49 words for Snow

Director: Yorgos Avgeropoulos

Year:  2007

Country: Greece

Length: 64 min

The planet is suffering from high fever and its thermometer can be found in Greenland. In this vast land of ice which is now melting at a great speed (248 cubic kilometres of snow each year) all that we hear on the news and read about in the newspapers constitutes the everyday life of its few inhabitants. The Inuit, better known to us as Eskimos, watch helpless as their life changes dramatically and their Arctic civilization receives what is probably the worst blow in its centuries long, frozen history. Traditionally hunters and fishermen, they watch as their pray disappears and their moving about becomes more and more dangerous due to the fragile ice and the unexpected weather changes. The creators of this penetrating documentary spent weeks in isolated communities in Greenland, recording the life of the native Inuit. They also present new climate research results, more pessimistic than ever, while uncovering the new and regrettable “el dorado” of oil companies who are preparing to drill for black gold in the planet’s most vulnerable area.

2050.How Soon is Now?

Director: Ruth Chao/ Javier Silva

Year: 2006

Country: Spain

Length: 52 min

A 2004 Pentagon report warned the President of the United States that an abrupt climate change could bring the planet to anarchy and nuclear war against the difficulty to provide basic provisions like water or food. “2050” approaches climate change from the perspective of the possible consequences for our civilization and the short time that is left for us to encounter remedies.

Energy Crossroads

Director: Cristophe Fauchere

Year: 2007

Country: USA

Length: 55 min

Energy Crossroads examines the past, present, and future of energy use. Archival film clips establish the great benefits to Americans of vast amounts of cheap energy from fossil fuels. However, experts and scientists explain that this unprecedented situation can't continue for long. World oil discovery peaked in 1963, and oil production is probably peaking now. Climate change resulting from burning fossil fuel is a fact, and ongoing costs could be similar to those accrued by war. After painting a bleak scenario of the near future, the film turns to the possibility of a "new energy paradigm" combining conservation, diverse sustainable sources, and new technology.

Touched by Water.

Director: Tamàs Wormser

Year: 2006

Country: Canadá

Length: 46 min

Touched by Water is a documentary that dives into the lush world of bathing rituals, exploring the traditions of our essential bond with water.From ancient Roman baths to elite European spas, from Turkish hammams and the Ganges to a high-tech multimedia pool, the film explores the hidden meaning behind the simple and universal act of bathing. Filmed in 13 countries, Touched by Water conveys our complex relationship with water, its sensual pleasure and spiritual renewal. Touched by Water immerses us in the rich and diverse ways of loving water, the source of all life.

The Power of Comunity- How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

Director: Faith Morgan

Year: 2006

Country: USA / Cuba

Length: 53 min

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people. They share how they transitioned from highly mechanized agriculture to using organic farming and urban gardens. It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis. The film opens with a short history of Peak Oil, a term for the time when world oil production will reach its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis, is an example of options and hope

Yindabad

Director: Roi Guitián/ Mariano Agudo

Year: 2007

Country: Spain

Length: 55 min

Sardar Sarovar is an impressive 121-meter-high concrete wall that stops Narmada River’s flow. This forms a part of the “The Narmada Valley Development Project”, a hideously monumental plan that anticipates the construction of more than 3,000 dams, some of them of enormous dimensions. More than 2.5 million people are being affected, the majority of them Adivasis indigenous people who have lost their homes and their way of life. For more than 20 years, the interests of the government and big corporations have been in confrontation. It is the women who have brought a greater consciousness to the dimension of the problem and have become the leaders of this unequal fight. Is this the only form of development possible? The situation in the Narmada River is an example of the great war of the 21st century: the control of water and natural resources.

Children of the Amazon

Director: Denise Zmekhol

Year: 2008

Country: USA/Brazil

Length: 72 min

Journey with Brazilian filmmaker Denise Zmekhol to the heart of the Amazon rainforest in search of the indigenous children she photographed fifteen years ago. Children of the Amazon invites you to see through the eyes of these inspiring, remarkably resilient people whose lives are transformed by a road carved through their forest home by an outside world. From Chief Amir Surui’s embattled efforts to stop illegal loggers to the assassination of legendary rubber tapper Chico Mendes, this poetic and visually stunning film engages our senses and sympathies as global issues take on a profound human perspective.

