Presented by

Martha’s Vineyard Film Society
in collaboration with
Vineyard Conservation Society

Presents

10th Annual Martha’s Vineyard Environmental Film Festival

Coming to the MV Film Center May 23-26, 2024

PROGRAM AND TICKETS FOR 2024 will be announced in late April

See Below for info from the 2023 Festival

CLICK HERE TO BUY AN ALL-ACCESS FESTIVAL PASS

This pass gets you into every film playing during the festival.


PATRICK AND THE WHALE

Thursday, May 25 7:30pm

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Click Here to Watch Trailer

Before the film there will be a reception in the lobby at 6:30PM and a Toast to Brendan O’Neill retiring Executive Director of Vineyard Conservation Society. 

An inspiring and engaging tale of Patrick Dykstra and a sperm whale “Dolores.”

For years, Patrick Dykstra has dedicated his life to traveling the globe, following and diving with whales. Over the years, Patrick has learned how whales see and hear, how they perceive other creatures in the water and how they behave at close quarters. He has a finely tuned sense and knows how to act when within touching distance of a whale – what to do, what not to do and when. This allows him to consistently get closer than anyone else alive – a truly unique skill.

Patrick recently experienced a life-changing event. In Dominica, he had a close encounter with a female sperm whale. She seemed to be curious about him, coming within touching distance, pulsing him with her sonar. She studied him as he studied her. Patrick felt an overwhelming sense that she was genuinely trying to communicate.

We follow Patrick as he travels to Dominica again to find this special whale he named “Dolores” so she can help him show us the hidden world of her species. Using stunning underwater footage, Patrick explores the fascinating nature of the sperm whale, attempting to shine a light on its intelligence and complexity, as well as highlighting its current and past relationship with humankind. The film follows his personal journey and explores the psychology of a man who has sacrificed everything in his single-minded quest to connect with and understand one of the the biggest creatures in the ocean.


YOUTH v GOV

Friday, May 26 4:00pm

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Click Here to Watch Trailer

YOUTH v GOV is the story of the Juliana v. The United States of America constitutional lawsuit and the 21 American youth, ages 14 to 25, who are taking on the world’s most powerful government. Since 2015, the legal non-profit Our Children’s Trust, has been representing these youth in their landmark case against the U.S. government for violating their constitutional rights to life, liberty, personal safety, and property through their willful actions in creating the climate crisis they will inherit.

As leaders in the youth climate movement, the twenty-one plaintiffs of Juliana v. The United States of America represent the diversity of American youth impacted by the climate crisis. They hail from 10 states: Florida, Alaska, Hawaii, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Louisiana, and New York. These film characters encompass cultural, economic and geographic diversity and many come from marginalized communities, serving as beacons of hope for those who do not have a platform to share their own stories. They are African-American, Indigenous, white, bi-racial, and LGBTQ, and their diversity speaks not only to the impacts of climate change, but to the inclusion required if we are to build a better and more just future together. These young people are activists, students, artists, musicians, and farmers, and their stories are universal.


NUCLEAR NOW

An Oliver Stone Film

Friday, May 26 7:30pm

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Click Here to Watch Trailer

After the film there will be a Q & A with Jacopo Buongiorno, TEPCO Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Director of Science and Technology of the MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory. 

As fossil fuels continue to cook the planet, the world is finally becoming forced to confront the influence of large oil companies and tactics that have enriched a small group of corporations and individuals for generations. Beneath our feet, Uranium atoms in the Earth’s crust hold incredibly concentrated energy- science unlocked this energy in the mid-20th century, first for bombs and then to power submarines and the United States led the effort to generate electricity from this new source. Yet in the mid 20th century as societies began the transition to nuclear power and away from fossil fuels, a long-term PR campaign to scare the public began, funded in part by coal and oil interests. This campaign would sow fear about harmless low-level radiation and create confusion between nuclear weapons and nuclear power.

With unprecedented access to the nuclear industry in France, Russia, and the United States, iconic director Oliver Stone explores the possibility for the global community to overcome challenges like climate change and reach a brighter future through the power of nuclear energy an option that may become a vital way to ensure our continued survival sooner than we think. 

Jacopo Buongiorno is the TEPCO Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the Director of Science and Technology of the MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory.  He teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in thermo-fluids engineering and nuclear reactor engineering.  Jacopo has published over 100 journal articles in the areas of reactor safety and design, two-phase flow and heat transfer, and nanofluid technology.  For his research work and his teaching at MIT he won several awards, among which a 2022 ANS Presidential Citation, the MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellowship (2014), the ANS Landis Young Member Engineering Achievement Award (2011), the ASME Heat Transfer Best Paper Award (2008), and the ANS Mark Mills Award (2001).  Jacopo is the Director of the Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems (CANES).  He led two consequential nuclear studies: in 2016-2018 the MIT study on the Future of Nuclear Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World, and in 2020-2021 the MIT-Stanford study on the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant for Zero-Carbon Electricity, Desalination, and Hydrogen Production.  Jacopo is a consultant for the nuclear industry in the area of reactor thermal-hydraulics, and a member of the Accrediting Board of the National Academy of Nuclear Training.  He is also a member of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) Space Working Group, a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society (including service on its Special Committee on Fukushima in 2011-2012), a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, past member of the Naval Studies Board (2017-2019), and a participant in the Defense Science Study Group (2014-2015).

