Surviving Progress

This is not just a “folkumentary”, but an invitation to reflect on the future of humanity on a planet where tradition and technology coexist, and where the unknown reminds us that there are still unanswered questions.

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As a centuries-old black community, contaminated and uprooted by petrochemical plants, comes to terms with the loss of its ancestral home, one man standing in the way of a plant's expansion refuses to give up.

As the most dammed, dibbed, and diverted river in the world struggles to support thirty million people and the peace-keeping agreement known as the Colorado River Pact reaches its limits, WATERSHED introduces hope. Can we meet the needs of a growing population in the face of rising temperatures and lower rainfall in an already arid land? Can we find harmony amongst the competing interests of cities, agriculture, industry, recreation, wildlife, and indigenous communities with rights to the water? Sweeping through seven U.S. and two Mexican states, the Colorado River is a lifeline to expanding populations and booming urban centers that demand water for drinking, sanitation and energy generation. And with 70% of the rivers’ water supporting agriculture, the river already runs dry before it reaches its natural end at the Gulf of California. Unless action is taken, the river will continue its retreat – a potentially catastrophic scenario for the millions who depend on it.

How does a machine learn to read the world? Testimonies and screen recordings introduce the experience of online micro-workers from the Global South: their job is to teach the AI of self-driving cars to navigate the streets of the Global North.

The foreshore as you've never seen it before! War, survival, and marine ballet: in a Microscomos-style odyssey with sumptuous images, this documentary takes a close-up look at the aquatic world at low tide and its colorful creatures.

This documentary profiles economist and writer Marilyn Waring. In extensive interviews, Waring details her feminist approach to finances and challenges commonly accepted truths about the global economy. The filmmakers detail Waring's early rise to political prominence and her successful protests against nuclear arms. Waring also speaks candidly about wartime economies, suggesting that government policies tend to marginalize the fiscal contributions of women.

Award-winning war photographer Rita Leistner goes back to her roots as a tree planter in the wilderness of British Columbia, offering an inside take on the grueling, sometimes fun and always life-changing experience of restoring Canada’s forests. Leistner, who has photographed some of the world’s most dangerous places, credits the challenge of tree-planting for her physical and mental endurance. In Forest for the Trees, her first feature film, she revisits her past to share the lessons she learned. The film introduces us to everyday life on the “cut-block” and the brave souls who fight through rough terrains and work endless hours to bring our forests to life. The rugged BC landscape comes to life magically in Leistner’s photography, while the quirky characters and nuggets of wisdom shared around the campfire tell a sincere story of community.

This is one of the most beautiful rewilding stories of our time, that of Douglas and Kristine Tompkins, a couple of successful entrepreneurs – The North Face and Esprit – who decided to dedicate themselves to protecting vast territories in Patagonia. The results of their actions are astounding: in 30 years they enabled the creation and expansion of 18 national parks between Chile and Argentina, covering a total area of 7 million hectares, equivalent to the size of a country like Ireland. By transforming these spaces and reconstructing natural ecosystems, the development of these parks has also enabled the creation of social bonds, developed a new form of economic activity, brought forth a political space, and contributed to strengthening the population’s sense of belonging to their territories.

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First hand interviews and on the ground footage give a stirring account of The Standing Rock Sioux Nation's and water protectors' opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline

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Click for full movie details & trailers.

Click for full movie details & trailers.

Pete the Pond has spent the last 20 years trying to return Britain's aquatic wildlife to its former glory. Despite his best efforts, the abundance of creatures he remembers from his childhood are quickly disappearing. As he sets out to build yet another wildlife pond in a British garden, a letter from his local council threatens to destroy his life's work.

Hamburg, Germany, 1939. Getting a passage aboard the passenger liner St. Louis seems to be the last hope of salvation for more than nine hundred German Jews who, desperate to escape the atrocious persecution to which they are subjected by the Nazi regime, intend to emigrate to Cuba.

For six years, Melati, 18, has been fighting the plastic pollution that is ravaging her country, Indonesia. Like her, a generation is rising up to fix the world. Everywhere, teenagers and young adults are fighting for human rights, the climate, freedom of expression, social justice, access to education or food. Dignity. Alone against all odds, sometimes risking their lives and safety, they protect, denounce and care for others. The earth. And they change everything. Melati goes to meet them across the globe. At a time when everything seems to be or has been falling apart, these young people show us how to live. And what it means to be in the world today.

A documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.

An award-winning short exploring man-made impacts on New Zealand’s water cycle.

A documentary about the closure of General Motors' plant at Flint, Michigan, which resulted in the loss of 30,000 jobs. Details the attempts of filmmaker Michael Moore to get an interview with GM CEO Roger Smith.