​American Colonies: Collapse of the Bee is an independent film project that breaks down the role of bees and pollinators in our environment and economy. It explains the mysterious problem of Colony Collapse Disorder and proposes a possible solution for the sake of our food supply and global economy.
Saturday Jan. 30 : 3:30pm : SLC 120
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​Following up on their Peabody winning documentary, the King Corn boys are back.  For Big River, best friends Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis have returned to Iowa with a new mission: to investigate the environmental impact their acre of corn has sent to the people and places downstream.  In a journey that spans from the heartland to the Gulf of Mexico, they set out to see the big world their little acre of corn has touched.  On their trip, flashbacks to the pesticides sprayed, fertilizers injected, and soil plowed lead to new questions, explored by new experts in new places. 
Saturday Jan. 30 : 6:00pm : SLC 120
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​For Erik Weihenmayer, a blind man, and Chad Jukes, an amputee, to ice climb is a feat in itself. To summit Telluride’s Bridal Veil Falls, the highest free-falling waterfall in Colorado, is even more notable.
Adrenaline Film
Wednesday Jan. 27 : 9:00pm : Salvi Lecture Hall, Saint Mary's University
Thursday Jan. 28 : 9:30pm : Lourdes Hall, Winona State University

 The first fictional film from Somalia in more than 15 years is based on true events. Set in today’s age of Kalashnikov assault rifles and cell phones, it has pathos reminiscent of an ancient Greek tragedy. Charcoal Traffic deliberately intends to provoke dialogue between Somalians about the self-destructive perils of greed, corruption and ignorance. As with Greek tragedies, the themes of Charcoal Traffic are universal and timeless: It’s not a quantum leap from the northern Somalian desert to the mountaintops of Appalachia or the mesas of Colorado and Wyoming.
Sunday Jan. 31 : 3:30pm : Somsen Auditorium

 Compost animates normal organic found items including sticks, leaves, and insects to the tune of a solo pianist. Replacement animation gives life to all things compostable. Don’t worry, no insects or animals were harmed in the making of this film.
Sunday Jan. 31 : 10:00am : PAC

 Sometimes, words aren’t necessary. In Deep/Shinsetsu, filmmaker Masaki Sekiguchi lets the images speak for themselves. Filmed in Japan after what appears to be a 100-year storm, this short is a melodic and meditative portrait of skiing powder—chest-deep powder. The film is stripped of the genre’s usual racket, there are no voice-overs, jibbers, helicopters or hip-hop music here. Instead, it cuts straight to the essentials, the wash of white and the joy of bounding through bottomless snow.
Wednesday Jan. 27 : 9:00pm : Salvi Lecture Hall, Saint Mary's University
Thursday Jan. 28 : 9:30pm : Lourdes Hall, Winona State University

We see firsthand the devastating effects of our global love affair with fish. Filmed over two years, the documentary follows the indefatigable investigative reporter Charles Clover as he confronts the politicians and celebrity restaurateurs who exhibit little regard for the damage their policies are doing to the oceans. Taking us from the cod-depleted shores of the Atlantic to the Straits of Gibraltar and the coasts of Senegal, and on to the Tokyo fish market, The End of the Line sounds a powerful wake-up call to the world: If we continue fishing as we are now, we will see the end of most seafood by 2048.
Saturday Jan. 30 : 3:30pm : SLC 120
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​In the 21st century global food economy, most foods travel an average of 1,500 miles from farm to plate. As renowned author Michael Pollan elaborates, the impacts of this fossil fuel-driven system are detrimental to the environment, but also to our health and social well-being. Writer Michael Shuman argues that investing in local food systems lessens the distance between who we are and what we eat, and creates wealth in the community (PBS)
Saturday Jan. 30 : 10:00am : Miller Auditorium (Stark 103)

 A six month journey along the 2,200 mile long Appalachian Trail, condensed and reinterpreted into five minutes of stop-motion.
Adrenaline Film
Wednesday Jan. 27 : 9:00pm : Salvi Lecture Hall, Saint Mary's University
Thursday Jan. 28 : 9:30pm : Lourdes Hall, Winona State University

 Vern Switzer is an idiosyncratic character: A black farmer in Rural Hall, North Carolina, his passion for growing watermelon found new meaning when God directed him to write children’s books. Now this “farming author on the move” brings his message of sustainable farming and character building to schools across the country.

The Scottish Documentary Institute commissioned six new filmmakers to create films with a theme of “white,” and this short from Kelly Neal is one of the unexpected results. In a rural American town called Columbus, the average age of the population is 73. Three “very poor fisherman,” Wiley, Shanny, and Springy, live in a place so small “you blink your eyes and you go by and you’ll miss it.” The stark, cold countryside is contrasted with the warmth of the fishermen, who use their humor and comradeship to bolster spirits and straighten their spines against inevitable “progress.”

Hari Rai is a 17-year-old student who lives in a small village in Nepal. To support himself and pay for his education, he works as a porter. In this documentary, Rai is hired to carry a Coca-Cola refrigerator to a repair shop, and the footage follows him through Nepal's stunning mountainscape—past tourist-filled hot springs, Buddhist temples, herds of goats and small villages. Rai shares his thoughts, beliefs and hopes for the future along the way. The four-day transport is a poignant portrait of child labor. Supported by the Global Fund for Children, Journey of a Red Fridge takes an unforgettable look at the state of Nepal’s 60,000 child porters. —MD, Telluride www.lunamdocs.com   View Trailer...