Compaz de Arena

Director: Natalia Armienta

Year: 2008

Country: México

Length: 82 min

A team of Latin American  filmmakers decide to cross the world to go in search of one of last nomadic, capable of guiding caravans, across a sea of sand and to lead to finding the most ancient cave paintings of the world between other marvels. But on having come there, they met people that has been expelled from there country, a war that for not having media means, “does not exist ". Traditions, experiences and history that vanishes in the exile.   It is a history full of magic and feeling, wrapped in the wonderful landscapes of the great desert of the Sahara, in the north of Africa. This team, manages to cross the liberated territories disregarding 10 millions mines, temperatures of up to 180 °  and little food to testify the richness of  great people, their culture,  tragedy and their similarities with us.

El Regalo de Pachamama

Director: Toshifumi Matsushita

Year: 2008

Country: Bolivia/Japan

Length: 104 min

PACHAMAMA is a spiritual docudrama set in Bolivia, where a 13-year-old boy lives a traditional life with his family near Uyuni, a salt lake. One spring, he goes with this father on his first caravan. With blocas of salt strapped to their herd of llamas, they travel “The Salt Trail” for several months, exchanging salt for other products of the Andes. He begins to learn who he is as a young man and a Quecha from their many experiences and encounters. As the trip comes to its close, he meets a beautiful girl at a festival in a sacred  place of his people. The two young people feel a stirring in their hearts as they share a simple but profound dream: to ride a bicycle together across the salt lake. By the end, he discovers what his grandfather means by “The Gift of Pachamama.”

El Último Viaje con los Hermanos

Director: Maria Milena Zuluaga

Year: 2008

Country: Colombia

Length: 53 min

In Chocó, Columbia, the indigenous people of the Darién Rainforest live each day more besieged and devastated. The inhabitants of the Chintadó River headwaters continue to dominate this territory known for its immense biodiversity and ethnic wealth. Nevertheless, the increase of poverty and outside influences causes their trees to be cut and sold to distant markets. Three rivers, three days, and three working days form part of a debilitating journey on a wooden raft with the Jindrama Conquista family, from the Emberá Katío tribe, who encounter various hazards and adventures along the way. This voyage is a way of understanding the conflict that ancient communities face due to an immense “civilized” pressure and violence.

El Viaje Inverso

Director: Llorenç Soler

Year: 2007

Country: Spain

Length: 84 min

A reflection on emigration in the Province of Soria that focuses on the most human aspect of its inhabitants: those who left, those that remain, and also those made an “inverse journey” and have returned to the villages, leaving cities behind.

Era el Azul

Director: Alberto Valtellina/ Sergio Visinoni

Year: 2008

Country: Italy

Length: 74 min

Several people’s stories are intertwined in the film. A diviner standing in the desert. A craftsman talking about fish breeding, and of carps especially, nothing less than a plague. The mojarra desnuda, a small fish breeding only in Meseta springs. The hydraulic works of Rio Negro, watering McCain’s potato fields, which supply McDonald’s restaurants with French fries. A mechanic acting in a classical sainete called El conventillo de la Paloma. The director of a museum claiming that “we, the white people, were ”almost” much more evil than the Indios”. A piano player leaving La Plata for a healthier climate. An agronomist fond of GMOs. An abandoned vineyard on the desert border, once cultivated by an Italian immigrant. A former building contractor for 30 years who is now a chacarero and paleta player. A former superintendent who knows how to cook carps…

This is life in Luis Beltrán, a tiny village on Choele Choel Island, Rio Negro, Patagonia Argentina. The film tells it through its inhabitants’ words, blending everyday matters with complex issues such as ecology, the intermingling of public and private life, and the human search for a place in world.

