Home > Outreach

FILM LIBRARY: ENVIRONMENT

POV's Borders | Environment

The 2004 Webby Award-winning episode of POV's online series focused on the environment with short films about hybrid cars, alternative fuel, bottled water and the largest oil spill in US history (it's not the Exxon Valdez). These videos vary in length from 2 to 10 minutes and are all available on DVD.

Work with these short films:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Visit POV's Borders Website

Downloadable materials:
Lesson Plans

Good Fortune
by Landon Van Soest

Good Fortune is a provocative exploration of how massive international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the very communities they aim to benefit. In Kenya’s rural countryside, Jackson’s farm is being flooded by an American investor who hopes to alleviate poverty by creating a multimillion-dollar rice farm. Across the country in Nairobi, Silva’s home and business in Africa’s largest shantytown are being demolished as part of a U.N. slum-upgrading project. The gripping stories of two Kenyans battling to save their homes from large-scale development present a unique opportunity see foreign aid through eyes of the people it is intended to help.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
by Marshall Curry

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? Marshall Curry (Oscar®-nominated Street Fight, POV 2005) provides a nuanced and provocative account that is part coming-of-age story, part cautionary tale and part cops-and-robbers thriller. A co-production of ITVS. Winner of Best Documentary Editing Award, 2011 Sundance Film Festival. (90 minutes)

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Lawn
by Monteith McCollum

"Your lawn is a reflection of your character," a woman says in a phone conversation at the beginning of the film. "Lawn" explores our relationship with nature and our desire to control it. Filmed over a period of months through time-lapse, stop-motion, and long takes, it depicts an untamed yard (McCollum's) living and dying. (10 minute short film)

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Visit POV Film Website

Standing Silent Nation
by Suree Towfighnia and Courtney Hermann

What does a family have to endure to create a future for itself? In April 2000, Alex White Plume and his Lakota family planted industrial hemp on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota after other crops had failed. They put their hopes for a sustainable economy in hemp's hardiness and a booming worldwide demand for its many products, from clothing to food. Although growing hemp, a relative of marijuana, was banned in the U.S., Alex believed that tribal sovereignty, along with hemp's non-psychoactive properties, would protect him. But when federal agents raided the White Plumes' fields, the Lakota Nation was swept into a Byzantine struggle over tribal sovereignty, economic rights and common sense. A co-presentation of Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT).

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Sweetgrass
by Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor

Sweetgrass presents a riveting and poetic portrait of the American West just as one of its traditional ways of life dies out. Shot amidst the grandeur of Montana’s Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, the film follows the last modern-day cowboys to lead their flocks of sheep up into the breathtaking and often dangerous mountains for summer pasture. Magnificently photographed and unsparingly candid, Sweetgrass discovers a world of harsh beauty and arduous labor, where humans still work in rugged intimacy with nature. (90 minutes)

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Up the Yangtze
by Yung Chang

Nearing completion, China's massive Three Gorges Dam is altering the landscape and the lives of people living along the fabled Yangtze River. Countless ancient villages and historic locales will be submerged, and 2 million people will lose their homes and livelihoods. The Yu family desperately seeks a reprieve by sending their 16-year-old daughter to work in the cruise ship industry that has sprung up to give tourists a last glimpse of the legendary river valley. With cinematic sweep, "Up the Yangtze" explores lives transformed by the biggest hydroelectric dam in history, a hotly contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle. An Official Selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. An EyeSteelFilm/National Film Board of Canada production in association with American Documentary | POV A co-presentation with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

FILMS FROM THE ARCHIVE

Films that are currently unavailable in our free lending library but that we recommend for group and classroom screenings.

Arctic Son
by Andrew Walton

In "Arctic Son," the clash of tradition and modernity puts a Native father and son at odds in the remote village of Old Crow, 80 miles above the Arctic Circle. Stanley Jr., raised in Seattle, is drifting deeper into drinking and partying. Stanley Sr., a distant, philosophical figure to his son, keeps the ways of his Gwitchin ancestors alive by hunting, fishing and living by his wits in the harsh arctic environment. After a lifetime apart, the two are reunited in the raw, quiet beauty of the Canadian Yukon in a story that captures the dialogue between a father and son from vastly different worlds.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

