Mackinac Island, Michigan, is a tiny island in the center of the Great Lakes. Besides being a world favorite "Horse Drawn" and "Victorian Era" summer destination, the island holds another treasure few have ever seen: its wild, magical and beautiful winters. The 72-minute film Ice Bridge follows islanders' unique and quirky lifestyle throughout an entire year while tracing the formation of the spectacular phenomenon known as the "ice bridge" (a three-mile span of ice that allows islanders to cross to the mainland).
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Silence just might be on the verge of extinction and acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton believes that even the most remote corners of the globe are impacted by noise pollution. In Sanctuaries of Silence, join Hempton on an immersive listening journey into Olympic National Park, one of the quietest places in North America.
In 2017 a rash of sightings of a winged creature spread around Chicago. Now, Small Town Monsters launches their own investigation into the Mothman sightings that spread around Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Is the Mothman real? Seth Breedlove and Heather Moser pull at the threads of one of the most bizarre paranormal mysteries of the last decade. Along the way they interview witnesses, investigators, and even capture footage of a massive, winged being in downtown Chicago. What are people seeing? What does it mean? Is the Mothman simply an unidentified animal or a misidentified bird? Or is it something far more sinister? The truth is here, and the answers may shock you.
INAATE/SE/ re-imagines an ancient Ojibway story, the Seven Fires Prophecy, which both predates and predicts first contact with Europeans. A kaleidoscopic experience blending documentary, narrative, and experimental forms, INAATE/SE/ transcends linear colonized history to explore how the prophecy resonates through the generations in their indigenous community within Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. With acute geographic specificity, and grand historical scope, the film fixes its lens between the sacred and the profane to pry open the construction of contemporary indigenous identity.
The highest mountain range in the world, the Himalayan range is far reaching, spanning thousands of miles, and holds within it an exceptionally diverse ecology. Coniferous and subtropical forests, wetlands, and montane grasslands are as much a part of this world as the inhospitable, frozen mountaintops that tower above. The word Himalaya is Sanskrit for abode of snow, fitting for a stretch of land that houses the world’s largest non polar ice masses. Extensive glacial networks feed Asia's major rivers including the Ganges, Indus, and Brahmaputra. More than a billion people rely on these glacier-fed water sources for drinking water and agriculture. The Himalayas are not only a remarkable expanse of natural beauty. They're also crucial for our survival.
During lockdown, Telmo Esnal recovered a long-forgotten project: 'UR', a tale by Pablo Azkue taking a deep look at the conscience and the sea. 'Urtzen' is a special cinematic essay, a curious collage which, recycling and reusing dialogues, images and music, reflects on existence.
An exploration of the diversity of moths and butterflies from caterpillars to larvae to chrysalis to winged flight. The documentary covers camouflage and other anti-predatory tactics along with uniqueness of different species and amazing feats and colors.
A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.
Smart as a Fox is a 1946 short documentary film supervised by Gordon Hollingshead. In this short film, a fox cub experiences life in the forest. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short, One-Reel.
The Michigan Beer Film explores the artistic and economic explosion of the Michigan craft beer industry in 2013. Shot over the course of 18 months, the film documents several breweries at different stages of the craft brewing journey, from a 1 barrel system to 800 fermenters. From Sawyer to Marquette, Leelanau to Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo to Detroit; craft beer is making an impact. The Michigan craft beer scene embodies an authenticity and determination that not only can Michigan connect with, but America as well.
New Zealand is one of the most remote countries in the world. Owing to the great distance from continents and, as a result of intense volcanic activity, unique flora and fauna as well as extraordinary landscapes have developed in this island country. The settlement of humans over the centuries has naturally also had an influence on the landscape. This film is an invitation to travel across the diverse landscapes of New Zealand.
In the ice-gripped environment of Alaska's Admiralty Island, summer offers the briefest of respites. Year-round residents such as bears and seals turn to the salmon-filled waterways for sustenance. Meanwhile, migrants descend in droves, from humpback whales to over 140 million seabirds--almost half the birds in the Northern Hemisphere.
In southern Germany, winter can still be admired in all its glory every year. With its white coat of snow and icicles and myriads of small crystals that look like geometric works of art. In the valleys and on the slopes the snow is still so thick every year that the alpine huts are snowed in up to the windows. Cows and dairymen are safe in their farms at lower altitudes. But not the wild creatures of the mountains! They need strategies to survive the cold season and to defy snow masses, cold and ice. And some seem to do it so easily that they even raise their young in the middle of winter. But how do animals, plants and fungi cope with the annually recurring ice age, which from our perspective is a time of need? The many adaptations in nature prove that winter is an integral part of the natural cycle of the year and the living environment of species. They are adapted to cold and frost. That is why the animals and plants at the edge of the Alps suffer particularly from climate change!
A series of vignettes captured in Brevard, North Carolina at the end of December.
The life and the career of John Muir come to life through this inspiring and beautiful documentary set against the magnificent landscapes of the American West. The Scottish-born naturalist was one of the first nature preservationists in American history, inspiring others through his writing and his advocacy to keep the wilderness wild. Shot in high definition in the spectacular landscapes that shaped Muir - and were, in turn, shaped by his devotion.
A deceptively simple set-up: the director and his father watch a 1988 football match which the father refereed, their commentary accompanying the original television images in real time. A Bucharest derby between the country’s leading teams, Dinamo and Steaua, taking place in heavy snow, one year before the revolution that toppled Ceaușescu.