Films of the 2015 Festival
The fourth annual festival, which will be held August 21-22, 2015 in the quaint San Diego County mountain town of Julian, we are showcasing award-wining films about nature, community activism, adventure, conservation, water, energy and climate change, wildlife, environmental justice, agriculture, Native American and indigenous cultures. These films combine stellar film-making, beautiful cinematography and first-rate storytelling to inform, inspire and ignite solutions and possibilities to restore the earth and human communities while creating a positive future. This year’s film festival selections will not only take audiences to some of the most remote and beautiful places on the planet, but introduce them to the magnificent animals that inhabit these places and the courageous individuals who are working to protect and preserve both for future generations.
Spaceship Earth Passenger Safety Briefing
We are living on what can be likened to a very large spaceship. It is finite. It’s floating in space. And we must depend on it for everything we need to live. If we foul it up or run out of something we can’t run next door or call for take-out.
Diver’s Backyard
Discover a day in the life of a diver as they take you on their journey below the sea. Our mission and motto is “See our ocean. Save our ocean.”
www.in2focusmedia.com/#diversbackyard.html
The Little Things
The Little Things is a snowboard movie project based on environmentally conscious riders who are inspirational through their riding, as well as their sustainable ways of living and thinking. The film is an initiative taken on by professional snowboarder Marie-France Roy and directed by Filmmaker Darcy Turenne in which all the riders are bringing to life the importance of protecting and living in balance with our environment.
100% of proceeds from the film will be donated to Protect Our Winters (POW) and The David Suzuki Foundation (DSF).
The goal is to bring snowboarding one step ahead while inspiring positive change that will secure the same lifestyle and quality of life that we have for future generations.
http://thelittlethingsmovie.net/
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Twenty-Eight Feet
A short documentary about a young man from Nova Scotia who has given up his apartment, car and cell phone to live and travel the world on a 46 year old wooden boat.
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Breaking Point
The worst ecological disaster in US history is quickly approaching, yet very little is being done to stop it. A casualty of the ‘water wars’ in the Southwest, California’s largest lake is disappearing. The receding Salton Sea reveals a toxic mix of fine dust and chemicals that is threatening the health of millions. The Salton Sea has reached its breaking point, and time is running out.
www.breakingpointdoc.com/
I Heard
A Seuss-esque journey into some of the 110+ million acres of designated American wilderness that we have to enjoy. Award-winning filmmaker Michael Ramsey’s short film celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act which ensures that we will have places “…where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”
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Mixing Oil and Water
Oil and gas development is progressively becoming more extreme across Montana. Conventional oil and gas reserves were easy to get and easy to process, but current methods are drilling deeper at extreme pressures. Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release the oil and natural gas inside. The process consumes a tremendous amount of water, which is mixed with harmful chemicals and sand.
The current extreme oil and gas development is a different animal. It’s hard to get, hard to process, and is much more dangerous than conventional oil and gas. The worst part about extreme oil and gas development is the fact that many of the costs are externalized onto Montanans. Montana landowners are put at risk so oil and gas companies can increase profits.
www.northernplains.org/issues/oil-gas/
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Dryden-The Small Town that Changed the Fracking Game
“The industry kept saying: ‘We have the power; you have none. We are coming. Get out of the way or leave,'” says Joanne Cipolla-Dennis, recalling what happened when the oil and gas industry came to her town of Dryden, NY.
But Joanne and her neighbors came up with a plan. This is the true story of people who discovered their shared strength and turned the tables on a powerful industry.
As fracking bears down on 31 states across the country, this story offers hope and important lessons for communities trying to protect themselves.
http://earthjustice.org/video/dryden-the-small-town-that-changed-the-fracking-game
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Monarchs and Milkweed
Take a microcosmic safari through a field of milkweed and discover a whole world of life, from bees to wasps to hummingbirds to butterflies. The charismatic Monarch butterfly is completely dependent on milkweed for its survival, and places like Yosemite National Park offer protection for this often overlooked plant.
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Brilliant Darkness: Hotaru in the Night
Brilliant Darkness: Hotaru in the Night (12 min) explores the importance of darkness, and erosion of it, through the study and preservation of firefly habitats in Japan and the United States. Fireflies disappear as artificial night lights disrupt their ‘languages of light’. Brilliant Darkness: Hotaru in the Night features artists and scientists on different continents working to understand firefly flash patterns and how to live among wildlife in urban settings. The film features (in order of appearance in the film): Rei Ohara, Dr. Nobuyoshi Ohba, Dr. Marc Branham, Dr. James Lloyd, Dr. James Karl Fischer, AIA, RIBA
www.brilliantdarknessmovie.com/
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Rush for Gold
Revealed are some of the lesser-known stories of the Gold Rush, as told by people living in and around the Deer Creek watershed in Nevada City. The film combines interviews and local footage with archival film and photos to highlight the stories of the native people, the Chinese immigrant workers, and the environment itself.
