Breaking Down our 2023 Film Festival Programs

Our opening night films examine sea-level rise through two distinct and complementary stories. Inundation District focuses on developers’ decisions to ignore climate change, spending billions of dollars to build a new waterfront district in Boston on landfill that is already struggling with flooding and may soon be underwater. House of Adaptation chronicles the construction of the headquarters for the Global Center on Adaptation, a floating office building that will rise along with the seas.

Sea-level rise is a well-known and far-reaching result of climate change that is predicted to get a lot worse in the coming decades.

Not only are sea levels rising; the rate of their rise is accelerating. While global sea-level is currently rising by about .13 inches (3.2mm) per year, the seas are predicted to rise a full foot (30.48 cm) by 2050. That’s as much sea-level rise in the next 30 years that has occurred over the last 100 years.

150 million people are currently living on land that will be below water by mid-century. Many coastal cities are at risk of inundation. Miami, Venice, Jakarta, Mumbai, Bangkok, Rotterdam, Alexandria, and New Orleans, are just some of the cities at highest risk.

Island nations including the Maldives, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Kiribati may be uninhabitable by 2100, creating 600,000 climate refugees.

Sea-level rise isn’t just caused by melting glaciers and ice sheets. Thermal expansion plays a significant role. The oceans have absorbed 90 percent of the heat from greenhouse gasses. When water gets warmer, it expands in volume. About half of the sea-level rise we’ve experienced over the past 25 years has been attributed to this warmer water taking up more space.

Our opening night films will illuminate the issue of sea-level rise and make clear that this is something we cannot ignore and must seriously consider when planning for the future.

Indigenuity

Our Saturday afternoon screening showcases Indigenous wisdom through six short films spanning in scope from river paddling and salmon restoration to reflections on global responsibility and our relationship with water.

Since time immemorial, Indigenous peoples have been protectors of the environment, respecting wildlife and utilizing traditional knowledge to live in harmony with the land and surrounding waters.

Today, 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity exists on land inhabited by Indigenous peoples, despite the fact that Indigenous lands make up only around 20% of the Earth's territory - a clear indication that Indigenous peoples are the most effective protectors of the environment.

Safeguarding biodiversity is key to addressing the climate crisis, as intact natural communities are major carbon sinks. Indigenous knowledge has allowed ecosystems to thrive for millennia and it is integral to solving the world's tandem biodiversity and climate crises.

Join us on Saturday afternoon to watch Bringing the Salmon Home, Ancestral Rivers, Paddle Tribal Waters, 8 Billions: We are All Responsible, Echoes of the Rio, and Samqwan: Water – all films showcasing valuable knowledge and examples of Indigenuity.  

You’re Simply the Best: Climate Film Awards

Saturday evening features our 2023 Climate Film Awards presentations with screenings of this year’s Best Feature Film, Flyways by Randall Wood and Best Short Film, Hell and Highwater by Jeremy Williams.

The conditions that underpin biodiversity are threatened by climate change. The effects are already being felt by animals around the world.

As the Earth gets warmer, we are seeing significant shifts in the migratory patterns and distribution of species. Fish, particularly large ones, are moving further toward the poles. They do this because warmer water has less oxygen, making it difficult for fish to breathe unless they can move to areas with more suitable temperatures.

Climate change is also affecting migratory birds, as the film Flyways makes evident. While following the journey of wayfaring shorebirds, the documentary reveals that these birds face a litany of other human-induced threats, including habitat loss and diminished availability of food.

Shorebirds are highly threatened. Some of the species featured in Flyways only have 200 breeding pairs remaining in the world. The film captures their beauty with gorgeous cinematography, while taking viewers on a globe-spanning journey that follows the birds and the researchers who study them.

We’re confident Flyways will provide a new appreciation for the athleticism involved in migration, while inspiring positive action to protect these vulnerable shorebirds.  

Our Best Short Film, Hell and Highwater, raises questions about the 2021 fire in Lytton, BC. The film sheds light on the ongoing colonialism that affects Indigenous communities, and the ways that climate change exacerbates the already challenging situations facing these often remote communities.

Fires and floods have always been a part of nature, but as the climate heats up, they are becoming larger, more frequent, and more severe, as substantiated by the plethora of wildfires that burned in the Canadian Boreal Forest this past spring and summer.

Canada's 2023 wildfire season was the most destructive ever recorded, with 16.5 million hectares of land affected by more than 6,000 fires.

Each of our Best Films draws attention to the urgent need to address climate change with their compelling imagery and masterful storytelling. Come and see these films and get inspired to take climate action now!

Climate Action Now!

Our Sunday afternoon film screening block brings a focus to the Great Lakes, examining the ways freshwater systems are at risk of becoming toxic. The Erie Situation focuses specifically on Lake Erie as an example of what can happen when environmental concerns are ignored.

Toxic algae blooms have plagued the lake for years and agricultural pollution is at the root of the problem. Harmful algae blooms have been attributed primarily to phosphorus runoff from fertilizer and manure from large factory farms.

The blooms of cyanobacteria can release toxins including microcystins, which damage the liver, and BMAA, which may cause neurodegenerative illness. The green sludge that accumulates across the surface of the lake presents a risk to the humans and animals who come into contact with it.

Severe blooms can suffocate the lake, creating a “dead zone” that lacks oxygen and can decimate fish populations.

Lake Erie is one of the largest and most important freshwater ecosystems in the world. Canadians depend upon the lake for drinking water, food production, recreation, livelihoods, and spiritual connection.

As The Erie Situation highlights, communities are coming together in an effort to protect the lake. And while it’s clear that current agricultural practices are driving the problem, regenerative agriculture could play an important role in the solution.

Like many environmental problems, harmful algae blooms are being exacerbated by climate change. That’s why this screening session, as part of our larger project #LaterNoMore: Activating Climate Solutions Now!, seeks to promote Climate Action Now! We are bringing together an impressive panel of experts for a Community Town Hall discussion to get everyone thinking about positive solutions to the climate crisis and inspiring individual and local action.