Green Film Festival Program Info
Green Film Festival of San Francisco
presented by SF IndieFest
April 14 – 24, 2022
Presented at Roxie Theater and virtually at sfgreen2022.eventive.org lineup and tickets are available now.
San Francisco IndieFest is thrilled to announce that the 2022 Green Film Festival will take place April 14-24, with 85 independent feature and short length films from around the world that focus on green and environmental issues in both fun and revealing ways.
The Green Film Festival is interested in exploring all aspects of “environmental film” whether they be compelling documentaries, adventure films or narrative fiction films with environmental themes. Films have been curated into themed sections which pair projects with complimentary subject matter to create a cinematic journey for our audiences.Through this experience the festival hopes audiences can begin to engage with sustainable solutions to the problems facing the planet.
In keeping with the IndieFest spirit of joie de vivre a fun mix of animated shorts, an eco-horror midnight movie and a 50th anniversary screening of a classic sci fi flick have also been included in the program.
The complete Festival program is available at https://sfgreen2022.eventive.org.
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
OPENING NIGHT FEATURE
DO I NEED THIS?
Director: Kate Schermerhorn, Local Director, Sneak Preview
Using humor, quirky and engaging characters, and no preaching, Do I Need This pushes viewers to think beyond today, beyond the instant gratification of walking away with a shopping bag or carload of stuff and to look at the impacts of our endless world of purchases, on ourselves as well as on our planet.
50TH ANNIVERSARY PRESENTATION
SILENT RUNNING
Director: Douglas Trumbull
In a future Earth barren of all flora and fauna, the planet’s ecosystems exist only in large pods attached to spacecraft. When word comes in that the pods are to be jettisoned into space and destroyed so that the spacecraft can be reused for commercial purposes, most of the crew of the Valley Forge rejoice at the prospect of going home. Not so for botanist Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) who loves the forest and its creatures, who decides to take matters into his own hands to protect what he loves.
MIDNIGHT MOVIE
THE FEAST
Director: Lee Haven Jones
A slow-burn eco-horror about wealth inequality and the ecological damage of mining environmental resources presented as a gross-out horror flick
CLOSING NIGHT FEATURE
A MACHINE TO LIVE IN
Directors: Yoni Goldstein, Meredith Zielke
In this wildly inventive hybrid documentary, the feature debut from experimental film and installation artists Yoni Goldstein and Meredith Zielke, viewers are transported to the space-age city of Brasília. A modernist architectural marvel, the city is a sparkling wasteland of machine dreams and aging monuments to a utopian future.
FESTIVAL THEMES
CLIMATE CHALLENGES
Built to Burn
Courtney D. Campbell
Built to Burn explores a pattern of growing fire risk emerging from a confluence of factors – decades of aggressive fire suppression, increasing development in fire-prone areas, and a longer, drier wildfire season due to climate change.
Holgut
Liesbeth De Ceulaer
The Siberian permafrost is melting. Ancient bones rise up from the ground and wild animals seem to have disappeared. Three Yakutians venture into the vast wilderness on different quests.
Devil Put the Coal in the Ground
Peter D. Hutchison, Lucas Sabean
Uniquely structured upon the personal storytelling of native West Virginians, Devil Put The Coal In The Ground is a meditation on the suffering and devastation brought on by the coal industry and its decline.
Newtok
Andrew Burton, Michael Kirby Smith
As the effects of climate change become ever more apparent throughout the world, the Yup’ik people and their lands on the western outskirts of Alaska face a much more imminent threat. In the town of Newtok, years of rising temperatures have eroded the frozen foundation of the area. With their homes and way of life hanging in the balance, the town’s residents weigh the prospect of relocating the community or abandoning their traditional lands forever.
Dreaming an Island
Andrea Pellerani
What would happen if everything stopped? If the engine gears of the economy jammed for good? A dreamlike journey, which forces us to think about our relationship with the planet but also about social isolation and loneliness.
Forest for the Trees
Rita Leistner
Forest for the Trees introduces us to everyday life on the “cut-block” and the brave souls who fight through rough terrains and work endless hours to bring our forests to life. The rugged BC landscape comes to life magically in Leistner’s photography, while the quirky characters and nuggets of wisdom shared around the campfire tell a sincere story of community.
Shorts Programs
Shorts 1: Absolution – Plastic & Recycling
Shorts 4: In Too Deep – Conservartion
Shorts 5: Low Relief For High Water – Climate Challenges
Shorts 6: Ignition – Skiing, Cycling, Moby & More
Shorts 8: Full Circle – Forests & Gardens
WILDLIFE
Honk
Cheryl Allison
Dumped and alone at a city park, Honk spends his days dodging cars, begging for food and looking for friends. When Cheryl and Honk’s path cross unexpectedly, what follows is a story in which fairy tales are made.
