Films at the Bioneers Conference
The Bioneers Conference (whose founder is a filmmaker) has since its inception 36 years ago always included film screenings of groundbreaking documentaries in its program. This year we are delighted to once again be able to present a range of remarkable films on a wide array of topics from Indigenous groups fighting to defend their cultures and lands in the Amazon and here in North America, to the cutting edges of regenerative agriculture and of urban equitable food projects, to the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and communities on the West Bank, to the protection of coastal ecosystems around the world. We are especially excited to be featuring two of this year’s Academy recognized documentaries: No Other Land, which won Best Documentary Feature, and Sugarcane, which was nominated in the same category.
Films will be screened in the Goldman Theater in the David Brower Center at 2150 Allston Way each evening, beginning with the pre-conference event on Wednesday, March 26th.
Please Note: Film Screenings are first-come, first-served. Please be sure to arrive early if you’d like to guarantee a seat, especially since two of the films were Oscar-nominated and one won, so demand for limited seats is bound to be high.
Pre-Conference Event – Wednesday, March 26th
Resident Orca
A film by Sarah Sharkey Pearce and Simon Schneider
6:45 pm – 9:00 pm
Resident Orca tells the unfolding story of a captive whale’s fight for survival and freedom. After decades of failed attempts to bring her home, an unlikely partnership between Indigenous matriarchs, a billionaire philanthropist, killer whale experts, and the aquarium’s new owner take on the impossible task of freeing Lolita, captured 53 years ago as a baby, only to spend the rest of her life performing in the smallest killer whale tank in North American. When Lolita falls ill under troubling circumstances, her advocates are faced with a painful question: is it too late to save her?
Come join us for a screening of this powerful testimony about what it means to honor all of our relations. After the screening, we will have a Q&A period with Raynell Morris, enrolled Lummi tribal citizen and renowned activist who played a key role in bringing home the southern resident orca (Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut) from the Miami Seaquarium.
There is a $10 screening fee, which you can select when you register.
Thursday, March 27th
Reclaiming Bear River
6:45 pm (15m)
Bioneers is delighted to be able to offer you this “sneak peak” preview of a soon-to-be-released episode of Tangled Bank Studios’ widely acclaimed Wild Hope Series (www.wildhope.tv) that tells the inspiring story of how the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, landless since they suffered the worst massacre in U.S. history in 1863, managed to purchase their ancestral homeland and begin, using ancient wisdom and modern science and technology, restoring the now-degraded land back to its pre-colonial lush, vibrant biodiversity, helping revitalize their culture, language and traditions in the process.
The Falling Sky
7:00 pm (110m)
An immersive and poetic film centered on iconic shaman Davi Kopenawa and the Yanomami community of Watoriki in the Brazilian rainforest, based on the book co-authored by Davi Kopenawa and anthropologist Bruce Albert, invites us to participate in the sacred ritual of Reahu, and challenges all of us in the industrialized world whose economic structures exploit nature for financial gain to rebel against the damage wrought by predatory extractive industries on the Amazon rainforest. Directed by Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha of Aruac Filmes.
Blue Carbon
9:00 pm (84m)
Told through the eyes of Grammy-nominated DJ and marine biologist Jayda Guy and accompanied by a great musical score, Blue Carbon is an environmental feature documentary that spins music, science and an appreciation for world culture into a vibrant call to action to protect the planet. Blue carbon refers to coastal habitats—mangroves, salt marshes and sea grass—that soak up copious amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while protecting coastal communities from rising seas and powerful storms. A clear-eyed look at what’s at stake that offers tangible solutions and hope that we can boost nature’s ability to heal itself, the film tracks Jayda’s quest to uncover blue carbon’s potential on a global adventure across six countries and five continents from Senegal to Colombia to Vietnam.
Blue Carbon is a Make Waves and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios production directed by Emmy/BAFTA-winning filmmaker Nicolas Brown; executive-produced by a team including Sarah Macdonald and Sean B. Carroll; supported by Conservation International and other funders.
Friday, March 28th
No Other Land
6:40 pm (96m)
Academy Award Winner for Best Documentary Feature 2024 – A collective of Palestinian and Israeli activist/filmmakers chronicled the Israeli military’s incremental expulsion of the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta — home to 20 ancient Palestinian villages, over a period of five years (2019–23) in this tightly focused, powerful documentary film, that also explores the complicated friendship and hopeful partnership that develops between the Palestinian and Israeli activist creators of this film in their efforts to resist a government-sanctioned mass eviction. Directed by: Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, and presented with support from The Richard Brick, Geri Ashur, and Sara Bershtel Fund for Social Justice Documentaries.
Food Justice in LA
8:35 pm (15m)
This 15-minute pilot episode of the upcoming documentary series From Soil to Soul delves into the heart of food justice and community-led food sovereignty initiatives in Los Angeles, highlighting case studies, including a community garden in Compton, a food forest in a former abandoned alleyway in Fullerton, and the planting of native edible and medicinal plants in lawns for local food resilience.
The From Soil to Soul series will present powerful stories of Black, Indigenous and People of Color farmers, regenerative practitioners, food activists, thought leaders and communities reclaiming their right to control their food systems and transforming their relationships with food, land, and each other.
The From Soil to Soul co-founders, Ankur Shah, Margaret To and Jahnavi Mange, along with producer Rachel Allen and cinematographer Eldon Arena, will be on hand to introduce the film.
Common Ground
9:05 pm (105m)
This powerful film by award-winning documentary filmmakers Josh and Rebecca Tickell and their company, Big Picture Ranch, fuses journalistic exposé with deeply personal stories from those on the frontlines of movements fighting for healthy and equitable food systems to unveil the dark webs of money, power, and politics behind our toxic, destructive, and dysfunctional agriculture. The film, which features many past speakers at Bioneers, reveals how unjust practices forged our current system in which farmers of all backgrounds are literally dying to feed us, and profiles a hopeful and uplifting movement of white, Black, and Indigenous farmers who are using alternative “regenerative” models of agriculture that could balance the climate, save our health, and stabilize America’s economy…before it’s too late.
Saturday, March 29th
Sugarcane
Screening followed by Q+A
6:45 pm – 9:00 pm
This film by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, a stunning tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of life, won the U.S. Documentary Directing Award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, then garnered over a dozen prestigious awards and was nominated for an Oscar this year! It digs deep into groundbreaking investigations into abuse and death at an Indian residential school and follows community members as they seek to break cycles of intergenerational trauma by bearing witness to painful, long-ignored truths and the love that endures within their families despite the revelation of genocide. After the screening, there will be a Q+A with Impact Producer Jade Begay.
