About the Forest

As the most dammed, dibbed, and diverted river in the world struggles to support thirty million people and the peace-keeping agreement known as the Colorado River Pact reaches its limits, WATERSHED introduces hope. Can we meet the needs of a growing population in the face of rising temperatures and lower rainfall in an already arid land? Can we find harmony amongst the competing interests of cities, agriculture, industry, recreation, wildlife, and indigenous communities with rights to the water? Sweeping through seven U.S. and two Mexican states, the Colorado River is a lifeline to expanding populations and booming urban centers that demand water for drinking, sanitation and energy generation. And with 70% of the rivers’ water supporting agriculture, the river already runs dry before it reaches its natural end at the Gulf of California. Unless action is taken, the river will continue its retreat – a potentially catastrophic scenario for the millions who depend on it.

“Let nature be nature” is the philosophy of the Bavarian Forest National Park. Despite massive resistance, this vision has become a groundbreaking showcase project. Because humans do not interfere with nature, the former commercial forests grow into a primeval forest, a unique ecosystem and a refuge for biodiversity. People from all over the world come here. They are looking for answers to the question of why we need more wild nature and what we can learn from it to preserve forests for future generations in times of climate change.

Documentary about the degraded rivers of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Natives and activists prevent an energy company from destroying the environment in search of natural gas in New Brunswick, Canada.

This Academy Award-winning documentary takes a look at children born after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster who have been born with a deteriorated heart condition.

Documentary about a nature reserve in the heart of North Brabant.

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

Five years ago Kisilu, a Kenyan farmer, started to use his camera to capture the life of his family, his village and the damages of climate change. When a violent storm throws him and a Norwegian filmmaker together we see him transform from a father, to a community leader and activist on the global stage.

Working as a designer for a clothing company, Song-mi, feeling skeptical about her heavy workload and repetitive daily life, decides to quit her job and become a freediving underwater performer. As she went deeper into her sea, Songmi felt that her body and mind, which had been weary of her, were healed. In order to return this 'gift of healing' she received from her sea, she challenges a special underwater performance with installation artist Boseong and aqua aerobics instructor Doui. Youth campaigns in Jeju, Palau and Cebu. The silent cry of a mermaid trapped in a plastic forest in the middle of the Pacific Ocean now throws a strong warning to our oceans.

Developments in the Canadian forestry industry during the 1970s are shown being carried out both as lab experiments and in the field to protect and conserve the country's vast forests. These include turning a Newfoundland bog into woodland, fostering British Columbia seedlings that withstand mechanical planting, inoculating Ontario elms against the bark beetle, devising ways of controlling fire, and more.

A documentary following the sharp decline of the cod fishing industry in New England. Included is an in-depth look at the potential causes and the resounding effects upon the lives of the fishermen themselves.