The Films.
Watch the Earth Futures Festival 2022 Films and award nominees below.
View films by entrant category or festival theme, sit back and enjoy!
Finalist Films, Official Selection and Honourable Mention films are listed below.
Watch the award ceremony to find out who won the 11 Earth Futures Festival 2022 Awards: https://t.co/MrtUaI8hqT
There were 972 submissions to the Earth Futures Festival 2022 from 89 countries and we thank everyone who submitted a film!
4697 votes were received for the People's Choice Award
Official Selection.
The 1979 La Soufrière Eruption
Directed by Johann Medford, Arnaldo James, Nadia Huggins - Country of Origin: Trinidad and Tobago - Professional Geoscientists - Human Connection
“All high-risk communities must have an emergency plan in case of another volcanic eruption … We must always be prepared to reduce tragedy.” In light of recent reality, this quote from poet-narrator Maxwell “Tajoe” Francis in the animation, means much more in the Caribbean and for similar communities around the world. The 1979 La Soufrière Eruption is the personal account of Francis who in 1979 experienced a volcanic eruption in his homeland of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
EuroGeoSurveys
Directed by Tilman Zens - Country of Origin: Europe-wide - Professional Geoscientists - Human Connection
37 geological surveys of Europe, more than 500 key experts, a workforce of over 10,000. Collaboration is our strength. EuroGeosurveys is a not-for-profit association built on our experts, people who carry out research tackling today's diverse social and environmental challenges. Research into water, soils, natural hazards, clean energy and smart cities, minerals for green technology. Their work helps to build a sustainable future for us all. Our experts - your experts - our future.
Life on Land (World Congress of Soil Science)
Directed by Emma Askew - Country of Origin: United Kingdom - Media Professionals - Dynamic Earth
This short film explores the importance of soil through the lens of the ‘Life on Land’ UN Sustainable Development Goal, in celebration of the World Congress of Soil Science (2022).
Monitoring and preventing floods in Wallonia
Directed by GRAZIA Maria FIORE - Country of Origin: France - Community - Future Earth
In Wallonia, floods represent a very concrete risk. The cost of the floods of July 2021 was estimated between 4 and 6 billion euros, causing human and material losses. To better prevent and manage flood risks, the Public Service of Wallonia mapped land use and land cover in the region, using aerial pictures, in-situ data and Copernicus satellite imagery.
What is a UNESCO Global GeoPark?
Directed by Carey Jordan Marks - Country of Origin: France - Media Professionals - Dynamic Earth
A hand-drawn immersive animation that describes the role of UNESCO Global Geoparks – which are sites and landscapes of international geological significance as independently verified by scientific professionals
Conserve What We Love
Directed by Lotte Twaalfhoven - Country of Origin: United States - Community - Dynamic Earth
Why you should love, care for, and protect the ocean.
Itzan
Directed by Timothy Thomasson, Benjamin Keenan - Country of Origin: Canada - Professional Geoscientists - Human Connection
The lowland Maya adapted to their changing environment in different ways, and are thought to have abandoned their cities in response to a devastating drought around 730-900 CE. This project converts real geochemical data and the archaeological site of Itzan into a high fidelity visualisation representing the changing population, vegetation, and climate of the ancient Maya population over 6000 years. The project moves beyond conventional data visualisation to create an affectual experience that enables new ways for spectators to understand complex patterns found in scientific data.
STEM’d From My Ancestors
Directed by Maliaq Kairaiuak - Country of Origin: United States - Indigenous and First Nations, Women in Geoscience - Future Earth
Follow Dr. Cherie DeVore into the Sandia Mountains as she returns samples taken for her environmental research and discusses the importance of creating space for traditional, indigenous knowledge in academia and scientific research.
ENGIE: Why are geosciences important for society?
Directed by María A. López, ENGIE Project - Country of origin: Belgium - Women in Geoscience, Community - Future Earth
Geoscience matters to society because it underpins the provision of most of the resources on which we depend, including water, food, energy and minerals. In addition, a wide range of essential services rely on Earth science such as the management of the waste we produce; the construction of buildings, roads, dams and tunnels; and the remediation of environmental problems, for example, land contamination by industrial use.
Elementi Minimi
Directed by Pietro Agnoletto, Noemi Petrasso, Yan Guan Rosanna Suter - Country of Origin: Italy - University and Vocational Course Students - Dynamic Earth
The short documentary explores the world of culture, nature and gastronomy through the eyes of a chef - Lorenzo Barbasetti di Prun. His vision captivates the audience - as he brings the observer to join on an adventure for a search of new values of the Venetian Lagoon through the creation of dishes based from wild plants across the marshlands.