The Chances of the World Changing
by Eric Daniel Metzgar and Nell Carden Grey

A decade ago, after an epiphany at a New York restaurant, Richard Ogust began dedicating his time and resources to rescuing endangered turtles — confiscating hundreds bound for Southeast Asian food markets. When the filmmakers catch up with the 50-year-old writer, he is sharing his Manhattan loft with 1,200 turtles, including five species extinct in the wild. But his growing "ark" and preservation efforts are threatening to exhaust him, both mentally and financially. With luminous images and a haunting musical score, "The Chances of the World Changing" documents two years in the life of a man who finds himself struggling to save hundreds of lives, including his own.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Fenceline: A Company Town Divided
by Slawomir Grünberg with Jane Greenberg

Norco, Louisiana is a true company town. Named after a refinery now owned by Shell Oil, Norco is home to two distinct communities — one black and one white. Though separated by mere blocks, their realities are worlds apart. Nowhere is this clearer than in each community's response to possible links between the company's activities and the townspeople's illnesses. African-American residents who believe pollution is increasing as their health goes downhill demand to be relocated, led by the indefatigable Margie Richard. The white neighborhoods, largely home to employees of Norco, see no problems, and neither does the company. A modern David and Goliath story, "Fenceline" shows how one small community and one big corporation struggle to come to terms. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) (TBD) Co-presentation.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

The Fire Next Time
by Patrice O'Neill

The people of the Flathead Valley in Montana were stunned when a domestic terror cell's plot to kill local leaders was uncovered. Ex-cop Brenda Kitterman and environmentalist Mike Raiman wanted to do something to address the local tensions, but the community was torn. Many residents were losing their jobs in timber and mining, and blamed environmentalists. Adding fuel to the fire was a radio talk show host who declared environmentalists "an enemy... to be annihilated." Over a stormy two-year period, "The Fire Next Time" follows a deeply divided group of Montana citizens caught in a web of conflicts intensified by rapid growth and the power of talk radio. A co-presentation with the Independent Television Service (ITVS).

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Food, Inc.
by Robert Kenner

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli — the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults. Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser ("Fast Food Nation"), Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore's Dilemma") along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farms' Gary Hirschberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising — and often shocking truths — about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here. If you're interested in hosting a public screening of Food, Inc., we've negotiated a reduced license rate through Swank Motion Pictures. Please call (800) 876-5577 or email Donna Call at dcall[at]swank.com for more information. Be sure to ask for the special POV rate!

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Lesson Plan

Libby, Montana
by Drury Gunn Carr and Doug Hawes-Davis

Nestled below the rugged peaks of the Northern Rockies in Montana — as iconic a representation of America's "purple mountain majesties" as one can find — lies the worst case of community-wide exposure to a toxic substance in U.S. history. In the small town of Libby, many hundreds of people are sick or have already died from asbestos exposure. "Libby, Montana" takes a long working day's journey into a blue-collar community, and finds a different reality — one where the American Dream exacts a terrible price.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Maquilapolis [city of factories]
by Vicky Funari and Sergio De La Torre

Just over the border in Mexico is an area peppered with maquiladoras: massive factories often owned by the world's largest multinational corporations. Carmen and Lourdes work at maquiladoras in Tijuana, where each day they confront labor violations, environmental devastation and urban chaos. In this lyrical documentary, the women reach beyond the daily struggle for survival to organize for change, taking on both the Mexican and U.S. governments and a major television manufacturer. A co-production of the Independent Television Service (ITVS).

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List

The Tailenders
by Adele Horne

Global Recordings Network, founded in Los Angeles in 1939, has produced audio versions of Bible stories in over 5,500 languages, and aims to record in every language on earth. They distribute the recordings, along with ultra-low-tech hand-wind players, in isolated regions and among displaced migrant workers. GRN calls their target audience "the tailenders" because they are the last to be reached by worldwide evangelism. Filmed in the Solomon Islands, Mexico, India and the United States, "The Tailenders" is an unusual filmic essay that examines the missionaries' strategic use of media and the intersection of missionary activity and global capitalism.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Thirst
by Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman

Global corporations are rapidly buying up local water supplies, and communities face losing control of one of their most precious resources. Looking at tensions in Bolivia, India and Stockton, California, "Thirst" reveals how water is becoming the catalyst for explosive community resistance to globalization. Focusing on one of the 21st century's greatest issues, this film is a piercing look at the conflict between public stewardship and private profit, where activists claim that water is a human right and corporations declare it a commodity.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

TOP OF PAGE