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Past Films

A list of films shown by Sustainable Rossmoor at Peacock Hall, in reverse chronological order. Scroll down to find some treasures!

This Month's Coming Film

THE TALE OF SILYAN

Monday, March 2, Peacock Hall

This a new docudrama from the Oscar-nominated director of ‘Honeyland’, presents a poignant and visually arresting story set in the heart of rural Macedonia. Nikola, a farmer grappling with the harsh realities of new government policies, finds himself unable to sell his land or crops. When his family leaves in search of a better life abroad, Nikola takes a job as a landfill attendant, where he encounters the injured white stork (the national bird). As he nurses the bird back to health, an unlikely bond forms between man and animal. The result is a deeply moving film that touches on climate change, economic migration, resilience and the quiet power of connection.

Kotevska’s film marries observational filmmaking techniques with magical realism to craft a fiery screed against capitalism, industrialization, governments that profit over people, and an elegy for our fragile connection with nature. The film highlights the international "modern agrarian crisis" where small-scale farmers are unable to secure fair prices, forcing many to consider abandoning their land or resorting to extreme measures.

100% Rotten Tomatoes. Multiple award-winner. English sub-titles. 81 minutes. TRAILER

SINGING BACK THE BUFFALO

Wednesday, February 11

American buffalo once roamed wild in the US, numbering in the tens of millions. Their decline to mere thousands parallels the decline of Indigenous First Nations as shown in Director Tasha Hubbard’s award-winning documentary. Filmed near Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, Hubbard’s film showcases the ‘rematriation’ of Buffalo herds, capturing the beauty and majesty of these ancient animals, the culture of "Buffalo consciousness”, and the rebuilding of sovereignty for the people of the First Nations. 1 hour 39 minutes, with captions.

This documentary was preceded by a short film that highlights the unexpected benefits to the ecology of the land and other wildlife when buffalo were reintroduced to arid rangeland, rewriting conservation methods of the future.

Trailer

https://youtu.be/zzDRuX9-Ios?si=FxivfdqmReQChdsJ

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

Monday, February 2

This feature film was nominated for four Academy Awards. It is a fable set in a remote Mississippi Delta community that faces adversity when temperatures rise, ice caps melt causing rising waters that threaten their homes, and fierce prehistoric beasts called aurochs run loose. At the center of this poetic storm stands Hushpuppy, a tiny heroine who uses the power of fantasy and folklore to carry her people, and us as viewers, forward. She represents the spirit of an unsung America with a commanding reminder from a small but strong voice - that all of us are "a little piece of a big, big universe”.

133 minutes with captions. Trailer

TO SAVE OUR COAST

Wednesday, January 14

This new documentary covers the David and Goliath story of the successful 1972 California grassroots campaign of the voter-initiative Proposition 20, which created the California Coastal Commission to protect public access and coastal ecosystems against development. Interviews with some of California’s greatest environmental leaders including artists, hippies, and politicians along with historic footage of the battle against powerful interests like oil and real estate, detail how citizen action led to landmark legislation, ensuring California's coastline remains a public treasure. The California Coastal Commission is widely recognized as the international flagship of coastal regulation. An optional short discussion follows the screening.

85 minutes long with captions

Full film: https://youtu.be/KQNo5-CZuHQ

Deepwater Horizon

Monday, January 5

The Deepwater Horizon was the oil rig with the deepest well (3 miles) in the Gulf of Mexico, connected to the surface by a mile long pipeline – until it exploded and was engulfed in flames in April 2010, killing 11 workers. It leaked 4.9 million barrels of oil over months. Rated the worst man-made environmental disaster in the Americas, it continues to impact marine ecosystems today. British Petroleum was responsible, yet continues to have many active rigs in the Gulf and has recently been awarded a permit for a bigger rig to go even deeper. The heroic crew is enacted by Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, and Gina Rodriquez. John Malkovich plays a BP executive who was on board.

1 hr 47 minutes with captions.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/S-UPJyEHmM0?si=BrjLNDCr2Pxzmpyd

The Seeds of Vandana Shiva

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Environmentalist, physicist and food justice activist, Dr. Vandana Shiva takes on powerful corporations that pollute and degrade the environment.