Tim's Journey Back in Time
Produced by MAGNT, Written and Artwork by Engawala Art Group - Country of Origin: Australia - Indigenous and First Nations - Human Connection
Join Tim, a young boy from Engawala on a time-travelling walkabout, as he encounters Australian Megafauna. The story is inspired by the Alcoota fossil site, only a few kilometres from the Engawala community, and is a delightfully fun journey illustrated through original artwork. Tim’s walkabout is an animated film produced in collaboration between Engawala Art Group, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, and Batchelor Institute.
Sea Floor & Copper Ore
Directed by Holly Maddison Cooke - Country of Origin: Australia - Women in Geoscience - Future Earth
How our understanding of our planet and her rocks builds future technologies.
VOLCANOES! Hugo and the Killer Hive
Directed by Zach Voss - Country of Origin: United States - Media Professionals - Human Connection
In this episode, meet Hugo Ortiz; an enthusiastic, young volcanologist working in Ecuador. On a routine mission to service his volcano monitoring sensors, Hugo discovers an unexpected challenge waiting for him deep in the Amazon.
Titration: Radioactive Waste, Princeton, and the Navajo Nation
Directed by Michael Q. Ceballos - Country of Origin: United States - Indigenous and First Nations - Human Connection
Titration: Radioactive Waste, Princeton, and the Navajo Nation examining how Princeton directly and indirectly contributed to the destructive consequences of nuclear research on Native communities.
Agawaraita
Directed by Priscila Tapajowara - Country of Origin: Brazil - Indigenous and First Nations - Human Connection
Indigenous and riverine people from the lower Tapajós River region tell their experiences with the "Encantados". Sacred spirits that have great influence in the lives of those who live in the forest.
The living Earth
Directed by Clive Oppenheimer - Country of Origin: United Kingdom - Professional Geoscientists - Dynamic Earth
Director’s Statement: The title of this short film is inspired by an essay by my volcanological hero, Frank Perret (1867-1943), who was one of the greatest and most dedicated observers of volcanic action, a man devoted to understanding volcanoes to serve humanity, and who exalted the role of volcanism on a living planet. I edited this film from footage I shot while on fieldwork, and assembled the soundscapes from acoustic and seismic signals emanating from the magma of the inner Earth.
In the heart of the Swiss Glaciers
Directed by Giovan Peyrotty, Lucas Vimpere, Nicholas Farley - Country of Origin: Switzerland - Media Professionals - Future Earth
Shaped by mother nature over millennia, glaciers are essential for biodiversity, climate and represent an immense freshwater resource. Seriously threatened by climate change, they are now the subject of study by many scientists around the world, especially in Switzerland where the Alps are full of them. This short documentary follows geoscientists as they use ground penetrating radar to image the internal structure of the Tsanfleuron glacier, in the Glacier 3000 resort (Switzerland). This research project has global implications with regards to glacial water supply and to the dynamic evolution of glaciers under the influence of climate change.
P R I M O R D I A L I T Y
Directed by Isabel Rodriguez Ramos - Country of Origin: Italy - Community - Human Connection
Accompanied by a woman born from the womb of the Earth, the viewer will be involved in a dreamlike journey to discover a primordial humanity. An ancestral ritual of purification of the spirit and fusion with natural elements will lead the protagonist to rediscover the cyclic nature of Nature by living it on her own skin. Through the senses, initially exercising tactility, Rossana accesses to the memory of water and the ancient mountain forest.
SENSUAL PILL
Directed by Sam3 - Country of Origin: Greece - Community - Future Earth
A magnetic animation-documentary, using Google Earth satellite facilities to travel worlwide during the pandemic era. Epic music by the Athenian Kostadis. Showing the constantly changing natural landscape and our connection and interaction with the Earth.
Lakes and Ice in the Pyrenees: the lost memory of water
Directed by Luis Miguel López-Soriano, Ángel Salazar - Country of Origin: Spain - Professional Geoscientists - Future Earth
The rapid speed of changes of water-ice systems in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, coupled with their small size put them at risk of losing their functionality in a few decades. To understand their evolution, a continuous monitoring is required, even more as they are disappearing archives and if we fail to collect the data today, we will not be able to take them in the future.
The children of the páramo in the Andes of Colombia
Directed by Juan Diego Pinzón - Country of Origin: Colombia - Media Professionals - Professional Geoscientists
The children of the páramo show us the beauty of the high mountains in the Andes of Colombia, while highlighting the importance of caring for the water system and the environment.