Fire Under the Snow

Director: Makoto Sasa

Year: 2008

Country: USA

Length: 75 min

Arrested by the Chinese Communist Army in 1959, Palden Gyatso spent 33 years in prisons and labor camps for the ”crime”  of peaceful demonstration. Tortured, starved and sentenced to hard labor, he watched his nation and culture destroyed, his teachers, friends and family displaced, jailed or killed. The film covers Palden's birth in 1933, and follows him through the Orwellian nightmare  that began with the Chinese invasion. It explores the escalating cycle of interrogation and physical violation that ended decades later with Palden's escape from Tibet, and a cathartic meeting with  His Holiness the Dalai Lama in India. During his imprisonment, sometimes the mere thought of being reunited with the Dalai Lama was  a beacon of hope for Palden and other fellow prisoners. The film investigates the basis of Palden's  resilience, who claims that his faith in Buddhism, and education as a monk helped him survive. Despite the atrocities that befell him, he harbors no anger toward the Chinese, and believes it is part of his 'karma.' At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin,  Palden  participated in an indefinite hunger strike. Using this highly publicized and symbolic event, an attempt is made to draw public attention to Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Olympics. We see first hand, Palden's dedication to the cause, his mentoring of the young Tibetan hunger strikers, and his emotional recollections of lost comrades. Fire Under the Snow reveals the contours of an inspirational story: It is the survival of a mind  and soul under unthinkable duress.

On Sacred Ground

Director: Charro Wongittilin

Year: 2009

Country: USA

Length: 60 min

The peace and serenity that envelops Bear Butte Mountain in South Dakota seems an unlikely venue for activism.  However, it is here, amid the bucolic grasses and flowers, the grazing Buffalo and wild life that the stage has been set for battle. While not Wounded Knee or Custer’s Last Stand it is still the stuff of history – and just as important to Native Americans. Whether they be Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne or Cherokee, Bear Butte is a strong symbol of religious freedom and opposition to the white man’s continued ignorance, indifference and desecration of sacred Indian sites throughout the United States.“On Sacred Ground” follows the fight of the American Indian Nation and its supporters to overcome this ignorance through legislative efforts, use of media and hitting the pavement informing and enlightening those who, in many cases, have no idea the damage being done by their very presence.There is much to be gleaned from the elders who have gone before and those who would take their place in the hierarchy of the tribal lore.  The red man and woman demand nothing - but elegantly request respect for their beliefs, their shared history and sacred sites.

Food Fight

Director: Chris Taylor

Year: 2008

Country: USA

Length: 83 min

FOOD FIGHT is a fascinating look at how American agricultural policy and food culture developed in the 20th century, and how the California food movement rebelled against big agribusiness to launch the local organic food movement.

Meat the Truth

Director: Karen Soeters

Year: 2008

Country: Netherlands

Length: 74 min

Meat the Truth is a high-profile documentary, presented by MP  Marianne Thieme, which forms an addendum to earlier films on climate   change. Although such films have succeeded in drawing public  attention to the issue of global warming, they have ignored one of   the most important causes of climate change: livestock farming. The  film draws attention to this by demonstrating that livestock farming  generates more greenhouse gas emissions worldwide than all cars,  lorries, trains, boats and planes added together. It is based on  scientific data produced by the FAO and other authoritative sources.

The Beautiful Truth

Director: Steve kroschel

Year: 2008

Country: USA

Length: 93 min

After the unexpected and tragic death of his other, 15-year old Garrett was spiraling downward and fast. His father withdrew him from school to prevent him from flunking out, after which he was home-taught. Growing up on an Alaskan animal reserve, Garrett’s father recognized his son’s interest in the dietary habits of their animals. That prompted him to assign a book written by Dr. Max Gerson, which maintains that there is a direct link between diet and a cure for cancer. Fascinated and curious, Garrett embarks on a cross-country road trip to investigate the merits of The Gerson Therapy. He meets with scientists, doctors and cancer survivors who reveal how the multi-billion dollar medical industry has made it their mission to dismiss the notion of alternative and natural cures.

© FICMA 1993 / 2009