Roberto Olivares Ruiz's Silvestre Pantaleón (2011)
Maybe you take the subway to work, recycle, compost, buy organic, support environmental movements, and even purchased one of those hats made from human hair, but do you know what's crippling the environment in Zapotal, the Marshall Islands, the dumps of Córdoba, or what two Czech electricians are doing in Zambia? Regardless of your answer, we've got a film festival for you! Film Society of Lincoln Center is proud to present Green Screens: Cinema Planeta on June 1 – 3.
In collaboration with Cinema Planeta, the International Environmental Film Festival of Mexico, Green Screens is a three-day series in our Film Center's Amphitheater with 12 unique and enlightening films about how various cultures live on the planet and interact with the environment. The festival promotes conservation of cultures and environments through the power of cinema, providing viewers with entertainment and knowledge about the world around us.
Winner of Best Feature Length Mexican Documentary at the Morelia International Film Festival, Silvestre Pantaleón follows one of the last known traditional rope makers in Mexico as he struggles through pain and numbness to carry on making rope from plants. Directors Roberto Olivares Ruiz and Jonathan Amith in person for Q&A on June 1!
Arne Birkenstock's Chandani: The Daughter of the Elephant Whisperer (2010)
We all know if you break it, you buy it. But what if the company breaks it for you? You still buy it, again and again and again. The Lightbulb Conspiracy documents the systemic planned obsolescence that has led to garbage, consumer debt and squandered natural resources. Then travel from western consumerism to 35 small indigenous communities along the Amazon, where Brazilian filmmaker Jorge Bodanzky conducts video workshops with villages isolated by the very river that sustains them in Within the River, Among the Trees.
You can also bring the kids and check out the festival's family films. Bacalar follows Santiago and Mariana as they aim to save wolf cubs from animal traffickers, finding themselves facing their biggest fears and overcoming loss. The documentary Chandani: The Daughter of the Elephant Whisperer has the feel of a narrative as the title character, a daughter of an elephant trainer, dreams of following in her father's footsteps and adopts a baby elephant to train. The problem: women are not supposed to be elephant trainers. The final family film, Among Wolves, is a Jungle Book-like tale based on the true story of a boy who lived alone from age seven to 20 in the mountains of Córdoba following the Spanish Civil War.
For more information on these and other films in the Green Screens: Cinema Planeta lineup, head to the series page. And we've saved the best news for last: all tickets to these Amphitheater screenings are just $8, for everyone!
