Taos Environmental Film Festival – 2022

APRIL 22 to 24, 2022

MASKS REQUIRED

This project is supported in part by Taos Arts Council, a 501 (c) (3) non–profit organization working to ensure that Taos County has a vibrant, vital and active arts environment. With also a major grant from the Taos Ski Valley Foundation and additional support from Taos Community Foundation, Bullfrog Films, Renewable Taos and the Taos News.

FREE – Donations Accepted

COMPLETE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

FRIDAY – APRIL 22 at TCA

10:00 am to Noon – School Program
Film:  Hurricane on the Bayou

TRT 40:00 A MacGillivray Freeman Film
Hurricane on the Bayou carries audiences behind news headlines on a journey deep into the soul-stirring heart of Louisiana. Shot before and after the unprecedented devastation of Hurricane Katrina and featuring state-of-the-art GGI special effects depicting the height of the storm’s fury, the film brings into focus the startling loss of Louisiana’s rapidly disappearing coastal wetlands that are New Orleans’ first line of defense against deadly storms. .

Film: Climate Emergency: Feedback Loops

TRT: 46.19 , Intro (13:09), Forests (14:10), Permafrost (10:55), Atmosphere (8:45), Albedo (10:35)
Director: Susan Gray – Narration by Richard Gere.  Climate Emergency: Feedback Loops is a series of five short films, featuring twelve leading climate scientists, that explores how human –caused emissions are triggering nature’s own warming loops.

Noon to 2:00 pm – Intermission

Trash pick-up & display plus an EV (electric Vehicle) demomstration along with information tables in parking lot and  lobby of the TCA centered around EV vehicles,  Renewable Taos and Earth Day.  This is in conjunction with  the Taos Environmental Film Festival, Renewable Taos “Drive Electric Earth Day” and Taos County Litter Pickup day.  There will also be event in Kit Carson Paark for Earth Days and Peace events.

2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Feature Film: Shadow of Gold

TRT 1:19:00

Directed by Robert Lang (Canada), Sally Blake (France), Denis Delestrac (France) TEFF gives thanks to Bullfrog Films.

“The Shadow of Gold is a very important film that should be seen broadly to help spur urgent debate about how consumers, legislators and communities can hold the gold industry to account.” David Suzuki

A never to be forgotten thorough look into personal lives, from many varied cultures, in the pursuit of gold and its desired and undesired consequences from processing to environmeatl iimact.

Short Film: The Story of Plastic (animation)

TRT 5:00
Written by Brett Chamberlin, Michael O’Heaney, and Ruben DeLuna. . Animation by Ruben DeLuna Creative, voiceover by Tiza Mafira. Based on “The Story of Plastic” feature-length documentary. Screening courtesy The Story of Plastic Project at storyofstuff.org

 7:00 pm to 9 pm
Film: Hurricane on the Bayou

TRT 40:00 – A MacGillivray Freeman Film.

Hurricane on the Bayou carries audiences behind news headlines on a journey deep into the soul-stirring heart of Louisiana. Shot before and after the unprecedented devastation of Hurricane Katrina and featuring state-of-the-art GGI special effects depicting the height of the storm’s fury, the film brings into focus the startling loss of Louisiana’s rapidly disappearing coastal wetlands that are New Orleans’ first line of defense against deadly storms.

Feature Film:  Blind Trust 

TRT 58:00
Leaders & Followers in Times of Crisis – TEFF gives thanks to Bullfrog Films
Blind Trust celebrates the life and work of psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Dr. Vamik Volkan, a five-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee who has spent over four decades bringing enemy groups together in areas of conflict all over the world. This incredible film traces Dr. Volkan’s life journey from his birthplace on the ethnically divided island of Cyprus to his development of a model of diplomacy based on the emotional life of nations.

SATURDAY, APRIL  23 at TCA

10:00 am to Noon
Feature Film: Invisible Hand 

TRT  1:25:00
Indigenous Leaders and Film Director, Will Reveal

Executive produced by Emmy-award winning actor Mark Ruffalo, INVISIBLE HAND is a documentary that critics call a “paradigm shifting” story about the global struggle between Nature and society.
“The water, air and land have become toxic dumps, and the law is rigged against us,” said Ruffalo. “People are adapting to these perils in daring and creative ways – and winning.”  The film follows the Rights of Nature movement that began in Pennsylvania, USA, and travels to the international fight at Standing Rock (North Dakota), celebrates the Seneca Nation.

2:00 pm to 4:00 pm 
Feature Film: The Third Harmony 

TRT  44:00

Directed and produced by the respected nonviolence scholar and author, Michael Nagler, co-founder of the Peace and Conflict Studies Department at U.C. Berkeley,THE THIRD HARMONY will help the general public, often at a loss to understand the protests occurring in many cities, to better grasp just what nonviolence is and how it works. The film also delves into the important role that nonviolence plays in the wider struggle to develop a new theory of human nature, how every one of us can add to our personal growth and fulfillment while benefitting society through the use of this time-tested power.

