environmental films

Apaporis

Director/Writer: Antonio Dorado
Producers: Antonio Dorado, Juan Carlos Paredes, Omar Dorado
Fundación Imagen Latina

Colombia | 72 min.

Apaporis takes us on a journey  through the untrodden, war-locked Northwest Amazon, where we discover the secret knowledge of of Cabiyari and Cubeo indigenous cultures and their insight into nature, life and medicinal and psychotropic plants. With breathtaking images, millenary secrets are revealed such as the preparation of Yagé  (“the vine of the Gods”), pulverized coca, and curare, alongside a magical practice to revive dead animals. These communities, besieged by the looming death of their sacred languages and cultures, must now come together to preserve their very survival.

Colony

Directors: Ross McDonnell, Carter Gunn
Producers: Morgan Bushe, Macdara Kelleher
Fastnet Films

Ireland/USA | 84 min.

The unexplainable phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder has left landscapes of empty beehives all across America, threatening not only the beekeeping industry but our food supply. As scientists and beekeepers search for the cause, Colony captures the struggle within the beekeeping community to save the honeybee and themselves, through the eyes of veteran beekeeper Davis Mendes and Lance and Victor Seppi, two young brothers getting into beekeeping when most are getting out. As Mendes tries to save the nation's collapsing hives, the Seppis try to keep their business alive amidst a collapsing economy.

Waste Land

Director: Lucy Walker
Producers: Angus Aynsley, Hank Levine
Executive Producers: Fernando Meirelles, Miel de Botton Aynsley, Andrea Barata Ribeiro, Jackie de Botton
Almega Projects

UK/Brazil | 99 min.

Waste Land follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio. There, he photographs an eclectic band of catadores—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz's initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with them, as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage, reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives. Waste Land offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.

Sun Come Up

Director/Producer: Jennifer Redfearn
Producer: Tim Metzger
Executive Producer: Abigail E. Disney
Big Red Barn FIlms

USA | 39 min.

Sun Come Up follows the relocation of some of the world’s first environmental refugees, the Carteret Islanders—a community living on a remote island chain in the South Pacific Ocean. When rising seas threaten their survival, the islanders face a painful decision: they must leave their beloved land in search of a new place to call home.