Watch Inspiring Films,
Learn More, and Take Action!
Thank you for being a part of the Rose Foundation’s 2021 Film Fest! Our curated selection of films share powerful, inspiring narratives of people of all ages taking action at the grassroots to create a just, livable world for generations to come. We hope this year’s special film lineup leaves you feeling more aware, connected, and energized to be in this collective movement for our communities and the environment. These films are not just stories that exist on screen; they are a call for all of us to learn more, plug in, and take action.
This Resources & Action Page provides you with information about the films and the issues highlighted, useful links, and ways to act in support of the efforts shown in each work. Please refer to this page frequently, as you watch the films in each of our five Themed Film Segments. Thank you for supporting grassroots activism and community resilience!
- “Who’s Land?”
- “Our Planet, Our Health”
- “Water is Life”
- “Youth Forward”
- “Resilient Climate, Resilient Communities”
“Who’s Land?”
– Themed Film Segment
Midori Farm
About the film: Midori Farm is a short film that features farmer Marko Colby of Quilcene, Washington describing Midori Farm, where he and his wife Hanako Myers raise organic vegetables. In the film, he explains the benefits of Jefferson Land Trust’s conservation easement program to preserve working farmland.
Resources and Action: Marko and Hanako are dedicated to the long-term sustainability of local agriculture, a philosophy reflected in their farming practices, which are designed to sustain and enhance the land’s productivity over time. Midori Farm is one of the protected areas in Jefferson Land Trust, a Rose Foundation grantee. Learn more about Midori Farm’s background and impact here. And if you live in the Port Townsend Washington state area, you can support Midori Farm by purchasing their products in local Washington state produce aisles, the Port Townsend Farmers Markets, or at the Midori Farm farmstand.
Public Trust
About the film: Our public lands and waters are under threat. As an extinction crisis looms and climate change continues to be one of the greatest threats our planet has ever faced, America’s 640 million acres of public lands support biodiversity and carbon sequestration. It’s essential that we fight for their protection by preventing the slashing of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, fighting the potential permanent destruction of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, and stopping the de facto sale of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—one of the last wild places in America. Public Trust is a film about the Fight for America’s Public Lands, from Executive Producers Robert Redford & Yvon Chouinard.
Resources and Action: Public Trust was produced by Patagonia Films. Sign up here to get involved in and stay informed on the fight for the protection of public lands.
Venture Out
About the film: Venture Out is a story of overcoming odds, the power of resilience, and ultimately, the everlasting effects of LGBTQ community building. The Venture Out Project, founded by Perry Cohen, is a nonprofit organization that brings LGBTQ folks together outdoors on wilderness trips. In sharing Perry’s story, and hearing from the other TVOP participants, we get a glimpse into the healing qualities of nature and life-saving community bonds that are being forged as a result of Perry’s work.
Resources and Action: The Venture Out Project brings queer, trans and LGBTQ+ youth and adults together to build community, develop leadership skills, and gain confidence through the shared experience of outdoor adventure. The nonprofit also provides training and facilitation to help outdoor organizations, schools and camps better affirm and support their LGBTQ+ community members. Learn more about the organization and how to get involved here.
“Our Planet, Our Health”
– Themed Film Segment
The Accidental Environmentalist: Catherine Flowers
About the film: A mosquito bite decades ago leads Catherine Coleman Flowers on her life’s journey. The second in the Southern Exposure series, this captivating film brings viewers into the world of Catherine Coleman Flowers, a Lowndes County, Alabama activist who became passionate about the environment when she found out that tropical diseases, like hookworm, were showing up in her community because of sewage treatment problems. Her journey to solve problems at the intersection of poverty, climate change, and politics has taken her from the Alabama Black Belt to Washington, D.C. to Switzerland and back. She shares her special connection to place and invites you into a day in her life in Accidental Environmentalist.
