Films On Tour

If your beloved ski hill ran out of money and had no choice but to close, what would you do? With time running out for majestic Shames Mountain in Northern BC, local skiers from Terrace, Prince Rupert, and Kitimat have decided to take matters into their own hands and buy the ski hill as a [...]

High in the Canadian Arctic, five friends venture to the frozen fjords of Northwest Baffin Island during spring time. Ancient and colossal, these branching hallways of rock are the domain of seals and polar bears, and relied upon by local Inuit hunters. For visiting skiers, the fjords are nothing short of a dream. In every [...]

A Skier’s Journey EP3 is a road trip through some of Argentina’s lesser known ski locations, covering nearly 4000km down the windswept spine of the seemingly endless Andes mountain range. Chad Sayers, joined in part by local skier Maximilliano Artoni, explores desert and pampas, Cohiue and Auracaria, pumice and ash, cardboard and blower, sunshine and [...]

The Moapa River Indian Reservation, tribal home of the Moapa Band of Paiutes, sits about 30 miles north of Las Vegas and about 300 yards from the coal ash ponds and landfills of the Reid Gardner Power Station. Coal ash is the toxic ash and sludge left at the end of the coal burning process. [...]

“Bhutan: Land of the Black-necked Crane” takes viewers on an exotic Journey to the small Buddhist kingdom high in the Himalayan mountains. See how a benevolent king promotes Gross Domestic Happiness for his citizens while fostering respect for the environment and natural resources. Travel with George Archibald co-founder of the International Crane Foundation to see [...]

Six beautiful films highlight the activism of The Earth Island Institute’s 2011 Brower Youth Award winners, today’s most visionary and strategic young environmentalists. Inspired by a community service trips to post-Katrina New Orleans, Alex Epstein co-founded New York 2 New Orleans Coalition, an network of New York City high school students mobilizing around the parallel [...]

Junior Walk lives in one of many coal-dependent communities of West Virginia, where criticizing the coal industry can be grounds for ostracism. But Junior, who was mentored by the late anti-strip-mining activist Judy Bonds, continues to challenge Big Coal’s power in Appalachia. He was a keynote speaker at the 2011 PowerShift conference in Washington, DC, [...]

Kyle Thiermann isn’t all about surfing — though the sport is a huge part of his life and his inspiration. His five-part video series, called Surfing for Change, urges people to make small adjustments in their daily actions to help save the environment. The videos have produced tangible results: Thousands of viewers have transferred $340 [...]

A desire to earn a Girl Scouts award led Rhiannon Tomtishen and Madison Vorva to something much larger. The two friends created Project ORANG (Orangutans Really Appreciate and Need Girls Scouts) in 2007 to earn their award. Then they discovered that the Girl Scouts’ iconic cookies contain palm oil, and that palm oil plantations are [...]

In a city plagued by high crime and industrial pollution, Tania Pulido runs a community garden that’s more than just a place to grow food. The Berryland garden in the Iron Triangle neighborhood of Richmond, CA, is also a space where local youth can take summer apprenticeships and learn about issues like climate change and [...]

Making environmental education fun and engaging for young folks is Victor Davila’s passion. Which is why he set up EcoRyders, a series of summer workshops that combine environmental and health education with skateboarding. Workshop participants build their own skateboards and learn about pressing environmental issues in their community. EcoRyders offers a way to tackle both [...]

Follow the Colorado River, source to sea, with photographer Pete McBride who takes an intimate look at the watershed as he attempts to follow the irrigation water that sustains his family’s Colorado ranch, down river to the sea. Traversing 1500 miles and draining seven states, the Colorado River supports over 30 million people across the [...]

Chimaera is a utopia. A dream or fantasy. Mythologically, it references a fusion of forms that is the personification of winter. By slowing down our perception of reality we get a unique look at a skier’s life.

For the past 26 years 16 expeditions have tried and failed to climb one of Pakistan’s 8,000 meter peaks in winter. On February 2, 2011 Simone Moro, Denis Urubko and Cory Richards became the first. Cory is now the only American to summit any 8,000 meter peak in winter. The journey nearly killed them. Cory [...]

