The Clock of the Long Now
2015 USA / Duration: 3 mins / Directed by: Jimmy Goldblum, Adam Weber
Why would an accomplished engineer and inventor devote himself to building a clock designed to last 10,000 years? Maybe Danny Hillis is doing it because he can. And in this short film about his 10,000-year clock, he makes you think.
Strong Water
2016 USA / Duration: 10 mins / Directed by: Jordan Halland
Surfing typically requires ocean waves, but StrongWater upends that presupposition. In this film, a group of board lovers go surfing — not near the beaches of Hawaii, but to the river city of Missoula, Montana, where surfers have transformed the sport and the scene of this iconic pastime.
Property
2016 USA / Duration: 3 mins / Directed by: Allison Otto
The National Wildlife Property Repository is a 22,000-square-foot warehouse outside of Denver, Colorado, where law enforcement officials around the country send confiscated illegal wildlife items. The repository holds more than 1 million pieces in total and received more than 35,000 items in 2015 alone. Among the seized goods are mounted tigers, kangaroo wallets, crocodile-skin purses and trinkets of carved ivory. The illegal industry that creates these products out of rare and endangered species is one of the biggest contributors to the decline of threatened species. The repository is a little-known but stark reminder of the illicit trade in wildlife that’s changing the face of the planet.
Life After Water
2015 USA / Duration: 10 mins / Directed by: Andrew Ellis
Californian farmer Jesus Ramos was born in Mexico City and migrated with his family to the U.S. for a better life. He picked oranges in his youth and worked his way up to owning a 140-acre orange farm. As extreme drought wreaks havoc on the American West, Ramos finds himself on the front lines of a water shortage that threatens the future of his farm, his family and his community. Ramos’ condition mirrors that of many farmers in California’s once-fertile Central Valley. “Water — it makes life. Water disappears; the labor disappears. Water disappears; my farming disappears,” Ramos says. “Do you question your faith, your belief in God when you see these things? I try not to, but your tone changes whenever you talk to him. ‘Hey, you’re pushing a little hard, no?’”
Kamchatka Steelhead Project
2016 USA / Duration: 7 mins / Directed by: Travis Rummel, Grayson Schaffer
Located between the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia’s remote Kamchatka Peninsula is home to some of the world’s most abundant steelhead runs. Under Russian law, the thick-bodied fish are protected as an endangered species, and it’s illegal to catch them — unless the fishing is done by anglers collecting biological data. The Kamchatka Steelhead Project is a U.S.-Russia partnership that monitors the steelhead population through catch and release, and over the course of 20 years it’s produced an extensive body of data about the fish in their wild and native habitat.
Holy (un)Holy River
2016 USA / Duration: 60 mins / Directed by: Pete McBride, Jake Norton
Still, the Hindu faithful seek to cleanse away their sins by bathing in the holy water. As the title suggests, Holy (un)Holy River examines the paradox of a sacred river treated so profanely that it’s existence as a river, as opposed to an open sewer, is in question.
Guest Speakers
Peter McBride, Director Holy (un)Holy River (via Skype)
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