Films
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Many films also have exciting discussions.
66 Meter
The polar ice caps are melting at an alarming rate. Very soon, this will be a disaster for small island nations, but also for countries on the mainland.
Germany 2019 –
Amazoniens fliegende Flüsse – Ohne Wald kein Wasser
The Amazon rainforest acts as a climate control system for the planet. What happens as more and more forest disappears, and what can help to preserve it?
Germany 2018 –
Anders Essen: Das Experiment
Three families experiment on themselves: Can you actively change land use and your carbon footprint by changing the way you eat?
Austria 2020 –
Anna und der wilde Wald
Wildlife reporter Anna goes in search of wolves in Germany’s Bavarian Forest. There she meets conservationist Woife, who takes her on an exciting adventure in the wild woods.
Germany 2019 –
Aus Liebe zum Überleben
Portraits of eight people who have turned to a form of agriculture that works without poisons and without destroying soil fertility.
Germany 2019 –
Bamboo Stories
A nuanced film about bamboo, the building material of the poor. It focuses on the raftsmen who have the heavy work of transporting the bamboo 300 km by river.
Germany 2019 –
Be Wild – Die Normalität ist radikal
A young film team take to their bikes to meet a variety of climate activists, and ask whose responsibility it is to try and avert the climate disaster.
Germany 2019 –
Blown Away – Music, Miles and Magic
An authentic and inspiring film about the musical adventures of two friends who travel the world by bus and boat with almost no money.
Germany 2019 –
Corazón Del Mundo (The Heart Of The World)
This short film is an important message from the Columbian tribal elder Mamo Rumaldo Lozano Gil, addressing the roots of the climate crisis and inviting us to look after nature
Colombia 2019 –
Das Forum
A film about the 81-year-old founder of the controversial World Economic Forum and his efforts to improve the state of the world.
Germany 2019 –
Das Jenke Experiment – Das Plastik in mir: Wie der Müll uns krank macht
Documentary about a self-experiment on the effects of plastic in the body, but also on the damage it causes to flora and fauna.
Germany 2019 –
Das Lied der Gibbons
Documentary about the life and reproductive behaviour of gibbons, the smallest of the great apes.
Austria 2019 –
Der Bär in mir
Together with bear researcher David Bittner, filmmaker Roman Droux immerses himself in the world of wild grizzlies. A film of breathtaking wildlife images.
Switzerland 2019 –
Der lebendige Wald
A four-minute experimental film by three film students that illustrates different perceptions of the forest.
Germany 2020 –
Der Paraná – Ein Fluss wie das Meer: Vom Ursprung durch Brasilien
This film follows the Paraná river 800 km from its source in Brazil to Paraguay, and introduces us to people who are determined to rescue this endangered ecosystem.
Germany 2019 –
Der stumme Sommer – Warum sterben die Insekten?
This fascinating documentary attempts to discover why so many insects are dying, investigating with the help of scientists, farmers and politicians.
Germany 2019 –
Der Tod der Fichte
This film explains the environmental influences that trees have been and are exposed to over time, using the spruce forests in the former East Germany as an example.
Germany 2017 –
Der Wald hinter den Bäumen
There is a lot more to the forest than just the trees. Woodland is full of life, with so much to discover and so much than needs protecting.
Belgium, Germany 2019 –
Die Rückkehr der Biber – Wilde Baumeister
This documentary tells the fascinating and curious story of the return of beavers to Europe, with unique images and never-before-filmed behaviours.
Germany 2019 –
Die Sendung mit der Maus: Haselnussbohrer
This children’s film asks where the tiny holes often found in hazelnuts could be coming from …
Germany 2019 –
Die Sendung mit der Maus: Urban Gardening
This children’s film asks exactly how urban gardening works.
Germany 2019 –
Die Sendung mit der Maus: Warum fällen Biber Bäume?
This film observes the extraordinary life of beavers in and around the pools they create.
Germany 2019 –
Die verrückte Welt der Hörnchen
They’re cute and popular: This film tells fascinating and entertaining stories from the world of squirrels.
Germany 2019 –
Die Wälder des Nordens
This film examines how boreal forest consistently regenerates after periodically burning down, and looks at its significance for people and wildlife.
