Photo by Pixabay/PublicDomainPhotos
This is a listing of films that came out in the last few years. I have not seen all of these films, so I can’t say that all of them are worth seeing, but many of them have won awards or been critically acclaimed. Click on the links below (or go to IMDB.com) to see previews, reviews, or descriptions of each film.
Contents
- Films on energy, fuel, and/or climate change
- Films on food and/or farming
- Films on other topics
- Green Film Festivals
Films on energy, fuel, and/or climate change:
- The Last Mountain (2011)
- Revenge of the Electric Car (2011)*
- The Island President (2011)
- Carbon Nation (2010)*
- Climate of Change (2010)*
- GASLAND (2010)
- Powerful: Energy for Everyone (2010)*
- Crude (2009)
- Climate Refugees (2009)
- Fuel (2008)
- The Age of Stupid (2008)
- The 11th Hour (2007)
- A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash (2007)
- An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
Films on food and/or farming:
- Symphony of the Soil (2011; work in progress)
- Growing Cities (2011)*
- American Meat (2010)*
- The Greenhorns (2010)*
- Queen of the Sun: What are the bees telling us? (2010)*
- Vanishing of the Bees (2009)
- Big River (2009)
- Fresh (2009)*
- Dirt! The Movie (2009)*
- Homegrown Revolution (2009)*
- We Are What We Eat (2009)
- Food, Inc. (2008)
- Food Fight (2008)
- King Corn (2007)*
- The Price of Sugar (2007)
- Earthlings (2007)
- Fast Food Nation (2006)
- The Future of Food (2004)
- For a list of other food-related films, see this list from Serious Eats.
Films on other topics
(e.g., health/toxins, water, pollution, localization, dolphins, etc.):
- The Human Experiment (coming out in 2012)
- The Economics of Happiness (2011)*
- Consumed: Inside the belly of the best (2011)
- Bag It: Is your life too plastic? (2010)*
- Living Downstream (2010)
- WASTE LAND (2010)*
- 180 Degrees South (2010)*
- The Cove (2009)
- Flow: For Love of Water (2008)
- Scarred Lands & Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War (2008)
- WALL-E (2008)*
- What Would Jesus Buy? (2007)*
If there are other relevant films that you’ve heard of or seen and would recommend to others, please add those in the Comments section below.
* = Films that are marked with an asterisk are films that have a more positive or funny bent than many of the others. There are only so many bleak films about reality that people can (or should) watch in a row without getting depressed or angry and feeling helpless to make a difference. I find that it’s best to take in some positive stories, solutions, and humor now and then, to keep myself sane and motivated…
Green Film Festivals
These are a few of the annual film fests that I’m aware of. Please let us all know about others by contributing a Comment! Many of the festivals’ websites feature video clips or entire films (short and full-length films), and they list many additional, new, independent films, beyond what I’ve listed above.
- Environmental Film Festival (Washington, DC)
- San Francisco Green Film Festival (San Francisco, CA)
- Mountainfilm Festival (Telluride, CO)
- Wild and Scenic Film Festival (Nevada City, CA)
- Annapolis Green Film Fest (Annapolis, MD)
- Planet in Focus environmental film festival (Toronto, Canada)
- Possible Futures Film Contest (online short films)
- UK Green Film Festival (5 cities in the UK, including London)
Miriam Landman is an accomplished writer, editor, and sustainability advisor with expertise in green living, green building, and sustainable communities. For daily links to sustainable solutions and success stories, connect to her Facebook page for The Green Spotlight.