1. Arise
A film that captures the portraits and stories of extraordinary women around the world who are coming together to heal the injustices against the earth, weaves together poetry, music, art, and stunning scenery to create a hopeful and collective story that inspires us to work for the earth. The list of impassioned, indefatigable female environmental activists featured in this film includes Winona LaDuke, a Native American who has championed the use of solar and wind power on reservations; Theo Colborn, head of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, who fights against toxic chemicals in our water supplies; Beverly Grant, who’s created a vibrant farmer’s market in a black neighborhood of Denver, Colo.; Dana Miller, who spearheads an “urban agriculture movement” in the same city; and Vandana Shiva, who champions organic farming in India.
2. A Life on the Farm
A strange story from Somerset, England about a filmmaking farmer and the inspiring legacy of his long-lost home movies.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
3. Land of the Taj Mahal
A brief but colorful travelogue of India's biggest cities following the partition of the country in 1947 at the end of the British Raj.
4. Ganges
A journey that follows the Ganges from its source deep within the Himalayas through to the fertile Bengal delta, exploring the natural and spiritual worlds of this sacred river.
5. The Leopard Rocks
The documentary “The Leopard Rocks” accompanies Neelam, a female leopard, as she fights for the lives of her offspring, and provides a fascinating insight into the lives and adventures of one of the world's most interesting big cat species in a unique, unusual environment.
It has an average vote of 8.2 on TMDB.
6. The Biggest Little Farm
The successes and failures of a couple determined to live in harmony with nature on a farm outside of Los Angeles are lovingly chronicled by filmmaking farmer John Chester, in this inspiring documentary.
It has an average vote of 7.5 on TMDB.
7. The Fields of Immokalee
For decades, migrant workers have worked the fields of Immokalee, harvesting tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, oranges and other produce that is then shipped across the United States of America. Many of the workers are undocumented, and attempting to keep their jobs even as federal migration crackdowns hover over the town. The Fields of Immokalee film follows the daily lives of tomato workers, from the 5:00am trips to the parking lot in hopes of finding day labor, to work sessions in the scorching mid-day heat, to child detention centers for migrant youth that have been separated from their families. Via these vignettes, the film offers insight into the most volatile political issue of our time.
8. The Shepherdess of the Glaciers
She is one of the last shepherdesses who still lives with her flock in the heights of the Gya-Miru valley in Ladakh. At the age of 50, Tsering is the youngest in her village to drive her 350 goats and sheep at the expense of transhumance in this region of the Himalayas, located between 4000 and 6000 meters above sea level. A harsh and precarious life, often solitary, mishandled by difficult climatic conditions and a sometimes hostile nature, which does not prevent this tiny bit of woman to sing, laugh and ... philosophize.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
9. Wheat Cycle
The people and their labor are bound to the land in the cycle of activities to the sowing to the harvesting of wheat. Without narration or subtitles, the film conveys a sense of unity between the people and the land. Filmed in the Balkh Province, an area inhabited by Tajik and other Central Asian peoples. The town of Aq Kupruk is approximately 320 miles northwest of Kabul. The theme of the film focuses on rural economics. The film and accompaning instructor notes focus on herding, and fishing under diverse environmental conditions. The impact of technological change, human adaptation, and governmental extension of market systems are parallel themes.
10. The Goddess and the Computer
For centuries, rice farmers on the island of Bali have taken great care not to offend Dewi Danu, the water goddess who dwells in the crater lake near the peak of Batur volcano. Through an analysis of ritual, resource management practices and social organization, anthropologist Steve Lansing and ecologist James Kremer discover the intricacy and sustainability of this ancient water management agricultural system.
11. The Last Days of the Raj
Lord Louis Mountbatten arrives in India in March 1947 as Britain's Last Viceroy. He is committed to transfer administrative and authoritative power to an independent and sovereign India. Six months later India indeed was set free, but it had also been partitioned and overwhelmed by an orgy of sectarian violence involving Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.
12. The Peasant's War (Bauernkrieg)
The second part of a trilogy on the subject of farming in which an attempt is made to look at the existence of farmers at the end of the 20th century.
13. Between the Lines: India's Third Gender
Repping best view to date into the world of the Indian eunuch, “Between the Lines: India’s Third Gender” may not answer all the questions it poses, but helmer Thomas Wartmann provides an intimate glimpse at a community whose members are considered pariahs and conduits of supernatural force. Following shutterbug Anita Khemka in her quest to discover why these castrated men fascinate and repel, docu concentrates on three personalities and uses them as guides to their highly stratified world. Under its nautch skirts, film has strong enough legs to step out into international arthouses.
It has an average vote of 1 on TMDB.
14. Wie andere Neger auch (Wie andere Neger auch)
A black ethnologist explores aspects of German life in West Germany in the early 1980s with a foreign eye - and meets with rejection because she dares to look at Europeans with the same tools as they have used for centuries in Africa.
15. A Punjab Village
Richly detailed amateur ethnographic film on the agrarian economy and society in rural Punjab.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
16. The Wall of Shadows
A Sherpa family breaks a taboo and climbs the most holy of mountains to earn money for their son’s education. They accompany a western expedition on East Wall of the Khumbakarna Mountain, a wall that has never been climbed before. ‘The Wall of Shadows’ tells the story of an encounter between a young Sherpa boy and an experienced western mountaineer at the foot of the sacred mountain. Will they face the wrath of mountain Gods?
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
17. Perfect Compost: a Master Class with Peter Proctor
Peter Proctor is New Zealand's father of biodynamic agriculture. Peter has been gardening and making compost for over 65 years. "Biodymanics makes organics work." Compost is the fundamental element in all gardening & farming. This master class takes you through the biodynamic compost making process from gathering and assembling your materials to creating the perfect compost heap. Rudolf Steiner believed biodynamic compoast was the foundation of humanity and the vital link between the cosmos and the earth. In Perfect Compost, Peter Proctor walks you through every step to building perfect compost.
18. Seeds of Hope
A look at food security in the Hawaiian islands
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
19. Procession of Elephants with Howdahs - India
An elephantine spectacle, likely part of the celebrations for the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to India.
20. Procession at Gangtok
Traditional games, dancing and music among the people of Sikkim - in vivid colour.