Ebb and Flow: Life at the Rocky Intertidal
Directed by Stefie Gan - Country of Origin: United States - University and Vocational Course Students - Community - Future Earth
SIXTEEN LEGS: Journey to the Queen of the Dark
Directed by Niall Doran, Justin Smith - Country of Origin Australia - Media Professionals - Dynamic Earth
Giant prehistoric spiders the size of dinner plates seek kinky love in the dark. As the world rapidly descends into the next period of global mass extinction, a message of hope comes from an unlikely hero: a creature, often unfairly reviled, that has survived prior mass extinctions and climatic change in a magical ecosystem hidden beneath the World Heritage mountains of one of the world's last great wildernesses.
The Sea, Ecosystem Services, & Well-being: Weekend (Part 1) and Weekday (Part 2)
Directed by Carya Maharja - Country of Origin: Indonesia - Media Professionals - Human Connection
A documentary film examining, in a narrative form, the interconnection between coastal and marine environment, and the health and well-being of coastal communities in a tropical lower-middle-income country (Indonesia).
The Nisyros Geopark
Directed by Emma Cieslak-Jones - Country of Origin: United Kingdom - University and Vocational Course Students - Women in Geoscience - Dynamic Earth
The Nisyros aspiring UNESCO Geopark is located in the south eastern Aegean sea in Greece. It was formed over 160,000 years ago and is completely made up of volcanic rocks. It is home to many spectacular sites offering incredible examples of active geological processes. This short film explores the theme Dynamic Earth and focuses on the active volcanism occuring from the ten hydrothermally formed craters on the Island of Nisyros.
This project was produced, presented and edited by PANGEA masters student Emma Cieslak-Jones as part of her Thesis project in collaboration with the Univeristy of Athens and the Nisyros Geopark.
Mogen Ko - Water is life
Directed by Anita Contreras Uribe, Matías Bravo Lara - Country of Origin: Chile - Media Professionals - Human Connection
Elizabeth Meza Calfunao, Mapuche teacher, introduces us to 8 teaching-learning strategies that links human with nature. Through a dialogue in Loncoche, Wallmapu, we get involve in how Mapuche people relate to their environment, especially water
DEEP RUMBLING
Directed by OZAN TURGUT - Country of Origin - Turkey - Professional Geoscientists - Future Earth
SHE Changes Climate
Directed by Natalie Hodgins - Country of Origin - United Kingdom - Media Professionals - Human Connection
There can be no climate justice, without gender justice.
This short documentary gives voice to those female leaders left absent from global climate negotiations and explores the actions necessary to drive a better future for all.
Carbon Dust
Directed by Alexander Fingrutd - Country of Origin: United States - University and Vocational Course Students - Human Connection
Hand processed 16mm film, clear leader, carbon dust, splicing tape, book plates from “The Chain of Life in Geological Time,” astronomical images from the ESO, and a sound collage of natural and man-made audio sources.
Honourable Mention.
Glimmer Like Gold, Melt Like Snow
Directed by Teresia Fant, Anni Tiainen - Country of Origin: Norway - Media Professionals - Human Connection.
The film is a poetic description of memories, time and life on the edge of a rapidly changing world. We hear interviews with locals in the Inari area, in northern Finland.
The area has been inhabited for several thousand years but now only 7000 people live in the municipality. A small library on the mountain that has been used by local gold diggers for many years, has preserved stories and memories.
The landscape images show how small man and the library are in the northern Finnish landscape. The landscape is older than the individual and connects us to history. What we remember and what we forget becomes part of this story.
Volcano Monitoring in the Eastern Caribbean
Directed by Johann Medford, Arnaldo James - Country of Origin: Trinidad and Tobago - Professional Geoscientists - Human Connection
A simple animation that explains the various techniques used by The UWI Seismic Research Centre to monitor volcanoes in the English-speaking Eastern Caribbean.
One of a four-part series, this video identifies the signs of volcanic unrest, volcanoes being monitored, as well as the monitoring equipment’s purpose and their importance.
This series came at a critical period, during production in late 2020 the La Soufrière volcano in St Vincent and the Grenadines erupted. This prompted North Eleven to speed animation development, delivering the series in a priority order during the time of emergency.
Exploring the Pacific Northwest
Directed by Ian A. Nelson - Country of Origin: United States - Media Professionals - Dynamic Earth
Journey through the Pacific Northwest, where the landscapes vary from volcanic mountain ranges, to coastal shorelines, open drylands, and more. Within these diverse ecosystems, a variety species have helped to shape and maintain their respective habitats. The natural environments found within this region are important to protect for the benefit of all living beings.
