Documentary Educational Resources - Subject / Environmental Studies / Pollution / All Films

The Disappearing of Tuvalu

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:05:00 GMT

The Disappearing of Tuvalu
Buy Now: $320.00

A detailed overview of contemporary life in the tiny South Pacific country of Tuvalu, this film documents the earth's first sovereign nation faced with total destruction due to the effects of global warming.

With a population of about 11,000 living on a total landmass of only 20 square miles – less than Manhattan – spread over nine low-lying atolls 600 miles to the north of Fiji, Tuvalu has been inhabited for over four millenia. The warm-spirited and highly community-oriented people of this ex-British colony struggle to survive economically while confronting the likelihood of having to evacuate their homeland en masse within the next 50 years.

As the industrial world just begins to address the threat and causes of global warming, rising seas and increasingly violent changes in climate have already left their marks on this poor island nation. The government of Tuvalu and other concerned organizations are directing their pleas for solutions to the wealthy countries whose high pollution emissions could be the central human contribution to this phenomenon.

Observation, narration, and interviews with Tuvalu citizens from various walks of life flesh out a full portrait of a unique community confronting a dubious future on the front lines of a global environmental assault.

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Families and Flowers

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:52:00 GMT

Families and Flowers
Buy Now: $295.00

The flower-growing industry in northern San Diego County is in many ways a microcosm of our rapidly changing society. Encinitas, California – the once self-proclaimed "flower capital of the world" – is facing daunting challenges. Economic growth and increased population are putting more demands on land, water and energy resources. New subdivisions continue to replace former growing-fields and greenhouses. Environmental concerns and regulations are seen by some as a threat to profitability. International competition is fierce. And capital costs and public concern may limit the potential of a biotech revolution in the flower fields. Despite the challenges facing agriculture in an exploding suburban economy, third-generation, family-owned businesses continue to thrive in San Diego County, models of adaptability and perseverance.

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Hudson Shad

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:27:00 GMT

Hudson Shad
Buy Now: $295.00

Folk music legend and environmental activist Pete Seeger, in despair over the pollution of his beloved Hudson River, launched a project to clean it up in the sixties. In Hudson Shad, Seeger and others in the "River Keepers," make a statement about our responsibility for keeping the waters of the river clean enough for the shad to thrive.

Co-director James Brown, who grew up near the banks of the river, felt a responsibility for sharing through this film a general concern for the relationship between contamination of the river and the survival of its natural inhabitants. Showing the film to people concerned with the Hudson River helped them garner colleagues and supporters towards the cause. Seeger has continued the work, with the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.

Hudson Shad has been restored with a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Also included on the DVD: Planning for Floods (color, 29 min, 1974)

A documentary commissioned for distribution and use by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), an organization founded by Dennis Puleston and others, to raise awareness around conservation issues and promote public environmental responsibility. Though focused on the immediate community of the Mississippi River, the film's message applies well beyond that region, also anticipating by more than 30 years present-day concerns about global warming. Significantly, it suggests positive action rather than just "ain't it awful."Today this film is applicable to our environmental concerns especially if it is used to promote public action, legislation and education. Planning for Floods is used courtesy of EDF.

This DVD is part of the George C. Stoney Collection

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A Media Archaeology of Boston

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:49:00 GMT

A Media Archaeology of Boston
Buy Now: $320.00

Using the Boston region as a laboratory for exploring different modes of urban representation across both history and media, A Media Archaeology of Boston exhibits a carefully-selected excavation of the city's spaces through a montage of short films, photographs, postcards, and soundscapes of the larger metropolitan area. Far from a comprehensive survey, A Media Archaeology of Boston aims to provoke new experiences of the city and, simultaneously, to challenge everyday perceptions of it.

Unlike Los Angeles or New York, whose image has been meticulously produced and systematically canonized through mass and independent media, Boston is a place where media practice has taken place on the margins of central venues of production and distribution. From industrial films by the Ford Motor Company to discharged advertising reels of local businesses to state-sponsored documentaries by experimental filmmakers investigating the harbor's environmental health, Media Archaeology of Boston provides insight into a city that expands beyond its celebrated historical landscape to encompass a multiplicity of perspectives toward diverse parts of the metropolitan area.