Resources and Action: Accidental Environmentalist was created through Southern Exposure, a film fellowship program of the Alabama Rivers Alliance that is actively raising awareness about Alabama’s incredible natural resources and important environmental issues that impact all of us. Follow this link to see other inspiring environmental films from Southern Exposure.
Mossville: When Great Trees Fall
About the film: Mossville, Louisiana: A once-thriving community founded by formerly enslaved and free people of color, and an economically flourishing safe haven for generations of African American families. Today it’s a breeding ground for petrochemical plants and their toxic black clouds. Many residents are forced from their homes, and those that stay suffer from prolonged exposure to contamination and pollution. Amid this chaos and injustice stands one man who refuses to abandon his family’s land – and his community. [Mossville is a newly-released feature-length film, and is only available to screen September 10 – 12 during the Film Fest. If you missed the screening of the full film, you can watch the trailer for Mossville here, and find out where else the film is being screened at the link below.]
Resources and Action: Donations to the Mossville project will help the team continue their mission to fight environmental racism. To learn more about the film or make a donation click here.
Out to Pasture
About the film: Out to Pasture profiles farmers who are raising food animals on pasture, and explains why this is better for public health, the environment, and the animals when compared to operations that confine animals indoors, which is currently the dominant method.
Resources and Action: Out to Pasture was produced by John Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. Find more inspiring and informative environmental films on their YouTube channel or by clicking here.
PFAS
About the film: PFAS, made by Clean Water Action and Rose grantee Clean Water Fund highlights the threat of PFAS chemicals to our environment and people, exploring the ways these “forever” chemicals invade our bodies — from our drinking water, workplaces, products, and food. The film calls for bold action by California to stop the use of these chemicals and address the existing contamination.
Resources and Action: Clean Water Fund’s mission: “To develop strong grassroots environmental leadership and to bring together diverse constituencies to work cooperatively for changes that improve their lives, focused on health, consumer, environmental and community problems. We campaign successfully for cleaner and safer water, cleaner air, and protection from toxic pollution in our homes, neighborhoods and workplaces.” Clean Water Fund’s programs build on and complement the work of Clean Water Action, “a one million member national organization which has helped develop, pass, strengthen and defend the nation’s major water and toxics laws.” Learn about ways to support and take action at each organization’s website: Clean Water Fund; Clean Water Action.
Raptor Blues
About the film: Raptor Blues is a Claymation video by young filmmaker Ian Timothy that features a red-tailed hawk, barn owl, and turkey vulture singing about what happens when they are tempted by poisoned rodents.
Resources and Action: Rose grantee,“RATS (Raptors Are The Solution) is a nonprofit working to educate the public about the danger to raptors and all wildlife from the widespread use of rat poison, and about the ecological role of raptors in both wild and urban areas.” Help RATS fight the use of deadly poisons by making a one-time or recurring donation on their website.
Serotiny
About the film: This is the story of Rose grantee Lead to Life, where young activists come together to transform guns into shovels, which are then used to plant trees alongside victims of gun violence. Lead to Life is a Bay Area collective led by Black-diasporic and queer artists, healers, and ecologists. Bridging racial and environmental justice through ceremony and art practice, Lead to Life explores their commitment to decomposing systems of oppression through what they call applied alchemy – wielding alchemy to provoke radical imagination toward justice.
Resources and Action: Redistribute your funds to this important cause here. “All donations received will go towards supporting our programs, continuing tool production and further alchemy work, ceremonial plantings at sites impacted by violence, supporting community partners/ceremonialists and our team.”
Fighting for Environmental Justice: the Health Crisis at the US-Mexico Border
About the film: The film documents how the San Ysidro border community is threatened by air pollution stemming from traffic at the US-Mexico border port of entry. The documentary highlights community efforts to mitigate this environmental injustice following a major federal expansion of the border crossing in 2019.