www.sierrastreamsinstitute.org/Rush4Gold/
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River of Eden
Join filmmaker Pete McBride, a National Geographic Freshwater Hero, on a journey into the Fijian Highlands to discover why the locals said “no” to easy money from resource extraction, and how they turned to tourism to fund a conservation area that protects one of the most beautiful rivers on Earth. Slicing through the island’s tropical highlands, the Upper Navua Gorge is unparalleled. Sheer walls rocket 150-feet skyward as green, roiling waters sleuth through 20-foot-wide natural canals. Waterfalls and a misty spray dance from the jungle above, keeping this oasis glistening with life. When native Fijian guides aren’t singing or laughing, they share legends of warfare and love that are intertwined with each bend in the river. The Upper Navua represents one of the most unique conservation cooperatives in the world, which prevents logging, mining or roads within 200 meters of the river’s lapping waters. Created in 2000, with the help of a small rafting company and nine local land-owning families, two villages, a logging company and a government entity, it is one of the only protected rivers in the South Pacific. But, as the people of the Fijian Highlands now know, conservation is a fight that’s never over.
www.riverofeden.com/
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Our Power – THE BLACK MESA WATER COALITION
The Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) is a collaborative of over 35 community-based and movement support organizations. We are uniting frontline communities to forge a scalable, and socio-economically just transition away from unsustainable energy towards local living economies. We address the root causes of climate change.
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Delta Dawn – Paddling a River Run Free
The 2014 Colorado River Pulse Flow. Of the 260 rivers that cross international
borders, this is the first binational agreement of its kind. A short highlighting the first crossing of the delta via watercraft (self support Standup Paddle Board) in over two decades.
Video, writing and editing by Pete McBride/ Pete McBride Productions.
Shot on assignment for Outside Online and Outside Magazine to accompany the story: “The River Was Nowhere and Everywhere. Outside Magazine July 2014.
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PRIDE
The cultural relationship between residents of Gujarat, India and the last remaining population of Asiatic Lions in the world is explored in this film. With fewer than 50 lions in the wild at the turn of the 21st century, rural communities worked with the government to create a haven for this top predator and are successfully securing its place in the ecosystem. Directed and produced by Roshan Patel.
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Pride of Namibia
Namibia is home to the greatest wildlife recovery story ever told.
Since its birth just over 2 decades ago, the country of Namibia has shown the world how to ensure Africa’s natural legacy while expanding livelihoods. “Pride of Namibia” tells the story of communities committed to protecting wildlife, of a nation that has enshrined conservation into its constitution, and of the future of responsible travel – tourism that directly benefits the people who give wildlife freedom to roam. Filmmakers are Andy Maser and Jenny Nichols.
www.worldwildlife.org/
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The Nobody’s River
The Nobody’s River team is joining forces with award-winning freelance director and cinematographer Skip Armstrong to capture the story of their expedition along the Amur River. Over 70 days, from Mongolia to Russia, and traveling 5,000 kilometers along a wild, free-flowing river, the team documented the challenges, triumphs, and often hilarious adventures of this incredible journey. Armstrong is now lending his skills to the project to edit the footage into a short film perfectly poised for international adventure and environmental film festivals in 2014.
http://nobodysriver.org/project
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The Story of Place
“What is this place worth in oil? Where do we want to steer our civilization? What do we want left when we’re done? — Craig Childs, The Story of Place
Canyonlands National Park, and the lands that border it are part of a complex tale of political horse-trading, pressures for resource extraction and recreational opportunities. Above all, this land is the true Wild West, a rugged and vastly untouched landscape, a place where we can find our true human spirit.
The Story of Place is a short film that takes us deep into the unprotected territory of the Greater Canyonlands region alongside Craig Childs, Ace Kvale and Jim Enote, who narrate the story of this grand landscape, how it has shaped each and every one of us. This region of southeastern Utah is a veritable well of human spirit, an endless supply of recreation, solitude, wonder and history. This place and its story are irreplaceable. This land is worth protecting.
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Wolf OR- 7, The Journey
In 1973, with only 500 wolves left In the contiguous United States, the grey wolf was added to the endangered species act, setting the species on a slow path of recovery. Now, states are fighting to have that status removed, opening the door for hunters and ranchers to once again decimate the wolf population.
This documentary is about the incredible journey of OR-7, a grey wolf which was collared in Oregon and eventually dispersed from his pack. A journey that tells the story not only of OR-7, but of the wolf as a species in America. It is a journey of survival. A journey of inspiration.
This is a film with two objectives, 1: To document OR7’s incredible journey, and 2: To educate the 80% of the general public which is unaware of the plight of the wolves, by clarifying the myths and misconceptions that surround these magnificent animals.
Why I Want This World to End
Final edit of my short fiction piece based on Prince Ea’s spoken word.
Music- “Why I Want This World to End” by Prince E