Integrating content, form, time, place, and medium in our curatorial process, we aim to construct a more complex, subjective matrix of multiple perspectives on Boston, without any claims of objectivity or comprehensiveness. The DVD opens up this collection of documentations to the audience and invites participation in the construction of new stories, of new narratives. A Media Archaeology of Boston, above all, remains an open and incomplete collection that presents a map of possibilities.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Carpenter Center for Visual Arts, Harvard University, 2009

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Marion Stoddart: The Work of 1000

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:49:00 GMT

Marion Stoddart: The Work of 1000
Buy Now: $295.00

In the 1960s, the Nashua River in New Hampshire and central Massachusetts was one of the 10 most polluted in the country, clogged with multicolored, toxic sludge from nearby paper mills.

Around that time, housewife Marion Stoddart moved to the area with her family, so close to the river they could smell its noxious fumes. At a low point in her life, she decided to fight her own emptiness by taking on the biggest challenge she could find - cleaning up the Nashua.

Her dramatic success in mobilizing the community showed people that change was possible, even though they'd lost hope. Marion's efforts helped get the Massachusetts Clean Rivers Act passed so that companies weren't allowed to pollute rivers like the Nashua anymore. In the process, she won a United Nations award, was profiled in National Geographic, and had a widely-read children's book written about her. Her secret? An ordinary person can do extraordinary things when they refuse to give up.

Thanks to Marion, children in the Nashua River Watershed and around the world have come to understand that one person can make a difference, even when the odds seem impossible.

“Individuals like Marion Stoddart--who are able, against great odds, to effect significant environmental change within their lifetimes--are one of our best teaching tools and opportunities to inspire.”
— Professor Ninian Stein, San Jose State University

“A grassroots crusader for the Nashua River, Marion Stoddart serves alongside Rachel Carson as a powerful example of an individual's capacity to muster vast environmental change even in the face of industrial and political inertia. Edwards' film captures Stoddart's determination and single-mindedness with nuance and perspective, offering not only the story of her victories, but the personal and family risks she took to achieve them.”
— Caitlin Boyle, Founder, Film Sprout

“Work of 1000 is more than just a documentary detailing the success of environmental activism in changing things for the greater good; It is the story behind the success - that a person, a housewife in the 1960s - can do the work of a thousand and make a difference in the world. It's a powerful message; one we can all learn from.”
— Daniel Edmonds, Vox Magazine

“Having the screening of Work of 1,000 followed by an interview with Marion Stoddart was a compelling lifetime experience. When you learn what one 'ordinary' person can and did do, you are moved and inspired. ”
— Owen Smith Shuman, Director, Groton Public Library

"Americans feeling distraught as they watch thousands of gallons of oil pour into the Gulf of Mexico every day might take heart from this story about Massachusetts environmental visionary, Marion Stoddart.”
— John Dyer, Boston Globe

“Marion's story and the results of her work give me hope for the future.”
— Patricia B. Campbell, Ph.D. Researcher in Science and Math Education Equity

“This film provides unique learning opportunities and will enhance interest in the environmental science and engineering fields and leadership development for all.”
— Larisa Schelkin, Executive Director of the DOME Foundation

"Thanks to Susan Edwards' new documentary Marion Stoddart: The Work of 1000, we get to meet one of America's most dedicated environmentalists.”
— Pamela Burke, The Woman's Eye

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Best Short Documentary, Silent River Film Festival, USA, 2012

Best Documentary Short, Rivers' Edge Festival, Paducah, KY, 2011

AT&T Award for Environmental Stewardship and Conservation, Arpa International Film Festival, 2011

Projecting Change Award, Project Change Film Festival, Vancouver Canada, 2011

Speak Out Award, 44th Annual Humbolt Film Festival, Arcata, CA, 2011

Best Short Documentary, Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival, New Zealand, 2010

Best "Call To Action", Green Screen Environmental Film Festival, Venice, CA 2010

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Owners of the Water ("ö Tede'wa")

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:51:00 GMT

Owners of the Water ("ö Tede'wa")
Buy Now: $295.00

A unique collaboration between two indigenous filmmakers and an anthropologist, Owners of the Water is a compelling documentary with groundbreaking ethnographic imagery. A central Brazilian Xavante, a Wayuu from Venezuela, and a US anthropologist explore an indigenous campaign to protect a river from devastating effects of uncontrolled Amazonian soy cultivation. Xavante and Wayuu are nationally and internationally prominent political actors and both face challenges over water.

