The Wisdom to Survive: Climate Change, Capitalism & Community

Seeing Through the Darkness

May 2025 •Ukrainian

The film follows five people who lost their sight in armed conflicts, gathering fragments of their present-day lives. Through an enveloping sound composition, veiled archival material, footage shot by the protagonists themselves, and a sensitive visual approach, the film explores memory, perception, and our relationship to the visible. Steering away from spectacle, it invites us to hear what often goes unheard, and to feel differently. In an age saturated with images, this documentary offers a sensory experience where listening becomes a gesture of resistance and human reconnection.

ThuleTuvalu

November 2014 •English

Thule, Greenland, also called Qaanaaqis, one of the northernmost towns in the world. As the climate warms and the ice caps begin to melt, the gentle balance of life for the people of this community is in jeopardy. On the other side of the globe, the melting ice caps are raising sea levels around the Polynesian island nation of Tuvalu, threatening to wipe the island right off the map. Though a world apart, these two communities are intricately connected as environmental balance begins to tip and traditional ways of life are threatened. 'ThuleTuvalu' is a stunning documentary addressing the high price of a hundred years of development and how two very different communities are now bound together in facing an uncertain future.

Alpine Meltdown: Just a few degrees more...

November 2011 •German

The climate is changing, global temperature is rising. The impacts are already apparent, especially in the mountains but also in the lowlands. The permafrost zone is shifting higher up and the masses of snow melt whooshing from the glaciers to the valleys are already increasing incessantly. Rivers are going to rise up to powerful floods and dwindle down to extremely low waters the next second.

Roger & Me

September 1989 •English

A documentary about the closure of General Motors' plant at Flint, Michigan, which resulted in the loss of 30,000 jobs. Details the attempts of filmmaker Michael Moore to get an interview with GM CEO Roger Smith.

An Inconvenient Truth

May 2006 •English

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

The Ants and the Grasshopper

May 2021 •English

Anita Chitaya has a gift: she can help bring abundant food from dead soil, she can make men fight for gender equality, and maybe she can end child hunger in her village. Now, to save her home in Malawi from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real. Traveling from Malawi to California to the White House, she meets climate sceptics and despairing farmers. Her journey takes her across all the divisions that shape the USA: from the rural-urban divide, to schisms of race, class and gender, and to the American exceptionalism that remains a part of the culture. It will take all her skill and experience to help Americans recognise, and free themselves from, a logic that is already destroying the Earth.

One Big Home

July 2017 •English

On the tiny island of Martha's Vineyard, where presidents and celebrities vacation, trophy homes threaten to destroy the islands unique character. Twelve years in the making, One Big Home follows one carpenters journey to understand the trend toward giant houses. When he feels complicit in wrecking the place he calls home, he takes off his tool belt and picks up a camera.

Outremont et les Hassidim

April 2019 •English

OUTREMONT AND THE HASIDIM reveals the challenges of accommodating the “Hasidim” – or ultra-Orthodox Jews – in the affluent Montréal borough of Outremont.​Some 7,000 Hasidim live in or near this choice neighbourhood of Québec’s Francophone elite. After settling there more than 70 years ago, the Hasidim are a rapidly growing minority group which today represents about 23% of Outremont’s population.​Thanks to unprecedented access to this self-isolated community, the film lifts the veil on its practices, traditions, music and life as they had never before been seen on Canadian television, without ignoring the community’s expectations, fears. and hopes.

Public Shelter Organization and Staff

February 1963 •English

Created in 1963 at the height of the Cold War, this Civil Defense training film uses a dramatic premise to show how emergency staff should manage and organize a large public fallout shelter during a crisis. A Shelter Manager is shown immediately taking control of the situation in the shelter, speaking calmly to those who have made it into the facility, closing the door promptly once the shelter is full, and sticking to the "shelter plan" as the situation unfolds. Some of the areas discussed in this nuclear war drama are the safety plan, regular inspections, supervised public entry into shelters, ventilation, first aid, sanitation, fire prevention, decontamination of personnel, and more. "Shelter living is different," the Manager states, "But we have a trained staff that will make your stay in this shelter livable for us all."