Rated 100% by RT. 82 minutes, with captions.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEqTo8lDivs

RISING GIANTS: THE SECRETS AND SUPERPOWERS OF REDWOODS

Wednesday, November 12

This multiple award-winning film explores humankind's dramatic, ever-evolving relationship with redwoods. Their ability to withstand fire and capture carbon offer clues about longevity and can enhance well-being. How do they do it --and how will redwoods keep working their magic as they're pushed to their limits by humans and climate change? Through the voices of biologists, artists, Native peoples and others racing to understand and safeguard these trees, GIANTS RISING reveals the scientific wonders of redwoods and our deep cultural ties to them. It's a story that offers lessons about resilience and connection, and the promise of solutions to the challenges that lay ahead.

80 minutes long. An optional discussion follows with members of Sustainable Rossmoor's Tree Planting and Preservation Committee.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/2xsGlC06u4M?si=pOFegVgysqVRAFaj

THE GRAB

Wednesday, October 8

This multiple award-winning documentary is a thriller. Hard-hitting journalism by a Center for Investigative Reporting team takes the viewer around the globe to reveal one of the world’s biggest and least known threats. Quietly and out of sight, governments, private investors and mercenaries are working to seize food and water resources at the expense of entire populations. These groups are establishing themselves as the new OPEC, where the future world powers will be those who control not oil, but food.

Both Russia and Israel are using food as a weapon of war – a strategy common in war throughout the ages. The viewer is challenged to think about the larger implications for our environment, international food security, and local communities. 105 minutes, with captions.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dws3Rfn_ePo

I Could Never Go Vegan

Wednesday, September 10

On a quest for the truth, the filmmaker sets out on a journey to find out the leading arguments facing the vegan movement, and whether they're justified or not. He seeks answers to the questions: Are vegans vitamin deficient? Where do vegans get their protein? Do they lack strength or stamina compared to meat eaters? Do they sleep better or worse? Why go vegan instead of vegetarian? Do vegans have fun? Is veganism a plant-based con?

97 minutes, with captions.

Three attendees can win a cookbook.

OCEAN with David Attenborough

August 13, 2025

A healthy ocean keeps the entire planet stable and flourishing.

OCEAN with David Attenborough, the world’s leading natural historian, takes viewers on a breathtaking journey showing there is nowhere more vital for our survival, more full of life, wonder, or surprise, than the ocean. The celebrated broadcaster and filmmaker reveals how his lifetime has coincided with the great age of ocean discovery. Through spectacular sequences featuring coral reefs, kelp forests, and the open ocean, Attenborough shares why a healthy ocean keeps the entire planet, stable and flourishing. Stunning, immersive cinematography showcases the wonder of the life under the seas and exposes the realities and challenges facing our ocean as never-before-seen, from destructive fishing techniques to mass coral reef bleaching. Yet the story is one of optimism, with Attenborough, pointing to inspirational stories from around the world to deliver his greatest message: the ocean can recover to a glory beyond anything anyone alive has ever seen.
95 minutes, with captions.

Rated 100% by Rotten Tomatoes, this 2025 film was released on Attenborough's 99th birthday. The full length movie can be streamed on National Geographic TV, supported by Xfinity (Comcast).

Invisible Hand

Wednesday, February 8, 7 p.m.

Winner of three Best Documentary awards and the first film to explore the Rights of Nature movement, “Invisible Hand” focuses on one of the defining battles of our time — where Nature, democracy and capitalism face off – and asks: “Who will speak for Nature?”

In 2014, for the first time in United States history, an ecosystem filed to defend itself in a lawsuit claiming its ‘right to exist' in Grant Township, PA. The 700 inhabitants filed a suit to prevent a permit for a fracked waste water injection well that threatened their drinking water. Both the drilling corporation and the State counter-sued. “Invisible Hand” is a metaphor for how, in a free market economy, capitalists and other self-interested individuals operate to exploit nature for profit, and who loses along the way.

Executive produced and by narrated by Mark Ruffalo. 85 minutes. A discussion follows.

Is your life too plastic?

August 10, 2022

What starts as a competition between two small towns to reduce plastic bag use, leads to a discovery of the many ways plastic impacts the planet and our health -- and some things we can do about it.

Sustainable Rossmoor