An Academy Award-nominated film on Japan’s tsunami, an advance screening of Disneynature’s Chimpanzee and a Martin Scorsese film on the environmental price of progress will highlight the fourth annual Environmental Film Festival at Yale (EFFY) from April 9 to 15.
“We can’t wait to share these films,” said Paul Thomson, the festival’s managing director. “EFFY 2012 is about our relationship with the environment. The films examine humanity’s impact on the planet, but really they are deeply personal stories of our connection with the world.”
Over half of the films will make their New England premieres. All screenings are free and open to the public and will take place at the Whitney Humanities Center on 53 Wall Street, Yale University Art Gallery on 1111 Chapel Street and Criterion Cinemas on 85 Temple Street. Panel discussions with filmmakers, special guests and Yale faculty will be held after each film.
For details visit
www.environment.yale.edu/film.
The films are:
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The Whale is the true story of a killer orca named Luna that lost his family in British Columbia and forms a unique bond with people. Narrated by Ryan Reynolds and produced by EFFY co-founder Erik Desatnik.
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The Island President (Connecticut Premiere). President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, the lowest-lying country in the world, takes up the fight to keep his homeland from disappearing under the sea.
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The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom was recently nominated for an Academy Award. Survivors in the areas hardest hit by Japan’s tsunami find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins. The film is a stunning visual haiku about the ephemeral nature of life and the healing power of Japan’s most beloved flower.
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Surviving Progress (New England Premiere). Executive Producer Martin Scorsese ponders the meaning of progress when its price is the prolific consumption of the world’s natural resources.
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The Atomic States of America (New England Premiere) takes viewers on a journey around the country to communities with reactors, exposing the truths and myths of nuclear power and posing the question of whether or not man can responsibly produce nuclear power.
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Chimpanzee (Pre-Release Screening) Disneynature’s newest true life adventure introduces Oscar, a young chimpanzee whose playful curiosity and zest for discovery light up the African forest. A twist of fate leaves him to fend for himself until he receives a little help from an unexpected ally.
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Bestiaire (New England Premiere). Denis Côté’s wordless film puts humans and animals on display. It is an elegant meditation on the nature of sentience and the boundaries between nature and “civilization.”
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Eating Alabama (East Coast Premiere). A young couple returns home to Alabama where they set out to eat only food grown in the state for a year. They soon realize, however, that nearly everything about the food system has changed since the time their families were into farming.
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Big Boys Gone Bananas! (East Coast Premiere). A follow up to Bananas!, which screened at EFFY 2010, this true story is about a Swedish filmmaker, a banana corporation and dirty tricks, lawsuits, manipulation and the price of free speech. Bananas! will also be screened.
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The Last Mountain. In West Virginia a small but passionate group of citizens is trying to stop Big Coal corporations from continuing the devastating practice of mountain top removal.
“We selected our films from hundreds of submissions. We have developed a powerful program that covers a variety of important environmental issues,” says Richard Miron, director of programming. “These films will make you laugh, cry and rethink what it means to be human. People are going to be talking about these films. This year’s lineup is the strongest yet.”
EFFY is organized and run by students at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and is the largest student-run environmental film festival in the world. Major sponsors of the 2012 festival include Films at the Whitney, The Study at Yale Hotel, the Class of 1980 Fund at F&ES, the Graduate and Professional Student Senate at Yale and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.