Resources and Action: The film profiles Casa Familiar, an organization in San Ysidro: “The mission of Casa Familiar allows the dignity, power and worth within individuals and families to flourish by enhancing the quality of life through education, advocacy, service programming, art and culture, housing and community/economic development.” Donate here to support Casa Familiar’s community response and advocacy work. And learn more about the pollution at the border crossing and the organizations fighting to reduce it here.
“Water is Life”
– Themed Film Segment
A Fisher’s Right to Know
About the film: Fishers throughout East Alabama depend on the mighty Coosa River for food, recreation, and a family pastime that goes back generations. But do fishermen and women — and their families — have a right to know which fish are safe to consume? Not currently in Alabama, the River State. A Fisher’s Right to Know shares how Coosa Riverkeeper and other advocates are working to give fishers across the entire state that right.
Resources and Action: Coosa Riverkeeper’s mission is to, “protect, restore and promote the Coosa. We patrol the waters, educate the public, and advocate for the river.” Your support enables the organization to do its job of keeping the river and its inhabitants clean. Donate here to help Coosa Riverkeeper.
Big River
About the film: Big River, a film following up from the Peabody Award-winning documentary King Corn. Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis return to Iowa with a new mission: to investigate the environmental impact and ecological consequences of industrial agriculture on the people and places downstream.
Resources and Action: Interested in how you can help to keep all our waters free of harmful chemicals and pollution? Find information about water contamination and ways to prevent it on the Natural Resources Defense Council website. And check out these articles by The New York Times on environmental racism and water pollution.
Return of the River
About the film: The camera soars over mountain headwaters, dives into schools of salmon, and captures turbines grinding to a halt; as the largest dam removal project in history begins. Return of the River is a story about people and the land they inhabit. The film captures the tenacity of individuals who would not give up on a river, mirroring the tenacity of salmon headed upstream to spawn. It is a narrative with global ramifications, exploring the complex relationship between communities and the environment that sustains them.
Resources and Action: This September marks the 10 year anniversary of the Elwha River Restoration Project. Learn more about Return of the River and the ways you can support the restoration project and film that brought it to life here.
Water Flows Together
About the film: Water Flows Together elevates the importance of acknowledging Indigenous land in outdoor recreation through the voice of Colleen Cooley, one of the few female Diné (Navajo) river guides on the San Juan River. In sharing Colleen’s perspective, we are given a glimpse into native views on issues of water resource management, which are often missing from the larger discussions of western water challenges.
Resources and Action: To learn more about Colleen and the Diné tribe, click here.
Where There Once Was Water
About the film: Where There Once Was Water is a song for the sacred in all of us. An invitation to change our perspective, rewrite the story, and heal our relationship with water… one watershed, one meal, one raindrop at a time. Water is love, and if we write it together, this love story may indeed become one for the ages.
Resources and Action: Director, Brittany App, created this film through research, curiosity, and love. She has compiled a comprehensive list of resources she encountered along her journey, which includes water conservation organizations led by indigenous groups, to nonprofits focused on water access issues. Learn about the many ways to get involved and take action to save our water here.
“Youth Forward”
– Themed Film Segment
Enviroman
About the film: A boy realizes that he doesn’t need superpowers to save the Earth. Through everyday acts of service, we can have an outsized impact on our communities and the environment. Join Enviroman as he takes on the challenge to make the world a better place.
Resources and Action: Find out more about plastic pollution, as well as how litter affects communities around the world at the articles below:
Environmental Justice Camp for Girls
About the film: Environmental Justice Camp for Girls is an exciting opportunity for young women of color in Pierce County, WA to come together and learn about the environment and how to reduce pollution in nearby areas. The camp shows the girls the importance of their presence in STEM careers and the environmental sector.
Resources and Action: The Environmental Justice Camp is one of many programs run by Rose grantee, Citizens for a Healthy Bay: “For almost 30 years, Citizens for a Healthy Bay has worked to take action and bring people together to achieve a clean and healthy Commencement Bay that benefits both our community and the surrounding ecosystem that calls Puget Sound home. Your donation is an essential part of helping that work continue.” Follow the link to support Citizens for a Healthy Bay and the constituencies they serve.
