Some species are more important than others
NATURE: The Serengeti Rules uncover the self-regulating mechanisms in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, and shows how carnivores can play a crucial role – from the top down.
ecology
Above us, About us: Two new documentaries from Rotterdam
IFFR:This year‘s film festival in Rotterdam unveiled several documentaries and shorts, amongst them Above Us Only Sky – a calming exercise in intellectual and sensual stimulation – and Pelourinho: They Don’t Really Care About Us, which proved to be a rough, angry gem of a picture.
The use of fiction to bring forth reality
«It’s the strangest kind of documentary where the main character was not real but everybody else was», says Eugene Richards about his new film Thy Kingdom Come.
Touring Port-au-Prince’s graveyard (guided by a goat)
The Haitian goat Britis proves an excellent mute guide at the Grand Cimetière in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, squeezing through narrow passageways as he inquisitively scurries from crypt to crypt.
Far from the shallow now: two highlights from Underdox
Two newcomers stood out from the crowd at this year’s Underdox in Munich. Sec Rouge – one of 2018’s most striking, accomplished and beautiful films of any length – and the seminal and glowingly delicate 48-minute film, Accession.
Sugar: The sweetest poison?
Should sugar be regarded as a toxin equal to that of tobacco? Two documentaries focus on the sweet drug’s damaging effects and on the sugar industry’s attempt to trivialise them.
The houses we were, the cities we are
Two important but very different documentaries from 2018 showcase the power of the short film form.
The overlooked «in-betweener»
Two highlights of Doclisboa 2018 were documentaries from an often-overlooked category – the mid-length film.
Zero conference and Nobel prices
CLIMATE CHANGE: If you are prone to dismiss warnings about environmental destruction as exaggerations, you might as well stop reading right away.
The mirage of utopia
An essay-documentary meditating on future visions and utopias holds a dark heart given the current state of our society.
The apocalyptic face of capitalism
The shocking reality of Ghana’s electronic waste dump Sodom reveals the truth about our unending need for the newer and better in Western consumerism.
Does the end justify the means?
NATURE: The power of science versus the power of television in the attempt to save the pink river dolphin.