Canada 2019 –
Dirty Games – Das Geschäft mit dem Sport
Investigative film about the dark deeds in the multi-billion business of elite global sports.
Germany 2016 –
Erlebnis Hessen: Der Traum vom Biodorf
Small organic farms are still fighting for survival. Is community-supported agriculture a solution that also offers a sustainable future?
Germany 2019 –
Evolution im Großstadtdschungel
In our cities, of all places, animals and plants adapt especially quickly to new living conditions. Will our urban jungles soon give birth to new species?
Germany 2019 –
Exploring Hans Hass
Never-before-seen footage of Austrian marine biologist Hans Hass is interwoven with the memories of his companions to provide a fascinating portrait of a pioneering celebrity.
Austria 2019 –
For Forest - der Kunstwald im Stadion
Documentary about the art project "For Forest" in the Wörthersee stadium in Klagenfurt, Austria.
Austria 2019 –
Forst Först
Forester Hubert Stehle will soon be retiring, bringing to an end a 300-year-long family tradition. A film about home and a portrait of a couple caught between holding on and letting go.
Germany 2019 –
Fracas
On the Salvation Islands, flora and fauna are slowly erasing the traces of one of the toughest penal colonies in French Guiana.
France 2020 –
Geheimes Katar – Ein Emirat auf WM-Kurs
A critical look at Qatar’s preparations for the 2022 football World Cup.
Germany 2018 –
Grüne Oasen in der Stadt
In Germany, urban gardening has long been a trend in Berlin, but now it has taken root in the southwest of the country as well.
Germany 2020 –
Gujiga
This film reveals myths and natural phenomena surrounding the turtle and shows forcible encroachments on the life of the reptile.
Germany 2019 –
Hambi – Der Kampf um den Hambacher Wald
Documentary about the unyielding environmental activists determined to save the last remains of Germany’s Hambach Forest.
Germany 2019 –
Hannes Jaenicke: Im Einsatz für Vögel
Actor and environmentalist Hannes Jaenicke goes in search of answers to the question why Germany’s native bird population is falling so dramatically.
Germany 2019 –
Im Reich der Wolga – Ein Strom wird zum Meer
The Volga is Russia’s natural lifeline. The largest river in Europe, it flows into its own enormous lake – the Caspian Sea.
Germany 2019 –
Kanadas Nationalparks: Wapusk Nationalpark
Nowhere is home to so many polar bears as Canada’s Wapusk National Park, which visitors are not allowed to enter without a guide, due to its sensitive ecosystem.
Germany 2019 –
Kann das Elektroauto die Umwelt retten?
Electric cars are lauded as emission-free and supposed to help support the fight against climate change. But can e-cars really save the environment and climate?
Germany 2019 –
La face cachée du cacao
In 2001 the lucrative chocolate industry pledged to end child labour on cacao plantations within the next five years. Has that promise actually been kept?
France 2019 –
Libellen – Funkelnde Jäger
This film reveals the surprising abilities of the dragonfly and explains many mysteries of these iridescent insects.
Austria 2019 –
Life on the Rocks
In the ’60s, a married couple lived on an ancient volcanic island off the east coast of Scotland to study the world’s largest colony of gannets. Since then, there has been a catastrophic loss of global seabird populations.
United Kingdom 2020 –
Monte Alén: The Ancient Forest
A portrait of Monte Alén, one of the most important protected areas of Equatorial Guinea, whose ecological riches it is vital to preserve.
Spain 2019 –
Mt. Suswa – Im Herzen des Vulkans
The African shield volcano Mount Suswa in the Rift Valley is a mysterious and as yet hardly explored region of the planet with enormous biodiversity.
Germany 2019 –
Natur schützen mitten in Europa – Das FFH-Gebiet Kandelwald, Rosskopf und Zartener Becken
A film with unique footage of natural resources and habitats in the southwest German region of Freiburg, and about people who are committed to nature conservation in Europe.
Germany 2019 –
Nowitzki – Der perfekte Wurf
The unique career path of German basketball player and NBA star Dirk Nowitzki.
Germany 2014 –
Painted Ladies
One of nature’s most extraordinary journeys begins with a tiny blue egg. This film takes you on a mysterious journey with the creature inside: through metamorphosis.
