GREEN SCHOOL TOURS
With the support of
The 11th annual Green School Tours will run May to June 2024
Since 1999, Planet in Focus has played a significant role in helping to raise awareness about the state of our planet through the power of film in schools and communities across Canada. Planet in Focus Teachers’ Guides are now available for all titles. These guides provide resources on the topics covered in the films.
A curated list of environmental films are available online, and include teachers guides or filmmaker Q&A sessions.
Limited schools in each region will receive a free in-school film festival
- Brantford – SOLD OUT
- Windsor – SOLD OUT
- North Eastern GTA
- Northern Shield
If you do not qualify for a free program, please email schools@planetinfocus.org for alternative options.
Canadian Film 
Teacher’s Guide available 
Filmmaker Q&A available 
RECOMMENDED FOR ELEMENTARY STUDENTS
Spuffies
Jaka Ivanc | Slovenia | 11 min
Themes: Friendship, Discovery, Sustainability
Spuffies have a serious thing for jubees. When they’ve eaten the last delicious fruit and hunger is about to strike, they head to the old Poofler’s place through the murky forest. There they meet and befriend a Spider who shows them the way to the jubee grove. Poofler teaches the Spuffies all the secrets of eating and growing jubees. The Spider uses his many legs to help cultivating the grove and planting new jubees.
Pond
Lena von Döhren, Eva Rust | Switzerland | 8 min
Themes: Unity, Survival, Courage
A shoal of herrings, adopting fantastic formations, roams the vast ocean. When seagulls suddenly attack, one small herring finds itself stranded in a tidal pool. As it searches desperately for a way out, it discovers many other sea creatures here. And now there is no time for fear: only by joining forces can they hope to defend themselves against the hungry seagull.
Fish On
Matthew Quinnell | New Zealand | 7 min
Themes: Family, Reflection, Environmental Awareness
A Grandfather Takes his Grandson on a fishing trip in the countryside and learns there are more important things than going home with the catch of the day.
Field Notes
Aisha Jamal | Canada | 10 min
Themes: Transformation, Environmental Conservation, Resilience
A woman discovers a passion for bird-watching during her pandemic isolation, which leads to an appreciation for the natural world that exists in the midst of the concrete jungle. As the birds—including a particular pair of plovers—fight for survival, she’s committed to protecting their habitat and bringing awareness to their plight.
RECOMMENDED FOR SECONDARY STUDENTS
Silvicola
Jean Marquis | Canada | 1 hr 20 min
Themes: Forestry, Humanity, Nature
An unusually intimate glimpse into the people, processes, and paradoxes of modern forestry practices, Silvicola is a sensorially immense contemplation on the psychic entanglement of humans, machines, and nature, set amongst the sprawling forests of the Canadian Pacific Northwest.
Tiny
Ritchie Hemphill, Ryan Haché | Canada | 16 min
Themes: Childhood, Reflection, Harmony
Tiny is a contemplative stop motion film which tells the story of ‘Nakwaxda’xw Elder Colleen Hemphill’s childhood. The film portrays modern day Colleen as she reflects on her past, and re-enacts the stories she tells of her youth, as a young girl growing up on a float-house in the wild and unpredictable Pacific Northwest and its waters. As she retells her story, Colleen notices how different her way of life was when she was young, and how much more harmonious her community was with nature.
I Won’t Stand For It
Caroline Bacle | United Kingdom | 29 min
Themes: Activism, Resilience, Empowerment
Miyawata is a 15-year old Indigenous activist from Winnipeg, Canada, who never hesitates speak up for what she believes in. To protest the injustices that her people have faced throughout the history of Canada, she refuses to stand for the National Anthem. She’s on a mission to help Indigenous voices be heard and included. And she’s the very first organizer of school strikes for the climate in her hometown. The climate movement in Winnipeg had big momentum… until COVID hit. Now that the end of the pandemic is in sight, can she get the movement going again?
Keepers of the Land
Deirdre Leowinata, Douglas Neasloss | Canada | 28 min
Themes: Resurgence, Stewardship, Reconciliation
In the heart of British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, one Nation is reclaiming the power they held for millennia. As the impacts of colonial exploitation and mismanagement take an increasing toll on their territory, the Kitasoo Xai’xais Nation finds strength in its stories and culture, emerging as a stewardship leader in a new age of reconciliation in Canada. A powerful story of resurgence, the weight of hereditary leadership, and the responsibility they carry into the modern world told through the eyes of elder and hereditary chief Nismuutk, Ernest Mason Jr., and the new young leaders following in his footsteps.
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