the effy 2020 lineup
Thanks for watching!
Winning Films of EFFY 2020:
Best Feature: MOSSVILLE
Audience Choice: HONEYLAND
Best Student Film: THE FLOW EFFECT
Best Short Film: GOODWILL DUMPING
Tuesday: 3/31
Theme: Native knowledge and its interactions with modern economies and demands
Honeyland
When a nomadic family moves in and breaks Honeyland’s basic rule, the last female wild beekeeper in Europe must save the bees and restore natural balance.
Hatidze lives with her ailing mother in the mountains of Macedonia, making a living cultivating honey using ancient beekeeping traditions. When an unruly family moves in next door, what at first seems like a balm for her solitude becomes a source of tension as they, too, want to practice beekeeping, while disregarding her advice. The most awarded film out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, HONEYLAND is an epic, visually stunning portrait of the delicate balance between nature and humanity that has something sweet for everyone.
Homecoming
When he is diagnosed with cancer, Joe paddles his canoe through Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to illustrate the importance of nature preservation for strength and healing.
Joe Fairbanks was born and raised in Northern Minnesota. In HOMECOMING, he travels through the same waters where he learned to paddle as a boy: the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Today, these are some of the most endangered waters in America. Joe reflects on the experience of being diagnosed with cancer and draws on his personal connection to the natural landscape for strength and healing to illustrate the importance of nature preservation.
HOMECOMING raises awareness about the threat of sulfide-ore copper mining near the Boundary Waters. Industrial mines have been proposed on the edge of the Wilderness. There has never been a sulfide-ore copper mine that has not polluted local waters.
Fasthorse
FAST HORSE follows the return of the Blackfoot bareback horse racing tradition in a new form: the Indian Relay. Siksika horseman Allison Red Crow struggles to build a team with second-hand races and a new jockey, Cody Big Tobacco to take on the best riders in the Blackfoot Confederacy at the Calgary Stampede.
FAST HORSE is an intimate verité visit to a fascinating and little-known world: the dangerous and high-stakes game of Indian Relay. In Blackfoot country, they call the Indian Relay “North America’s original extreme sport”. Jockeys bareback gallop their horses around a track, jumping off one and on to another in a chaotic melee of horses and handlers at “the exchange”. Accidents happen. Just finishing a race demands masterful skill. And courage.
Siksika horseman Allison Red Crow dreams of bringing a team to the “greatest outdoor show on Earth” – the Calgary Stampede. This is how he and his people can show the world that their unparalleled skill on horseback remains intact.
Our cameras follow Allison and his new jockey, Cody Big Tobacco, over the course of a year, as they assemble a team of horses, train them for the relay race, and finally make their debut at the Calgary Stampede. Their team, Old Sun, will face the best riders in the Confederacy, many of them veteran competitors from Montana.
Wednesday: 4/1
Theme: environmental storytelling
Goodwill Dumping
The stylized fashion documentary Goodwill Dumping brings the enormity of the industry surrounding donated secondhand clothing to light. The film showcases the journey that discarded pieces of clothing make and what kind of impact this has on local industries. Due to its globalized scale this immense industry has something otherworldly. The film shows the process and butterfly effect caused by the simple action of donating your old T-shirt. Creatures consisting out of mountains of discarded clothes add a layer of stylized and surrealistic commentary on the industry.
Lichen
This stunning otherworldly short film takes a deep dive into lichen, a species that confounds scientists to this day. Shot in macro 3D, Lichen offers us a look at this remarkable life form and asks what we might learn from it.
Ancient and diverse, both an individual and a community, lichens can live in the most extreme environments, including outer space. This meditative film bridges science and philosophy, and the words of lichenologist Trevor Goward illuminate the terrain in poetic and thought-provoking ways.
Sound of a Wild Snail Eating
A forest snail takes up residence at a woman's bedside; together, they share an intimate journey of survival.
When a woman is bedridden by a mysterious pathogen, a forest snail unexpectedly takes up residence on her nightstand. Together, the woman and snail share an intimate journey of survival and resilience. Their captivating and graceful explorations expand the boundaries of the bedroom. An intimate and surprising live action story. Adapted from the award-winning nonfiction memoir of the same title.
I Am Water
Water is the most elemental of human rights.
"I am Water" is an absurd allegorical FilmPoem that’s hopefully easy to read between the lines. Water covers about 70 percent of the earth. I am made up of about that same amount of water. I can live only a few days without water. You can only live a few days without water. Political ignorance and corporate greed help fuel the current world water crisis. If we are to save the planet, it begins with you and I...one drop at a time.