Follow two National Geographic Adventurers of the Year on a 520-mile trek through one of the Northern Rockies’ premiere wildlife corridors. The two hikers traverse the Yellowstone to Frank Church region, paying particular attention to large carnivores and the challenges they face as they journey between these two ecosystem ‘gems.’

Amid the tangle of commuter traffic, shopping malls and office buildings that define life inside the beltway rests a one-acre piece of farmland under the care of 89-year-old Charlie Koiner. With the help of his only daughter, Charlie continues to work his land, share his produce, and enjoy the farm life he’s always known. Corner [...]

  2011 was an historic year for rivers.  The two dam removal projects that began as “crazy ideas” 30 years ago kicked off this year on the Elwha and White Salmon Rivers in Washington. These dam removal projects are the largest in history and represent a turning point in the effort to restore freeflowing rivers [...]

Dark Side of the Lens is one mans personal and heartfelt account of life as an ocean based photographer. This short film takes you on an eerie, stunning and moving journey amongst the epic oceanic grandeur of Irelands west coast. Renowned documentarian of the heavy salt, Mickey Smith, has succeeded in creating a visual poem [...]

Carol Judy, who lives deep in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee, has a very special connection to the mountains. Carol digs ginseng, goldenseal, and other medicinal roots from special spots in the mountains that she knows and loves. Now, due to mountaintop removal coal mining, her ancestral mountains are threatened. About the People Power series: [...]

A short documentary vignette celebrating nature’s cycles, contentedness, and the last man on the east coast who still fishes for eels using an ancient stone weir. Narrated by artist and author, James Prosek.

For the past 12 years, Club Náutico Escualo, a youth kayak club in the remote Patagonian town of Cochrane, Chile has taught kids between the ages of 4 and 18 to kayak on the emerald waters of the nearby Baker River. In the process the club has fostered integrity, community, and love for the environment. [...]

Jen Slotterback was hiking in her favorite park when she found signs of surveying for industrial gas drilling, or fracking. She went home and told her husband Jim, and although the two had never been actively involved in the issue of gas drilling, they immediately began a campaign to save the park. The board that [...]

“Gloop” is a dark fairytale that follows the meteoric rise of plastic from its inception in Leo’s gloomy laboratory 100 years ago. Told like a Brother’s Grimm fable, “Gloop” offers a poignant and lasting message about the price we pay for the convenience of plastic.

There are few paddlers in the world that can match experience and knowledge of Nappy Napoleon. If there were degrees in paddling, he has the highest doctorate. “I Just Love to Paddle” is a story of a man who lives, loves, practices, teaches and perpetuates an ancient tradition in the contemporary world. There are many [...]

An immersive, animated documentary taking you into the heart of the Ecuadorian rainforest. A child’s eye view of a life changing expedition by their teacher, Mrs Jones and their joint mission to preserve these vital forests. Pupils at Bricknell Primary School collaborated with animator David Bunting and local campaigning organisation, One Hull on Rainforest to [...]

An out of the box environmental thriller, “Ice” aims to promote a message of climate change awareness by using the cinematic medium for whats its best at, affecting people at an emotional level. The film adopts a thriller style narrative, keeping the audience guessing until the very end.

After more than a decade exploring Central Africa, Hendri Coetzee is a modern legend of African exploration. Solo on the Congo River in 2009, Hendri received an email from American expedition kayaker Ben Stookesberry. “It would be ludicrous,” Hendri said, “to take an American who you don’t know, and who has never been to Africa, [...]

Karate Masters Jacky and Dora King are also Master Gardeners. They see farming as a means of self defense. They also see farming as a way to revitalize Flint. They sell the fruits, vegetables and eggs they harvest. When the Kings grow food, they also grow hope.

The film documents a foundation’s project to light up a poor neighborhood through the efforts of a local man who works for them. He becomes a beacon of hope to his community when he installs hundreds of solar-powered light bulbs in his neighbor’s houses. The clever device is made from old plastic soda bottles filled [...]

