2017 Films A-Z
Jared P. Scott/2016/80 min/Climate Change
Saturday, March 4, 3 p.m. [North]
Institute of Cultural Affairs, Chicago
SOLD OUT!
Sunday, March 5, 6 p.m. [Downtown]
Old St. Patrick's Church, Chicago
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: The Age of Consequences investigates the impacts of climate change on increased resource scarcity, migration, and conflict through the lens of US national security and global stability.
Through unflinching case-study analysis, distinguished admirals, generals and military veterans take us beyond the headlines of the conflict in Syria, the social unrest of the Arab Spring, the rise of radicalized groups like ISIS.
John Papola and Lisa Versaci/2016/90 min/Food-Agriculture
Saturday, March 4, 2:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
FILM DESCRIPTION: Filmmaker and omnivore John Papola, together with his vegetarian wife Lisa, offer up a timely and refreshingly unbiased look at how farm animals are raised for our consumption. With unprecedented access to large-scale conventional farms, Papola asks the tough questions behind every hamburger, glass of milk and baby-back rib. What he discovers are not heartless industrialists, but America’s farmers — real people who, along with him, are grappling with the moral dimensions of farming animals for food.
Fisher Stevens/2016/93 min/Climate Change
Sunday, March 5, 12:30 p.m. [South][VR]
St. Benedict the African-East, Chicago
Saturday, March 11, 6:30 p.m. [Lake Cnty]
College of Lake County, Grayslake
ENGLISH SOUNDTRACK WITH SPANISH SUBTITLES: If you could know the truth about the threat of climate change — would you want to know? Before the Flood, presented by National Geographic, features Leonardo DiCaprio on a journey as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, traveling to five continents and the Arctic to witness climate change firsthand. He goes on expeditions with scientists uncovering the reality of climate change and meets with political leaders fighting against inaction.
Delila Vallot/2015/84 min/Food-Agriculture
Saturday, March 4, 3 p.m. [West]
Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago
Tuesday, March 7, 7 p.m. [South]
St. Paul & the Redeemer Church, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: South Los Angeles. What comes to mind is gangs, drugs, liquor stores, abandoned buildings and vacant lots. The last thing that you would expect to find is a beautiful garden sprouting up through the concrete, coloring the urban landscape. Calling for people to put down their guns and pick up their shovels, these "gangster gardeners" are creating an oasis in the middle of one of the most notoriously dangerous places in America.
Forest Preserves of Cook County + WYCC PBS Chicago +Juneteenth Productions/2016/21 or 60 min/Conservation
SOLD OUT!
Saturday, March 11, 11 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest
Sunday, March 12, 1 p.m. [South]
St. James Church, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: Like many natural wonders, the Forest Preserves are “hidden in plain sight.” While the Preserves are well-known for family parties and cook-outs, many are unaware of its vast biodiversity – the flora and fauna of the urban preserves and the diversity of native plants that struggle to flourish against invasive species. Chicago’s True Nature takes viewers beyond the picnic groves and introduces them to the nearby wonders of nature.
SOLD OUT!
Sunday, March 12, 3 to 5 p.m. [West]
Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago
The Closing Celebration for the 6th Annual One Earth Film Festival. Arrive early, beginning at 2 p.m., to see the short virtual reality film "Under the Canopy," provided by Conservation International. Enjoy food, drink, mingling and brief program.
Don't miss the chance to reminisce with friends about the films you saw and the ideas that changed your life for the better. Connect with others who want to do their part to make a habitable and healthy world for the next generation.
Suree Towfighnia/2015/57 min/Water
Tuesday, March 7, 7 p.m. [Dupage County]
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn
ENGLISH SOUNDTRACK WITH SPANISH SUBTITLES: When Debra White Plume’s drinking water tests high for radiation, she sets out to determine the cause. What she finds alarms her. A nearby uranium mining operation is extracting ore from deep in the ground by tapping the High Plains/Ogllala Aquifer, a huge underground cache of water covering 174,000 square miles from Texas to South Dakota which supplies drinking water to 82 percent of the people who live within the aquifer boundary. The mine's planned expansion further threatens the aquifer.