ANTARCTICA - WHITE LOVER
Directed by Jivko Konstantinov - Country of OrigiBulgaria - Media Professionals - Dynamic Earth
Journey to the end of the world. A story about Antarctica. Discovery, science and power of the human spirit. A real challenge! Try it!
WE AND THE WOODS
Directed by Weeraphan Thavorn - Country of Origin: Thailand - Media Professionals - Human Connection
As humans fall into a whirlpool of greed, a group of Karen people finds a way to connect nature and mankind through their annual tribal ritual.
Alice Springs Volcano
Directed by Glenn Marshall - Country of Origin: Australia - Community - Human Connection
One man's dream to build a volcano in Alice Springs leads to the first eruption in central Australia for 500 million years. Come join the party as kids blow it up, inspiring the next generation of geo-scientists.
Huanggang Dabieshan UGGp, China
Submitted by Feng Li - Country of Origin: China - Professional Geoscientists - Dynamic Earth
According to legend, Li Bai, with the title of Poetic Genius for his brilliant talent in writing poems, once exclaimed in Dabie Mountain that the south of the mountain is full of flowers, while the north of the mountain is covered by snow. This mountain was very different from others!
那么，大别山为什么叫大别？
Why is the mountain called Dabie Mountain?
先跟着我，穿越时空，去28亿年前探个究竟。
Follow me, let’s travel back to 2.8 billion years ago and find out why.
Movements
Directed by Martina Spurná - Country of Origin: Czech Republic - Professional Geoscientists - Dynamic Earth
Far beyond the polar circle, all the way to the Arctic north is where a group of geologists from the Czech Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) sets out on an annual basis. Their destination is Hornsund, the southernmost bay of the island of West Spitsbergen. Here for the past 6 years, the scientists have regularly monitored with a unique device the movements of the earth, mapping out the unexplored terrain that had previously lain hidden deep under the ice.
Coligallero
Directed by Wainer Méndez Solano - Country of Origin: Costa Rica - Media Professionals - Human Connection.
Juan Morales is an artisanal miner who grew up in the canton of Abangares, a town looted by foreign companies more than 120 years ago. Since he was a child, he learned the trade of the coligallero and today he continues to subsist on gold. He, together with his family and friends, introduce us to an underground world where political, economic and environmental battles are fought that endanger the subsistence of their families and the loss of their cultural identity. In the amalgamation between human and nature; love, hope and pain are part of the history of the artisanal miner in Abangares, popularly called Coligallero.
Te Whakairo
Directed by Vanessa Wells - Country of Origin: New Zealand - Media Professionals - Human Connection
Te Whakairo - Ngā Kī o Te Tai Ao (The Carvings Carry the Stories of the World).
Two talented carvers from each end of Aotearoa take their whakairo (carving) to Antarctica in response to New Zealand's kaitiakitanga (guardianship) of the world’s largest marine protected area - The Ross Sea.
The Sky is Far, The Earth is Tough
Directed by Haya Fatima Iqbal - Country of Origin: Pakistan - Media Professionals - Human Connection
The film explores how climate change has impacted the mental health of Pakistan's mountain communities threatened by climate disasters . The main characters, Shahbano, Zarb Ali and Nusrat are all residents of Ghizer district which is very exposed to climate disasters and has a simmering mental health crisis. 203 people have committed suicide between 2010 and 2017 in Ghizer, one of the highest rates in Pakistan. Every time a landslide, avalanche or flood from melting glaciers occurs it destroys homes and agricultural land. Entire households are pushed further into poverty because they have nowhere to live, nothing to eat, and nothing to sell.
Dasht-e Kavir
Directed by Aydin Abadani - Country of Origin: Iran, Islamic Republic of - Media Professionals - Dynamic Earth
A journey into the Great Salt Desert of Iran.
DIGI DADA
Directed by Zbig Rybczynski, Dorota Zglobicka - Country of Origin: United States - Media Professionals - Human Connection
(The full title is) "DIGI DADA - Songs of the Earth" is the cinematic “pas de deux” of a contemporary dance performed by two dancers to the classical music masterpiece composed by Bartok. "DIGI DADA - Songs of the Earth" is a poetic interpretation of a Human Connection with the Earth. SHE and HE dance their hearts out to bring rain to the thirsty desert.
On the screen, we observe two diametrically opposed possibilities of synchronizing music with dance. In the very center of the screen, we see the dancers' performance synchronized with the music in real-time.
While looking at other parts of the screen towards its edges, we see multiple repetitions of the same pair of dancers, but their performance is to varying degrees accelerated and time shifted. Paradoxically, the distorted dance of these characters is also synchronized with the music, but in a different way.
