By Mabel Pais

EarthxFilm’s 5th edition

Anjali Nayar’s “District 15” among them

Hybrid Screenings

April 16-25, 2021

EarthxFilm, in this year’s hybrid edition of the Dallas-based Environmental-Focused film festival, has ten days and nights of drive-in, outdoor and online screenings.

The Festival continues its mission to showcase films and emerging media that explore science, conservation, climate change, and the environment while honoring the heroes working to protect our planet. EarthxFilm aims to turn awareness into action through education, art, and media.

For updates regarding panels, music presentations, youth films, EarthXR and more, visit earthxfilm.org

EarthxFilm 2021 Film Lineup

OPENING NIGHT

“PLAYING WITH SHARKS” – DRIVE-IN PRESENTATION

DIR: Sally Aitken l Australia l 1h 35m

“Playing With Sharks” captures Valerie Taylor’s enduring life-long passion to explore the beauty of sharks – forming a sought-after underwater cinematography team with her husband, Ron, and even shooting the real sharks in “Jaws.”

Now in her 80s, Taylor reflects on her lifelong journey with the sea while sumptuous, remastered 16mm footage transports us to the mysterious deep and testifies to the richness of the ocean as it once was.

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (2011)

– VIRTUAL PRESENTATION

DIR: Marshall Curry l USA l 1h 15m

“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” explores two of America’s most pressing issues — environmentalism and terrorism — by lifting the veil on a radical environmental group the FBI calls America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat.” Daniel McGowan, a former member of the Earth Liberation Front, faces life in prison for two multimillion-dollar arsons against Oregon timber companies. What turned this working-class kid from Queens into an eco-warrior?

CLOSING NIGHT

“IF A TREE FALLS”: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front – 2011

– DRIVE-IN PRESENTATION

DIR: Marshall Curry l USA l 1h 15m

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (see Opening Night for description).

“Percy Vs Goliath” –VIRTUAL PRESENTATION

DIR: Clark Johnson l USA l 2h

“Percy Vs Goliath” follows events from a 1998 lawsuit where small-town farmer Percy Schmeiser challenges a major conglomerate when the company’s genetically modified (GMO) canola is discovered in the 70-year-old farmer’s crops. As he speaks out against the company’s business practices, he realizes he is representing thousands of other disenfranchised farmers around the world fighting the same battle. Suddenly, he becomes an unsuspecting folk hero in a desperate war to protect farmers’ rights and the world’s food supply against what they see as corporate greed.

FEATURE FILMS

“2040”

DIR: Damon Gameau l USA l 1h 31m

A scene from “2040” (Photo : Courtesy WildWorksPR)

 “2040” by award-winning director Damon Gameau embarks on a journey to explore what the future could look like by that year if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them rapidly into the mainstream. Structured as a visual letter to his 4-year-old daughter, Damon blends traditional documentary with dramatized sequences and high-end visual effects to create a vision board of how these solutions could regenerate the world for future generations.

“Entangled”

DIR: David Abel l USA l 1h 15m

“Entangled” is an award-winning, feature-length film about how climate change has accelerated a collision between the nation’s most valuable fishery, one of the world’s most endangered species, and a federal agency mandated to protect both. The film won a 2020 Jackson Wild award, known as the Oscars of nature films. It also won Best Feature Film at the Water Docs Film Festival.

“Making A Mountain”

DIRS: Rikke Selin Fokdal & Kaspar Astrup Schröder l Denmark l 51m

Following the process of a visionary project that combines waste management and

infrastructure with spectacular architecture and a recreational urban space. Bjarke Ingels’ prestigious project Amager Hill – the waste-to-energy plant with a ski slope on top.

“Okavango: River of Dreams”

DIRS: Beverly & Dereck Joubert l Austria l 1h 34m

Drawing on Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, the story is told as a journey from Purgatory into Paradise, a quest for truth, for the soul of this river, the Okavango in Botswana, seeing those who use her, as well as those who are victim to the changes she brings, used by her. It is also a symbol of hope against a backdrop of climate change that threatens every pristine landscape in the world.

“The Last Horns Of Africa”

DIR: Garth de Bruno Austin l South Africa l 1h 37m

“The Last Horns of Africa,” with unprecedented access, is a gripping and intimate look at the current rhino poaching war raging across Africa. The film follows the covert operation endeavors of two conservation heroes who put their lives on the line to bring down South Africa’s most notorious rhino poaching syndicates.

“There Is a Place On Earth”

DIR: Ellen van den Honert l Netherlands l 1h 13m

“There Is a Place On Earth” by Dutch Filmmaker Ellen van den Honert takes us on a beautiful and poetic journey around the world where we meet artists/conservationists who share extraordinary creative work and a commitment to the environment. In the process we experience a unique, intuitive connection to the wild – and the necessity to protect it.

“Trans Pecos”

DIR: Nicol Ragland l USA l 1h 4m

“Trans Pecos” is a timely intervention weaving together the issues of land and water rights. It is a cautionary tale meant to inspire people from every walk of life to take action and work toward change that can happen if informed citizens and those in power hold oil and gas companies accountable.

“We Are as Gods”

DIR: Jason Sussberg & David Alvarado l Russia/USA l 1h 30m

“We are as gods and might as well get good at it.” This is the audacious opening line of the Whole Earth Catalog, a compendium of wonderful tools compiled by counterculture legend Stewart Brand: a psychedelic experimenter, cyberspace pioneer, and environmentalist. Today, Stewart is using biotech to resurrect extinct species. He and a team of scientists travel to Siberia to collect ancient DNA in an effort to make a hybrid Woolly Mammoth.

“Youth V Gov”

DIR: Christi Cooper l USA l 1h 30m

“Youth V Gov” is the story of America’s youth taking on the world’s most powerful government. Armed with a wealth of evidence, twenty-one courageous leaders file a ground-breaking lawsuit against the U.S. government, asserting it has willfully acted over six decades to create the climate crisis, thus endangering their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property. If these young people are successful, they will not only make history, they will change the future.

SHORT FILMS

There are 18 short films from 3 minutes to 40 minutes in length. US Director Anjali Nayar’s “District 15” is among them. For more information, visit earthxfilm.org

ABOUT EarthxFilm

EarthxFilm showcases films and emerging media that explore conservation, climate change, and the environment while honoring the heroes working to protect our planet. Their mission is to turn awareness into action through art and media and achieve their goals by partnering with top environmental, film, and entertainment organizations across the globe. EarthxFilm presents year-round programs culminating in a 10-day festival, April 16 – 25, 2021.

ABOUT EarthX

To learn about EarthX, visit www.EarthX.org or follow them on @earthxorg on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

(Mabel Pais writes on Social Issues, The Arts and Entertainment, Spirituality, and Health & Wellness)