Owners highlights a civic protest showing strategic use of culture to bring attention to deforestation and excessive use of agritoxins in unregulated soy cultivation. The film features a diversity of Xavante opinions and evidence that non-indigenous members of the local population both support and oppose indigenous demands. The film showcases indigenous efforts to build networks among different native peoples and across nations.

The film results from long collaboration between anthropologist Laura Graham and Xavante and more recent collaboration with Wayuu. The Association Xavante Warã, a Xavante organization that promotes indigenous knowledge and ways of living in the central Brazilian cerrado (a spiritually and materially integrated space that Xavante know as 'ro) and conservation of this unique environment, invited Graham to tell the story of its campaign to save the Rio das Mortes. David Hernández Palmar, a Wayuu (Iipuana clan) from Venezuela, accompanied Graham to meet the Xavante and learn about their struggles over water. After the trip the Xavante and Wayuu filmmakers and the anthropologist made this film based on the ethnographic footage of their intercultural encounters.

“…the scope of Owners of the Water goes well beyond the somewhat narrow focus of past documentaries, exposing the viewer to a diversity of facts, images and viewpoints. Owners of the Water deserves credit for tracing cutting edge indigenous issues in the Amazon.”
— Jonathan C. Bergman, Indigenous Peoples Issues and Resources

“Owners of the Water will be of interest to professors teaching courses on the indigenous peoples of Latin America as well as on the anthropology of protest movements, applied anthropology, and ecological anthropology. Visual anthropologists will find that it is a useful model for incorporating the voices and the aesthetics of the people with whom we work, both in front of and behind the camera… This film could serve as an inspiration to indigenous communities across Brazil and the wider world to use digital technologies in the struggle to maintain the ecosystems on which they depend.” —
Brian Brazeal, American Anthropologist, Vol. 114, No. 1

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

International Meeting of the Latin American Sociology Association, Brazil 2011

Honorable Mention Award for Advocacy, Montana CINE International Film Festival, 2011

Göttingen International Ethnographic Film Festival, Germany, 2010

Bioneers Moving Image Festival, New Mexico, 2010

American Anthropological Association/Society for Visual Anthropology Conference, New Orleans, LA, 2010

International Unseen Film "Filme Sozialak"" Festival, Bilbao, Spain, 2010

"Visual Representation of Crisis through Ethnographic Film," EASA Biennial Conference, Ireland, 2010

Contro-Sguardi: International Anthropological Film Festival, Perugia, Italy, 2010

Honorable Mention - Best Environmental Documentary, XXVII Festival de Cine de Bogotá, Colombia, 2010

Disclaimer on Naming:
Please be aware that this documentary may include outdated or potentially offensive language. Such terms are not endorsed by DER but are presented in their original context to promote awareness, education, and discussion. Learn more about DER’s efforts to use reparative language and honor the preferred names of Indigenous communities by clicking here.

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Power to the Pedals

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:58:00 GMT

Power to the Pedals
Buy Now: $295.00

This documentary portrays the transformative vision and extraordinary efforts of Wenzday Jane, a young woman whose mechanical skills and innovative actions are reshaping her community. Wenzday Jane goes to the heart of the sustainability issue by offering practical economic solutions, and suggests that things don't have to be the way they are.

As a young child growing up in public housing, Wenzday's bicycle meant personal responsibility and self-direction. She watched her family struggle with dependence, disempowerment, and inertia. Determined to pull herself out from those inherited conditions, she gradually built up her skill set. Learning construction techniques and welding, she realized that she literally had the power to reshape her world. Now, with a passion for mechanics and organization, she is creating the means and cultural conditions to replace trucks with human-powered, souped-up bicycles for many local deliveries.

Shot in an intimate, lyrical style, the film follows Wenzday as she builds an organization of riders and cargo bicycles that work in agriculture and food delivery, composting, recycling and waste-hauling — and community building. We follow a rider making the rounds of municipal recycling bins, emptying bottles and cans into the bike's cavernous tank. Weaving his 300-pound load through traffic, he heads for the city's waste sorting facility where he dumps into a mountain of trash "just like any other gigantic truck." Wenzday reflects on winning a substantial contract for municipal recycling pickup. "I've always been interested in challenges — in problem-solving. There's an opportunity to learn something new by solving a problem."