In order to achieve this effect, a special computer program was created for measuring differences in the volume and intensity of the recorded music and converting them into the time shift seen in the film's images.
"DIGI DADA - Songs of the Earth" is a part of the Micro Concerts Series, created in cooperation with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra in Germany. Our experimental short is a part of a compilation of four-part surreal Videoart "Songs From The Earth" created for the music by Gustav Mahler, Leos Janacek, Bela Bartok, Arnold Schoenberg performed by Kent Nagano, and the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra in Germany. Filmed in Arizona at Gila Monster Studios and on location.
The Sea and Me- Below
Directed by Dominic Joyce - Country of Origin: United Kingdom - Human Connection
The Sea and Me is a series that aims to help us understand what it is about the ocean that is so fascinating to us humans. This episode follows Georgie, who is an up-and-coming underwater photographer based in the UK. The episode follows her through some of the most underrated coastlines in the world on her mission to show the world what lies beneath the surface.
Centre for Disaster Resilience, together to build a more sustainable and resilient future for all
Directed by Carey Marks - Country of Origin: United Kingdom - Media Professionals - Professional Geoscientists - Women in Geoscience - Human Connection
A video created for the launch of the new Centre for Disaster Resilience at the ITC, University of Twente, The Netherlands. This initiative aims at coordinating the efforts in disaster preparedness and risk reduction carried out at the ITC together with national and international partners and the communities affected by disasters.
When everything disappears
Directed by Marta Arjona, Maite Blasco, Jèssica Estadella Country of Origin: Spain - Media Professionals - Dynamic Earth
The 22nd October 2019 a flood devastated l'Espluga de Francolí, destroying everything that it found and causing different deaths. Only a few months later, a second flood made the recovery of the village even more difficult; the global pandemic of Covid19 that we are still living today, in the same way that water does, has taken away everything that was part of our normality.
The Cumbre Vieja eruption, La Palma
Directed by Giovan Peyrotty, Lucas Vimpere, Nicholas Farley - Country of Origin: Switzerland - Media Professionals - Professional Geoscientists - Dynamic Earth
This short documentary follows a team of volcanologists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) as they head to the 2021 Cumbre Vieja Eruption on the Island of La Palma, Spain. Working alongside the local INVOLCAN observatory, who was monitoring the evolution of eruption, the UNIGE volcanologists focused more on sampling and analysing the ash and lava flows which can then be compared against historical eruptions. The scientists explain how investigating the mineral and glass content of the fossil and current lava will offer better insight into how eruptions of this type evolve.
Xänthe Dehe - Water Forest
Directed by Adrián Arce - Country of Origin: Mexico - Professional Geoscientists - Human Connection
The region named Water Forest is one of the forested areas with greatest diversity of fauna and flora of Mexico. It covers 255,000 hectares of forests, grasslands, croplands and human settlements that go from Sierra de las Cruces to Sierra del Chichinautzin. It is mainly communal property (ejidos and comunidades). Apart from providing most of the water that is consumed in 3 of the main cities of the center of the country, it supplies multiple ecosystem services to the most populated area of Mexico. Deforestation, water pollution, air and soil deterioration, together with the unstoppable growth of the urban sprawl, put at risk the survival of thousands of species and millions of citizens who inhabit a region with an alarming water stress.
Disappearing Soil (Silent Threats)
Directed by Martina Spurná - Country of Origin: Czech Republic - Professional Geoscientists - Dynamic Earth
How quickly is our soil disappearing? And how quickly does it form? What exactly "soil" is? What about the condition of our fields? The next episode of the Silent Threats cycle Disappearing Soil presents the problem of soil erosion in the Czech Republic. With the help of experts, scientists and farmers, we learn more about erosion. We find out how it is examined, what we know about it and everything that it is connected to. The film offers a slightly different perspective on the work of farmers, pointing out the important role of the landscape and the interconnectedness of problems and events that take place in it.
Campeche Island World
Directed by Cláudio Felippio Júnior - Country of Origin: Brazil - University and Vocational Course Students - Future Earth
Campeche Island is a scenic and archaeological heritage listed by IPHAN. Known for its crystal clear waters and rock engravings, the island is one of the main tourist destinations in Santa Catarina. Therefore, the documentary presents the agents who work daily in maintaining its environmental and cultural value preserved.
Integrated Management of Sustainable Agrosystems. Gallocanta Lagoon Project
Directed by Jesús Causapé, Miguel Ángel Bielsa - Country of Origin: Spain - Professional Geoscientists - Human Connection
The film shows the basis and aims of a research project focused on the implications of agricultural activity at the Nature Reserve of Gallocanta lagoon.