This trailer is about Bobby McMullen but not from the actual short film Look to the Ground. Look to the Ground is a snapshot of the inspiring story of Bobby McMullen, an extreme athlete who is legally blind, and who has worked against the odds to become a top mountain bike downhiller. Imagine riding your [...]

This is the parallel journey of two characters: one a young woman discouraged at her future as a suburban housewife, the other a river — one beautiful and teeming with wildlife — now a hopeless, toxic sludge pit. Chronicling an important episode in U.S. environmental history, this inspirational story examines the human side of acclaimed [...]

The Salt Creek Tiger Beetle may be extinct by the time you’re reading this. With a few hundred individuals left, (all within the city limits of Lincoln, Nebraska), ‘Meet the Beetle’ follows the trials and tribulations of this tiny insect that’s riled up a community. Injected with surprising musical sequences this documentary explores the importance [...]

What does a beauty pageant in Suva, Fiji have to do with climate change? Quite a lot, as it turns out. ‘Miss South Pacific: Beauty and the Sea’ is a short documentary film about the 2009-2010 Miss South Pacific Pageant that brought contestants, or Queens, from all the major Pacific Island Nations to compete in [...]

Mono Lake is one of the most beautiful and productive lakes on the planet, yet excessive water diversions by the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power threatened its ecosystem. A passionate grassroots campaign came to Mono Lake’s defense and through a monumental struggle, won its protection. The course of this historic effort transformed water [...]

MOTHER NATURE’S CHILD calls us to consider the future of that which we hold most dear: the health and well-being of our children. Visually rich, inflected with humor and the unexpected, the film examines the benefits of unstructured outdoor play, risk-taking, urban connection with nature, healthy rites of passage, the use of technology, and what [...]

Texas: An entrepreneur returns home to his environmentally damaged coastal community to fight an ominous source of major industrial pollution. “The New Environmentalists” share a common goal – safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution, while fighting for justice in their communities. The film is the latest in the Mill Valley Film Group’s [...]

Indonesia : A charismatic teacher leads the cleanup of the Surabaya River from a flood of industrial chemicals and sewage that are causing severe health issues for local people. “The New Environmentalists” share a common goal – safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution, while fighting for justice in their communities. The film is [...]

Germany: Community activists respond to the Chernobyl nuclear accident by creating the country’s first successful, cooperatively owned, renewable power company. “The New Environmentalists” share a common goal – safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution, while fighting for justice in their communities. The film is the latest in the Mill Valley Film Group’s Emmy [...]

Zimbabwe: When the rhino population in his homeland is threatened by heavily armed poachers, a visionary bush pilot moves the animals hundreds of miles to safety. “The New Environmentalists” share a common goal – safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution, while fighting for justice in their communities. The film is the latest in [...]

Russia: On an island off the coast of Siberia, a dedicated activist fights to protect endangered wildlife and the region’s biodiversity from oil and gas development. “The New Environmentalists” share a common goal – safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution, while fighting for justice in their communities. The film is the latest in [...]

El Salvador: Courageous farmers paid with their lives as they stood up against a transnational gold mining corporation to protect their fragile water resources. “The New Environmentalists” share a common goal – safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution, while fighting for justice in their communities. The film is the latest in the Mill [...]

Part 3: Iowa & the Gulf of Mexico discusses the Mississippi Delta—terminus of America’s mightiest river, nursery of one of the nation’s premier fisheries, and lately an unfortunate poster child for ecological disaster—is getting help from an unlikely team of people, in an unlikely place. More than a thousand miles upstream, in the cornfields of [...]

Part 4 of Ocean Frontiers follows the fishing community of Port Orford, which is taking control of their destiny, by conducting their own brand of conservation. They are protecting ocean habitat and conducting local science projects to sustain their fishing quotas, as well as protecting upstream forests to save their salmon—a farsighted perspective that considers their [...]

Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang have been collecting plastic debris off one beach in Northern California for over ten years. Each piece of plastic Richard and Judith pick up comes back to their house, where it gets cleaned, categorized and stored before being used for their art. The couple make sculptures, prints, jewelry and [...]

