It’s hard to feel particularly positive about the state of the world’s climate – 2015 was the hottest year ever recorded, and 2016 has already smashed those temperatures.
But all that bad news only increases the need for positive programs like Footprints Film Festival, an event designed to raise awareness about our hurting Earth.
Excitingly, the screening of the 14 films selected for the festival will be powered by specially designed energy-harnessing bikes rather than more pollutant means. So if that sounds like it’s right up your alley – and it should, ‘cause, like, come on – read on for our lowdown on the flicks selected.
2016
By Margriet Schuring
An optimistic yet troubled piece, 2016 centres around a woman burdened with the unenviable task of telling her future grandchild about the world in which we, the audience, live.
Affected
By Sean Bacon, Kym Vercoe
Focusing on the under-discussed indigenous experience of climate change, Affected takes local community members from the Asia-Pacific region and puts them in the spotlight.
Bower Repair Cafe Annandale
By Marghanita da Cruz
In the face of a worldwide refusal to leave the crutch of fossil fuels behind, it’s very easy to feel despondent – but da Cruz’s work aims to tackle this ecological numbness head on.
Endangered
By Laura McNally
At ten years of age, Laura McNally might be the youngest filmmaker on this list, but that in no way means she’s the least qualified. After all, it’s Laura’s world that we’re fighting to save, and Endangered focuses on the important issue of Australia’s at-threat flaura and faunae.
Good For Us All
By Jeffrey Kessel
What would a film festival be without a good old jolt of horror/comedy? A powerful, zombie-centric piece about the positive impacts of riding a bike, Good For Us All tackles ecological issues from a fresh angle.
No More Butts
By Edward Hart
A flick for all you ciggy butt brains out there, No More Butts takes aim at the improper disposal of smokes.
Out Of Date
By Louise Reily, David Nguyen, Olivia Green, Dan Duffy
If you like your humour dark then Out Of Date, a razor-sharp satire focused on the superfood craze,is the film for you. Kale-chewers be warned, though.
Pick Up
By K.P.D. Shakya Prasanna
A bleak drama about a young boy, Jimmy, who faces a range of threats both at home and in the classroom, Pick Up mires the audience in an array of troubling moral questions.
River Camp Kidnap:Moree 1863
By G. Hoy, B. Spearim
Centred on the shattered idyllic riverscapes in middle Gamilaraay country, River Camp Kidnap is uncomfortable, necessary viewing that will have the audience contemplating the troubled history of the land many Caucasian Australians claim to ‘own’.
Sharing Culture [top image]
By Kim Mavreomatic, Quenten Agius
Quenten Agius, Aboriginal storyteller and elder, here shares the tale of Mother Earth herself, and highlights the importance of cherishing our very life-giver.
The School Homework Show
By Teresa Ornelas
Another touchingly youth-oriented short, The School Homework Show imagines a world in which the issues of the young dominate the airwaves.
The ‘World’s Biggest’ Incinerator
By Lesley Watson
‘Waste not want not’ is an adage with increasing importance these days, and Lesley Watson’s documentary short explores alternatives to the incinerator proposed for Western Sydney’s Eastern Creek.
Trove
By Edward Christie, Laura Jago, Davis Fang, Dennis Fang, Crystal Khoupraseuth
For many of us, there’s nothing quite scarier than a film that focuses on an Earth free of humans, yet Trove takes a surprisingly warm – no pun intended – look at a world reclaimed by nature.
Wundung
By Angela Canalese
Wundung, its title taken from a Wiradjuri word for wind, explores the optimistic belief that age-old Aboriginal knowledge contains the key for the world’s future.
Footprints Film Festival 2016 takes place at Whites Creek Valley Park, Annandale on Sunday August 21.
