PEI hosts 2019 Princeton Environmental Film Festival screenings
The Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI), a co-sponsor of the 2019 Princeton Environmental Film Festival, will host selected films on the Princeton University campus April 8-14. The films will be screened on the dates and times listed below in the Computer Science Building, Room 104. A full festival schedule is available online.
Featuring a Q&A with director Sarah Teale
Tuesday, April 9 | 4:30 p.m.
The film begins in 2015 as a vast hotel/condo complex called Tres Santos is poised to engulf a small Mexican community. Marketed to wealthy Americans as “green” and “mindful,” Tres Santos threatens to transform and overwhelm the idiosyncratic desert town of Todos Santos, quadrupling its population and causing irreversible damage. “Patrimonio” tells a unique and inspiring story of resistance about feisty fishermen who dared to stare down an American corporate Goliath — confronting their own government, denouncing corruption, demanding respect and refusing to blink first.
Wednesday, April 10 | 4:30 p.m.
This film is an indelible tale of friendship and commitment set against the luminous beauty of the Central African Rainforest. Together, elephant behavioral biologist Andrea Turkalo and indigenous tracker Sessely Bernard are tested by the realities of war and the limits of hope for the majestic animals they have committed their lives to study and protect.
Thursday, April 11 | 4:30 p.m.
The film follows the political transformation of Indonesian teenager Dian as she and her mother, along with many neighbors, fight against the corporate powers accused of one of the largest environmental disasters in recent history. The majority of international scientists believe that Lapindo, a multinational company that was drilling for natural gas in 2006, accidentally struck an underground mud volcano and unleashed a violent flow of hot sludge that wiped away 16 villages, including Dian’s. Ten years later, Lapindo has not provided 80 percent of its promised reparations, while dozens of factories, schools and mosques are submerged 60 feet under a moonscape of cracked mud.
“ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch”
Friday, April 12 | 4:30 p.m.
This documentary provides a cinematic meditation on humanity’s massive re-engineering of the planet. It follows the research of an international body of scientists, the Anthropocene Working Group, who, after nearly 10 years of research, are arguing that the evidence shows the Holocene Epoch gave way to the Anthropocene Epoch in the mid-20th century, as a result of profound and lasting human changes to the Earth. The filmmakers traversed the globe to document the evidence and experience of human planetary domination.
Featuring a Q&A with producer Jon Bowermaster
Saturday, April 13 | 7 p.m.
“Ghost Fleet” follows a small group of activists who risk their lives on remote Indonesian islands to find justice and freedom for the enslaved fishermen who feed the world’s insatiable appetite for seafood. Bangkok-based Patima Tungpuchayakul, a Thai abolitionist, has committed her life to helping these “lost” men return home. Facing illness, death threats, corruption and complacency, Patima’s fearless determination for justice inspires her nation and the world.