We Can Be Heroes

March 2024 •English

Sometimes, finding your tribe requires a bit of magic. For attendees of a live action role-playing (LARP) camp in upstate New York, the deeply accepting environment has given neurodivergent, queer, and self-proclaimed "nerdy" teenagers the space and community for self-discovery that they have never found anywhere else. As the campers immerse themselves in this imaginative world, they discover inner strength, heal from past traumas, and emerge as the heroes they are meant to be, both in the fantasy realm and in real life.

Whisper to be Heard

April 2020 •English

A group of musicians who have never met get together for a week to live in a mansion to write an album, record it in a studio, and perform it at a Masquerade Ball.

Shellmound

September 2004 •English

“Shellmound” is the story of how one location was transformed from a sacred center of pre-historic cultures to a commercial mecca for modern people. What began as a Native American burial ground three thousand years ago, was transformed first into an amusement park, and later an industrial age paint factory. Now, the tainted ancient soil sits beneath the glittering lights of Banana Republic, Victoria’s Secret, and the AMC movie theaters. “Shellmound” examines the decisions made during the recent toxic cleanup, excavation, and construction of the Bay Street mall through the eyes of the city of Emeryville, the developer, the archaeologists, and the native Californians who worked on the site.

The Story of the Weeping Camel

June 2003 •Mongolian

When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.

March of the Penguins

January 2005 •French

Every year, thousands of Antarctica's emperor penguins make an astonishing journey to breed their young. They walk, marching day and night in single file 70 miles into the darkest, driest and coldest continent on Earth. This amazing, true-life tale is touched with humour and alive with thrills. Breathtaking photography captures the transcendent beauty and staggering drama of devoted parent penguins who, in the fierce polar winter, take turns guarding their egg and trekking to the ocean in search of food. Predators hunt them, storms lash them. But the safety of their adorable chicks makes it all worthwhile. So follow the leader... to adventure!!

Sisters in Arms

October 2022 •French

In the wake of Greta Thunberg, the youth has been fighting for several months to save our planet. Leading the marches, on the front pages of the media as well as on social networks, young women have become, sometimes unintentionally, the key figures of this movement. Who are these women? Why are they so cheered and criticized at the same time? To better understanding of the commitment of Anuna and Adelaide (Belgium), Luisa (Germany), Lena (France), Leah (Uganda) and Artemisia (Brazil), we decided to follow them, but also to compare their struggle with that of another extraordinary woman who preceded them: Julia Butterfly. Twenty years ago, after spending 738 days on top of a majestic sequoia, this young American activist managed to save a thousand-year-old forest from being cut down. The film tells the story of the journey of these committed young women, each in their own way, but all driven by a unique energy, these "sisters in arms" tell their doubts and their desire.

Prey

February 2025 •French

The Last Trapper

December 2004 •French

Norman is not just an admirer of nature, he's a part of it. He survives the harshness of the climate and the wildlife by coexisting with it. With his wife Nebraska, they live almost entirely off the land, making money by selling their furs.

Blue Gold: World Water Wars

October 2008 •English

Wars of the future will be fought over water as they are over oil today, as the source of human survival enters the global marketplace and political arena. Corporate giants, private investors, and corrupt governments vie for control of our dwindling supply, prompting protests, lawsuits, and revolutions from citizens fighting for the right to survive.

Curtain Call

August 2014 •English

Fifty years ago, aspiring thespians Terry and Carole Ann Gill arrived in Australia from England seeking fame and fortune. But they never quite made the big time. Instead they stumbled into the curious world of children's pantomimes. Over the decades, they have built a successful business and touched the lives of generations of children; but their own dreams have slowly faded. Now aged in their 70s, with their beloved theatre under threat from a greedy property developer, Terry and Carole Ann's careers appear to be coming to an untimely close. As they battle to remain open, they are forced to reflect on the choices they have made in their lives.

Rok stalinské epochy

October 1951 •Czech