Komunikasi Visual sebagai Advokasi Lingkungan Hidup

Tentunya kita bangga ketika senator Al-Gore mendapat penghargaan sebagai film dokumenter terbaik International. Selain itu, Inconvenient Truth telah menempatkan film dokumenter sebagai satu genre film yang memiliki kekuatan besar untuk membawa tema-tema penting perubahan sosial yang mampu menjangkau khalayak yang luas. Dengan Al-Gore masyarakat dunia semakin peduli dengan lingkungan hidup. National Endowment For The Art merilis sebuah penelitian yang sebagaimana dikatakan sang ketua, Dana Gioia "Sejarah peradaban adalah sejarah komunikasi jika komunikasi bergeser dari kata ke visual, kita perlu belajar bahasa baru untuk berinteraksi."

11th Hour: How One Film Saved An Ancient Forest

On the heels of a failed COP15, one story reminds me of the importance of media in the fight to save our planet.

Like many activists and bloggers on those fateful last days of the Copenhagen climate summit, I was dragging my tail between my legs. There was definitely a sense of defeat lingering in the air -- that despite the historic unification of the both environmental and social justice NGO's into a veritable eco-army it wasn't enough. We didn't even get close to the emissions cuts needed.

1973: The Year Environmental Filmmaking Was Born

Two of the best films of all time explored the sinister underbelly of environmental politics -- Chinatown and Soylent Green -- planting environmentalism firmly in the cultural zeitgeist.

As part of my exploration into the role of popular films in the environmental movement, I had to go back to the beginning -- 1973 -- when one could argue the environmental film was born. In that year, two groundbreaking films were in production -- Chinatown and Soylent Green. 

Both are widely known as two of the best films of all time and because of this fact they are rarely discussed in the context of the environmental movement. But I feel that it's important to revisit them as they shed light on a subject that all too often devolves into a tedious scholastic presentation of facts and figures.

Is Avatar Radical Environmental Propaganda?

Environmentalist and producer Harold Linde weighs in on the Hollywood-izing of the environmental movement.

 

James Cameron’s Avatar is without a doubt the most epic piece of environmental advocacy ever captured on celluloid, and it only very thinly veils its message which, on the heels of a failed Copenhagen summit, is more timely now than ever … Nature will always win.

The film hits all the important environmental talking-points — virgin rain forests threatened by wanton exploitation, indigenous peoples who have much to teach the developed world, a planet which functions as a collective, interconnected Gaia-istic organism, and evil corporate interests that are trying to destroy it all.

DREAMS (1990)

This is essentially eight separate short films, though with some overlaps in terms of characters and thematic material - chiefly that of man's relationship with his environment. 'Sunshine Through The Rain': a young boy is told not to go out on the day when both weather conditions occur, because that's when the foxes hold their wedding procession, which could have fatal consequences for those who witness it. 'The Peach Orchard': the same young boy encounters the spirits of the peach trees that have been cut down by heartless humans. 'The Blizzard': a team of mountaineers are saved from a blizzard by spiritual intervention. 'The Tunnel': a man encounters the ghosts of an army platoon, whose deaths he was responsible for. 'Crows': an art student encounters 'Vincent Van Gogh' and enters the world of his paintings. 'Mount Fuji in Red': nuclear meltdown threatens the devastation of Japan. 'The Weeping Demon': a portrait of a post-nuclear world populated by human mutations. 'Village of the Watermills': a sunny portrait of a village whose population is entirely at one with nature.

Director : Akira Kurosawa
Writer    : Akira Kurosawa

Genre    : Drama, Fantasy

Awards : Best Music Score Award of the Japanese Academy 1991, Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe Awards 1991, Best Cinematography & Best Film Score Mainichi Film Concours 1991.

Nominated : Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Film, Best Lighting, Best Sound, Best Supporting Actress at Award of the Japanese Academy. Peace Political Film Society Award 1991.


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Top 10 Environmental Documentaries Of 2009

With the rise of environmental issues comes the increased popularity of movies addressing these issues. This year's environmental documentaries come from all over the world. Filmmakers are bringing shocking and sometimes tearful topics to your living room — to inspire you to make a difference. These documentaries examine everything from the negative effects of the American agriculture system to leading a zero-impact lifestyle. These are 10 must-see films.