Elephant Keeper
Kate Kirby
Elephant Keeper goes behind-the-scenes at an elephant conservation center in Laos, providing a rare and intimate glimpse into the daily life of an elder Mahout and his 60-year-old elephant confidant.
Broken Wings
Jonathan Sutak
Broken Wings is the story of a one-winged American black vulture named Adonis, and the two women in his life: Jayne, a down-on-her-luck Arkansas waitress, and Ann, her 80-year-old British roommate. How can a bird who devours the dead inspire the living?
The Message of the Lyrebird
Mark B Pearce
Come on a magical journey through Australia’s native forests to understand the sophistication and complex artistry of the lyrebird, leading humanity to a deeper understanding of our natural world.
The Last Lion (Short)
Zack McCune, Local Director
The story of the last sighting of a Barbary Lion in 1925.
Don’t Feed The Coyotes (Short)
Nick Stone Schearer, Local Director
The film observes several years in the intertwined lives of San Francisco’s urban coyotes.
Keystone (Short)
Maggie O’Dea, Local Director
We are existing in an extremely pivotal time in human evolution. Keystone is a story about the land, humans, flora and fauna. A story about the co-habitation that we must embrace as humans, in order to create planetary abundance for future generations.
Yellowstone 88 – Song of Fire (Short)
Jerry van de Beek, Betsy De Fries, Local Director
Summer 1988. Dry lightning sparks a fire in the parched and drought ridden landscape of Yellowstone Park igniting a blaze that would scorch over 1.5 Million acres. That winter surviving Fauna exhausted from fire and weakened by hunger die in greater numbers than those claimed by the fire. The cosmos turns from one season to another and another and life in the park begins anew.
Shorts Program
Shorts 2: The Circle of Life – Animals & Wildlife
OCEANS/RIVERS
War and Weather
Enid Baxter Ryce, Local Director
War and the Weather is an experimental history of Atmospheric Rivers featuring the music of Philip Glass. The film explores the cultural context of this new science of rivers in the sky, featuring their impact on the colonization of the American West.
Hell or Clean Water
Cody Westman
In what appears to be a Sisyphean task, Newfoundland diver Shawn Bath has devoted himself to cleaning up the ocean floor one rotting tire at a time.
Last of the Right Whales
Nadine Pequeneza
A disparate group of people – a wildlife photographer, a marine biologist, a whale rescuer, and a crab fisherman – are united in their goal to save the North Atlantic right whale.
FOOD & AGRICULTURE
The Seeds of Vandana Shiva
Jim Becket, Camilla Becket
How did the willful daughter of a Himalayan forest conservator become the world’s most powerful opponent of Monsanto? The Seeds of Vandana Shiva presents the remarkable life story of the Gandhian eco-activist and agro-ecologist, Vandana Shiva.
Taking the Reins (Short)
Gunther Kirsch, Local Director
A ranching family in the heart of silicon valley braces itself against forces trying to pull it apart.
The New Environmentalists (Short)
John Antonelli, Will Parrinello, Matt Yamashita, Local Directors
The New Environmentalists share a common goal – safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution, while fighting for justice in their communities. The film is the latest in the Mill Valley Film Group’s Emmy Award-winning series featuring inspiring portraits of six passionate and dedicated activists.
Finding Balance Below (Short)
Nathan Weyland, Local Director
More severe weather in California’s central valley – “drier dries and wetter wets”, as climate scientist predict – is threatening one of the World’s most important food producing region.
Shorts Programs
Shorts 3: A Culinary Portrait – Food & Farming
Shorts 7: Farm Free or Die – Fishing & Farming
BAY AREA STORIES AND STORYTELLERS
Do I Need This? (Novato)
Don’t Feed the Coyotes (Oakland)
Finding Balance (Oakland)
Keystone (Humbolt)
Taking the Reins (Santa Rosa)
The Last Lion (San Francisco)
The New Environmentalists (Sausalito)
War and Weather (Monterey)
Yellowstone 88 (Mill Valley)
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE GREEN FILM FESTIVAL OF SAN FRANCISCO
Tickets and discount passes on sale April 1. The festival is produced by Jeff Ross and Chris Metzler. For more information and tickets, visit www.sfindie.com or call 415-662-3378.
Regular film tickets are $10. Festival passes are $75-175.
Select films play at Roxie Theater April 14-17. All films will screen between April 14-24 at sfindie.com.
