Friday Evening Films

It is happening all across America-rural landowners wake up one day to find a lucrative offer from an energy company wanting to lease their property. Reason? The company hopes to tap into a reservoir dubbed the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas.” Halliburton developed a way to get the gas out of the ground-a hydraulic drilling [...]

It’s not just ‘Old MacDonald’ on the farm anymore. Across the U.S. there’s a growing movement of educated young people leaving the cities to take up an agrarian life. Armed with college degrees, some are unable to find jobs in the current economic slump. Fed up with corporate America and its influence on a broken [...]

The world’s nuclear power plants have generated an estimated 300,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste that must be safely stored for 100,000 years or more. Every year, they generate another 12,000 metric tons of high-level waste. Into Eternity is the first feature documentary to explore the mind-boggling scientific and philosophical questions long-term nuclear waste storage [...]

The fight for the last great mountain in America’s heartland pits a mining giant that wants to explode it for its coal against local families fighting to preserve their mountain, their heritage and their futures. The mining and burning of coal is at the epicenter of America’s struggle to balance its energy needs and environmental [...]

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 [...]

Monarch was the last grizzly bear to be caught alive in California. He died inside of his cage in Golden Gate Park in 1911 and has been on display at the California Academy of Sciences ever since.  In 1952, his stuffed and mounted body served as the model for a remake of the California State [...]

The Naked Option reveals the inspiring story of an organized group of Nigerian women who use the threat of stripping naked in public, a serious cultural taboo, in their deadly struggle to hold the oil companies accountable to the communities in which they operate. The women, at the risk of being raped, beaten or killed, [...]

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 [...]

Over the past century more than 45,000 large dams have redefined the course and health of the planet’s rivers with disastrous impacts. Chile is now on the verge of building 5 hydro-electric dams in the heart of Patagonia. Tracing the Baker River from ice to ocean, Patagonia Rising brings voice to the frontier people caught [...]

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 [...]

Portrait of a Winemaker: John Williams of Frog’s Leap takes a look at this pioneering Napa, California winemaker and his dry farming techniques which increase his soil’s fertility and capacity for water retention, as well as produce more flavorful wines. Water scarcity is one of the major issues facing the world today and this farming [...]

From the Oscar-winning team behind MAN ON WIRE comes the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who in the 1970s became the focus of a landmark experiment which aimed to show that an ape could learn to communicate with language if raised and nurtured like a human child. Following Nim’s extraordinary journey through human society, and [...]

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 [...]

“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.

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 [...]

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 [...]

In TRUDELL, filmmaker Heather Rae presents the engaging life story of Native American poet-prophet-activist John Trudell and his heartfelt message of active, personal responsibility to the earth, all of it’s inhabitants, and our descendents. 2006 Honorable Mention.

“An hour of utterly compelling viewing that will have you in agonizing, nail-biting anticipation.” -Spoke Magazine The Way Bobby Sees It is a gripping documentary about Bobby McMullen, a competitive mountain biker on a mission to race the most demanding downhill course in the country. Adding to the difficulty: Bobby is BLIND. With the help [...]

  WE STILL LIVE HERE (Âs Nutayuneân) tells a remarkable story of cultural revival by the Wampanoag of Southeastern Massachusetts. Their ancestors ensured the survival of the first English settlers in America, and lived to regret it. Now they are bringing their language home again. The story begins in 1994 when Jessie Little Doe, an [...]

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 [...]

Fly fisherman Bruce McGlenn and Elwha Klallam Tribal member Robert Elofson describe the anticipation building for the largest dam removal project in history on the Elwha River in Washington. Set on a beautiful summer evening, McGlenn sets out in search of Elwha trout trapped between the two soon-to-be-removed 100-year-old dams.