by josie
“Trashed,” a documentary about waste’s impact, featuring actor Jeremy Irons, is showing at EFFY 2013 and the Environmental Film Festival in Olympia, WA.
As Earth Day (April 22) approaches, what better way to celebrate than with a movie that entertains, educates and makes you think about the planet? Three eco-minded film festivals taking place this month showcase green documentaries, host filmmaker Q&As and help people become more active in environmental conservation.
The fifth annual Environmental Film Festival at Yale (EFFY), taking place at the university in New Haven, CT, April 8–14, will offer free screenings to all of its presentations. These include the climate change story Elemental; the garbage-focused Trashed, featuring Jeremy Irons; More Than Honey, an examination of bee colony collapse; GMO OMG, about the potential dangers of genetically modified foods, and The Last Ocean, which shows how humans can destroy an ecosystem.
On the other side of the country, the Olympia Film Society’s Environmental Film Festival, scheduled for April 19–21 in Olympia, WA, has a provocative lineup of documentaries, from Empowered, about an entire town that liberated itself from the power grid to director Jessica Yu’s water crisis film, Last Call at the Oasis. Don’t miss A Place at the Table, an eye-opening exploration of hunger in America previously covered in VIV Says.
Sponsored by Northern Illinois University’s Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability and Energy, the Green Lens Environmental Film Festival is set for April 20–25 in DeKalb, IL, and features documentaries from professional and student filmmakers. Presentations of Everglades of the North, Turtle Derby and My Village, My Lobster will include post-screening Q&A sessions with producers and directors, and the festival will also feature giveaways, crafts and workshops.
Can’t make it to these events? Then enjoy a green festival at home with the television premiere of Chasing Ice, photographer James Balog’s documentary about disappearing Arctic glaciers that debuts April 19 on National Geographic Channel (8 p.m. ET/PT). And check out PBS Independent Lens premiere of the critically acclaimed film The Island President, about the ex-president of the Maldives and his efforts to save his tropical archipelago from inundation due to global warming, April 22 at 10 p.m. (check your local listings).
Photo credit: Courtesy EFFY; cover photo: Chiara Goia
