2016 Climate Cinema Series: Climate and Environment / 2016 Climate Cinema Series at IFAD

Planet Z, Mokomo Seto, 9’30’’, animation, 2011, France

Somewhere in the Universe, the PLANET Z. A miracle happens. A water jet springs up and gives birth to a new life: plants. A desert planet became a green planet…

Different species cohabit: liquid and sticky mushrooms. But little by little, they invade the green land, and destroy the idyllic life. The toxic spores kill the plants, and transform the planet to a mouldy land… But after destroying all the vegetation, the future of the mould seems to be fearsome. A species cannot live without other ones.

Don’t let it all unravel, Sarah Cox, 2’06’’, animation, 2007, United Kingdom

This planet and everything on it took millions of years to slowly, carefully and uniquely evolve. The speed by which we are now destroying it is the issue that this film tackles through the simple medium of knitting. A colourful knitted globe spins on its axis, a single strand of yarn is being pulled from it. As the camera moves in we see that individual aspects of the planet are unravelling; the polar caps, the seas, and the rain forests all at a great and increasingly unstoppable pace. Endangered animals disappear at an alarming rate. We cut back to see the world smaller and darker, stabbed by a large knitting needle, still unravelling. Don’t Let It all Unravel.

El Rostro Humano del Cambio Climatico, Juan Alvarez, 9’56’’, documentary, 2012, Colombia

*Winner of the Think Forward Film Festival Contest 2012.

A journey through the communities that are trying to adapt to this new planet.

Rain, Henry Boffin, 14’14’’, drama, 2013, Australia

The film is set in a future world in which the earth is water-free. This film tells the story of an elder and a boy which are trying to survive.

Tourism Meltdown, Megumi Nishikura e Luis Patron, 6’40’’, documentary, 2009, Japan

The Sea of Okhotsk has long been the southernmost spot in the Northern Hemisphere where polar sea ice is found. After spreading southward out of the Arctic each winter and along the eastern edge of Sakhalin Island, the ice typically arrives in Hokkaido in mid to late January. The best time to see it is the latter half of February but it stays until late March or early April. However, over the past twenty years the drift ice has been slowly diminishing. Some say this is the result of global warming. The people of Abashiri have come together to take action.

Earthbook, Climate Media Factory, 3’45’’, animation, 2012, Germany

What would Planet Earth post about humans on its profile? The Earth fast forwards through a virtual relationship with humans — but soon starts to ask itself whether it wants to be friends with a species that exploits its national resources.

Topic: #ecosystems