
In Africa there is a fable that explains the creation of the tides. When a hyaena challenged a mudskipper to a drinking contest to decide who should own the shore, the god Mungu tilted the earth so the sea flowed inland, and neither could win.

In Africa there is a fable that explains the creation of the tides. When a hyaena challenged a mudskipper to a drinking contest to decide who should own the shore, the god Mungu tilted the earth so the sea flowed inland, and neither could win.
1998-09-30
0
This astounding documentary delves into the mysteries of the Tunguska event – one of the largest cosmic disasters in the history of civilisation. At 7.15 am, on 30th June 1908, a giant fireball, as bright the sun, exploded in the sky over Tunguska in central Siberia. Its force was equivalent to twenty million tonnes of TNT, and a thousand times greater than that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. An estimated sixty million trees were felled over an area of over two thousand square kilometres - an area over half the size of Rhode Island. If the explosion had occurred over London or Paris, hundreds of thousands of people would have been killed.
6.5A view from a helicopter of the ten Canadian provinces in 1966. The result is a big, beautiful and engrossing bird's-eye portrait of the country. Nothing here is quite the same as seen before, even Niagara Falls. Canadians will be thrilled by this panoramic view of familiar territory. Made for international distribution for the Canadian centennial.
5.8Say Goodbye is a 1971 American documentary film about the relationship between humans and nature, directed by David H. Vowell. The film depicts the plight of various animal species at the hands of man and his influence. Some segments include the clubbing of seals on the Pribilof Islands, the effect of DDT on brown pelican populations in Texas, and the plight of severely endangered animals. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
0.0Pure sound unaltered by human hands is becoming increasingly difficult to find. Gordon Hempton is an Emmy Award-winning sound recordist who has spent the last 30 years trying to find and record the vanishing sounds of nature in an attempt to capture a disappearing sensory experience. Filmmaker Nick Sherman observes Hempton in the wilderness for 30 days and uncovers an obsessive artist on a quest for perfection in this obscure medium. Hempton’s natural ability to locate and articulate himself through sound has a contagious energy and gives his work a transportive quality. Soundtracker is a fascinating meditation on the world’s changing landscape and the things we may be leaving behind in the service of progress.
7.8Notorious killer whale Tilikum is responsible for the deaths of three individuals, including a top killer whale trainer. Blackfish shows the sometimes devastating consequences of keeping such intelligent and sentient creatures in captivity.
In “Paddle to Seattle” two friends build their own kayaks and paddle alone for 97 days in the wilderness. They travel an epic adventure that takes them over 1,300 miles from Alaska to Seattle and survive still able to talk about most of their experiences.
4.0In an increasingly urban nation, Canada’s national parks are a treasured escape into extraordinary beauty and rugged wilderness. If the Group of Seven were an introduction to the landscape’s majesty, National Parks Project is the next logical chapter. Fifty-two contemporary artists from across the country, whose talents are as diverse as the parks they set out to explore, used their surroundings as a source of inspiration to blend musical and cinematic skills into collaboratively crafted vignettes. Epic in its ambition to celebrate these locales during Parks Canada’s centennial year, this omnibus film resonates with the knowledge that our unprotected land is more vulnerable than ever. Including films by Zacharius Kunuk, Peter Lynch, Sturla Gunnarsson and John Walker, and music by Sarah Harmer, Sam Roberts, Cadence Weapon and The Besnard Lakes, among many others, National Parks Project is a one-of-a-kind documentary experience.
0.0A highlight of Baltic culture, the festival dedicated to Latvian song and dance celebrates its 150th anniversary in Riga.
8.0Patagonia. A country full of endless expanse of untouched nature. A unique wildlife awaits us here at the end of the world, where only a select few get there. Based on original quotations from his travelogue, the film follows the historic route of one of the most important nature observers and evolutionary scientists of history - Charles Darwin. The courses alternate shots from fascinating animal with breathtaking scenery. Follow us on this adventure and experience firsthand the beauty and fascination of the most unique landscapes on earth - in 3D.
7.1A feature-length documentary showing the changing world of nature, the sky, the sea, the sun, planets, insects and volcanic action. A story of nature's strange and intricate designs for survival and her many methods of perpetuating life.
0.0Standing near the reptile section in a zoo we can learn a lot about the animals on both sides of the separating glass.
5.0The courtship rituals of animals and plants are compared to those of contemporary society, with educational and frequently humorous results.
5.6“A silent perusal of the Grand Canyon, morning to night, from a single, fixed camera position, by means of constant dissolves spaced a few seconds apart. Man — entirely absent — is no longer the center of the universe; the canyon exists outside of him. Despite the invisible photographer and his technologically-caused dissolves, this is a creditable approximation of the true foreign-ness of nature.” — Amos Vogel, Film as a Subversive Art (1974)
2.0A Polar Bear tries to teach her two cubs about life in the Arctic and the new challenges they face due to the interference of man. The Great Polar Adventure takes audiences inside the secret life of polar bears and imagines life from their perspective. Ikuk, a new polar bear mother, faces tremendous challenges as she raises cubs for the first time. With the rise of global warming, she must lead her family into dangerous "two-leg" territory to scavenge for food.
5.0A film on the world's most bizarre charity: based on the idea that sex can change the world, the NGO raises money for their environmental cause by selling home-made erotic films on the internet.
8.0Stunning macro 3D filmmaking takes viewers on an unforgettable journey from lake bottom battles for territory to lovelorn toads searching for a mate to lizards prowling the forest for a meal. We humans are but lumbering, clumsy giants striding through these miniature ecosystems that thrive without us... even in spite of us.
6.2It takes two or three generations for the monarch butterfly to reach the Canadian breeding grounds, but it is one "supergeneration" that makes the 2,000 mile return trip back south into central Mexico. The documentary film covers Dr Fred Urquhart's interest in monarch butterflies, with perspectives of Urquhart as a child wondering where the butterflies went, his years of research and study into their life and migration, to his time decades-later as a senior scientist looking back at his investigations and discoveries about the insect's life pattern.