Overload: America's Toxic Love Story

The Cost of Cobalt

March 2021 •English

In the cobalt mining areas of Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), babies are being born with horrific birth defects. Scientists and doctors are finding increasing evidence of environmental pollution from industrial mining which, they believe, may be the cause of a range of malformations from cleft palate to some so serious the baby is stillborn. More than 60% of the world’s reserves of cobalt are in the DRC and this mineral is essential for the production of electric car batteries, which may be the key to reducing carbon emissions and to slowing climate change. In The Cost of Cobalt we meet the doctors treating the children affected and the scientists who are measuring the pollution. Cobalt may be part of the global solution to climate change, but is it right that Congo’s next generation pay the price with their health? Many are hoping that the more the world understands their plight, the more pressure will be put on the industry here to clean up its act.

Survival of Spaceship Earth

January 1972 •English

Earth's environmental crisis--brought about by uncontrolled technological progress--is endangering life on a global scale. At the core of the threats to the planet - wars, overpopulation, pollution, and the depletion of natural resources - is the inadequacy of the nation state to come to terms with the surmounting problems of twentieth century living. What is urgently needed is the kind of international cooperation where nation states relinquish part of their sovereignty to a world body entrusted with the management of mankind's future.

Manufactured Landscapes

September 2006 •English

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.

Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet

June 2021 •English

David Attenborough and scientist Johan Rockström examine Earth's biodiversity collapse and how this crisis can still be averted.

The World According to Monsanto

February 2008 •French

Monsanto is the world leader in genetically modified organisms (GMOs), as well as one of the most controversial corporations in industrial history. This century-old empire has created some of the most toxic products ever sold, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the herbicide Agent Orange. Based on a painstaking investigation, The World According to Monsanto puts together the pieces of the company’s history, calling on hitherto unpublished documents and numerous first-hand accounts.

The Song of Styrene

December 1957 •French

Le chant du Styrène is a 1958 French documentary film directed by Alain Resnais. The film was an order by French industrial group Pechiney to highlight the merits of plastics.

Sur le Front des Océans

November 2019 •French

The Devil We Know

January 2018 •English

Unraveling one of the biggest environmental scandals of our time, a group of citizens in West Virginia take on a powerful corporation after they discover it has knowingly been dumping a toxic chemical — now found in the blood of 99.7% of Americans — into the local drinking water supply.

Under Poisoned Skies

September 2024 •English

Gas flaring has long been known to be both a major polluter and a serious health hazard. In Iraq, it's ruining ordinary people's lives, leaving communities ravaged by abnormally high levels of cancer. With oil giants like BP using a loophole to avoid reporting emissions, and governmental promises to end the practice ringing hollow, what will it take to eradicate toxic pollution from Iraq's skies?

Gasland

January 2010 •English

It is happening all across America-rural landowners wake up one day to find a lucrative offer from an energy company wanting to lease their property. Reason? The company hopes to tap into a reservoir dubbed the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas." Halliburton developed a way to get the gas out of the ground-a hydraulic drilling process called "fracking"-and suddenly America finds itself on the precipice of becoming an energy superpower.

Les Fantômes du Pétrole

December 2023 •French

Toxic Soup

January 2010 •English

Something is bad wrong as everyday Americans fight to protect their air, water and blood from pollution.

Something in the Air

February 2019 •English

Something in the Air is a one hour documentary that shows new risks in the most essential element for survival – air – that affect our brains, our DNA, and how new technology is changing the equation for the better.

East of Walbrzych

January 2004 •French

HAZE: It's Complicated

April 2018 •English

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.

Propaganda Message

January 1974 •English

A cartoon film about the whole heterogeneous mixture of Canada and Canadians, and the way the invisible adhesive called federalism makes it all cling together. That the dissenting voices are many is made amply evident, in English and French. But this animated message also shows that Canadians can laugh at themselves and work out their problems objectively.

Food for Profit

February 2024 •Italian

The film exposes the links between Agrifood and politics. With a pool of international experts it analyses the many problems related to factory farming: water pollution, migrants exploitation, biodiversity loss and antibiotic resistance.

Poison City

March 2003 •English

Dzerzhinsk, a Russian city 240 miles east of Moscow, is considered the most chemically polluted town on Earth. Factories producing industrial chemicals (and in Soviet times, chemical weapons) employ a quarter of the 300,000 residents in a city where life expectancy has fallen to 42-47 years, the death rate is 2.6 times higher than the birth rate, and the men are close to impotence. Reporter Tim Samuels recorded a series of in-depth interviews with the inhabitants of Dzerzhinsk for the Correspondent strand, revealing what life is like for the beleaguered populace.

A Plastic Tide

January 2017 •English

Over eight million tonnes of plastic enters the ocean each year, killing sea life. Now new evidence says it's entering our food chain with unknown health effects.

The Story of Yanagawa's Canals

August 1987 •Japanese

A partially-animated documentary about the preservation and restoration of the canal system in Yanagawa, Fukuoka