Beyond Pollution

Turtle: The Incredible Journey

October 2009 •English

The story of a little loggerhead turtle, as she follows in the path of her ancestors on one of the most extraordinary journeys in the natural world. Born on a beach in Florida, she rides the Gulf Stream up towards the Arctic and ultimately swims around the entire North Atlantic across to Africa and back to the beach where she was born. But the odds are stacked against her; just one in ten thousand turtles survive the journey.

Saving Pelican 895

April 2011 •English

HBO Documentary Films Presents the story of the effort to save the 895th surviving oiled pelican in Louisiana, showing how conservationists, government agencies and wildlife activists joined forces to preserve this one life.

Oil Spill of The Century

March 2018 •French

In 1978, the Amoco Cadiz, a supertanker loaded with 220,000 tons of petrol, ran aground in Brittany, France. The accident caused the biggest oil spill France has ever known and is still today known as one of the 20th century’s biggest ecological catastrophes. Forty years later, Loïck Peyron tries to understand how nature recovered from the disaster and what lessons were learned from it.

Vergessene Wracks

May 2017 •German

There are ticking time bombs off the coasts of the world, of which the public has hardly been aware: 6,300 wrecks, sunk during the Second World War, have been rusting in the sea for more than 70 years. Researchers estimate the amount of oil remaining in them at up to 15 million tons. What can be done to prevent an oil slick?

Cousteau: Alaska: Outrage at Valdez

March 1990 •English

On March 24, 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in the pristine waters of Alaska's Prince William Sound, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil. Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of Jacques Cousteau, takes us on a voyage to investigate first-hand the devastating impact of the U.S.'s largest oil spill. Amid the majestic mountains and ice floes of this serene setting, the leaking oil spreads like a virus staining and often killing everything it encounters. Harbor seals, sea otters, and bald eagles fall victim to the tragic accident.

Tóxico, Texaco, Tóxico

November 2007 •Spanish

The imagination of history in Ecuador never thought that oil, “its redeeming hope”, discovered in the Lago Agrio No. 1 well, was going to mean the beginning of the worst environmental catastrophe on the planet. Thirty years of operation and exploitation of the Texaco company, forever transformed the rivers and estuaries, the forests and the life of the indigenous communities in the northern Amazon of Ecuador.

The Last Camp

August 2025 •Russian

On December 15, 2024, the collision and sinking of two fuel oil tankers in the Kerch Strait caused one of the most devastating environmental disasters in the history of the Black Sea. Six months later, the tankers lying on the seabed are still leaking fuel oil, and of the thousands of volunteers who initially took part in the cleanup, only a few dozen remain along a 30-kilometer stretch of beach. The film was shot on the Taman Peninsula in early summer 2025, against the backdrop of a formally lifted, yet in reality already underway, beach season. In the face of scarce resources, the departure of their own leaders, and the daily release of fuel oil, the volunteers talk about themselves, rescue animals, combat the ignorance of those around them, and try to find the motivation to continue their fight against a disaster that at times seems endless.

Nordeste Água e Óleo

April 2025 •Portuguese

L’or du golfe

April 2015 •French

Taking Back Our Beach

October 2023 •English

This is a film about the response by a community to New Zealand’s largest environmental disaster, seen through the eyes of that community. The film captures the shock, anger and grief driven into the heart of the local community, but also the humour, purpose and overwhelming positivity when people join together with a common goal.

Urtajo

March 2025 •Spanish

A toxic spill threatens the town of Urtajo: tackle the problem or cover it up? Javier will learn that not everything can be bought with money.

Deepwater Horizon

September 2016 •English

A story set on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded during April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Louisiana Story

September 1948 •English

The idyllic life of a young Cajun boy and his pet raccoon is disrupted when the tranquility of the bayou is broken by an oil well drilling near his home.

Central Airport

April 1933 •English

Aviator Jim Blaine and his brother Neil are rivals not only as daredevil flyers, but also for the love of parachutist Jill Collins.

I'm Charlie Walker

June 2022 •English

1971 post civil rights San Francisco seemed like the perfect place for a black Korean War veteran and his family to realize their dream of economic independence, and a chance for him to be his own boss. Charlie Walker would soon find out how naive he was. In a city full of impostors and naysayers, he refused to take "No" for an answer. That is, until a catastrophic disaster opened a door that had never been open to a black man before. This is a story about what happened when he stepped through that door with both feet.

Sans Soleil

March 1983 •French

A woman narrates the thoughts of a world traveler, meditations on time and memory expressed in words and images from places as far-flung as Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, and San Francisco.

Daybreak Express

January 1953 •English

Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.

The Bridge

October 1959 •German

A group of German boys are ordered to protect a small bridge in their home village during the waning months of the second world war. Truckloads of defeated, cynical Wehrmacht soldiers flee the approaching American troops, but the boys, full of enthusiasm for the "blood and honor" Nazi ideology, stay to defend the useless bridge. The film is based on a West German anti-war novel of the same name, written by Gregor Dorfmeister.

Apocalypto

December 2006 •English

Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.