Ernesto Cabellos/2015/52 min/People-Culture
Saturday, March 4, 12 p.m. [Pilsen]
Lincoln United Methodist Church, Chicago
SPANISH SOUNDTRACK WITH ENGLISH SUSBTITLES. At the height of the Peruvian gold rush, Nelida, an Andean woman able to communicate with water spirits, uses her powers to prevent a mining corporation from destroying the body of water she considers her mother. A gold deposit valued at billions of dollars lies just beneath Nelida’s lakes and leads farmers and Latin America’s biggest gold producer into conflict.
Sue Williams/2016/74 min/Waste
Wednesday, March 8, 7 p.m. [North]
Northwestern University, Evanston
Thursday, March 9, 7 p.m. [Dupage County]
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn
FILM DESCRIPTION: In an investigation that spans the globe, filmmaker Sue Williams investigates the underbelly of the electronics industry and reveals how even the smallest devices have deadly environmental and health costs. Death by Design tells a story of environmental degradation, of health tragedies, and the fast approaching tipping point between consumerism and sustainability.
Jeremy Seifert/2009/53 min/Waste
SOLD OUT!
VIEW AND BREW [Downtown]
Sunday, March 12, 12:30 p.m.
Haymarket Pub & Brewery, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: Inspired by a curiosity about our country's careless habit of sending food straight to landfills, the multi award-winning documentary DIVE! follows filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and friends as they dumpster dive in the back alleys and gated garbage receptacles of Los Angeles' supermarkets. In the process, they salvage thousands of dollars worth of good, edible food - resulting in an inspiring documentary that is equal parts entertainment, guerilla journalism and call to action.
Saturday, March 4, 9:30 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
Habitats! Join us for a morning of sing a-longs about animals in their habitats, plus short films Slugs and Bugs, and Kid of the Wild. Families will learn about opportunities for connecting with local nature through Go Green Oak Park, The Frog Lady (who will bring her reptile friends), the Park District of Oak Park/Austin Gardens Nature Center, and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County's Trailside Museum. Light refreshments will be served.
Saturday, March 4, 10:30 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
Join us for a screening of Stories of Trust: California and Stories of Trust: Arizona, featuring remarkable plaintiffs from the first-ever landmark US climate youth lawsuit. Families and youth will learn about opportunities for connecting with local nature through Go Green Oak Park, The Frog Lady (who will bring her reptile friends), the Park District of Oak Park/Austin Gardens Nature Center, and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County's Trailside Museum. An optional game called Scorpion Touch will be on offer. Light refreshments will be served.
Leo Horrigan and Mike Milli/2016/36 min/Food-Agriculture
Wednesday, March 8, 7 p.m. [South]
Harper Theater, Chicago
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Food Frontiers showcases six projects from around the United States that are increasing access to healthy food in varied ways – from a pioneering farm-to-school project to creative supermarket financing to cooking classes in a doctor’s office and a teen-managed grocery store.
Gwendolen Cates/2016/66 min/Social Justice
Saturday, March 4, 3 p.m. [South]
U. of Chicago, Ida Noyes Hall, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: The Onondaga Nation in central New York State is the Central Fire of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy). This sovereign indigenous government, which follows the Great Law of Peace, inspired American democracy. The Onondagas advocate for the environment and share prophecies about climate change, while engaged in a battle with the state over ancestral lands stolen in defiance of a treaty with George Washington.
Friday, March 3, 6 to 9:30 p.m. [Downtown]
Fourth Presbyterian Church, Gratz Center, Chicago
Mingle with like-minded friends who believe in sustainability and creativity. Meet leaders of the environmental movement and filmmaking community. This is a place where ideas and art merge, where people who care about the planet express themselves frankly and elegantly.
Join us for our Sixth Annual Green Carpet Gala at 6 p.m. Friday, March 3, at Fourth Presbyterian Church's sparkling contemporary addition: the LEED-certified Gratz Center. Completed in 2013, this sleek space honors the original, neo-Gothic, 1914 structure via large overlooking windows.
Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette/2013/60 min/Food-Agriculture
Saturday, March 4, 12 p.m. [West]
Chicago Public Library, Austin Branch
FILM DESCRIPTION: Take road trip with the filmmakers to meet the men and women who are challenging the way this country grows and distributes its food, one vacant city lot, rooftop garden, and backyard chicken coop at a time. Join them as they discover that good food isn’t the only crop these urban visionaries are harvesting. Urban farmers are producing stronger and more vibrant communities, too.
Catherine Zimmerman/2016/90 min/Wildlife
Saturday, March 4, 1:30 p.m. [Lake County]
Prairie Crossing School, Grayslake
Saturday, March 4, 2:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Triton College, River Grove
Sunday, March 5, 3:30 p.m. [Downtown]
Peggy Notebaert Museum, Chicago
Monday, March 6, 7 p.m. [Kane County]
Waubonsee Community College, Aurora
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Hometown Habitat features renowned entomologist Dr. Douglas Tallamy, whose research, books and lectures on the use of non-native plants in landscaping, sound the alarm about habitat and species loss. Tallamy provides the narrative thread that challenges the notion that humans are here and nature is someplace else.
Josh Fox/2016/125 min/Climate Change
Thursday, March 2, 7 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Dominican University, River Forest
FILM DESCRIPTION: In How to Let Go of the World and Love All The Things Climate Can't Change, Oscar Nominated director Josh Fox (GASLAND) continues in his deeply personal style, investigating climate change – the greatest threat our world has ever known. Traveling to 12 countries on 6 continents, the film acknowledges that it may be too late to stop some of the worst consequences and asks, what is it that climate change can’t destroy? What is so deep within us that no calamity can take it away?
Matt D'Avella/2016/79 min/Waste
Tuesday, February 21, 7 p.m. [North]
Loyola University, Damen Student Center, Chicago
SOLD OUT!
Saturday, March 4, 7 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Good Earth Greenhouse, River Forest
FILM DESCRIPTION: How might your life be better with less? Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things examines the many flavors of minimalism by taking the audience inside the lives of minimalists from all walks of life—families, entrepreneurs, architects, artists, journalists, scientists, and even a former Wall Street broker—all of whom are striving to live a meaningful life with less
Greg MacGillivray/2016/45 min/Conservation
SOLD OUT!
Sunday, March 5, 3 p.m. [South]
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
A trio of adventurers’ quest to experience America’s wildest, most historic and most naturally beautiful places becomes the ultimate off-trail adventure in National Parks Adventure, narrated by Academy Award® winner Robert Redford. Immersive IMAX® 3D takes audiences soaring up exposed rock faces, hurtling down steep mountain cliffs and exploring other-worldly realms found within America’s most legendary outdoor places. Along the way, the film becomes at once an action-packed celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the U.S. National Park Service and a soulful reflection on what wilderness means to us all.
Daniel Stilling/2015/52 min/Environmental Advocacy
Sunday, March 12, 1 p.m. [South]
St. James Church, Chicago
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Natureplay features the most endangered species in the wild today - our children, and devises ways to save humanity's connection to nature in the next generation. Filmed in Denmark, Norway and Sweden and the USA, Natureplay portrays the Scandinavian method of teaching, living and enjoying nature, juxtaposed with the high stakes testing/high stress Edu culture of "rigor." Featuring Matt Damon.
Guy Reid/2015/42min/Climate Change
SOLD OUT!
Sunday, March 5, 12:30 p.m. [Downtown]
Adler Planetarium, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: Planetary is a provocative and breathtaking wakeup call – a cross continental, cinematic journey, that explores our cosmic origins and our future as a species. It is a poetic and humbling reminder that now is the time to shift our perspective. Planetary asks us to rethink who we really are, to reconsider our relationship with ourselves, each other and the world around us – to remember that we are PLANETARY.
Craig Leeson/2016/100 min/Waste
Friday, March 10, 6:30 p.m.
[Lake County][VR]
College of Lake County, Grayslake
SOLD OUT!
