BigPicture Media
- Focusing on Stories that Move Us
Diversity in Hollywood: The Time Is Now
Academy President on Diversity Push: "We Will Keep the Pedal to the Metal"
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences spotlighted the diversity of invitations to join the voting Academy in 2016.
"Back in 2012, 30 percent of that year’s invitees were women and 10 percent were non-white. In 2016, 46 percent are women and 41 percent are people of color."
············
2020
Planet of the Humans
Documentary / April
Negative reviews extensive -- Sample
The new movie Executive Produced and promoted by Michael Moore is unfactual, unscientific, flies in the face of decades of renewable energy science, engineering and research and is counter productive in the age of urgent need for Climate Action.
Intro:
Planet of the Humans, directed by Jeff Gibbs and Produced by Michael Moore, promotes a thesis that is patently untrue on many levels.
1. The film states that renewable energy such as solar and wind are inefficient, useless and dependent on fossil fuels to work. Quote fro the film “One of the most dangerous things right now is the illusion that alternative technologies, like wind and solar, are somehow different than fossil fuels….You would have been better off just burning the fossil fuels in the first place., instead of playing pretend.”
This assertion, which is echoed over and over in the film is patently untrue and ridiculous. The notion that solar and wind and other renewable technologies don’t work to produce energy in ways that are cheaper, more efficient and at low or zero carbon emissions over their life span flies in the face of everything engineers, scientists and energy planners have been writing in peer reviewed science for decades.
2. The film trades in debunked fossil fuel industry talking points that are specious and meant to disparage the efficiency, durability and affordability of renewable energy. Quote: “Intermittency is one of the major challenges.” “Solar panels are built to only last 10 years, so it’s not as if you get this magic free energy, right? I don’t know if it’s the solution.” These notions, which are untrue, antiquated and outdated do not pertain to the technology and science of today , in which intermittency and efficiency are no longer issues due to the significant advances that renewable energy science, planning and technology. The fact is that RENEWABLE ENERGY WORKS and is currently cheaper than coal and natural gas, other fossil fuel generated electricity sources.
3. The film totally ignores the last ten years of peer-reviewed renewable energy planning and policy. Absent from this anti-renewable energy screed are important policy and science innovations such as the 100% renewable energy plans for each state, over 150 countries and the world from Stanford University, Physicians Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy and the Solutions Project. Also absent is any mention of the Green New Deal, which is the most important policy advance on green energy of all time. Bear in mind that this work on renewable energy, such as the 100% plans for New York and California are all ready well under way and are being enacted now with solar and wind energy growing exponentially- all backed up and predicted by science.
Peer reviewed NY 100% plan: https://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/NewYorkWWSEnPolicy.pdf
Stanford University plans: https://thesolutionsproject.org/why-clean-energy/
PSE Research: https://www.psehealthyenergy.org
4. The film attacks important environmental campaigners, scientists, policy leaders and activists in unfair and misleading ways. The climate movement, the anti fracking movement, the movement for renewable energy and against fossil fuels has been an important part of the advancement of thinking and policy towards changing our energy system away from coal oil and gas. The film attacks movement leaders like Bill McKibben, Van Jones and others as well as taking pot shots at important local campaigners like Nathan Sooy of Clean Water Action, accusing them of supporting forms of energy that they do not (like biomass) and taking money from fossil fuel interests (which they do not). See the extensive and detailed rebuttal by Bill McKibben here:
5. The film ignores that the IPCC and other scientific bodies are saying that we must cut our carbon emissions in half in the next ten years and that the only way to feasibly do that is what a total transformation of our energy systems. These scientists point overwhelmingly towards transformations in our economies towards renewable energy.
The film is dangerous, misleading and destructive to decades of progress on environmental policy, science and engineering.
·············································
Explore a Vibrant Forest Garden
An Amazing How-to Story in the UK
Martin Crawford growing a wondrous forest garden
Agroforestry ... Edible Landscapes, The Food Forest Revolution
Industrial agriculture, monoculture, brings unsustainable impacts with loss of forest land and loss of fertile soil. Big corporate petro-chemical growing regimens lead to water pollution, aquifer depletion, environmental and adverse health impacts. The reduction of critical CO2 absorption that forests provide is becoming a profound problem. What can agro-forests provide as an alternative to industrial ag?
From the Filmmaker
Increasing food production by expanding conventional agriculture leads directly to large-scale deforestation which in turn is destroying biodiversity, damaging water cycles, and driving devastating climatic change.
Rethinking forests as our food larder is the only way to simultaneously stop deforestation while providing food through a democratic supply chain.
A forest garden or food forest is a plant growing system modeled on the structure of a young natural woodland, utilizing plants that bring direct and indirect benefits to people - mostly edible plants. Humanity has been producing abundant food in forest gardens since the dawn of civilization. The crops which can be produced include fruits, nuts, edible leaves, spices, medicinal plant products, poles, fibres, basketry materials, honey, fuelwood, fodder, mulches, sap products, and on and on...
