2020 FESTIVAL FILM SELECTIONS & AWARDS
Best Feature Film Award
CUENTOS DEL RIO (RIVER TALES)
Nicaraguan actor, teacher, and anthropologist Yemn creates a theatrical play with children who live in the village of El Castillo on the San Juan River, the ancient mystical waterway under threat of development. The film follows the teacher and his students’ remarkable journey to create art that reflects on their history, their indigenous identity, and their country's future. Director: Julie Schroell, 1 hr, 20 mins. Country of origin/production: Luxembourg / Nicaragua
Presented in partnership with Oregon Humanities
EcoHero Awards
Yemn Jordan Taisigüe López - for his work as a youth educator, arts and cultural activist - featured in the film CUENTOS DEL RIO
The Gorongosa National Park staff - for their work combining wildlife conservation with community advocacy - featured in the film OUR GORONGOSA
Best Short Film Award
THE RISING
Climate change is quickly altering the shape of the Northwest —its ecosystems, its coastlines, and the ways of life of the humans who live on it. This is perhaps felt most acutely by the Quinault Indian Nation on the Pacific Coast, where declining salmon stocks, sea level rise, and increased tsunami risk are forcing them to confront the reality of relocating two of their villages from the place they’ve inhabited since time immemorial. As the Quinault spread their message of climate resiliency, they also continue to paddle the canoes of their ancestors into the sea that both sustains and threatens them. Director: Sarah Hoffman, 25 mins, Country of origin/production: US
Best Conservation Film, Branded Content Award
FEATHERS IN FLIGHT: THE BIRD GENOSCAPE PROJECT
The Bird Genoscape Project gathers data on birds’ genomes from individual feathers, allowing the researchers to connect breeding and wintering populations of the same species and provide critical information to conservationists and managers. Just as importantly, the project brings together researchers from all over the Americas in an effort to protect the birds that tie the Western Hemisphere together. Directors: Neil Losin, Nathan Dappen. 15 mins. Country of origin/production: US/Costa Rica
Sponsored by Crag Law Center
Best Student Film Award
FIGHTING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: THE HEALTH CRISIS AT THE US-MEXICO BORDER
The San Ysidro border community is threatened by air pollution stemming from traffic at the US-Mexico border port of entry, following a major federal expansion of border operations. Director: Ilan Jinich. 3 mins., Country of origin/production: US/Mexico.
Visionary Filmmaker Award
GIANNI BERENGO GARDIN’S TALE OF TWO CITIES
How can we preserve the endangered city of Venice? Gianni Berengo Gardin, Italy’s most famous living photographer, embraced this challenge with his powerful photographs and controversial exhibition that triggered debate, protests, and an international outcry. The film examines the photographer’s commitment to Venice and the profound impact of globalization on the city, including giant cruise ships traveling through the heart of historic Venice and unsustainable tourism. Tensions explode in the ensuing climactic events as the audience is forced to confront Venice’s uncertain future. Director: Donna Serbe-Davis. 1 hr 7 mins. Country of origin/production: US/Italy.
Sponsored by Crag Law Center
Presented in partnership with Blue Sky, Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts
EVER SLOW GREEN - Re-afforestation in Auroville, South India
50 years ago, a unique afforestation project took root on an eroded desert plateau in Tamil Nadu, South India, when people from diverse countries came together to establish the international experimental township of Auroville. Today, the lush Auroville forest is an outstanding example of eco-restoration that recreates and preserves a type of tropical forest that is on the verge of extinction. The film tells the story of Auroville’s 50-years-young forest through some of the diverse characters who have dedicated their lives to bringing it to fruition. Director: Christoph Pohl. 56 mins. Country of origin/production: India
GIDIKU VAPATHU
Gidiku Vapathu is an ethnographic research documentary about the Indigenous Kattunayakan (Nayaka) people of India. In Kattunyakan language, ‘Gidiku Vapathu’ means “going to the forest.” A term commonly used by the community members to invite their friends and family as they start their daily walk into the forest. Set in Kattunayaka settlements in and around the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in rural Kerala, the documentary is an attempt to understand how these traditional societies perceive and interact with forest and non-human beings. Directors: Helina Jolly, Priya Thuvassery, 26 mins, Country of origin/production: Canada/India
GROWING SOLUTIONS: SOIL, WATER, FARMERS, SEEDS, ROOTS
GROWING SOLUTIONS explores how regenerative agriculture offers real-life solutions to challenges plaguing farmers, including water scarcity, soil degradation, and the ravages of climate change. Regenerative agricultural models rebuild degraded natural resources by mimicking Nature's eminently resilient prairie ecosystems. Includes appearances by GROWING A REVOLUTION authors David Montgomery and Ann Bickle.