The cornfield – just an area for producing food … or a land full of secrets? In the western industrial nations cornfields and woods take up the greatest proportion of rural land. But how much natural life dwells in a cornfield? Why are some inhabitants harmful and others useful and what do the colourful flowers [...]

The bald eagle was once an important avian predator in the Channel Islands, a group of islands just off the coast of Southern California. Then in the early 60¹s the bald eagles disappeared due to egg collecting, hunting, and DDT contamination. This short film chronicles how a dedicated team of biologists and their partners has [...]

During the 2009 Isles of Scilly Earth Summit, Nice and Serious produced a short documentary to demonstrate how real people from Island Nations are being directly effected by the impacts of climate change. This short film steps away from the conventional scientific look at the impacts of climate change and instead, showcases a real, emotional [...]

“Rivers are life” is the unifying theme motivating activists in the global movement to protect rivers from the ravages of big dams. A River Runs Through Us offers a personal and hopeful introduction to one of the biggest threats facing many rivers today, as told by the people at the forefront of the global dam-fighting [...]

Deep canyons with steep, spring fed creeks, make White Salmon, Washington a paddling paradise. This Autumn we caught up with White Salmon local Kate Wagner during a soul-session outside of her hometown.

As the snow melts and makes it way to the ocean, Jesse Murphy becomes reinvigorated by the river.

Brian Ward discovers an unexpected and new-found love for water in its frozen and expanded form.

Second Nature: The Biomimicry Evolution explores biomimicry, the science of emulating nature’s best ideas to solve human problems. Set in South Africa, the film follows Time magazine “Hero of the Environment” Janine Benyus as she illustrates how organisms in nature can teach us to be more sustainable engineers, chemists, architects, and business leaders. After 3.8 [...]

The United States isn’t broke; we’re the richest country on the planet, and a country where the richest among us are doing exceptionally well. But the truth is, our economy is broken, producing more pollution, greenhouse gasses and garbage than any other country. In these and so many other ways, it just isn’t working. But [...]

“The Story of Citizens United v. FEC: Why Democracy Only Works When People Are in Charge” explores the history of the American corporation and corporate political spending, the appropriate roles of citizens and for-profit corporations in a democracy, and the toxic impact the Citizens United decision is already having on our political process. It ends [...]

I used MY natural resources to make a film about OUR natural resources! This short animated film uses the trimming of a beard to make a point about irresponsible usage of everything the Earth has to offer.

Follow climbers Mark Synnott, Alex Honnold and James Pearson as they travel across the roadless, windswept deserts of northeastern Chad. Basing their expedition on nothing more than a few photographs and rumors of a promised land with countless unclimbed sandstone towers, Mark’s insatiable thirst for adventure and first ascents leads the small crew deep into [...]

From a young age, Steve McGreevy was fascinated by the natural world and by amateur radio. When he discovered that nature produced its own radio signals, he began a quest to capture these sounds – a quest that has taken him to the most remote parts of the continent. Sometimes called the ‘Music of the [...]

One man’s obsession to do his part for the environment using weed-eating goats to control noxious invaders in the Rocky Mountains. A profile on Mark Harbaugh, Patagonia fly fishing rep and goat rancher.

“White Water, Black Gold’ follows David Lavallee on his three year journey across western Canada in search of the truth about the impact of the world’s thirstiest oil industry. This is a journey of jarring contrasts, from the pristine mountain icefields that are the source of this industry’s water, to the Tar Sands tailings ponds. [...]

For Fred, a health worker in Zambia, the bicycle is a means of reaching twice as many patients. For Bharati, a teenager in India, it provides access to education. For Mirriam, a disabled Ghanaian woman, working on bicycles is an escape from the stigma attached to disabled people in her community. For Carlos, a farmer [...]

Journeying to an unexplored granite canyon on the border of China and Mongolia, Collins finds not only adventure with friends and the local nomads, but a moment of reflection. From that moment comes a letter home to his four year old son. This letter becomes the script for a film, as we see an intimate [...]

Technology can be addictive. In a tribute to Allen Ginsberg’s classic 1956 poem, we created a short film lampooning the addictions of our generation.