The Ligthest Boat of the World

Director: I. Poleschuk

A film from the cycle “EXPEDITIONS” In May 2009, a group of scientists of the Solovetsky reserve museum proved this assumption by conducting a series of experiments. They checked the possible ways of sailing in the White Sea on birch bark carcass boats in the epoch of stone and early metal (about 6 thousand years ago).

But at first, a boat like that had to be made and therefore a craftsman had to be found that had the knowledge and experience of the ancient crafts. Two central characters of the film are – archaeologist Alexander Martynov and the birch bark crafts master Alexander Shutikhin met only a year ago. But independently of one another they have both been carrying out the idea of building a birch bark boat for a long time..

The Saga of Saiga-2

Director: M. Zharimbetov

The right to a life is at all real on the earth. And though nature laws are sometimes severe, they are not comparable on cruelty with dictatorship of the person. About it is typical history from a today's life of the Central Asian steppe. The central characters of a film – there are saigas abounding in these edges. Because of people their quantity decreases year from a year. And one more kind of animals on the earth can disappear, if people do not win themselves cruelty and self-interest. Second series of a cartoon film is created on the basis of stories and compositions of schoolboys of Karakalpakstan (Republic Uzbekistan), sent within the limits of the declared competition of "the open scenario".

Sky Island

Director: J. Grabowska

In Northern New Mexico, a range of mountains rises up from the high desert: a wild, rugged land of the Faraway Nearby. The volcanic Jemez Mountains are isolated from all other ranges – an island in the sky, surrounded by a desert sea. In Sky Island, environmental filmmaker John Grabowska profiles this landscape and our place within it, with dramatic climate change effects already transforming the desert and alpine ecosystem.

Every bird should have its own nest

Director: S. Makhau

The film's protagonist is a leading ornithologist of Belarus Vladimir V. Ivanovski, Ph.D., assistant professor of ecology and conservation of the Vitebsk State University and author of over two hundred scientific publications.

He conducts his research on the bogs, where the rare birds of prey, listed in the Red Book of Belarus, nest. In 1983 he started to build artificial nests for these birds. During the years of research, he has created the original methods of building nests, which allow to achieve unique results. These methods are used by his colleagues in other European countries.

In Summer 7515 After the Creation of the World

Director: O. Stephanova

In summer 2007 a group of four volcanologists got off in the Medvezhja Bay on the Iturup Island of Kurils. The aim of the expedition is to study the Kudryavy Volcano, the hottest volcano on the Earth. The volcanologists are supposed to live on the island for 2 months. This part of life will be spent far away from the stuffy cities, demanding civilization and vanity… It is considered that after the creation of the world 7515 years have passed, but on Iturup Island nothing has been changed...

Berlin Beasts

Director: R. Schädler

Wild animals are returning to this major metropolis. A true clash between urbanization and nature - will humans and beasts be able to share the same home?

Into eternity

Director: M. Madsen

In Finland a huge system of underground tunnels is being hewn out of solid bedrock. It is the first attempt ever at a permanent storage for nuclear waste, that must remain isolated from all living organisms for at least 100 000 years. Once full, the facility will be sealed off, never to be opened again. Or so we hope, but can we ensure that? How do we warn our descendants of the deadly cargo we send into eternity? Can we prevent them from thinking they have found the pyramids of our time, mystical burial grounds, hidden treasures? Which languages and signs will they understand? And if they understand, will they respect our instructions?

While gigantic monster machines dig deeper and deeper into the underworld, experts above ground strive to find solutions to the radioactive waste issue in the hope of keeping mankind safe now and into eternity.

Lost Years – a Sea Turtle Odyssey

Director:

THE FILM “THE LOST YEARS” reveals for the first time one of the last great mysteries of the natural world. It is the story of an extraordinary journey of survival, yet the odds are stacked so heavily against success that perhaps less than one in a thousand of the species ever makes it back to land.

For the first time we are able to tell the entire life story of the Loggerhead Sea Turtles that have lived along the tropical coasts of northern Australia for probably hundreds of thousands of years. The film will follow the life story of an individual female Loggerhead, from when her mother lays the clutch of eggs, one of which is our heroine, to when thirty years later she struggles ashore to lay her first clutch of eggs in the beach sands from which she hatched.

Connecting Delta Cities

Director: E. Davids

Konrad Steffen has studied changes in the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland for over 32 years. According to his findings, sea levels will rise more than one meter by 2100.

How swift are cities in taking adequate response measures? We take a look at Alexandria, Jakarta, New York and Rotterdam; four cities that will be affected by sea level rise. How big is this impact and what can the cities do to be prepared.

Journey to the Source of Lena

Director: V. Sarana

Deep in the taiga, where humans are a rare sight, lies the beginning of Siberia’s giant river, the Lena. The taiga surrounding the Lena’s source is like an ocean – endless, immeasurable and dangerous. But it is habitat to many forest dwellers, who go about their lives and call it home. The taiga also opens itself up to people who know and respect the laws of the forest. Our film is about the mysterious beginning of the Lena River, its rapids and dark, ancient woods.

Robinsons of Mantsinsaari

Director: V. Asliuk

There is an island in the sea and only two people on it who live among ruins of thepast, as if they are the last two people on Earth. One of them is a Belarusian, the other is a Finn. They do not see each other for years because they do not like each other…

Force of Nature

Director: S. Gunnarsson

David Suzuki, iconic Canadian scientist, educator, broadcaster and activist delivers a “last lecture” – what he describes as “a distillation of my life and thoughts, my legacy, what I want to say before I die”. Filmed before a live audience, in front of a memory box of moving, distilled images, he articulates a core, urgent message: we have exhausted the limits of the biosphere and it is imperative that we rethink our relationship with the natural world. Suzuki looks unflinchingly at the strains on our interconnected web of life – and out of our dire present circumstances, he offers up a blueprint for sustainability and survival.

The film interweaves the lecture with scenes from the places and events in Suzuki’s life. As such, the film is a biography of ideas – forged by the major social, scientific, cultural and political events of the past 70 years.

Scarabaeus

Director: P. Lalović

They say the civilization originated 3000 years ago by wheel invention!... While Scarabaeus was the one creating a ball million years ago!

Sorrento

Director: E. Drumova

In the history of any country with well developed equestrian sports, there is always a unique and extraordinary horse, “The horse of the Nation”, “The horse of the century”. And for Russians it was, without any doubts, Sorrento. By misfortune he was born on the year of Perestroika (1985) and lived through all the turbulent changes that the country was having during these 15 years of the XX-th century. This film tells the extraordinary story of an extraordinary horse that brought millions of dollars and the world fame to his homeland but wouldn’t get any benefits from this very homeland.

Vasiliy Dokuchaev

Director: O. Podolskaya

The film is the first attempt to research on the life and the work of Vasiliy Dokuchaev, the outstanding Russian scientist. The film is coincided with his 165 birthday. It is a story about his life and becoming a scientist. Through the dramatic events of his life, the authors are trying to understand the problems of 19th century and of today. The founder of Soil Sciences was one of the first who predicted the consequences of unwise attitude to the environment. Many of his predictions, unfortunately, have come true.