 Director Pierre Trudeau sees beauty in the strangest place, a garbage dumpsite. In Garbage Angels, odd life forms tell their tales about survival of the fittest in a society where everything seems disposable. 

Simply put, Dr. Rick Hodes is a miracle worker. Deeply adhering to the belief that “He who saves one life, saves an entire world,” Hodes works in Ethiopia, taking care of children stricken with tuberculosis of the spine. If left untreated, this disease can cause massive humps to grow on the back, forcing its victims into a permanent forward-bending posture that can lead to death or a wicked deformity. Hodes has given countless children a new sense of self. And by watching Making the Crooked Straight, you will find a new sense of hope. 

Muskurati Roshni or Bright Smile was made by girls from an NGO, working with Apne Aap who works with marginalised women and their children to give them vocational training. The film addresses the issue of sex selection in a very abstract way with the female foetus expressing her joy and hope of being part of this world. Then her world is shattered when the mother is forced to undergo an abortion after determining that it is a girl.

There were once more than 3,000,000 elephants in Africa; there are now approximately 400,000. Orphans of Tsavo is about a special refuge in Kenya that is run by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which provides care of the many elephants that have been orphaned by poaching and other factors. 

Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. 

​Reclaiming Their Voices documents ways in which Native Americans have been disenfranchised over centuries, and are now becoming politically active. Native Americans living on reservations were the last ethnic minority granted the right to vote in the United States. In this film, we meet Native Americans who are stepping forward and speaking out against injustice. We learn how they are reclaiming their voices through education and action.

Cliff edges, boulders, logs, park benches, public sculpture, handrails, picnic tables, walls and window sills - all are apparently perfect terrain for extreme unicycling.

In the heart of the lofty, knife-sharp Vindhya Mountains in India sits a 6,500-foot rock route that resembles a massive shark fin and rises from the ocean of crags. In Samsara, all-star climbing team Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk set out to attempt a first ascent. But here’s the thing, the sacred peak Meru is said in mythology to be the center of the universe, but can you climb to the center of the universe?  

Surfing 50 States is an independent travel documentary in which two Australian friends find a wacky way of surfing in all 50 states of the USA, whilst celebrating the diverse American Culture.
The 7 month, 20,000 mile journey finds the boys in all situations, from surfing icy waves in Alaska to 15 foot piles of potatoes in Idaho.

​Each year, nearly 70 percent of gray wolf pups in Minnesota die from a virus common in domestic dogs. Scientists believe that a series of rare mutations and increased air travel helped a feline virus jump from cats to dogs, and then to gray wolves. This short documentary explores the threat to gray wolf populations from canine parvovirus, the factors helping its spread, and the lessons we can draw from viruses HIV1, SARS Coronavirus, HINI swine flu, that jump from one species to another.

Bummed out by global weirding? Snowstorms in May getting you down? This playful animated micro-short with characters created from wood, wire and fabric, brings spring right to your doorstep, or even closer.

 A bit twisted, a bit mournful and a bit of pure wicked entertainment, this film introduces us to the burrowing owl. When the timid, normally unassuming burrowing owl loses his mate to a large predator, watch out! His tale of revenge is tinged with both humor and sadness. 

​The Horse Boy does more than chronicle Rowan and his parents' journey across the vast, wild landscape of Mongolia. It delves into the strange world of autism itself, the relationship between humans and animals and between different cultures and different ways of being (autistic vs. normal, or "neuro-typical"), and the nature of healing. Audiences hear the varied theories on autism from the experts in the field, well-known researchers of autism such as Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University; Dr. Temple Grandin, recovered autist and professor of animal behavior at Colorado State University; and anthropologist and researcher Roy Richard Grinker of George Washington University. But above all, The Horse Boy tells the story of a couple that goes to the end of the earth to find a way into their son's life.

 In a dark and drab world, a fearful young child discovers a bright red helmet that transforms everything. 

A documentary about renewable energy and other alternatives to fossil fuels. It features a group of passionate children calling for adults to take action and address global warming. It also includes global warming and energy experts talking about various promising technologies such as solar, wind and tidal power, transportation and the issue of food as it pertains to energy consumption.

Way of the Warrior uses personal stories of heroes and soldiers to examine the warrior ethic in Indian Country and to answer the question why military service is so highly valued in Native communities. These gripping stories from WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam weave a tapestry of positive and negative themes, including the warrior ethic, prejudice and stereotypes, forced assimilation, poverty, cultural pride, redemptive acts and healing. The documentary uses historical footage, period photographs, Native music, personal diaries and interviews to reveal what it means to be "ogichidaa," one who protects and follows the way of the warrior.

In Person: Patricia Loew

Sunday Jan. 31 : 3:30pm : SLC 120  

Masterful animator Pes uses commonplace and unexpected items to put together the most perfectly magical plate of spaghetti. Bon appetit!

The children will be divided into groups and given an ingredient for what will collectively become our “perfect plate of spaghetti”.  They will asked the following question:

      What ingredients are needed to create the perfect world?

Within their small groups, they will come up with an answer to that question.  One at a time, a representative from each group will explain to the larger group what their ingredient is (the literal translation) and what their ingredient represents (their “ingredient” for a perfect world).  All of the ingredients will be put together to create a large plate of pasta, which will represent the world.

Saturday Jan. 30: 1:00pm : Somsen Auditorium