Director: Leo Horrigan. 42 mins. Country of origin/production: US
BUZZ KILL There are over 4,000 species of native bees in North America, many of which are in decline due to factors such as urbanization and habitat destruction. Their plight is overshadowed by the invasive but agriculturally significant honeybee. “Save the Bee” campaigns have grown in popularity, but they focus on domesticated honeybees, while the native bees, so critical to our ecosystems are lacking conservation attention.
Director: Brooke McDonough. 15 mins. Country of origin/production: US
SOCKEYE SALMON. RED FISH
In Kamchatka (Russia), fish is the basis of all commerce, a once-seeming inexhaustible source of income. These sorts of places attract people and fuel their greed. The great risk is that in their pursuit of profit everything will be irrevocably lost: fish and hundreds of other animals, in addition to the utopian corners of our planet that they live in. This film is an intimate view of the Kamchatkan Wildlife Sanctuary and the people there working to preserve one of the world’s greatest fisheries and most majestic places on earth. Directors: Dmitriy Shpilenok , Vladislav Grishin. 51 mins. Country of origin/production: Russian Federation
PROTECTING NATURE FOR GOOD How a massive, big-picture approach to conserve Brazil's Amazon helped define a new way to save nature. Directors: Neil Losin, Nathan Dappen, Jill Schwartz. 6 mins. Country of origin/production: US/Brazil
ECOSHORTS SHOWCASE - Short films about essential interconnections between humans and nature
DIVE TIERRA BOMBA DIVE
Nineteen year-old Yassandra Barrios emerges as a leader on her Colombian island to save the reef that’s vital to the island's survival. Directors: Joya Berrow, Lucy Jane. 10 mins. Country of origin/production: UK/Colombia
VENTURE OUT
A story of overcoming odds, the power of resilience, and the ever-lasting effects of community building through the Venture Out Project, a nonprofit organization that brings LGBTQ folks together for outdoor wilderness trips. Directors: Palmer Morse, Jamie DiNicola, Matt Mikkelsen. 15 mins. Country of origin/production: US
PACHA KUTI: THE GOLDEN PATH
When Arnold Silva returns to his native community in the Peruvian Amazon after living in the urban world, he remembers the stories told to him by his grandfather and the great importance of maintaining balance with the jungle.
Director: Reed Rickert. 6 mins. County of origin/prodution: US/Peru.
PLANTS, POLLINATORS AND PRAYERS
Inspired by the decline of monarch butterflies in the Midwestern prairie, a gardener, educator, and pastor transform a rural church’s backyard into a sanctuary for pollinators, an educational garden for the community, and a sacred space for spiritual contemplation. Director: Randy Caspersen. 40 mins. Country of origin/production; US
Sponsored by Crag Law Center
OUR GORONGOSA
Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique has become one of Africa’s most celebrated wildlife restoration stories. After a decade of renewed protection, Gorongosa’s large mammal population has increased tenfold to over 100,000 animals. But the park must also find a way to co-exist with the 200,000 people living in surrounding communities. Dominique Gonçalves, a young African elephant ecologist, shares the inspiring story of how Gorongosa is becoming a new model for wildlife conservation and community development. Director: James Byrne. 60 mins. Country of origin/production: US/Mozambique
screening with
STOLEN APES – BUANOI
The only gorilla in Thailand has spent the last 30 years in a concrete cage on the 7th floor of a high-rise zoo. Sinjira Apaitan is looking to change that.
