Harnessing the power of short-form non-fiction film, each character-driven story in this block is a cinematic demonstration of perseverance.

From Bay Area alumni filmmakers, this timely, tense documentary is a breathtaking excavation of squandered opportunities for significant environmental change that also illuminates a path forward for demystifying political obfuscation. 

Conversation around climate change often gets mired in the validity of the issue or the politically correct terminology for our rapidly changing world. Pushing aside all this noise, the latest film from esteemed local filmmakers Bonni Cohen, Pedro Kos, and Jon Shenk, masterfully reconstructs the decades of failed US policy that led to the current crisis. Leaders from both sides of the political spectrum undergo microscopic analysis with particular attention paid to Jimmy Carter’s compromised environmental agenda and George H. Bush’s passionate support of the EPA (initially). Corrupting capitalist interests may sound familiar but what actually happened is much more complicated. The filmmakers’ deft excavation of the political chess that led to innumerable squandered opportunities for real environmental change is breathtaking. A stunning project of editorial craft and visionary archival use, this timely film holds up a critical mirror to recent history while illuminating a path forward for demystifying political obfuscation and challenging institutional power.
—Jessie Fairbanks