountains, she joins the journey to the high-altitude pasturelands in hope of providing a better life for her family through the hazardous harvest of the rare mushroom. Set against the backdrop of stunning mountainous landscapes, the film presents an intimate and humane portrait of characters that put everything on the line for a chance to ascend to greener pastures. Will the harvest be good this year?

Due to distribution limitations, this screening will be geoblocked for Ontario residents only.

Fashion designer Amy Powney of cult label Mother of Pearl is a rising star in the London fashion scene. Raised off-the-grid in rural England by activist parents, Amy has always felt uneasy about the devastating environmental impact of her industry. When she wins the coveted Vogue Award for the Best Young Designer of the Year, which comes with a big cash prize, Amy decides to use the money to create a sustainable collection from field to finished garment, and transform her entire business. Over the following three years, her own personal revolution becomes the precursor of a much bigger, societal change.

Geographies of Solitude is an immersion into the rich ecosystem of Sable Island, guided by naturalist and environmentalist Zoe Lucas who has lived over 40 years on this remote sliver of land in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Shot on 16mm and created using a scope of innovative eco-friendly filmmaking techniques, this feature-length experimental documentary is a playful and reverent collaboration with the natural world. Zoe leads us among wild horses, seals and bugs, through peaks, valleys, roots, sands, weathers, seasons and stars. The intangible is evoked with hidden sounds and vanishing light. Much like a field book, the film tracks its protagonist’s labor to collect, clean and document marine litter that persistently washes up on the island shores.

According to the FAO, the earth’s topsoil could vanish within 60 years, worn away by erosion. Aware that time is running out, a pair of market gardeners strive to implement nature’s fundamental principles in their fields in an attempt to forge a new alliance with all the living world. Their quest is guided by ancient and new-found knowledge that confirms the interdependence of all that lives, the result of millions of years of co-evolution.

In a sprawling mega city where the dangers of climate change are present not future, acclaimed filmmaker Rahul Jain shows a world on the brink. Told through striking images and eye-opening accounts from everyday citizens, Invisible Demons delivers a visceral and immersive journey through the stories of just a few of Delhi’s 30 million inhabitants fighting to survive. Invisible Demons offers a deeply experiential and new perspective on its subject: the clear and present climate reality. Jain engages the senses by directly stimulating our desire to live in a world with equitable access to clean air and water. Is it possible to imagine this future in Delhi, in India, or anywhere in the modern world?

Ranger is a story about the wilderness within us all. Set amongst Kenya’s Maasai community, an intimate and contemporary tale of self-discovery unfolds, as 12 women become East Africa’s first all-female anti-poaching unit. Upending the male-dominated reliance upon military-style training to make a wildlife ranger, Virginia, Liz, Momina and Damaris instead undergo a 6 month rite of passage, rooted in deep trauma-release and healing processes. Their journey triggers profound transformation, sending shockwaves through their communities. Ranger largely takes place in the middle of the Laikipia plateau, on the slopes of the snow-capped Mount Kenya. It is a place of warriors, cattle and goat-herding pastoralist tribes, horizons lined by acacia trees, plains roamed by giants. While it is a deeply human story, the film also pays homage to this precious place by letting the audience feel the natural symphony of rain, blistering heat, the thirst of land and animal alike, the crisp Laikipia night, the exhilaration and vulnerability of sleeping in the bush under the moon and stars.

Rebellion tells the compelling story of a group of unlikely allies who come together to confront the climate and ecological emergency. From the launch of Extinction Rebellion in 2018, we follow them as they navigate the highs and lows of crashing into the status quo – and each other. This is a film which captures the human drama of social change. As Alejandra says in the film, “There’s kids in mines as young as five, getting cobalt, so that we can have that solar panel. That’s the world that we live in right now and I don’t want to simply have the same world – but eco.” Rebellion also tells a story about the health of our democracy, as we witness moves to restrict the power of peaceful protest – including a government bill threatening 10 year jail sentences for those causing ‘serious annoyance or inconvenience.’ The moment of protest freedoms depicted in the film may soon be impossible.

A feature-length documentary by Werner Herzog about the legendary French volcanologists, Maurice and Katia Krafft. Mt. Unzen, Kyushu, Japan.  At 3:18pm, on June 3rd 1991, a pyroclastic flow – a cloud of superheated gases and particles – descended at over 100mph from the peak of the volcano, consuming everything in its path.  It instantly killed Katia and Maurice Krafft, volcanologists and filmmakers from the Alsace region in France. They were too close. They were almost always too close. On the day before they died, Maurice said in an interview: “I am never afraid, because I’ve seen so many eruptions in 25 years that, even if I die tomorrow, I don’t care.”  The Kraffts left an archive of over 200 hours of footage, unprecedented in its spectacular and hypnotic beauty. Werner Herzog who had access to the entire archive, created a film that cannot be categorized. It is not a biography. It is a rather a requiem celebrating the legacy of Katia and Maurice Krafft.

This Stolen Country of Mine is about China’s massive hunger for natural resources and how during the last decade it has been aggressively operating to obtain access to these resources in Ecuador. The country is now stuck with the most Chinese debts in Latin America. Meet Paúl Jarrín Mosquera, who leads the indigenous resistance against the exploitation of their land. Meanwhile, China uses the Ecuadorian government to turn the country into one of its new colonies, having made the country dependent on credit through a series of corrupt and greedy treaties. When journalist Fernando Villavicencio exposes these plots and gets access to the contracts between China and Ecuador, the government wants him silenced too. Both men are fighting for freedom in this battle against a superpower.

The Wild Sheep Society of BC is one of BC’s leading conservation organizations. WSSBC’s reputation to put money on the ground that directly effects wildlife is held in the highest regard. One of their action items is to continue the study of a pandemic happening amongst wild sheep. The infectious bacteria known as mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (movi) is a bacteria that is passed from domestic sheep to wild sheep. Wild sheep do not have the immune systems to fight the bacteria, thus leaving them susceptible to pneumonia which, in most cases, leads to death. Enter Dr. Helen Schwantje, the lead wildlife veterinarian for the Government of BC and a sheep farmer. Helen is at the forefront of the battle against Movi. Working with a handful of other passionate scientists and volunteers they’re doing what they can to try and stop the spread of this killer. There is no shortage of struggles though… a lack of resources, a lack of public awareness, a lack of proven science, and the biggest foe of all… a lack of time.

Uýra, a trans-indigenous artist travels through the Amazon forest on a journey of self-discovery using performance art and ancestral messages to teach indigenous youth and confront structural racism and transphobia in Brazil. On the one hand, it is the story of a young biologist, activist, and educator, carrying out grassroots work in the preservation of the indigenous culture and the Amazonian ecosystem in one of the most violent countries in the world. On the other hand, it is also a story of this same young person’s performance character, Uýra, an enchanted being, confronting structural racism and the dismantling of the culture by the current authoritarian Brazilian government.

As the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age, they left an astounding gift of connected rivers, lakes and wetlands across the heartland of North America. Today, these largely unknown water highways remain an oasis for sustaining wildlife. From the herds of bison that still roam the Great Plains to the vital honeybees that pollinate our crops and especially for the millions of magnificent birds that migrate along these “flyways.”  Wings Over Water tells the story of the epic journeys of three amazing bird families – the Sandhill Crane, the Yellow Warbler and the Mallard Duck – with extraordinary footage of their fascinating behaviors, as they head home to raise their young.