Director: Colin Sytsma. 11 mins. Country of origin/production: US/Thailand
CHEHALIS: A WATERSHED MOMENT
The future of Washington state's most diverse river, the Chehalis River, hangs by a thread. Faced with worsening floods and a prized salmon population on the brink of extinction, a changing climate can no longer be ignored. This wild salmon stronghold faces rising water temperatures and a decade-long legacy of habitat degradation as the region pursues possible solutions through infrastructure and restorative design. Directors: Shane Anderson, Jesse Andrew Clark. 1 hr. Country of origin/production: US
GORILLA GIRL
A documentary chronicling the life of animal relations specialist, Ann Southcombe, as she gives us an intimate glimpse into the intricate minds of non-human earthlings, gained from her life’s work as a wildlife rehabilitator, advocate, educator, and author. Directors: Antonio Melendez, Rob Grobman. 46 mins. Country of origin / production: US
screening with
THE RESCUE CENTER
Cikananga Wildlife Center in Indonesia operates on the front lines of the wildlife crisis, rescuing animals from an abusive multi-billion dollar industry. Victims of animal trade are captured from the wild, often as babies, and are sold as pets, bushmeat, dancing monkeys or ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine. Animal keeper Ade Solihin cares for animals who have narrowly avoided the illegal wildlife trade. Director: Nikki Dodd. 11 mins. Country of origin/production: US/Indonesia
Sponsored by Oregon Film
PRISONS WITHOUT BARS
Our environment is saturated with chemicals and electromagnetic fields. The adverse effects of these massive exposures affect a growing number of individuals, including Isabelle, Kathya, Jean-François, Sylvain, and Jayden. A glimpse into the little-known world of environmental illness. Directors: Nicole Giguère, Isabelle Hayeur. 1 hr, 12 mins. Country of origin/production: Canada
MISSING - WHERE HAVE ALL THE BIRDS GONE
Birds are the descendants of dinosaurs and older than humanity. But all over the world they are disappearing. In Germany as well as in the US, the number of farmland birds has dropped by more than half in the last thirty years. This loss is a symptom. Something is wrong. Join teenage British bird blogger Mya-Rose Craig as she sets out to find the reasons for the decline - meeting with farmers, scientists and best-selling author (and famous birder) Jonathan Franzen - to find out why birds are disappearing and what makes them so important to our survival? Director: Heiko De Groot 52 mins. Country of origin/production: Germany
ECOKIDS FILM SHOWCASE - Films about youth and by youth
REBEL BELLS
If Black Panthers and Girl Scouts had a baby, it would be the Rebel Bells. 13 mins., US. Directors: Anne Colton, Michelle Yates
ENVIROMAN
Learning about recent natural disasters, a young boy imagines himself as a superhero saving the Earth. He then realizes that ordinary kids can do their own to help save the Earth. 3 mins. US. Director: Caitlin Clonan
FROM DIGITAL TRASH TO SOCIAL GOLD
Narrowing the digital gap during the Coronavirus crisis. 8 mins., Israel. Director: Ran Levy-Yamamori
Winning films from The River Starts Here Youth Filmmaking Competition
WALKING WITH TRASH
Everyday eight million pieces of trash find their way into our waters. 25 sec., US. Director: Charlie Abrams
WATER POLLUTION FROM CARS
Ways to help reduce water pollution by using alternative transportation. 25 sec., US. Director: Ava Behunian
FISHY
Plastic pollution moves into unexpected places. 53 sec., US. Director: Jaden Winn
STORMWATER POLLUTION STOP MOTION
An animated film about how a fisherman and a chef discover their connection through their stormwater system. 1 min., US. Director Charlie Johnson
EVERYDAY WATER POLLUTION
A stopmotion animation film about the common causes of water pollution. 54 sec., US. Directors: Eliza Wadell & Serena Rothman
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS AND RECYCLING
Why we should strive to keep hazardous materials out of our water. 24 sec., US. Director: Ekansh Gupta
