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New Haven, Conn.—A special advance screening of the Disney film, Earth, and a documentary by Madonna that chronicles the suffering of children in Malawi orphaned by AIDS will headline a Yale film festival intended to raise awareness of global environmental issues.

“Film is a unique medium to inform, educate and influence the public’s understanding of environmental issues,” said Eric Desatnik, a festival organizer and a master’s student at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. “We are hoping that the series is not only entertaining, but promotes reflection, further inquiry and environmental literacy.”

Earth, the first film in the Disneynature series and narrated by James Earl Jones, will be shown on Sunday, April 19, at 1 p.m. at Criterion Cinemas on 86 Temple Street. The 99-minute-long film captures the most intimate moments of the planet’s wildest and most elusive creatures on their journeys around the globe. Directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, the acclaimed creative team behind the Emmy Award-winning television show Planet Earth, combine forces again to bring this epic adventure to the big screen on Earth Day, April 22.

Also on April 19, Madonna exposes the tragic stories of millions of Malawian children orphaned by AIDS and offers a call to action to stop the epidemic, in the 90-minute-long film, I Am Because We Are. The film will begin at 10 a.m. in the Whitney Humanities Center on 53 Wall Street and features interviews with former President Bill Clinton and Desmond Tutu, recipient of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize and vocal critic of apartheid in South Africa. Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, and Phillippe van den Bossche, executive director of Raising Malawi, a nonprofit co-founded by Madonna, will participate in a Q&A session following the screening.

Both films are part of the 2009 Environmental Film Festival at Yale that will take place from April 16 to 19. Sponsored by the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, the festival will showcase feature-length documentaries and short films, as well as conversations with filmmakers, panel discussions and workshops that will explore issues raised in the films. In addition, a jury comprised of students, faculty and industry professionals will choose winners for Best Feature Film and Best Short Film, and festival attendees will vote to select one film for an Audience Award.

All screenings and events are free and open to the public, and doors will open a half hour prior to each screening. For more information, visit environment.yale.edu/film or contact the festival’s executive directors, Eric Desatnik (eric.desatnik@yale.edu) or Tamar Cooper (tamar.cooper@yale.edu).

Other films in the series :
Thursday, April 16
(see the festival website for the most up-to-date schedule)

• Food, Inc. exposes the highly mechanized underbelly of the nation’s food industry and reveals the shocking truth about what we eat and how it’s produced. 93 minutes. 7 p.m., Criterion Cinemas.

Friday, April 17 (Davies Auditorium, Becton Center, except where indicated)
(see the festival website for the most up-to-date schedule)

• City of Cranes features the breathtaking accounts of men and women who operate these ubiquitous machines. 14 minutes. 10 a.m., Linsly-Chittenden Hall, room 101, 63 High Street.
  
• Gimme Green is a humorous look at the American obsession with the residential lawn and the effects it has on our environment, our wallets and our outlook on life. 27 minutes. 10 a.m., Linsly-Chittenden Hall, room 101, 63 High Street.
  
• Ten Thousand Shovels uses satellite imagery, historic photos and contemporary film footage to illustrate the dramatic process of urbanization in southern China. 15 minutes. 10 a.m., Linsly-Chittenden Hall, room 101, 63 High Street.
  
• Fuel presents how alternative and sustainable energies can reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels, and features interviews with Woody Harrelson, Sheryl Crow and Larry Hagman. 111 minutes. 12:30 p.m.
  
• The East Coast premiere of Crude chronicles a 13-year-long battle between communities nearly destroyed by oil drilling and development and Chevron, one of the biggest companies on Earth. 100 minutes. 4 p.m.
  
• Trouble the Water, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, is a redemptive tale of two self-described street hustlers who become heroes during Hurricane Katrina and then seize a chance for a new beginning. 96 minutes. 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 18 (all showings, Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall Street)
(see the festival website for the most up-to-date schedule)

• Milking the Rhino examines the deepening conflict between humans and animals in rural Africa. 83 minutes. 10 a.m.
  
• The New England premiere of Earth Days recounts the history of the modern environmental movement, from its beginnings nearly four decades ago. 100 minutes. 1 p.m.
  
• Cheat Neutral offers a unique market-based solution to infidelity. For the cost of a condom, those who have cheated on their partners can have their cheating “offset” by a global network of fidelity. 5 minutes. 4:30 p.m.
  
• The Garden is an Oscar-nominated documentary that follows a group of low-income families struggling to protect a 14-acre urban farm in the middle of South Central Los Angeles from bureaucratic real estate developers. 104 minutes. 4:30 p.m.
  
• Sharkwater debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters. 95 minutes. 7:30 p.m.
  
• Attack of the Sea Slugs follows the path of these creatures, which have an acquired taste for sea pens in Puget Sound. 6 minutes. 10 p.m. GPSCY Bar, 204 York Street.
  
• I Live in the Woods. 4 minutes. 10 p.m. GPSCY Bar, 204 York Street.
  
• In Treevenge, Christmas trees decide to fight back. 15 minutes, 10 p.m. GPSCY Bar, 204 York Street.
  
• Grocery Store Wars, a takeoff on Star Wars, features Cuke Skywalker, Ham Solo, Chewbroccoli and Obi Wan Cannoli doing battle with Darth Tader, evil lord of the Dark Side of the Farm. 5 minutes. 10 p.m., GPSCY Bar, 204 York Street.

Sunday, April 19
(see the festival website for the most up-to-date schedule)

• The Queen of Trees depicts one of nature’s oddest couples: a tiny wasp and a giant sycamore. Without the wasp, the tree could not pollinate its flowers and produce seeds, and without the fig, the wasp would have nowhere to lay its eggs. 55 minutes. 3:30 p.m., Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall Street.
  
• In the New England premiere of the award-winning HD film, Ice Bears of the Beaufort, polar bears have more than climate change to worry about. 52 minutes. 3:30 p.m., Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall Street.
  
• In Saving Luna, people fall in love with an orca on Vancouver Island, but the government decides that the interaction is bad for him. 92 minutes. 6:30 p.m., Davies Auditorium, Becton Center, 15 Prospect Street.