Built

Carbon: The Unauthorized Biography

Carbon: The Unauthorized Biography

Daniella Ortega and Niobe Thompson/2022/86 min/Climate, Conservation, Energy, Built Environment, Historical Perspectives

Virtual, Tuesday, April 23, 6 p.m. CDT

FILM DESCRIPTION: With Carbon in the news every day, you might think you know everything about her. But you’d be wrong. This spectacular and surprisingly unorthodox documentary reveals the paradoxical story of the element that builds all life, and yet may end it all. Narrated in first person by Sarah Snook (Succession), “Carbon” tells of her birth in the violent core of an exploding star and of turbulent sagas through the fabric of our evolving Earth. Accompanied by celebrated scientists, unique animations and a stunning orchestral score, “Carbon” reminds us of our humble participation in the most extraordinary story in the universe.

A Good Neighbor + Earthbound: Nzambi Matee

 A Good Neighbor + Earthbound: Nzambi Matee

In Person, Friday, April 19, 5 p.m. CDT
Kehrein Center, Chicago [West]

In Person, Friday, April 19, 6 p.m. CDT
Unity Temple, Oak Park [W Suburbs]
Triton College, River Grove [W Suburbs]

Maggie Hart and Brittany Zampella/2023/19 min/Waste, Health, Justice

FILM DESCRIPTION: “A Good Neighbor” is a feature-length documentary about a Latina single mother’s fight against racism and climate change as she campaigns for city council in one of the nation’s most polluted zip codes.

Farhoud Meybodi/2023/48 min/Waste, Health, Justice, Built Environment, People & Cultures

FILM DESCRIPTION: Amidst a catastrophic plastic waste crisis in her hometown of Nairobi, Nzambi Matee risks everything to pioneer technology that transforms plastic waste into sustainable paving bricks.

The short film “The Speech of Txai Surui” by the students of Escola Parque (in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) will precede the feature films. This film won two awards in the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest 2023.

PBS: Razing Liberty Square

PBS: Razing Liberty Square

Katja Esson/2023/85 min/Climate, Justice, Built Environment, Historical Perspectives

In Person, Saturday, April 20, 6 p.m. CDT
Bethel New Life, Chicago
[West]

FILM DESCRIPTION: Liberty City, Miami, was home to one of the oldest segregated public housing projects in the U.S. Now with rising sea levels, the neighborhood’s higher ground has become something else: real estate gold. Wealthy property owners push inland to higher ground, creating a speculators’ market in the historically Black neighborhood previously ignored by developers and policy-makers alike.

The short film “Painting by Numbers” by Radheya Jegatheva will precede the feature film. “Painting by Numbers” won the Sally Stovall Planet Warrior Prize for Creativity in the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest 2023.