As wildfires ravage California, two friends question the safety of an annual ritual.

AQI 302

SUBTITLE: English Mana Leopoldina, from Baguia in the mountainous heart of Timor-Leste, shares the importance and value of trees for her community. From birth rituals, to her personal story of survival during the Indonesian occupation, the trees of Baguia are truly trees of life.

Ai Ba Moris (Trees of life)

An unfortunate reality: our fish are disappearing. Not our Salmon or our Halibut, but those will soon follow. Forage fish, a key segment of the marine food chain, is vanishing off the coast of British Columbia.

Before the beauty is gone

Mario thinks he is in control. He thinks he knows what he is doing, and he looks down to the people on the other side of the glass, but what Mario doesn't know is that the glass itself is not on his side.

Behind the Glass

A little girl lives in a village with her mother where water sources are dwindling by day. Drought effects her imagination, even her doodles and drawings. Not only people but the nature struggles with the unrelenting aridness. This little girl though, never loses hope. She tries to do as best she can, sacrificing from herself for her beloved nature.

Cracked

This short documentary follows a contemporary forager and questions our place in modern civilisation, as a species designed to live in the wild.

Forager

At Orcalab, a remote land based research station, on Hanson Island, British Columbia, Canada. Helena Symonds has been listening to the sounds of Orca for over forty years.

Generations of Sound

Clever Bird Entertainment Inc. presents "Hope and Grace." Inspired by true events, a young refugee couple tries to find their place in a new country after the war in Vietnam.

Hope and Grace

While much of the Crow Nation grapples with limited access to clean drinking water, three generations of Apsáalooke (Crow) study the waters of the Little Bighorn River in search of solutions and new ways to protect their tribe’s water from agriculture and climate change.

Living Water

Collection shown is designed and handcrafted by young Fashion Design student, who is also the director of the film, Sophie Safinowska born 2001, Poland. Collection is fully made from linen and jeans, as a connection of traditional fabric and a modern textile. Handmade print is an interpretation of Belarusian embroidery, not widely known, although being part of East-European heritage, especially Slavic. The collection and movie itself are an abstract response to the current geopolitical situation on the Polish-Belarus border. Despite ethnic divisions and borders, we are all people and we should help each other. As a side inspiration Korean Pop is the symbol of multicultural value, not decided by any borders or laws. Just a pure artistic creation. The geopolitical situation is enhanced in film, quoting those with the power and the oppressed.

Mokosh

MOTHER is spoken word enhanced by music and image; a rousing call to humans about the dire state of Mother Earth and about how the solution to this crisis is within our grasp. A special thanks to the amazing community of artists at Pixabay.com for their royalty free images.

Mother

There are few elders left who speak Nuu-chah-nulth, the traditional language of the First Nations peoples along the west coast of Vancouver Island. Many are survivors of the last residential school in BC, which closed in 1983. As more knowledge keepers pass on every year, the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations are fighting to keep their culture alive. “What happens when we go? What happens when we pass away?” asks an elder.For over a thousand years, the 14 tribes that make up the Nuu-chah-nulth nations have lived in balance with nature. Now, we see them turning to land-based skills as a tool for cultural reclamation. We meet a fisherwomen, a culture &amp; language teacher, and a totem pole carver. All three committed to passing down their knowledge.They believe that only when the next generation is reconnected with their true identity, will their potential be realized. That education can be a part of the solution, if more space is made for indigenous ways of knowing in the classroom. “It was lost within schools, allow them to relearn within the school system,” suggests another elder.&nbsp;The Nuu-chah-nulth are part of a shifting tide across Canada, who are fighting earnestly for their land, rights and sovereignty. Each community doing what they can to heal wounds from the past and reclaim what was stolen.

New-Chah-Nulth: Reclaiming Tradition

The Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations of Vancouver Island, BC are decolonizing indigenous education. They are integrating language, tradition, and land-based skills into their school curriculum to save their culture from the brink of extinction and offer a different future for the next generations.

Endless distractions threaten to destroy creativity.

On / Off

When we look at great art, do we realise it is looking back? With eyes that see more clearly than we do?In a mysterious gallery imbued with strange life, shadows of the past and unresolved futures collide when a child's vision peels away the layers of what we call 'reality'...join a journey through the masterpieces you thought you knew as their hidden souls are finally given a voice.As layers of contemporary 'reality' are stripped away, art's unseen soul brings a challenge we can neither ignore nor escape. Or can we? Will their message be heard in time?The door is open. The masters' works await us. Who will enter ?

Painting By Numbers

A child's encounter with classic masterpieces triggers a confronting epiphany

SUBTITLE: English and Italian In the middle of an ordinary day the limit is crossed and the inexorable extinction of humanity begins. A woman is going to a job interview when she hears a tender voice who warns her that now it’s over.

SEACABÓ

SUBTITLE: English, French, German, and Spanish The surreal dialogue between the informed citizen and the cow Savoia on the issue of land consumption. Words and images about the inevitable fate of those who do not want tear the veil of indifference towards the environmental crisis

SOS4LIFE

A single woman writer who lives with her child who has become careless for her surroundings until...

Seam

Following several different subjects including international disability rights activity Judy Heumann (featured in Crip Camp) and award-winning author Richard Louv, The Accessible Outdoors explores the importance of nature connection, and the lack of access to nature for people with disabilities.

The Accessible Outdoors

An alone woman comes out of the empty graves and is confronted with of herself that ...

The Cemetery

Through her work, photographer Mandy Barker shows the devastating and far-reaching impact of marine plastic pollution.

Trapped by Plastic

SUBTITLES: English A man drives off in a car with a girl: it is only the beginning of a story that touches the deepest sensitivity and pushes us to look inside.

Uno dopo l'altro

Robin is a recluse who prefers nature and solitude to the comforts and companionship of civilization. Her lifestyle reflects her resourcefulness: stolen food, a shelter crafted from salvaged materials, decorated with found treasures. One winter day, a logging operation launches nearby, and the forest that was her salvation is threatened by the encroachment of civilization. To avoid discovery, Robin must flee home with only the bare essentials, trading her painstakingly earned contentment for the uncertainty of displacement.Uprooted centers on one individual who has chosen to opt out of society. Through focus upon the small details of her life, we find a character whose challenges reflect larger societal issues. Robin’s journey speaks to the near impossibility of escaping societal expectation, and the unseen casualties of careless modern civilization.

Uprooted

Vultures is a short film based on the current knife crime issues in Ireland. We created this piece to shine some light and show the reality of it, how it affects everyone involved.

Vultures

The research of 16 leading water scientists in Canada is shared from the perspective of a waterdrop hoping to save its future.

Water You Waiting For

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From the cloud forests of Guanwu in Taiwan to the elephants of Kenya’s Amboseli National Park—to a teenager confronting climate anxiety while skiing Whistler with renowned freestyler Mike Douglas—BCEFF has something to captivate, provoke and inspire you. (bceff.org)

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