TEFF gives thanks to Bullfrog Films

Film:  Climate Emergency: Feedback Loops

TRT: 46.19, Intro (13:09), Forests (14:10), Permafrost (10:55), Atmosphere (8:45), Albedo (10:35)Director: Susan Gray – Narration by Richard Gere.  Climate Emergency: Feedback Loops is a series of five short films, featuring twelve leading climate scientists, that explores how human –caused emissions are triggering nature’s own warming loops.

5:00 pm to 6:00 pm 
FORUM: Mother Earth 

MOTHER EARTH Forum / TCA  Esteemed panelists speak of the trials and tribulations of media, climate change, the sustainable future of Taos and issues of pollution and threats to the citizens of New Mexico and beyond.

Moderator:  Jean Stevens, Founding Director TEFF

 Panelists:   
Paula Claycomb – Treasurer, Renewable Taos, 2021 – present
Mary Dickson –  Published writer, Downwinder, playwright:  ExPOSED
                      (See TEFF Play/Exposed; menu link above)
Kristina Ortez – Executive Director, Taos Land Trust
Rachel Conn – Deputy Director, Amigos Bravos, Taos, NM
Lisa Lucas – President, New Mexico Women in Film, writer, producer, actor 
(See TEFF Activism Awards to New Mexico Women in Film; menu link above)

7:00 pm to 9:00 pm 
Feature Film: The Seeds of Vandana Shiva – 2021

TRT   1:22:00
Directed by Jim and Camilla Becket
How did the willful daughter of a Himalayan forest conservator become Monsanto’s worst nightmare? The Seeds of Vandana Shiva tells the remarkable life story of Gandhian eco-activist Dr. Vandana Shiva, how she stood up to the corporate Goliaths of industrial agriculture, rose to prominence in the seed saving and organic food movements, and is inspiring an international crusade for change.  With a focus on the people, circumstances, and seminal events that shaped Vandana’s thinking and defined her purpose, The Seeds of Vandana Shiva reveals how the battle against multinational agribusiness has become a global struggle between two distinct visions for feeding the world.

Short Film – Rio Grande Serenade #3: El Agua Es Vida – Water is Life, 2021

TRT 15:25
Director & Cinematographer, Peter Walker
In episode 3, we meet Miguel Santistevan, a multi-generational farmer, musician and educator whose livelihood depends on the Ancient Acequia system, which transports precious water to his crops. “I am very rooted in healing this earth.” We also meet Tiana Suazo, the Executive Director of Red Willow Farm on Taos Pueblo. Tiana returned to her roots where she diligently works to advocate for healthy wetlands and farm management to educate the youth about sustainable food production in these challenging times. 

SUNDAY, APRIL 24 at TCA

2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Film Into the Canyon, 2019

TRT 1:25:00
Directed by Pete McBride
In 2016, filmmaker/photographer Pete McBride and writer Kevin Fedarko set out on a 750-mile journey on foot through the entire length of the Grand Canyon. From the outset, the challenge was far more than they bargained for. More people have stood on the moon than have completed a continuous through hike of the Canyon. McBride and Fedarko took a sectional approach, achieving a feat that many adventurers have taken decades to complete. Others have lost their lives trying.

Short Film – Rejection of the Empire

TRT 1:38
Directed by Joel Larson
The digital poem “Rejection of the Empire” is an abstract representation of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.  Beginning and ending with a purely digital sky in 3D piixels is a commentary on the artistic medium being used, and a reflection of how unreal our modern artistic sensibilities have become.  Blue and white represent water and the bones of our predecessors.  The transformation to Red-Orange represents the violent invasion of empirical colonization and the defensive resistance to that invasion by a traumatized community.

Short Film: Face Forward

TRT 2:22

Directed by Wendy Shuey

Interactive art installation by Taos artist, Christian Ristow. Christian designed and fabricated a large scale metal face, which allows anyone to operate the eyes, mouth, brows to alter expressions and emotions.

5:00 pm to 7:30
The Play: EXPOSED

A play by Mary Dickson – Staged Reading with Mary Dickson.
Directed by Chelsea Reidy and David Silva.
Produced by Judith Rane.
Short Synopsis: During the Cold War, the U.S. government tested 928 nuclear bombs in Nevada, all of them more powerful than those that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The radioactive fallout from those blasts spread across the country, some as far away as upstate New York, more than 2,200 miles away. Writer Mary Dickson’s powerful and very personal play puts a human face on a tragic chapter of American history, one few people know about. Chicago Tribune Syndicate writer Robert Koehler called it “Devastating drama … a sacrament of grief and anger that doesn’t stop at the edge of the stage or end with the actors’ bows.”

FESTIVAL FILMS – 2022

Click on Image for Trailer

Click on “READ MORE’ for more info on a given film

FOUR SHORT FILMS – 2022

Short Film – Rio Grande Serenade #3: El Agua Es Vida – Water is Life, 2021

TRT 15:25
Director & Cinematographer, Peter Walker

Short Film: Face Forward

TRT 2:22
Directed by Wendy Shuey

Interactive art installation by Taos artist, Christian Ristow

See Also Bullfrog Films,
the oldest and largest US publisher of DVD’s about the
environment, social justice issues and sustainability.

See Also Additional Films & Other Resources