Simon Schneider
24 min. 2003
Includes discussion guide
Also available on DVD
Abalone Odyssey chronicles a community stewardship project on Vancouver Island's outer coast that couples First Nations wisdom with western science to revive the threatened population of the pinto abalone. Filmmaker Simon Schneider meets the project's enthusiastic participants—hereditary chiefs of the Huu-ay-aht First Nation, ecologists and educators at the Bamfield Marine Science Centre, and members of the Bamfield community. All throw their whole-hearted support into the ambitious Bamfield Huu-ay-aht Community Abalone Project, or BHCAP, in an effort to restore depleted stocks of this sub-tidal creature to Barkley Sound's once-thriving marine landscape.
Subject(s): Animals, Biology, British Columbia, Community dynamics, Environmental issues, Indigenous people–Huu-ay-aht
Athlii Gwaii: The Line at Lyell, Pts 1 & 2
Part of the Ravens
and Eagles: Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
46:30 min. 2003
In the fall of 1985, a small but resolute troupe of Haida elders journeyed by helicopter to Athlii Gwaii (Lyell Island) to join their young counterparts in a stand against clearcutting. Industrial invasion in the remote archipelago had gone too far. Ancient cedar giants and rare spruce trees—lifeblood of Haida art and culture—had been leveled indiscriminately for too long. Buoyed by their courageous Haida elders, protesters united in peaceful resistance. A total of 72 people were arrested, but their tactics garnered global attention and won change: in 1987, the government established the Gwaii Haanas Park Reserve/Haida Heritage Site.
Archival footage features poignant interviews with elders Ada Yovanovich and Adolphus "Fussy" Marks. Surviving elders Ethel Jones and Watson Pryce share their recollections. Miles Richardson, head of the BC Treaty Commission, Guujaaw, Council of the Haida Nation president, and Allan Wilson, a Haida RCMP officer at the scene, provide further insight into these pivotal events.
Subject(s): British Columbia, Community dynamics, Environmental issues, Forestry, Indigenous people–Haida, Treaty rights
Between 1964 and 1973, the United States conducted a "secret" war, dropping over 2 million tons of bombs on the mountains and jungles of Laos. Many of these bombs -especially a newly developed weapon called a "cluster bomb"-failed to explode when they hit the ground, leaving the landscape littered with millions of unexploded bombs, as dangerous today as when they fell from the sky three decades ago.
Dubbed "bombies" by Laotian villagers, these eye-catching but deadly orbs, as brightly colored as exotic fruit, are still found by children playing in shallow dirt, in the clefts of bamboo branches, or in the furrows of fields where farmers still till the soil by striking the earth with a hoe.
In the last three decades more than 12,000 people, many of them children, have been killed or injured by bombies or other unexploded ordnance (weapons). With an estimated 90 million cluster bombs dropped on Laos, many experts consider Laos to be the most heavily ordnance-contaminated country in the world. Bombies tells the untold story of the deadly legacy of unexploded cluster bombs in Laos through the personal experiences of villagers, activists and others who courageously deal with them on a daily basis.
Subject(s): Asian studies, History, International relations, Peace/War, Politics, United States
Awards:
Gold Hugo (Documentary–Social/Political), Chicago International
Film Festival
NHK's Japan Prize–Adult Division
Golden Gate Award, San Francisco International Film Festival
Best of Festival and Best of Category (Issues of War and Peace), Vermont International
Film Festival
Special Prize for Environmental Education, Ökomedia Festival, Freiburg
Honourable Mention, Columbus International Film Festival
Nominated for Best Social Documentary, Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival
First Place in Category, EarthVision Environmental Film Festival
Directed and produced by Patrick Jenkins
45:00 min. 2007
Available on DVD and VHS
Death Is In Trouble Now is a documentary portrait of Canadian artist Mark Adair. An environmentalist, Adair’s medieval style sculptures comment on contemporary man's relationship to the natural environment and the stress of urban life. His sculptures explore such diverse subjects such as violence, sexual politics between men and women, pollution, spirituality, consumerism and the devastating force of nature.
Subject(s): Artists–Mark Adair, Environmental issues, Sculpture
Marianne Kaplan/Leonard Terhoch
MSK Productions
48 min. 2002
Also available on DVD
Deconstructing Supper begins, innocently enough, with a clear yet unexpected question. A patron at Bishop's, one of Vancouver's top restaurants, asks renowned Canadian chef John Bishop whether or not his foods are “GM” (genetically modified). For Bishop, proud of his establishment and his culinary knowledge, the query is a revelation. Embarrassed, he admits that he doesn't know the answer. Although he uses mostly organically grown produce in his recipes, he realizes that he knows absolutely nothing about genetically modified foods—not what is in them, nor how they are grown. This pivotal moment makes Bishop question his responsibility as a restaurateur and leads him on a personal odyssey around the world to discover answers to the simple question: “What are our food choices?”
With a hearty appetite for both food and information, chef Bishop explores the politics, economics and ethics of eating. His journey takes viewers on an eye-opening and engaging adventure into the billion-dollar battle to control global food production, unraveling fact from fiction, and information from disinformation. The results are startling, unexpected and thought-provoking.