Frontline Youth
About the film: Young people of color have historically been on the frontlines of struggle and social change. Now we are facing a Climate Emergency! All over the world, communities are devastated by the rising tides, storms, fires, horrors and miseries, provoked by climate change. The same powers and corporate interests that have devastated our people and polluted our lands, air and water for centuries, have also created the climate crisis. Once again, the youth are at the forefront of the climate justice movement, while ushering clean and just solutions to their communities. All the while fighting against the culprits of climate destruction in their communities, and winning.
Resources and Action: Frontline Youth was created by Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), an organization that unites frontline communities and organizations in the climate movement. CJA and their members are leading the shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy by:
- Demanding bold action by governments and industry to confront climate change; and
- Collaborating toward sustainable, resilient, regenerative economies that benefit all communities.
Learn how to get involved and support Climate Justice Alliance here.
Heroes Among Us: Dez Rae Kai
About the film: The Heroes Among Us is about celebrating ordinary folks in the Sonoma County community doing extraordinary work to create transformative change. These heroes offer hope and inspiration, reminding us of the power we each hold to drive collective change. Dez Rae Kai is one of our amazing heroes, a high school senior who organized and led Black Lives Matter protests, vigils, and mural artwork in Sebastopol. She has collaborated with numerous other young people and is a huge inspiration to people of all ages, creating an inclusive movement for social and environmental justice.
Resources and Action: Heroes Among Us is hosted by Rose grantee, Another World is Possible Coalition (AWIP) in the North Bay. AWIP brings together a diverse spectrum of community-based organizations to cultivate a future rooted in social justice, environmental resilience, and equitable economies. Find out how you can get involved at Another World is Possible here.
Mama Wanda’s Garden School: Right Tree, Right Place
About the film: Mama Wanda’s Garden School is a multi-platform educational project to build resilient communities through urban agriculture. West Oakland has some of the poorest air quality in the Bay Area due to multiple burdens of diesel truck routes, overlapping freeways, and heavy industry. In this Right Tree, Right Place video clip, Jada, New Voices Are Rising students, and other community members plant trees in West Oakland to improve air quality and bring more green spaces to communities of color.
Resources and Action: The Mama Wanda’s Garden School video series is produced by Rose Foundation grantee Common Vision and the organization Growing Together. Common Vision works to bring fruit trees to low-income schools. Learn more about their work here. Similarly, Growing Together focuses on developing more green spaces in Oakland schools and neighborhoods. Find out more about their different programs here.
Jada’s Interview
About the interview: New Voices Are Rising’s Program Associate Jada Delaney shares about the West Oakland Tree Mapping and Planting Project featured in the film Mama Wanda’s Garden School: Right Tree, Right Place in an interview with New Voices Youth Co-Coordinators Andrea and Qin. Jada has partnered with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to map and plan out a multi-phase tree planting project that will improve air quality, and bring more green space and shade, to the highly polluted and industrialized West Oakland neighborhood.
Resources and Action: Donate to New Voices to support New Voices students and the ongoing West Oakland tree mapping and planting project here.
Stories From the Blue: Ocean Guardians
About the film: The NOAA Ocean Guardian School Program provides opportunities for kids to get out in their environment to do hands-on, stewardship-based projects. Come along as we meet those who have fostered the growth of this important program and the children who are the future guardians of our planet.
Resources and Action: The NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries works to enhance public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the marine environment. Find out the different ways you can get involved at NOAA, whether it be through volunteering or by donation, here.