Saturday, March 11, 3 p.m. [Downtown]
Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: In the center of the Pacific Ocean gyre our researchers found more plastic than plankton. A Plastic Ocean documents the newest science, proving how plastics, once they enter the oceans, break up into small particulates that enter the food chain where they attract toxins like a magnet. These toxins are stored in seafood’s fatty tissues, and eventually consumed by us.
Bob Nesson/2014/32 min/Transportation
Wednesday, March 8, 7 p.m. [South]
Harper Theater, Chicago
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: The film portrays the transformative vision and extraordinary efforts of Wenzday Jane, a woman whose mechanical skills and innovative actions are reshaping her community. Wenzday goes to the heart of the sustainability issue by offering solutions, and suggests that things don’t have to be the way they are.
A self-taught innovator and revolutionary community leader, she heads an urban movement to replace trucks with cargo bicycles for local delivery, municipal waste-hauling for the city of Cambridge, and agricultural distribution.
Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz/2016/93 min/Food-Agriculture
Monday, March 6, 6:30 p.m. [North]
North Shore Country Day, Winnetka
FILM DESCRIPTION: In our modern world, seeds are in grave danger. In less than a century of industrial agriculture, our once abundant seed diversity—painstakingly created by ancient farmers and gardeners over countless millennia—has been drastically winnowed down to a handful of mass-produced varieties. Under the spell of industrial “progress” and lust for profit, our quaint family farmsteads have given way to mechanized agribusinesses sowing genetically identical crops on a monstrous scale.
Mark London and Cidney Hue/2012/60 min/Social Justice
Saturday, March 11, 10 a.m. [South]
Harper Theater, Chicago
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: After 30 years of experience in the Amazon, author and lawyer Mark London shares a unique perspective on an issue with global consequences: Can twenty-one million people and the rainforest share the same space? With levels of deforestation approaching the point of no return at an alarming rate, London poses a provocative alternative to the age-old mantra, “Leave the forest untouched.” Learn more at Shark Loves Amazon.
Lee Botts and Pat Wisniewski/2016/57 min/Conservation
Monday, March 6, 7 p.m. [South]
Pullman National Monument Information Center, Chicago
Thursday, March 9, 7 p.m. [West]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
Saturday, March 11, 2:30 p.m.
[Lake County]
Waukegan Public Library, Waukegan
FILM DESCRIPTION: Shifting Sands tells the story of how one region, where rare plants grow in the shadows of smokestacks, sparked a movement for a national park; a movement which eventually led to game-changing environmental policies with worldwide impact and unique partnerships on the path to a more sustainable world.
Pamela Tanner Boll/ 2015/71 min/ People-Culture
Sunday, March 5, 12:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
St. Giles Catholic Church, Oak Park
Sunday, March 5, 3:30p.m. [North]
Wilmette Theatre, Wilmette
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: For the longest time, we’ve been living as though the more we have—the more money, the more goods, the more territory—the happier we’ll be. Surprisingly, over the last fifty years as our standard of living has improved, our happiness has not. A Small Good Thing examines how our ideal of the American Dream has come to the end of its promise. The film tells the stories of people moving away from a philosophy of ‘more is better’ toward a more holistic conception of happiness — one based on a close connection to their bodies and health, to the natural world, and to the greater good.
Michelle Dougherty and Daniel Hinerfield/2016/60 min/Wildlife
SOLD OUT!
Thursday, March 9, 7 p.m. [North]
Institute of Cultural Affairs, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION FROM DISCOVERY.COM: "Sonic Sea travels beneath the ocean's surface to uncover the damaging consequences of increased ocean noise pollution and what can be done to stop it. Narrated by Academy Award-nominated actress Rachel McAdams and featuring interviews with marine ecologists, ocean life experts, and wildlife activists, including Grammy-Award winning musician, human rights and environmental activist Sting, Sonic Sea highlights how noise from a range of man-made sources has affected whales in recent years, including the mass stranding of whales around the planet."
