Pursuing the Monarchs

Where the Butterflies Go(en)

In a pathetic attempt to host his own children’s nature show, a failing filmmaker travels 3,000 miles asking North Americans how to save the endangered monarch butterfly, and ourselves, from extinction.

Run to Be Visible(en)

Lydia Jennings is a member of the Huichol (Wixaritari) and Pascua Yaqui (Yoeme) Nations and holds a doctorate in soil microbiology. Her work is dedicated to environmental science and the essential role of Indigenous communities in these spaces. Her hope is to create more inclusive academic and environmental landscapes. In place of her graduation, which was canceled as a result of the pandemic, Lydia instead celebrated by running 50 miles in honor of the Indigenous scientists and knowledge keepers who came before her. It’s a run to honor the past and present while looking towards the future.

Lonely Oaks(de)

Fall 2018: The Hambach Forest becomes a chaotic scene of the climate conflict. In the midst of this chaos, film student Steffen Meyn has a fatal accident. Based on footage he collected over two years, we follow Steffen’s path up the trees and into an activism full of contradictions.

Like a Butterfly(pt)

Maria José's life story reveals not only the harsh reality she and her family faced, but also a portrait of the real Brazil. Like a butterfly that is born crawling, she finds her beauty where it is not convenient to be found and sets her flight free to the sky.

Wrenched(en)

Activist/author Edward Abbey's legacy lives on in his best-selling books and now in director ML Lincoln's lively documentary. Lincoln pays tribute to Abbey and the environmental movement he inspired, reenacting his "monkeywrenching," and interviewing notable eco-warriors and present-day activists.

Go Further(en)

"Go Further" explores the idea that the single individual is the key to large-scale transformational change. The film follows actor Woody Harrelson as he takes a small group of friends on a bio-fueled bus-ride down the Pacific Coast Highway. Their goal? To show the people they encounter that there are viable alternatives.

Beijo de Borboleta(pt)

Metamorphosis: The Design and Beauty of Butterflies(en)

Throughout history, butterflies have fascinated artists and philosophers, scientists and schoolchildren with their profound mystery and beauty. In Metamorphosis you will explore their remarkable world as few ever have before. Spectacular photography, computer animation and magnetic resonance imaging open once hidden doors to every stage of a butterfly's life-cycle. From an egg the size of a pinhead to a magnificent flying insect. It is a transformation so incredible biologists have called it "butterfly magic." How did these extraordinary creatures come into being? Are they the products of a blind, undirected process? Or were they designed by an intelligent cause? Filmed in North, Central, and South America, Metamorphosis is an unforgettable documentary filled with the joys of discovery and wonder.

Eating Animals(en)

An examination of our dietary choices and the food we put in our bodies.

Sovereign Soil(en)

Built on a layer of frozen earth, Dawson City, Yukon, Canada has subarctic winters where temperatures routinely drop below −40°C. Meet the four season food producers who engage in small-scale agriculture, and those who support their back-to-the-land movement. These resilient unassuming farmers have carved out small patches of fertile soil, in an otherwise unforgiving expanse of isolated wilderness, to make a living and a life.

No Ordinary Protest(en)

Ted Hughes's 1993 novel The Iron Woman is the springboard for this multi-media project by Mikhail Karikis. The video section of the installation features seven-year-olds from Mayflower Primary School in East London discussing the novel's environmental themes.

Aspen, 1970(en)

A compilation of conferences/debates between renowned designers, environmental activists, and students on the concept of design. Held in Aspen, Colorado, USA.

From Inside of Here(en)

From Inside of Here is a feature-length non-fiction film based in research in the Mexican Wolf Recovery Area in western New Mexico. The audience is invited to understand the filmmaker as a subject co-produced by their location, as well as consider the ways the land is co-produced by those on it. The place itself is a character in the film, as are the filmmaker's methods. The film is composed of multiple media: 16mm film, HD video, infrared stills, inter-titles, and sound recordings. The result is a feminist ethnographic landscape film that communicates both the majesty of 1800s landscape photography and the violence of a settler colonial gaze that is its context.

Nya vädrets offer(en)

"Melting Lives - Victims of the New Weather" is a six-part documentary series in which the viewers meet people in the Arctic region who live close to and depend on nature for survival, and who struggle to maintain their way of life. Their tales are being heard and testimonies about how life is changing as the world gets ever warmer. The host, Samuel Idivuoma, is from northern Sweden. He visits Inuits on Greenland and in Alaska, aboriginal people in Canada and Nenets from the Siberian tundra in Russia

HAZE: It's Complicated(en)

This documentary presents the scientific facts behind the issue of peat haze as well as points of view and opinions from local and regional stakeholders. The burning of the peat forests throughout tropical Southeast Asia creates pollution, and this posed significant challenges to human health and the economies of the region during the second decade of the 21st century. The problem of peat haze pollution has been somewhat mitigated in recent years but in spite of this positive progress a few of the critical issues are yet to be solved. A complete solution to this complex issue will not be a simple one.

Petrol Dollars for a Different Engine(en)

Documentary about a woman who wants to reinvest her Shell stock for a better future.

The Weather Diaries(en)

The flying foxes that soar across Sydney each evening face many challenges: impacted by heatwaves, evicted from urban parklands, struggling to survive an ongoing loss of habitat. Bat carers save a handful here and there, and ecologists document their struggles, as threats escalate. Filmed over six years, The Weather Diaries reaches its climax in 2020, as temperatures soar, bushfires rage, and flying fox pups die in record numbers. Drayton ruminates on our failure to value these essential pollinators and the forests they sustain, and reflects on the implications for her daughter Imogen, a girl long inspired by Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke, who’s emerging from the classical confines of the Conservatorium High School to embark on a career as an electronic pop artist.

Troubled Waters: A Turtle's Tale(en)

Exploring the impact of human behavior on our environment from the perspective of one of South Florida's most beloved and fragile underwater creatures: the sea turtle. A critical look at the effects of global warming, water pollution, and our "throw-away" plastic lifestyle on this keystone species...and inevitably ourselves.

Waking the Green Tiger(en)

Seen through the eyes of activist, farmers and journalists, Waking the Green Tiger follows an extraordinary campaign to stop a huge dam project on the Upper Yangtze river in southwestern China. Featuring astonishing archival footage never seen outside China, and interviews with a government insider and witnesses, the documentary also tell the history of Chairman Mao's campaigns to conquer nature in the name of progress. An environmental movement takes root when a new environmental law is passed, and for the first time in China's history, ordinary citizens have the democratic right to speak out and take part in government decisions. Activist test this new freedom and save a river. The movement they trigger has the potential to transform China.

The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies(en)

Orange-and-black wings fill the sky as NOVA charts one of nature's most remarkable phenomena: the epic migration of monarch butterflies across North America. To capture a butterfly's point of view, NOVA’s filmmakers used a helicopter, ultralight, and hot-air balloon for aerial views along the transcontinental route. This wondrous annual migration, which scientists are just beginning to fathom, is an endangered phenomenon that could dwindle to insignificance if the giant firs that the butterflies cling to during the winter disappear.