From Kurils with Love
Vladimir, a scrappy Russian marine mammal biologist, hitch hikes aboard a boat filled with adventure junkies to help fulfill his quest to understand and protect the Kuril Islands before his age fails him. This is a journey of visual bliss, sea lion chaos, joyous raptures and ultimately a greater hope for the earth.
80Degrees North
A group of international artists explore the Arctic island chain of Svalbard. Set against the dramatic backdrop of the polar north, the artists share their hopes, fears, and insights on encountering an environment undergoing radical change.
Filmed in 2017 while participating in the Arctic Circle Residency, a program that places artists aboard a three-masted, Arctic class sail ship for two weeks, 80º North is a meditation on the unfolding climate catastrophe. Alongside images of visually stunning Arctic landscapes, the voices of artists encountering this fragile place reflect on the value of witnessing landscapes that might be better off unvisited, the embodied fear and uncertainty wild nature holds for younger generations, the conflict between knowledge and uncertainty, and what kind of future we might inhabit.
Felicia: The Life of an Octopus Fisherwoman
Felicia is one of the thousands of Malagasy fishermen and women on the Velondriake archipelago whose way of life is increasingly threatened by poverty and political marginalization. As an orphan and later as a mother, she turns to the sea as a means for sustenance, even when migration and commercial trawling threaten small-scale fishing operations. Like many other women in Madagascar, she embodies a steadfast willingness to keep moving forward in the face of major challenges.
Also Featuring
All Inclusive
Thursday: 4/2
Theme: Luxury consumerism, unintended consequences, institutional oppression
L'EAU EST LA VIE (WATER IS LIFE)
On the banks of Louisiana, fierce Indigenous women are ready to fight—to stop the corporate blacksnake and preserve their way of life. They are risking everything to protect Mother Earth from the predatory fossil fuel companies that seek to poison it. L’EAU EST LA VIE: FROM STANDING ROCK TO THE SWAMP follows water protector Cherri Foytlin as she leads us on a no nonsense journey of Indigenous resistance to the Bayou Bridge Pipeline (BBP) in the swamps of Louisiana. At the film’s opening, viewers are introduced to the Atchafalaya Basin, which was once a Maroon colony--a critical hub of Indigenous and black resistance. Cherri recounts her first-hand experience with the environmental destruction caused by the BP oil spill and how it devastated a local craw-fisher man and his way of life.
Dying for Gold
For over 120 years hundreds of thousands of black men from the countries of Southern Africa have left their families to dig for gold and produce the wealth of South Africa. Today these mining communities face severe poverty and the world's greatest epidemic of silicosis and tuberculosis caused by exposure to silica dust in gold mines. The true cost of South Africa's wealth is revealed by the juxta-positioning of present day gold miner stories with an archival voice created from state and mining records and repurposed industrial documentaries and propaganda films. The archival voice further reveals the untold story of how industrialised South Africa was built on a foundation of modern slavery based on a vast system of recruitment that utilized propaganda films since the early 1900's. Dying for Gold is also a story of mad love that holds men, women and children through experiences of unspeakable pain and death.
Friday: 4/3
Theme: Environmental Justice & Activism
Mossville
One man refuses to be forced off his family’s land as encroaching petrochemical plants threaten to destroy a historic African American community in Louisiana.
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.
Giants
Neighbors of Portland, Oregon find themselves figuring out how to become activists to try to save three giant sequoias in danger of being cut down.
During 2015 Everett Custom Homes purchased a property in Portland’s Eastmoreland Neighborhood. On the lot stood three giant sequoias, which the developer planned to cut down. "Giants" details the efforts and challenges neighbors of Eastmoreland confronted in their attempts to save these unique trees. The film brings a fresh look into local activism and highlights the importance of community organizing.
Saturday: 4/4 Matinee
Student FIlms
Petrichor
Insects are small and can inhabit hidden places, so you may not realize how many exist around you.
Petrichor traces a short journey about insects and animal’s population decline that affects ecosystems and humanity which would leave only a memory of them for us in the near future. Possible causes of the decline have been identified as habitat destruction, including intensive agriculture, urbanization, and industrialization; introduced species; and climate change so if not mitigated by decisive action, the decline would have a catastrophic impact on the planet's ecosystems. (“Petrichor” means a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm.)
Escape
Searching for serenity, a determined little girl escapes to the wilderness. Her journey ends, only when she is wild enough to become a part of it.
“Escape” is a 2D/3D animated short about a determined little girl’s journey through the wilderness. Inspired by the quote “Only children know what they’re searching for,” the film follows April as she seeks to find a place of serenity. During her journey, she transforms into a wilder version of herself and slowly becomes a part of her environment. To parallel this change, the visual style of the film also shifts subtly from “clean” to “wild” over time.
