In Fairy Creek, director Jen Muranetz documents the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history, creating a searing portrait of contemporary environmental activism, bearing witness to the lengths activists are willing to take to protect British Columbia’s last old growth forests.

A new chapter in the long standing battle for British Columbia’s pristine forests has unfolded on Vancouver island. Spirited environmentalists become embroiled in a series of often violent altercations with loggers and RCMP, after deploying a series of tactics to stop logging access to an old growth forested area. The activists show incredible conviction to their cause, while having compelling internal debates about whose voices are prioritized in the movement. In Fairy Creek, director Jen Muranetz documents the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history, creating a searing portrait of contemporary environmental activism, bearing witness to the lengths activists are willing to take to protect British Columbia’s last old growth forests.

Activism, Civil disobedience, Logging, Old growth forestry

A wildly inventive blend of comedy, climate activism, and community collaboration, Asog is a genre-defying cinematic sojourn from Filipino-Canadian multihyphenate Seán‌ Devlin 叶世民. Teaming with survivors of one of the most devastating typhoons to ever hit the Philippines, Devlin has crafted a vibrantly queer road movie like no other. It stars the luminous, irreverent Jaya, a non-binary television comedian bound for a beauty pageant, hoping that the prize money can help them rebuild following the deadly storm. Jaya is joined on their journey by Arnel, a wide-eyed young man hoping to reconnect with family members scattered in the typhoon’s wake. Travelling together cross-country, the duo encounters an array of fellow survivors also contending with the storm’s impacts, including an attempted land-grab by opportunistic developers. Enmeshing its docu-fictional narrative with the real-life struggles of displaced residents, the Asog team calls the film a “cinematic intervention.” The Tribeca Festival, meanwhile, has hailed it as “a monument of trans cinema.” However you label it, Asog is a singular creation, and a bold embodiment of the kind of solidarity that the climate emergency demands of us all.

Danish evolutionary geneticist Eske Willerslev’s singular obsession with sequencing DNA fragments buried in Greenland’s permafrost has unlocked secrets of ancient ecosystems that parallel our own climate, asking important questions about our own survival.

Danish evolutionary geneticist Eske Willerslev is known for his pioneering work sequencing DNA fragments buried in Greenland’s permafrost, unlocking secrets of ancient ecosystems. In The Hunt for Ancient DNA, director Niobe Thompson examines the drive it takes to create preeminent scientific work, delving into the story of a scientist whose singular obsession with creating prestigious research has come with both great success and cost. Dr. Willerslev and his research team have made major revelations about the rich and diverse world of the mild Pliocene era, drawing parallels to the current warming climate, asking important questions about
our own survival.

Nature, Science, Prehistoric discovery, Climate change

Planet In Focus is no stranger to stories with apocalyptic implications, but the brilliant Knit’s Island represents a first for the festival: a fully post-apocalyptic experience. It’s also the first time the festival has exhibited a feature “filmed” within an entirely digital landscape. Captured from 963 hours spent inside the enormous and extraordinarily detailed world of DayZ, the film’s most surprising facet may be just how much it exalts in the multiplayer survival game’s ersatz wilderness. From breathtaking night skies to virtual vegetation that sways gently in the breeze, this is a simulation so comprehensive that it’s easy to understand why a dedicated core of players continue to inhabit it over a decade after the game’s initial release. For many of those remaining, the game has long ceased to be a competitive endeavor. Instead, and particularly during the pandemic, it became a space to build community and commune with fellow players on distant continents—a world that “feels less thin than the real one,” in the words of one of one participant. How might our growing attachment to virtual spaces impact our relationship to our physical planet? That’s one question among many that the fascinating, contemplative, and deeply human Knit’s Island may invite you to ponder.

Tsimshian farmer Jacob Beating is on a mission to promote healthy Indigenous communities through local food, undoing the legacy of colonization on food security by training a new generation of Indigenous farmers, while balancing the challenges and precarity of farming that threaten the future of Tea Creek Farm and its larger vision.

Jacob Beaton is an unassuming Tsimshian farmer on an extraordinary mission to promote healthy Indigenous communities centered on land-based practices and local food. Nestled in Gitxsan ancestral territory, he and his family run Tea Creek Farm and Indigenous Food Sovereignty Training Center. While Jacob has witnessed the profound effect of his farm on its Indigenous trainees, he faces the challenges and precarity of farming that threaten the future of Tea Creek and its larger vision. Featuring beautiful footage set in the striking Northern British Columbia landscape, Dene director Ryan Dickie explores how colonization impacts food security in Indigenous communities, weaving themes of sovereignty, mental health, and leadership into a film that illuminates the healing power of growing food.

Indigenous food sovereignty and security, Farming, Mental health, Healing

Few communities experience the impact of climate change as acutely as the denizens of Mandø, a tiny island off the Danish coast. Numbering just 27 inhabitants, it firmly puts the “micro” in microcosm, as rising sea levels portend a grim fate that may eventually confront humanity at large. But like humankind in general, Mandø’s residents are a resilient, quirky, and often comical bunch. With As the Tide Comes In, co-directors Juan Palacios and Sofie Husum Johannesen accentuate that latter quality, infusing their feature with a rich seam of Scandinavian humour. They also take full advantage of Mandø’s rugged vistas to fashion a film of sublime beauty. The result is a captivating documentary that is also sure to enchant cinephiles, fusing Honeyland’s masterful craft with Roy Andersson’s wry existentialism. At its heart sits Gregers, who, at 42, is the island’s youngest resident. With ties to Mandø extending for eight generations, he’s undaunted by impending doom. Rather than leave, he hopes to find a partner to manage his family business… with the aid of reality dating show Farmer Wants a Wife. Also featuring most of his similarly eccentric neighbours, As the Tide Comes In is a deceptively generous reflection on Mandø’s looming predicament—which, of course, we all ultimately share.

There is a growing recognition in Mexico of the collusion between industry, organized crime and the Mexican government, which is having a chilling effect on citizens and Land Defenders, while multinational corporations, including Canadian mines, are complicit in a vicious cycle of corruption and violence.

In Mexico, where unrestrained mining has turned many rural communities into virtual ghost towns, there is a growing recognition of the collusion between industry, organized crime and the Mexican government, which is having a chilling effect on locals and Land Defenders. In La Guardia Blanca, the voices of citizens share stories of land displacement and the fear of reprisal for speaking against expansive extractive projects infringing on their homes. Through lush jungles, winding rivers and arid desert landscapes, director Julian Elie’s exquisitely lensed film
underscores the complicity of multinational corporations, including Canadian mines, in a vicious cycle of corruption and violence.

Mining, Environment, Human rights, Corporate responsibility

Resident Orca follows a passionate group of characters trying to free Lolita, also known as Tokitae or Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, the last of the Southern Resident Killer Whales in captivity, whose time is running out as she ages in the Miami Seaquarium.

Resident Orca tells the story of Lolita, also known as Tokitae or Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, the last of the Southern Resident Killer Whales in captivity, who lived the majority of her life performing for visitors in a small tank at the Miami Seaquarium. Directors Sarah Sharkey Pearce and Simon Schneider introduce a passionate group of characters fighting for her freedom, following the development of an unusual partnership between members of the Lummi tribe and a rich philanthropist who is prepared to bankroll her release back into her natal waters. The film maintains a deeply emotional connection to the aging killer whale, questioning what is objectively in her best interest and who has the right to decide.

Animal rights, Sea mammals, Oceans, Activism