Our Eco Film on Friday, March 9th, will be Waste Land.

Genre: Documentary. 99 minutes. 2010 / Directed by: Lucy Walker, Karen Harley, and Joao Jardim / Awards: Won Best International Documentary at Sundance Film Festival, and Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary

An uplifting feature documentary highlighting the transformative power of art and the beauty of the human spirit. Top-selling contemporary artist Vik Muniz takes us on an emotional journey from Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, to the heights of international art stardom. Vik collaborates with the brilliant catadores (pickers of recyclable materials) who live and work in the garbage and shows us how to recycle ourselves.

Our next Eco Film on Friday March 2nd will be We Feed the World.

Genre: Documentary. Director: Erwin Wagenhofer. Austria, 2005. 95 minutes

Watch the full movie here:

Winner of the best documentary award at the Guild of German Art House Cinemas and two awards at the Motovun Film Festival

Every day in Vienna the amount of unsold bread sent back to be disposed of is enough to supply Austria’s second-largest city, Graz. Around 350,000 hectares of agricultural land, above all in Latin America, are dedicated to the cultivation of soybeans to feed Austria’s livestock while one quarter of the local population starves. Every European eats ten kilograms a year of artificially irrigated greenhouse vegetables from southern Spain, with water shortages the result. In WE FEED THE WORLD, Austrian filmmaker Erwin Wagenhofer traces the origins of the food we eat. His journey takes him to France, Spain, Romania, Switzerland, Brazil and back to Austria. Leading us through the film is an interview with Jean Ziegler, the United Nations Special Reporter on the Right to Food.

The next Friday Eco Film at Sadhana Forest will be Plastic Planet, being screened February 24th at 7 p.m. as usual.

Documentary, 94 minutes, English, 2009 – Directed by: Werner Boote

Watch the trailer:

We live in the age of plastic. It’s cheap and practical, and it’s everywhere – even in our blood. But is it a danger to us? The plastic industry annually generates hundreds of billions of dollars. Every industrial sector in the world today is dependent on plastic. The amount of plastic we have produced since it was invented would be enough to cover the entire globe six times over. But this inexpensive and convenient substance comes with a hefty price. Plastic stays in the ground and water system for up to 500 years. Werner Boote presents an up-close and personal view of the controversial and fascinating material that has found its way into every facet of our daily lives: plastic. He takes us on a journey around the globe, showing that plastics have become a threat for both environment and human health.

If you’re lucky enough to understand German, here is even the full movie:

Our next Eco Film on Friday February 17th will be Buck.

Genre: Documentary. 2011. English. 88 minutes. Director: Cindy Meehl

Nominated for Best Documentary Feature 2012 by Critics Choice Award. Won National Board of Review Award for Top Five

Documentaries 2011.Won Golden Eye Award for Best International Documentary Film 2011.

Buck, a richly textured and visually stunning film, follows Brannaman from his abusive childhood to his phenomenally successful approach to horses. A real-life “horse-whisperer,” he eschews the violence of his upbringing and teaches people to communicate with their horses through leadership and sensitivity, not punishment. Buck possesses near magical abilities as he dramatically transforms horses – and people – with his understanding, compassion, and respect. In this film, the animal-human relationship becomes a metaphor for facing the daily challenges of life. A truly American story about an unsung hero, BUCK is about an ordinary man who has made an extraordinary life despite tremendous odds.

Our next Eco Film on Friday February 10th will be The Last Mountain.

Genre: Documentary. 2011.  English. 95 minutes. Director: Bill Haney

The fight for the last great mountain in America’s Appalachian heartland pits the mining giant that wants to explode it to extract the coal within, against the community fighting to preserve the mountain and build a wind farm on its ridges instead. With Bobby Kennedy Jr. enlisted as a passionate force for preserving Coal River Mountain and the economic power of the fossil fuel industry twisting democracy to its advantage The Last Mountain highlights a battle for the future of energy that affects us all.