The structure and diversity of forest gardens ensure that they are resilient to the impacts of climate change including extreme weather conditions like droughts and heavy rain. The beauty of forest gardens is that they are so perfectly suited to collective engagement, functioning as well in urban spaces as in rural ones.
·············································
Via Ecodads
Gratitude
By Louie Schwartzberg
·············································
A Holiday Message
David Attenborough speaks of saving the planet (video)
·············································
2019
Harriet Tubman, the Movie
September 2019
‘Harriet’ makes its worldwide premiere at Toronto International Film Festival
The first feature film on the story of Harriet Tubman, Harriet, made its premiere Tuesday night at the Toronto International Film Festival. Harriett is directed by Kasi Lemmons, best known for her work directing Eve Bayou, Talk to Me, and Black Nativity, who was on hand for the introduction of the film by festival director Cameron Bailey.
Official Movie Trailer - July 2019
Creative Credits
The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes, whose courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.
·······················································
Bravery Amid Decimation in the Amazon
- The twists of fate that allow life to thrive on Earth
Bill Nye, The Science Guy, Brings It
2018
A tip of the green hat to Robert Redford and the Redford Center.
Much of what we, activists in environmental, political reform, encounter in changing the world can be difficult, almost impossible, and very often we must have resilience and persistence in the face of forces arrayed against visionary work needed to make a difference.
Look Around, 360° Around
Climate Change is the defining issue of our time and we are at a defining moment. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale. -- United Nations
Must See Climate Change Movies, via Climate Reality
List of environmental films (Wikipedia)
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH / AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Inconvenient_Truth
Al Gore (controversially) lost the race for U.S. president in 2000. A door closed, a window opened as he chose to become a full-time, full-on environmental activist and educator.
>After seeing former US Vice President Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, people worldwide finally understood the reality of the climate crisis devastating our planet. For many, it was the moment they knew they personally had to do something about it. The film’s impact continues to be felt more than a decade after it won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary and took its place among the highest-grossing documentaries ever.
>Last year’s follow-up, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, took the Climate Crisis story further...
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beasts_of_the_Southern_Wild
>Living in a Louisiana bayou community called “the Bathtub,” six-year-old Hush Puppy (youngest-ever Best Actress Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis) can’t get the prehistoric aurochs her teacher tells her will be released from melting ice caps off her mind – even as the world in front of her crumbles and cowers, the victim of powerful storms, failing levees, and familial health problems.
>While the film’s setting is technically fictional, it was inspired by several very real fishing villages in Southern Louisiana's Terrebonne Parish. These small, isolated wetland communities are threatened by climate-driven erosion, extreme weather, and rising sea levels. Most notable among them is the rapidly disappearing Isle de Jean Charles, former home of “the first American climate refugees.”
IMDB
Storyline
Hushpuppy, an intrepid six-year-old girl, lives with her father, Wink, in the Bathtub, a southern Delta community at the edge of the world. Wink's tough love prepares her for the unraveling of the universe; for a time when he's no longer there to protect her. When Wink contracts a mysterious illness, nature flies out of whack, temperatures rise, and the ice caps melt, unleashing an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs. With the waters rising, the aurochs coming, and Wink's health fading, Hushpuppy goes in search of her lost mother. (Written by Sundance Film Festival)
First Review
Magical, thought-provoking, very, very watchable
26 July 2012 | by oldgirl
I can understand how most people view this film within the context of Hurricane Katrina. But even as a former denizen of the Gulf coast who sat out Alicia, Claudette, Allen, Rita, and Ike, I view this film in a much, much larger context. It goes beyond stereotype and into archetype -- the denizens of the Bathtub aren't poor drunks at the mercy of the environment, they are The People of the world they inhabit. Hushpuppy doesn't have a drunk father, she has a Father, with many of the faults and strengths of the immortal epic heroes -- anger, pride, genuine love and concern. Hushpuppy herself isn't just a little girl, she is The Child -- the purveyor of a magic which is real, intimately connected with her world, imaginatively linked with All Things. The outside world is a place of Things and Machines, of paperwork and rules -- and is never actually named, you see, because that would diminish it. Everything in this film exists within the realm of archetype, and if you watch it with that in mind, its multiple messages take on cosmic significance. Beautifully shot, beautifully acted -- it's going to take a few more days for the entire thing to completely sink in. Outstanding!
CHASING CORAL - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/chasing-coral-review-sundance-2017-967131
- From GreenPolicy360's friends at the Bioneers and Leo DiCaprio ...
>That coral reefs are existentially threatened by the climate crisis is a truth near-universally acknowledged. But filmmaker Jeff Orlowski doesn’t simply telegraph a report on this impending ecological catastrophe.
>Instead, Orlowski infuses his film with such empathy and ardor for our world’s oceans and their vibrant ecosystems – as well as those working hard to save what’s left – that it’s impossible to not walk away pumped up and ready to join the fight.