United Kingdom 2020 –
Pfaueninsel
Essayistic narrative about a 1793 garden island in Berlin. The film is a composite of precise observations of the peacock and passages of historical literature from the times.
Finland, Netherlands 2020 –
Polyfonatura
Eccentric sound artist Eirik Havnes is preparing his most ambitious project ever: a symphonic masterpiece with nature as his orchestra.
Norway 2019 –
Psykhe
After a little boy rescues an injured butterfly, the soul of the ethereal creature Psykhe accompanies him for the rest of his life.
Germany 2020 –
Putins Spiele – Ein Jahr danach
A critical look behind the scenes of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Germany 2015 –
Rame pour ta Planète
Documentary about a group of surfers on the Basque coast, as they demonstrate for changes that will avert the climate emergency.
France 2020 –
Räuber in Westfalen – Neues Leben in Panzerspuren
For 130 years, large areas of heathland in the west of Germany have been used as a military training area. They are strictly off limits to civilians – leaving nature to develop undisturbed.
Germany 2019 –
Rettet die Insekten
In many regions, the number of insects has declined by a whopping 75% in the last few decades. How has this happened and what must we do to save them?
Germany 2019 –
SOS Amazonas – Apokalypse im Regenwald
This film reflects on the ecological and humanitarian disaster of the fires in the Amazon rainforest, and looks into how and why it is happening.
Germany 2019 –
Stadtoasen – Detroit
How city farms are turning Detroit from the Motor City into an agricultural metropolis.
Germany 2016 –
System Error
Critical film about the self-destructive compulsions of the capitalist system.
Deutschland 2018 –
The Beauty
This short film is a poetic journey through a fascinating underwater world in which plastic and nature become one.
VFX Supervisor: Marc Angele / Animation: Noel Winzen, Pascal Schelbli
Germany 2019 –
The Common Ground
When deforestation and monocultures lead to landslides and failed crops, a small collective of coffee farmers on Java decide to change their ways.
United Kingdom 2020 –
The Flying Gold of Arabuko
The story of a man who has left behind his former life as a poacher and illegal logger to breed butterflies, which he supplies to tropical butterfly houses all over the world.
United Kingdom 2020 –
The Man Who Planted A Forest
In 1979 a young boy began planting one new sapling a day on a barren wasteland in Assam, in order to counter dwindling forest resources. What has become of this project 40 years on?
India 2018 –
Traces
Over the seasons we follow a logger and his horse in the depths of the Ardennes forest, and see him live his passion through the eyes of an odd young girl …
Belgium 2019 –
Tränen der Olive
This film looks at the secrets of olive oil production and the importance of the oil for human culture and personal happiness.
Germany 2018 –
Vert de Rage Paraguay : les cultures empoisonnés
Documentary about the genetic damage being suffered by children in Paraguay who are exposed to the use of pesticide on soy fields.
France 2019 –
Von Natur aus Freunde
Because people need air, and trees need love.
Germany 2014 –
Wanderbaumallee Stuttgart – Ein Baum kommt selten allein
A film about the Wanderbaumallee project: movable trees and seating areas bringing greenery and sociability to public spaces in Stuttgart.
Germany 2019 –
Wasser ist Zukunft: Die Emscher – Das Wunder im Kohlenpott
Documentary about the renaturalisation of the river Emscher in Germany’s Ruhr region.
Germany 2018 –
Wild Durmitor
Miladin Kasalica is a ranger in Durmitor National Park in Montenegro, who hopes his work will help people appreciate the true beauty of nature.
Montenegro 2019 –
Wölfe und Herdenschutzhunde – Ungleiche Brüder
This film explains the central role that livestock guardian dog and wolf – two dissimilar brothers – play in nature protection with their contrary lives and positions.
Germany 2020 –
Xylem
An experimental animation using only microscopic images of xylem, one of the two types of transport tissue in vascular plants.
United Kingdom 2019 –
Zwischen Kohle und Klima – Drei Menschen, eine Geschichte
A portrait of three people for whom the debate around brown coal in Germany affects their personal future – in very different ways.
Germany 2019 –