Matt Wechsler/2016/92 min/Food-Agriculture
Saturday, March 4, 10 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Lake Theatre, Oak Park
FILM DESCRIPTION: A vital investigation of the economic and environmental instability of America’s food system, from the agricultural issues we face — soil loss, water depletion, climate change, pesticide use — to the community of leaders who are determined to fix it. Sustainable is a film about the land, the people who work it and what must be done to sustain it for future generations.
Alejandro Ramirez Anderson/2014/60 min/Social Justice
Saturday, March 11, 12 p.m. [Pilsen]
Lincoln United Methodist Church, Pilsen
SPANISH SOUNDTRACK WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES: In the district of Alamar, a 26-acre farming co-op provides employment for dozens of workers, while producing vegetables and medicinal plants for the local community and beyond. What began as necessity—farming without pesticides and chemical fertilizers—has become a source of provision to coop members. They fertilize with compost and cow manure, raise their own insects for biological pest control, and have even created a fully biodegradable alternative to the plastic bag for use with seedlings.
Charles Ferguson/2015/94 min/Climate Change
JUST ADDED
Sunday, March 5, 10 a.m. [Dupage County]
Elmhurst College, Elmhurst
SOLD OUT!
Sunday, March 5, 1 p.m. [Dupage County]
Elmhurst College, Elmhurst
FILM DESCRIPTION: Oscar-winning documentary director Charles Ferguson captures the urgency and innovation of this critical moment in his new film.
Time to Choose also features world-renowned innovators, and thought leaders who point the way to a better world. Dr. Jane Goodall connects climate to the places and animals we love. Governor Jerry Brown urges leaders to join the path to sustainability and Chinese wind and solar manufacturers discuss how they’ve built some of the largest renewable energy installations in the world.
Melanie Laurent and Cyril Dion/2015/115 min/Environmental Advocacy
Sunday, March 5, 2 p.m. [South]
Windsor Park Lutheran Church, Chicago
CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Showing solutions, telling a feel-good story… this may be the best way to solve the ecological, economical and social crises that our countries are going through. After a special briefing for the journal Nature announced the possible extinction of a part of mankind before the end of the 21st century, Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent, together with a team of four people, carried out an investigation in ten different countries to figure out what may lead to this disaster and above all how to avoid it.
Martin Boudot/2016/55 min/Health-Environment
Saturday, March 11, 3 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park
FILM DESCRIPTION: Is our dependence on pesticides harming the health of our children? Every day, children are exposed to up to 130 chemical pollutants from pesticides. All around the world, scientists and doctors are raising the alarm, linking increases in child cancers, birth defects and even the explosion of autism with exposure to chemicals in pesticides.
David Gelber, Joel Bach and more/2016/50 min/Energy
Saturday, March 11, 12 p.m. [West]
Loretto Hospital, Chicago
Saturday, March 11, 3 p.m. [South][VR]
Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago
FILM DESCRIPTION: David Letterman travels to India for the first time to find out what the world’s soon-to-be most populous country is going to do to expand its inadequate energy grid. “Saturday Night Live” cast member Cecily Strong travels to Florida and Nevada to investigate what’s blocking the growth of solar energy in the U.S.
David Gelber, Joel Bach and more/2016/50 min/Energy
Sunday, March 5, 5 p.m. [Lake County]
Christ Episcopal Church, Waukegan
FILM DESCRIPTION: America Ferrera journeys to Waukegan, Illinois, where tension has developed over an active coal plant between those who suffer from health effects and those who depend on it for their livelihood. Sigourney Weaver explores China’s explosive economic growth and the impact it is having on the environment, not only locally but on a massive global scale.
Saturday, March 4, 3 p.m. [Downtown]
Columbia College Chicago, Music Center, Chicago
Join us to see the premier screenings of top films from the Young Filmmakers Contest. Students in grades 3 through college submitted a 3 to 8-minute film about one of six sustainability topics: energy, food, transportation, waste, water. or open space and ecosystems.
Cash prizes will be awarded at the elementary school ($75), middle school ($100), high school ($250), and college levels. Each winner will also donate a matching gift to the sustainability organization of their choice.