INTERSTELLAR - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_(film) (kudos to Co-producer Lynda Obst)
>Director Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is that rarest of Hollywood anomalies – a wildly complicated, lavishly expensive, wholly original mainstream blockbuster. It doesn’t exist in the Marvel or DC cinematic universes; instead, it occupies a not-so-distant-future version of our very own – and things aren’t exactly going great.
>While the words “climate change” are never explicitly said in the film, the impacts of the crisis are writ large, driving a plot about an attempt to flee a near-future Earth reeling from drastically changing weather patterns and global food shortages for the safety of a new habitable planet.
>Featuring one of the most stacked casts in recent memory, including Oscar winners Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, and Ellen Burstyn and nominees Jessica Chastain, Timothée Chalamet, and John Lithgow, Interstellar takes on a very real consequence of climate inaction, though it offers up an untenable solution.
>After all, there’s still no Planet B.
SNOWPIERCER - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowpiercer
>The film is set in a future where a failed geoengineering experiment to counteract climate change plunges the planet into a new ice age, killing all life except for those lucky enough (a phrase we’re using loosely here) to have boarded the titular train. This train now circles the globe on a constant loop and a tyrannical class system has taken hold onboard.
>It’s an important cautionary tale: While we should investigate any and all scientific developments to stop the climate crisis, dangerous gambles like geoengineering – or for that matter, fleeing our planet for an imagined oasis somewhere deep in the universe – could come with unintended consequences.
Eco-films for you
• https://www.imdb.com/list/ls052614234/
• https://medium.com/greenpeace/7-environmental-films-that-you-need-to-watch-right-now-296d4ffd21b8
• https://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/top-10-environmental-films-of-all-time
• https://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/ten-films-to-inspire-your-inner-environmental-superhero
• https://www.cinemadailies.com/the-best-environmental-movies-and-documentaries-of-all-time/
• https://tmff.net/environmental-film-festivals-a-list-for-the-planet/
One Strange Rock... Diatoms, microalgae
Secret to the Earth's oxygen supply...
First Look at One Strange Rock / Gasp
@GreenPolicy360 / www.ThinBlueLayer.com
2017
Virtual Reality in Space
New Perspective of the Home Planet
- ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Jamie & Robert Redford
Cliff Curtis: Leader To Be of the Reef People Clan (Avatar)
https://www.bestmovie.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Cliff-Curtis-Avatar.jpg
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/bill-nye-science-guy-review-986806
No more Mr. Nice Science Guy?
With his beloved PBS series having officially wrapped back in 1998 (although still playing in perpetuity on TV and classrooms everywhere), Bill Nye finds himself at a career crossroads.
While his trademark bow tie is still very much intact, his struggle to be taken seriously as a passionate advocate for the environment, facing off against dismissive climate change deniers and the anti-science movement, is intimately chronicled in the documentary Bill Nye: Science Guy, which had its world premiere at South by Southwest.
http://www.geek.com/tech/bill-nye-the-science-guy-hopeful-for-the-future-1687963/
Facts Matter today, yesterday & tomorrow
- ················································
Miyazaki Is Making a New Film!
- ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
A Beautiful Planet
May - 2016 / IMAX
• http://abeautifulplanet.imax.com/
Watch the Intro to Beautiful Planet
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Leonardo takes an Oscar and speaks out...
"Making The Revenant was about man's relationship to the natural world, a world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history. Our production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow. Climate change is real. It is happening right now. It's the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.
"We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people who will be most affected by this. For our children's children and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed, I thank you all for this amazing award tonight.
"Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted. Thank you so much."
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
To the Memory of Ziggy... We're Stardust
https://cdn1.stopklatka.pl/dat/artykul/0000000178/0000178213/original.jpg
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Film/Media Reviews
In the movie industry the term "look-see" is used to describe a first look...
a glimpse of a project, a creator's idea, an initial concept, story, package, a pitch of a screenplay...
Our media reviews are quick look-sees, online intros, scoops and insights of projects worth your time and thought.
So pull up to your screen, log on, stream, download, rent it, buy it, go out to a movie, get virtual, take it to the next level... Act out!
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Racing Extinction
Racing Extinction ○ #RacingExtinction @RacingXtinction
“I told the crew, 'We’re not making a movie – we’re starting a movement'. This film is one component of a movement that will go on and on...
and hopefully live in people’s hearts and minds and change behavior. We are the only generation that can save species for millions of years going forward...”
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
- New Ways of Seeing
To push the edge... I believe we are at the threshold. Take the time to make breakthroughs.
Technology to Revolutionize Cinema
Master Class w/ Douglas Trumbull (video)
Starchild 2001 / Story via GreenPolicy
∞
Premiere of BigPicture Media
A Brief Message from SJS - GreenPolicy Siterunner
Here on the Big Picture we throw a eco-Spotlight on important environmentally attuned films/movies/media.
We visit the work of #planetcitizen media makers, creators and visionaries. We look at the BIG and the tiny -- and life in between and all around us.
At GreenPolicy, we bring a dramatic 360° perspective.
And a personal POV as "Planet Citizens".
Welcome to a Blue Planet adventure.
~ GreenPolicy360 Siterunner from Clearwater, Florida