Award(s): Chris Award, Columbus International Film & Video Festival; Second Place in Category, EarthVision Environmental Film Festival
Subject(s): Agriculture, Biology, Business, Consumerism, Environmental issues, Food, Genetics, Politics, Restaurants, Science
A stunning visual history of the international Greenpeace movement, Ecology in Action spans 15 years and five continents. The best action footage from all the major campaigns is combined to produce a thoughtful and informative documentary on one of the world's most renowned environmental organizations.
Subject(s): Environmental issues
Sea turtles have existed on earth for approximately 100 million years; humans,for about one million. Yet all species of sea turtles today face extinction because of human impact on the environment. Farewell Ancient Marinershows the plight of the sea turtle and some of the repopulation programs set up by groups such as Greenpeace to reduce consumption of these animals and help them cope with habitats under attack.
Awards: Silver Award, International Film & TV Festival; Honourable Mention, Festival International du Film Maritime & d'Exploration
Subject(s): Animals, Biology, Science
Martin de Valk
Chiaro Productions
48 min. 2005
Also available on DVD
In 1940, Costa Rica boasted over three million hectares of natural forest. By 1983, less than a third remained—most of it lost to extensive cattle grazing after the World Bank injected big money into the country's beef industry. Among the many people who have worked to reduce this trend is Canadian Dirk Brinkman who, in 1995, brought his team of silviculture experts to the clearcuts of Costa Rica.
Using investments from friends and family, they purchased a small tract of deforested tropical land to begin a reforestation experiment with teak and mixed native species. With that, the BIRD project—Brinkman International Reforestation Development—took off. Its goals: to create an entrepreneurial-driven, self-sustaining enterprise that drew on Canada's expertise in reforestation and created employment for locals.
Ten years later, Martin de Valk's fascinating documentary tracks the resounding success of BIRD. Forestry and resource management experts from the Technological Institute of Costa Rica and Earth University share their excitement over the ecological benefits of this unique project. With several initiatives underway, the BIRD team has reforested over 500 hectares, provided silviculture training and employment to the local people, established an elementary school for employees' children, and developed native tree species into a potentially viable and sustainable commercial product.
Subject(s): Business, Environmental issues, Forestry
| Shelley Wine |
|
Women comprise 80% of the world's environmental activists. Yet the general public, watching television and reading newspapers, is rarely aware of women organizing for political change. FURY FOR THE SOUND: The Women at Clayoquot reveals the important role of women in establishing grassroots social movements like the one to protest clearcut logging in Clayoquot Sound on Canada's West Coast.
In the tradition of suffragettes and the Chipko women of India, who are among the world's original treehuggers, in 1993 at Clayoquot, women of all ages were moved to leave their homes and comfortable lives to enact social change. The fight to protect the Sound, one of the largest remaining tracts of untouched Canadian rain forest, resulted in the biggest single act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. Over 850 people--two-thirds of them women--were arrested.
A peace camp based on feminist principles was set up near the Clayoquot protest site. Grandmothers and young children were taken into custody, women suspended themselves from trees to defy clearcut logging. Personal as well as political reasons for these decisions are explored. Protest organizers explain how women are uniquely positioned socially and culturally to save this planet.
Awards: People's Choice Award, Vermont International Film Festival; Chris Award, Columbus International Film Festival; Best Point of View Documentary and Award of Merit for Conservation, International Wildlife Festival in Montana.
Subject(s): British Columbia, Environmental issues, Feature length, Forestry,Politics, Women
Susan Risk
Sure Fire Video Production/Live Wire Video Production
46 min. 2004
Looking out over the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, one could easily mistake it for the Canadian prairies. With similar geography, topography and weather patterns, the two arid regions are natural partners to exchange knowledge on sustainable dryland farming practices. Grassland Transfer follows the progress of just such an exchange: the Canada-China Sustainable Agriculture Development Project. Supported by CIDA, the project joins the expertise of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA)—a Canadian agency formed in the crucible of the Saskatchewan dustbowl—and its partners in northern China's Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region (IMAR). With Canadian plant ecologist Jeff Thorpe as guide, the film journeys into China and the heart of the Inner Mongolian grasslands. The area currently faces a crisis similar to the drought of Canada's Dirty Thirties, theirs the result of population pressure and enormous overgrazing. While delving into the science behind drought, desertification and practices to renew ailing lands, the documentary also offers a rich tapestry of images from the land itself, the people, their culture and customs.
Subject(s): Agriculture, China, Environmental issues, Saskatchewan, World cultures
An award-winning documentary which depicts the dramatic confrontation in the Pacific between Russian whalers and environmentalists determined to save the whale from extinction. The film also provides valuable information about whales in their habitat.
Awards: Silver Plaque, Chicago International Film Festival; Best Documentary, Canadian Film Awards; Canadian Film & Television Association Awards; Blue Ribbon, American Film Festival; Best Environmental Film, Black Orca Film Festival
Subject(s): Animals, Environmental issues
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