Power-lifting a huge axle onto a stand, Wenzday disassembles a complex wheel assembly. "There's no alternative: you can't just take these to the nearest garage, like a car, to get them repaired." Her hands are covered with grease as she removes a planetary gear. "Bikes represent self-reliance and autonomy," she says. "Working on bikes gives me a platform for really thinking about how things work." By building a fleet of cargo bikes and creating a business around them, Wenzday is lowering the carbon footprint of our transportation system, one bike at a time.

“...an emotionally charged and inspiring film. Wenzday's story is extraordinary and highly motivating.” — Marion Stoddart, of Work of 1000

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Best Film, Boston Bike Film Festival, 2014

New Urbanism Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2014

Capital Environmental Film Festival, Washington DC, 2014

Arlington International Film Festival, Massachusetts, 2014

6th Annual Environmental Youth Forum, 2014

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The Rising Wave

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 08:59:00 GMT

The Rising Wave
Buy Now: $320.00

In India, water has a deeply spiritual and functional significance. The Rising Wave explores both these aspects; worshipped as a sacred common while also being essential for generating livelihood.

The film eloquently presents a culture built on water being shared, used and managed in ways unchanged for centuries. Richly filmed in three different states of India, The Rising Wave uncovers groups that have been dependant on their local natural water resource for generations as they fish and farm for livelihood.

In the rapidly transforming economy of India, corporations now lay claim to control and determine access to this natural resource. A contrasting picture emerges; a rift between the two divergent views of water: water as a billion dollar industry against water as a sacred natural gift for all humankind. This spells conflict for the future.

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Sharing Paradise

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 07:46:00 GMT

Sharing Paradise
Buy Now: $320.00

Above the water, the Indonesian island of Balobaloang looks like an ideal tropical paradise, with blue skies, coconut trees, and crystal water. Under the water, however, "fish bombing" with dynamite and cyanide is destroying the coral reef, threatening the marine habitat and the livelihoods of the island's inhabitants.

Traditionally, people who live in small islands in Indonesia have fished using sustainable fishing methods, and conserving and sharing resources. However, a high overseas demand for fish has created a new kind of economy, in which cargo ship owners export fish at the expense of island residents. Corruption and illegal fishing practices have made it impossible for traditional fishermen to receive a fair share of their paradise.

Collaborating with Balobaloang fishermen, the filmmakers confront illegal fishermen, government officials and police officers to investigate the dangerous new methods that threaten Balobaloang's sustainable way of life. Tackling the social, economic and environmental effects of illegal fishing, Sharing Paradise looks for solutions to the fishing problem and a more equitable, sustainable future for Balobaloang.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, 2009

Athens Film & Video Festival, Ohio, 2009

AAA/Society for Visual Anthropology Film, Video & Multimedia Festival, 2009

Voices From the Waters Film Festival, Bangalore, India, 2009

Voices From the Waters Film Festival, Vancouver, Canada, 2009

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Voices of Orchid Island

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 13:38:00 GMT

Voices of Orchid Island
Buy Now: $320.00

Voices of Orchid Island focuses on the Yami on Orchid Island, a small island located 45 miles off the southeast coast of Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean. The film explores the complex and often troubled relationship the Yami community has with the outside world by looking in detail at three different cases of "invasion" it has experienced.

The film opens by directly addressing the suspicions the Yami have of outsiders. The visit of a Taiwanese tour group to the island is fraught with cultural miscues, sometimes humorous in their absurdity, but there are also sobering hints of exploitation. By the end of this scene, it is easy to understand why the Yami have forbidden tourists to photograph them. The second aspect the film deals with is the island's medical care. The film follows the one western-trained doctor on his rounds as he tries to introduce a basic level of modern medicine while confronting a firmly entrenched set of local beliefs and traditions.

Finally, the film documents the local anti-nuclear movement, the target of which is the nuclear waste dump the ROC government has built on the island. We hear representatives of the national government defend the site's safety while local people express their fears and concerns at having the site so nearby. Woven throughout the film are views of Orchid Island's rugged, gorgeous scenery and its vibrant festivals.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS
Best Documentary Film, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, 1993
Silver Plaque Award, Chicago International Film Festival, 1994
Bilan du Film Ethnographique, Paris, 1994
Gottingen International Ethnographic Film Festival, Germany, 1994

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