Free film festival focuses on climate emergency

Documentaries and short films about the environment and the climate emergency feature in the new Eco Film Festival, launched to highlight the urgent issues seeking international consensus at the upcoming International UN Climate Conference, COP29, in Azerbaijan.

The one-day festival is being held on Saturday, 9 November a the Academy Cinemas. It is organised by Ngā Ara Whetū – the Centre for Climate, Biodiversity & Society, a flagship University research centre, at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.

The festival features short films exploring sustainability issues like circular fashion and marine life, followed by a special segment from the documentary Hot Air which revisits the climate debates of the early 2000s. 

Two feature-length documentaries will be screened in the afternoon: The Grab, which uncovers global attempts to control food and water resources, which has been described as a “sleek, complex international thriller,” and Milked, an award-winning documentary looking at the dairy industry’s impact on Aotearoa New Zealand.

The screening of Milked will be followed by a talk and a Q & A with Dr Maria Armoudian (co-director of Ngā Ara Whetū), Faculty of Arts, in conversation with Professor Annie Goldson, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and academic, Faculty of Arts; Dr Mark Harvey, an artist and researcher, Creative Arts and Industries (both from the University of Auckland); Amy Taylor, the documentary’s director; and Suzy Amis Cameron, the co-executive producer, environmentalist and former-actress. 

They will discuss how film-making can empower communities to address climate change and environmental issues.

Tickets for the inaugural Eco Film Festival at the Academy Cinemas, Auckland, are free with an online booking fee.