Chagrin Documentary Film Fest highlights environmental issues

The annual Chagrin Documentary Film Fest is quickly approaching in Chagrin Falls. The film festival, showing various documentaries from across the world, is officially open to the public October 5th through October 9th. There are many different movies to choose from, highlighting everything from cancer research to the FBI to Baobab trees in Madagascar. However, as a volunteer and judge, I got an early showing of the four full-length environmental documentaries earlier this week.

To be able to judge the films, you could either be a volunteer or give donations to help run the festival. From there, we could sign up for different dates and eventually we got assigned to a category. Most categories include several films that we assign number values to and the winner receives $1000.

Included in the judging were documentaries Sustainable, Our Local Epic, Atlantic, and Baobabs Between Land and Sea. Each focused on a different environment-related problem, and ran from anywhere between 45 minutes and two hours.

The first film we, as the judges panel, watched was Sustainable; the longest running of the films, it took on a two hour timeline which did feel a little long at times. The lengthy run was understandable however, as it focused on one of the most important problems of our day: how to feed a world with an increasing population and a decreasing amount of farmers.

Sustainable broke itself up into four sections based on the seasons, starting with winter, and ending with fall. The narrative is centered on Marty Travis, a small farmer outside of Chicago who is determined to fix the food business and end various struggles raised by agribusiness, or the industrialization of farming. He discussed many different things throughout the film including the importance of knowing where your food comes from, what exactly the grocery store may consider “local,” and how proper farming techniques can greatly reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides as well as improve and protect the soil so the farm will last in the long run.

Although as I had mentioned, the film did feel a bit lengthy at some points, it brings attention to a vital issue that needs to be discussed. The filmmakers do a wonderful job at informing viewers of the immense importance of this issue for the future, and offers plentiful solutions. All we need to do now is listen to them.

One of the other films we watched was called Our Local Epic, and it combined the high-stakes, high- adrenaline white-water kayaking hobby in the West with protecting American rivers from being destroyed by dams and reservoirs. The film tells the stories of several groups of kayakers who traveled the Clarks Fork of Yellowstone in Wyoming, and those who eventually protected it from being destroyed by a dam proposal. The film’s message is about the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act that stops dam-building, and encourages the public to vote more rivers into inclusion of this act; they mention near the end that only .5% of our rivers are protected from destruction.

This film was truly exhilarating. From the epic cinematography using GoPro videos, and intense stories about the near death of several kayakers on the river, the film keeps viewers attentive while informing them about conservation and why it matters.

Next, we saw a longer film known as Atlantic. Featuring small community fishers from across the globe, Atlantic tackles one of the most valuable resources on Earth: the Atlantic Ocean, and how it is being destroyed by big-time fisheries, oil majors, and greedy industries. Atlantic centers on stories from Norway, Ireland, and Newfoundland. The film includes beautiful shots of the ocean and its life and juxtaposes those with harshly lit shots of dead fish and oil majors. Overall, it was effective in displaying the problem impactfully and creatively, as well as connecting on a personal level to the families and communities affected by this issue.

Lastly, we watched Cyrille Cornu and Wilfried Ramahafaly travel Madagascar in Baobabs Between Land and Sea. Baobabs are a fantastic type of tree that is native to Madagascar, Africa, Australia, and some species in South America. As the two men travel the Southwest, wild coastline of Madagascar to study Baobab trees, they highlight the issues of deforestation and include dozens of gorgeous, awe-inspiring shots of areas that have never before been filmed or even photographed. It was a beautiful film, and brought attention to an important problem that is not well-known around the world.

Each documentary was fantastically filmed and viewers can tell how much passion and work went into these movies. I would certainly recommend any of these films to students.

The Chagrin Documentary Film Fest will be showing documentaries October 5th through October 8th in different buildings throughout Chagrin Falls, including their headquarters, Little Theater, and the historical society. Tickets are available for any of the films right now online and at the headquarters.