You’ve had enough of superheroes, car chases and sappy love stories? Our selection of documentaries provides a new perspective on a green future and inspires a more sustainable lifestyle. Included are the big issues of our time: climate change, consumption, nutrition and environmental protection!
1. COWSPIRACY – The Sustainability Secret
Cowspiracy documents the effects of industrial animal husbandry on our planet. The filmmakers Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn deal with greenhouse gas emissions and confront various environmental organizations with uncomfortable questions.
2. MORE THAN HONEY
More than Honey is not another film about bee deaths. It is about life, about people and bees, about diligence and greed, about superorganisms and swarm intelligence. Spectacular shots open up a view of a world beyond blossom and honey that you won’t soon forget.
3. THE TRUE COST – Der Preis der Mode
This is a story about clothing. It’s about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world. The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. The True Cost is a documentary film that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and asks us to consider, who really pays the price for our clothing?
4. PLASTIC PLANET
It is impossible to imagine life today without plastic. But what risks does this material entail? Director Werner Boote directs the focus to a world in which plastic is omnipresent and thus problematic for the environment, humans and animals.
5. BEFORE THE FLOOD
Before the Flood presents a riveting account of the dramatic changes now occurring around the world due to climate change, as well as the actions we as individuals and as a society can take to prevent catastrophic disruption of life on our planet. The film follows DiCaprio as he travels to five continents and the Arctic speaking to scientists, world leaders, activists and local residents to gain a deeper understanding of this complex issue and investigate concrete solutions to the most pressing environmental challenge of our time.
6. TOMORROW – Die Welt ist voller Lösungen
What if there was a formula to save the world? What if each of us could do something to help? When the actress Mélanie Laurent (“Inglourious Basterds”, “Beginners”) and the French activist Cyril Dion read a study in the magazine “Nature” that predicts the probable collapse of our civilization in the next 40 years, they don’t want to accept this horror scenario.
7. MINIMALISM – A documentary about the important things
The documentary Minimalism examines the many flavors of minimalism by taking the audience inside the lives of minimalists from all walks of life—families, entrepreneurs, architects, artists, journalists, scientists, and even a former Wall Street broker—all of whom are striving to live a meaningful life with less.
8. THE GREEN LIE
Environmentally friendly electric cars, sustainably produced food, fair production: Hooray! If we believe the corporations, we can save the world with purchasing decisions. But this is a popular and dangerous lie. Together with greenwashing expert Kathrin Hartmann, filmmaker Werner Boote shows us how we can fight it.
9. CHASING CORAL
Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world.
10. AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Director Davis Guggenheim eloquently weaves the science of global warming with former Vice President Al Gore’s personal history and lifelong commitment to reversing the effects of global climate change in the most talked-about documentary of the year.
11. TASTE THE WASTE
50 percent of all food is thrown away, that is a fact. Director Valentin Thurn explores these questions in the film: Who turns food into garbage? What consequences does the global destruction of food have for the climate? And for the nutrition of seven billion people? Answers are found worldwide among farmers, supermarket managers, garbage workers and cooks. In addition, the director finds people who hold our food in higher esteem and have developed alternatives to stop the waste.
12. INHABIT: A Permaculture Perspective
Focused mostly on the Northeastern and Midwestern regions of the United States, INHABIT provides an intimate look at permaculture peoples and practices. During the Spring, Summer, and Fall of 2013, Costa Boutsikaris and Emmett Brennan documented over 20 sites in a range of rural, suburban, and urban environments. They explored responses to local and global challenges from issues of food, water, and medicine, to governance, economy, and culture.
13. 10 BILLION – What’s on your plate?
By 2050, the world population will grow to ten billion people. In the middle of the heated debate about food security comes this broad and analytic look into the enormous spectrum of global food production and distribution – from artificial meat, insects, industrial farming to trendy self- cultivation. Director, best-selling author and Food Fighter Valentin Thurn seeks for solutions worldwide and gives place for innovation and visions for our future.
14. A PLASTIC OCEAN
A plastic ocean begins when journalist Craig Leeson, searching for the elusive blue whale, discovers plastic waste in what should be pristine ocean. In this adventure documentary, Craig teams up with free diver Tanya Streeter and an international team of scientists and researchers, and they travel to twenty locations around the world over the next four years to explore the fragile state of our oceans, uncover alarming truths about plastic pollution, and reveal working solutions that can be put into immediate effect.
15. RIVERBLUE
Following international river conservationist, Mark Angelo, RiverBlue spans the globe to infiltrate one of the world’s most pollutive industries, fashion. Narrated by clean water supporter Jason Priestley, this groundbreaking documentary examines the destruction of our rivers, its effect on humanity, and the solutions that inspire hope for a sustainable future.
16. H.O.P.E. – What you eat matters
H.O.P.E. is a life-changing documentary uncovering and revealing the effects of our typical Western diet high in animal-based foods. It contrasts the limited interests of the pharmaceutical and agricultural industry with the all-encompassing interests of living beings on this planet and with the power of responsible consumer action. H.O.P.E. is an urgent call to action to all of us to commit to a change towards sustainability and safeguarding our living environment.
17. 2040
The 2040 journey began with award-winning director Damon Gameau (That Sugar Film). Motivated by concerns about the planet his 4-year-old daughter would inherit, Damon embarked on a global journey to meet innovators and changemakers in the areas of economics, technology, civil society, agriculture, education and sustainability. Drawing on their expertise, he sought to identify the best solutions, available to us now, that would help improve the health of our planet and the societies that operate within it. From marine permaculture to decentralised renewable energy projects, he discovered that people all over the world are taking matters into their own hands.