Gratis
Janet, a retired Spanish teacher has been practicing Freeganism for the past 15 years. Sharing resources, reducing the impact of consumption, recovering waste are just some of the methods practiced by Freegans. Through these practices, Freegans aim to gain independence from the profit-driven economy where revenue is valued over the environment, human and animal rights. The film follows Janet while dumpster diving alone in the streets of New York City or accompanied by fellow Freegans scavenging for their next meal or other basic life necessity. Janet's family and friends, as well as strangers, view her life choices with judgement and lack understanding of her alternative way to help the world we live in.
Mount Gariwang: An Olympic Casualty
Sport, politics, and the environment – what happened at Mount Gariwang in PyeongChang, South Korea? This documentary grapples with questions about environmental issues, politics, and the Olympic Games, and about relationships between democracy and the ‘greatest show on earth.’
Urbanality
In a society driven by growth and development we don't often take time to appreciate this wild, wonderful world we occupy. Getting stuck in the daily grind is all too easy, but sometimes all that’s needed to open our eyes is a helping hand. Through the journey of that helping hand, “Urbanality” explores isolation in our modern environment, our technological obsessions and the resistance we have to change. The city folk are about to get a wake-up call. But, will they stop and listen?
Green Gone
This infomercial parody pokes fun at the overuse of pesticides and herbicides and the psychology used to market them.
Made in Paradise
As his idyllic homeland turns into an imagined paradise for outsiders, Balinese artist Made Bayak reveals the other side. Using plastic as a medium, Made's creative language and education activism bring us on a ride from holy peaks, sacred waters and his r eligious family life, all the way to the luxurious resort zones, questioning the state of Balinese culture in Bali’s mass tourism development.
The Flow Effect
The Flow Effect is a documentary short film that follows an accredited freediver, Liv Rose as she explores the vast beauty of the underwater world. For Liv, Freediving is an escape from the overwhelming nature of daily life. With one breath, Liv can dive down for minutes at a time serving as both an exploratory and meditative experience. The time Liv spends underwater helps to relax her mind and allow her to ease into the aquatic tranquillity of the ocean. A passionate environmentalist, Liv strives to show us the unparalleled beauty of the ocean and the emotional connection she feels for it. She challenges us all to try Freediving, to take a moment to stop and be still, and to embrace the remedial qualities of the ocean.
Saturday: 4/4 Evening
Theme: Human-animal relations
Grizzly Country
The documentary spotlights the extraordinary life of famous “Monkey Wrencher,” Doug Peacock, and his tireless quest to protect the North American grizzly bear and its declining habitat. Peacock’s story reminds us that we're often callous to the wild things we fear, and without advocating for the voiceless, we risk losing them forever. Grizzly Country debuted as an official 2019 Banff Mountain Film Selection as well as a selection for the 2019 Wild & Scenic Film Festival.
After serving as a Green Beret combat medic in the Vietnam War, Doug Peacock sought spiritual refuge in the rugged wilderness of Wyoming and Montana. It was during these frequent backcountry trips that Peacock made contact with the grizzly bear and awoke a deep sense of personal humility. The bear’s presence became the foundation for Doug Peacock’s recovery and from that point forward Peacock felt duty-bound to be their voice in the human world. While Doug Peacock may be known as the model for author Edward Abbey’s famous character,George Hayduke in The Monkey Wrench Gang, it is Peacock’s work documenting and defending the grizzly bear that has defined his life for the last 50 years.
When Lambs Become Lions
In the Kenyan bush, a small-time ivory dealer fights to stay on top while forces mobilize to destroy his trade. When he returns to his younger cousin, a conflicted wildlife ranger who hasn’t been paid in months, they both see a possible lifeline.The plummeting elephant population in Africa has captured the attention of the world, and as the government cracks down, both poachers and rangers face their own existential crises—what is the value of elephant life relative to human life? And can we understand these hunters who will risk death, arrest, and the moral outrage of the world to provide for their families? Director Jon Kasbe followed the subjects of WHEN LAMBS BECOME LIONS over a three-year period, gaining an extraordinary level of access and trust on both sides of the ideological and ethical spectrum as he became part of their everyday lives. The result is a rare and visually arresting look through the perspectives and motives of the people at the epicenter of the conservation divide.
A Walk Through The Land of A Thousand Hills
Claver Ntoyinkima, a native park ranger, shares the secrets of Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda as he guides us through the forest. With almost 300 bird species, over 1,000 plant species, and dozens of large and small mammals, Nyungwe is one of the most biodiverse places in the world. Twenty-five years after the devastation of the Rwandan Civil War, the park is now one of the best-conserved montane rainforests in Central Africa. As Claver walks through the forest we uncover the origins of his conservation values and the history of an ecosystem that survived one of Rwanda’s darkest periods.