Think Like a Scientist: Renewal
About the film: Featuring an emerging scientist from the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, Think Like a Scientist: Renewal is a heart-warming story of transformation and restoration. To Cameron, the Elwha River is home. But as she grew up alongside its waters and trees and wildlife, she began to realize how much the habitat has been altered by humans. After the historic removal of two hydroelectric dams, Cameron has witnessed and been an active part of the restoration of her river home. This is a companion film to Return of the River. We are excited to feature these films on the 10th anniversary of the Elwha River Restoration Project.
Resources and Action: To learn more about the history, science, and ecological impacts of dam removal, check out the links below:
- World’s Largest Dam Removal Unleashes U.S. River After Century of Electric Production
- “Lessons From the World’s Largest Dam-Removal Project at the Elwha River”
- “Coastal habitat and biological community response to dam removal on the Elwha River”
- “Dam Removal”
YOUTH v GOV
About the film: YOUTH v GOV is the story of America’s youth taking on the world’s most powerful government. Armed with a wealth of evidence, twenty-one courageous leaders file a ground-breaking lawsuit against the U.S. government, asserting it has willfully acted over six decades to create the climate crisis, thus endangering their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property. If these young people are successful, they will not only make history, they will change the future.
Resources and Action: “You can help us amplify the story of these brave youth plaintiffs by contributing directly to our impact campaign as a donation. Please contribute at whatever level is meaningful for YOU. Don’t miss your chance to play a role in upholding our constitution and supporting our youth’s right to a safe and healthy future.” Support YOUTH v GOV’s Impact Campaign here.
Siurave’s Garden Project
About the film: Siurave, a high school student in the Rose Foundation’s New Voices Are Rising Rose program, created this video to present at New Voices’ 2021 Summer Climate Justice Leadership Academy. In it, she details how the food industry negatively impacts low-income and people of color communities, and how we can all benefit from growing our own food.
Resources and Action: Donate to New Voices to support New Voices students and their projects that support and advocate for their communities here.
“Resilient Climate, Resilient Communities”
– Themed Film Segment
Other Side of the Hill
About the film: Other Side of the Hill explores the impacts of a changing climate in rural Oregon — as seen through the eyes of local leaders on the ground. From innovative timber operations to large-scale solar, the film amplifies the voices of rural communities often left unheard, and shines a light on stories of progress and hope. In a time of perceived cultural divide between rural and urban, left and right, young and old, the community discovers common ground in an urgency to address a changing landscape.
Resources and Action: Other Side of the Hill teaches us to build bridges between rural & urban communities around climate change. Follow the linked survey to help the Other Side of the Hill team measure the impact of their film screenings. And click here to learn how you can be a part of the solution.
The Rising
About the film: Climate change is quickly altering the shape of the Northwest — its ecosystems, its coastlines, and the ways of life of the humans who live on it. This is perhaps felt most acutely by several tribes on the Pacific Coast, where declining salmon stocks and an ocean in revolt are forcing them to confront the reality of moving from the place they’ve inhabited since time immemorial. As the Quinault spread their message of climate resiliency, they also continue to paddle the canoes of their ancestors into the sea that both sustains and threatens them.
Resources and Action: Click here to learn more about the Quinault tribe’s plan for relocation due to rising sea levels.
Aguugum Tanaa
About the film: Aguugum Tanaa or Our Sacred Place, is the final of three short videos that take place in the municipality of St. George, Alaska. The film explores the future of St George’s awe-inspiring, marine sanctuary (home to the Northern Fur Seal, Steller Sea Lion, and millions of seabirds), and the cultural heritage of the Unangan people who live there.
Resources and Action: “The island of St. George is home to the Unangan people as well as some of the world’s most magnificent biodiversity and natural beauty. Today, the St. George economy and opportunities for traditional subsistence are greatly diminished and in steady decline as the island’s marine resource base becomes increasingly depleted. Action is urgently needed to safeguard the community of St. George’s marine environment, cultural heritage and economy.” Click here to learn the ways you can support this sacred place.
Thanks for joining our 2021 Film Fest and taking action for the grassroots!