 


THE GRAB

Saturday, May 27 4:00pm

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An investigative journalist uncovers the money, influence and alarming rationale behind covert efforts to control the most vital resource on the planet.

From the Center for Investigative Reporting Studios and director Gabriela Cowperthwaite.

“This is the ‘holy s&%t’ documentary of the year.” – ROGER EBERT.COM

Astonishing, eye-opening … unspools like a thriller in one sense and a dystopian science fiction movie in another.” – VARIETY

“Paced like a sleek, complex international thriller, where nothing less than the future of the world is at stake.” – LOS ANGELES TIMES 


THE SCALE OF HOPE

Saturday, May 27 7:30pm

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After the film, MVRHS students will read their winning poems from the VCS Art of Conservation Contest, this year’s theme: Hope and Climate Action

The film’s subject is Molly Kawahata, a former climate advisor to the Obama White House. She is also a dedicated alpine climber who dreams of climbing higher and more challenging summits as she continues to hone her climbing skills. This desire to overcome seemingly impossible situations is mirrored in her lifelong passion for helping the environment and alleviating the effects of global climate change. As she works hard to prepare for a climbing expedition in the Alaska Range, Molly is also working on a hope-centered strategy and narrative in addressing climate change. And in a life-affirming twist, her mental health struggles allow her to find a way.


GEOGRAPHIES OF SOLITUDE

Sunday, May 28 1:00pm

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An immersion into the rich ecosystem of Sable Island, a remote sliver of land in the Northwest Atlantic, the film follows Zoe Lucas, a naturalist and environmentalist who has lived there for over 40 years collecting, cleaning and documenting marine litter that persistently washes up on the island’s shores. Shot on 16mm and created using eco-friendly filmmaking techniques, Geographies of Solitude is a playful and reverent collaboration with the natural world filled with arresting images and made with an activist spirit.

Critic’s Pick!  “Turns an ecology lesson, and an account of a noble, steadfast, single-minded pursuit, into art.”
– Ben Kenigsberg, The New York Times

“A sensory adventure through nature’s circle of life.”
The Film Stage

“A work of art.”
POV Magazine

“A beguiling and poetic film.”
– Wendy Ide, Screen


A CRACK IN THE MOUNTAIN

Sunday, May 28 4:00pm

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A small, impoverished Vietnamese community struggles to deal with the opportunity and challenges that arise when Hang Son Doong, the largest cave in the world and a place of extraordinary natural beauty, is discovered nearby.

“Breathtaking” – Film Threat

“An Epic…Must See Documentary” – Broadway World

“Beautifully captures the tension between the preservation of Earth’s natural wonders and the exploitation of nature to satisfy human greed”
 – New Jersey Stage


SOLUTIONS

Sunday, May 28 7:30pm

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Click Here to Watch Trailer

Throughout the ages, each time a new technology has appeared, it has transformed our lives and society–today more than ever. Lead by digitalization, followed by new living and intelligent technologies, our world is being transformed in a way that’s difficult for us to comprehend. A group of the world’s leading scientists isolates themselves for 10 days at the renowned Santa Fe Institute, hidden away in the desert of New Mexico. They come from all corners of science representing environment, economy, democracy, social media, education, status of institutions, and artificial technology. Together, they want to start a revolutionary movement with an ambitious goal: To secure the future of humanity through science by finding the path to a new paradigm.

Meghan Gombos of MV Climate Action Plan and Samantha Look will be joining us for a Q&A

Samantha Look is the Director of Advocacy and Education for the Vineyard Conservation Society, a local environmental nonprofit dedicated to the protection of the Island’s land and water. VCS is always looking for solutions to the Vineyard’s environmental challenges. Among various projects, Samantha has helped advance the Island’s plastic bag ban, the West Tisbury “big house” bylaw, assisted with the development of the land use, natural resources and biodiversity portion of the Vineyard’s climate action plan and helps run the Island Climate Action Network.

 

CLICK HERE TO BUY AN ALL-ACCESS FESTIVAL PASS

This pass gets you into every film playing during the festival.

For more information please contact info@mvfilmsociety.com or call us at 508-696-9369.

The Vineyard Conservation Society is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to preserving the environment, character, and quality of life of Martha’s Vineyard through advocacy, education, and the protection of the Island’s land and waters. VCS is the Island’s only conservation organization whose mission includes advocacy and public education, as well as resource protection. We believe that the future health of our Island and its waters will increasingly depend on an informed public.  www.vineyardconservation.org

FESTIVAL SPONSORS:

 

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