Spotlight

Spotlight - Fast Forward Toward a 2020 Vision

This year Planet in Focus celebrates its 10th anniversary. The inception of the festival in 1999, at the turn of the 20th Century, by Mark Haslam its founder, was a visionary moment on the cultural landscape. A forum was created for unique film and video works that explored and framed the environment as contested terrain and also envisioned the planet, its myriad of species, the natural and physical world as well as the social, industrial and globalized world through an ecological lens. It was a prescient moment, as the public at that time had not yet embraced the idea of a need to move toward a sustainable future nor had there been a full grasp in the cultural, social, economic and political arenas that change was necessary and that this was not a fleeting cause du jour.

Over the past decade, Planet in Focus has screened a myriad of works from Canada and around the world that have transformed our understanding of our relationship to the planet as well as our accountability to it. By now the public has heard of the need for change so we decided to look 10+ years into the future toward a 2020 vision. What would change look like? This year we challenged filmmakers to present us with inspiring stories and works that focus on ideas, technologies, and new practices that provide insight and a vision for the future of the planet.

Ten cinematic works provide a panorama of the future - sometimes hopeful, sometimes with misgivings. The spotlight reveals the passion, hopes and dreams of artists, environmentalists, architects, engineers, grandparents, explorers, travelers, teenagers and ecological visionaries while also portraying the outcome of human folly and shortsightedness in our treatment of the planet.

But the conversation does not stop with these works - it must thrive and continue. We are asking you , as well as our cultural, civic, economic, political and environmental leaders to join the conversation and present us with your own visions. We believe, that with clarity of vision we can work in concert, toward a greener more sustainable world. Join us and help us fulfill our 2020 vision.

Finding Farley (75/Canada)

When Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison (Being Caribou) set out to retrace the literary footsteps of Farley Mowat they meant it literally. Their 5000KM trip -- trekking, sailing, portaging and paddling from the Prairies to the Maritimes with their two year old son and dog! Mapping settings from many of their hero’s beloved classics, they paddled, walked and sailed to create a film that revisits literary landscapes and reassures us the Canadian wilderness still exists.

Toronto - 2020, Screening and Panel Conversation with 5 of Toronto's Top Architects

In this age of rapid change - how does a city balance massive growth,while creating a world-class, sustainable city that will be the envy of New Yorkers and Londoners? We put this challenge to five of Toronto’s top architects and asked them to look into the future. Five architects, five questions, looking ahead 10 years - their 2020 vision for Toronto.

Grown in Detroit (60/Netherlands)

Detroit’s a city of vacant lots and dangerous gangs undergoing a green revolution, with teen moms at the wheel. Welcome to the Catherine Ferguson Academy where students learn planting, harvesting and bee-keeping on an urban farm.

Homegrown (52/USA)

The Dervaes family has a farm in downtown Pasadena. Defying the idea that says you can’t live in the city and live off the land, they harvest over 6,000 pounds of produce a year, and prove the myriad possibilities of the urban garden.

The Future Makers (46/Australia)

In the face of global warming, Australia is leading the race to design sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. Scientists there are looking to this continent’s unique natural resources to create sustainable designs that won't cost the earth.

Darwin’s Dangerous Idea ( 60/UK)

This BBC production aims to reassess Charles Darwin’s place in the modern environmental movement – and underline what his work has to tell us about our current crisis of mass extinctions.

Concrete Coast (26/Spain/USA)

The modern tools for colonization are the bulldozer and the credit card, as illustrated in this visually striking documentary essay about tourist developments on the Iberian Peninsula.

The Golden Beach (58/Sweden)

Global travel and the transformation of a seaside village in India are the subjects of this film, which illuminates the moral ambiguities of pleasure seeking in foreign places.

A Sea Change (86/USA)

Sven Huseby is worried about what the oceans will look like when his grandson grows up. His investigations into ocean acidification take him across the globe, talking to scientists, artists, entrepreneurs and scholars about this “unambiguous threat.

Earth Keepers (83/Canada)

Once an angry young man, now a young father from Quebec, Mikael Rioux is concerned about the legacy he will leave. His mentor, Christian de Laet, suggests meeting visionaries with projects for the future of society. Earth Keepers is a manifesto against apathy.