IN CINEMAS NATIONWIDE
21-30 JuNE 2024

2024
OFFICIAL
SELECTION

 

Isa Willinger's timely PLASTIC FANTASTIC follows scientists, activists and industry lobbyists to find out where the plastics crisis is leading us, while the imaginative LIGHT NEEDS imparts a revolutionary account of the hidden lives of houseplants and the humans who care for them. In HOLY SHIT, director Rubén Abruña breaks down taboos with humour and curiosity to discover the life-saving, planet-changing potential of our very own waste. In GREEN CITY LIFE accompanies two young city dwellers as they unwrap an impassioned vision of what urban life could be, and Jason Mamoa narrates DEEP RISING, a dazzling deep-sea tale of geopolitical, scientific, and corporate intrigue.

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PLASTIC FANTASTIC

PLASTIC FANTASTIC
Dir: Isa Willinger
Germany


There are 500 times more plastic particles in the world’s oceans than there are stars in our galaxy. Yet astoundingly, while the tragedy deepens and recycling is far from working, the plastics industry continues to ramp up production.

Isa Willinger's visceral documentary is an engaging insight into circular production, greenwashing, climate racism and power. Following scientists, activists and industry lobbyists through corporate offices and out into communities around the world, the film asks where the crisis is leading us - and how to stop a system that is unlikely to act on ethics alone.

 

LIGHT NEEDS

LIGHT NEEDS
Dir: Jesse McLean
USA


Artistically inventive and deeply thoughtful, this imaginative documentary delves into the lives of houseplants who cohabitate with people, and the surprisingly complex relationships that can develop between them.

Footage collected from many different domestic and professional spaces over several years reveals a world that is abundant with love, empathy, humour and lush detail. By considering the social contracts between plant and animal, filmmaker Jesse McLean shines a light on our responsibility for care towards other living beings, and attempts to make us look at things a little differently.

 

HOLY SHIT

HOLY SHIT
Dir: Rubén Abruña
Germany & Switzerland


Flush and forget? Or the final frontier of recycling? Looking for answers about the radical potential of human excrement, director Rubén Abruña embarks on an entertaining and enlightening adventure across the globe to investigate whether our very own waste should be reconsidered as a much-needed resource.

From sustainable city living in Geneva to Uganda's singing Poop Pirates, we learn how our most unheeded asset could help to mitigate the climate crisis, generate energy - and even save lives. Far from taboo, can this compelling new wave of thinking soon become mainstream?

 

GREEN CITY LIFE

GREEN CITY LIFE
Dir: Manon Turina & François Marques
France


How do we build the city of tomorrow? Manon and François, two young city dwellers, travel to Mexico, Europe, and the US in search of concrete and revolutionary initiatives to bring the benefits of nature to the heart of urban life.

As world populations continue to grow and the climate crisis deepens, they discover inspiring ideas that rethink the way we live, from revegetation to urban farming and bio-waste recovery. By making the link between all these solutions, they offer us their vision of what the green city of tomorrow could be, calling on governments, private companies, and citizens to take action.

 

DEEP RISING

DEEP RISING
Dir: Matthieu Rytz
USA


How are the deepest depths of our ocean connected to the future of green energy? This riveting film is a tale of geopolitical, scientific, and corporate intrigue that exposes the inner workings of the International Seabed Authority (ISA); a secretive United Nation instrument which oversees nearly half our planet’s surface on the ocean floor.

Narrated by Jason Momoa, and interwoven with awe-inspiring footage of the deep’s most dazzling creatures, Deep Rising illuminates the vital relationship between our ocean’s fragile and mysterious ecosystems, and sustaining all life on Earth.