OUR FILM COLLECTION
Fighting Deforestation in Endangered Rainforests
This series documents indigenous people and grassroots organizations from various countries including Madagascar, Mozambique, Ecuador and Indonesia as they attempt to stabilize rainforests in peril. These efforts include turning forest remnants into a park to create economic opportunities for villagers; a community learning to live in harmony with their elephant population; and starting an organic cacao cooperative in the middle of a South American jungle. We also learn about efforts to protect the largest orangutan sanctuary in the world amid the rampant deforestation occurring on Indonesian Borneo.
In a small village in eastern Madagascar, about a five hour drive from the capital, conservation efforts are taking place to kickstart the reforestation of the island. Andasibe, the village namesake, focuses on the efforts of three distinct conservation sectors that center around the community. Their efforts include community education, the preservation of remaining forest lands, and the establishment of conduits between forest fragments.
The Burning of Borneo's Peat Swamp Forest
Borneo was once nearly completely forested, but in the last few decades the country has seen an alarming reduction in forestland. This widespread deforestation is having an unbearable effect on the many species that live in the Sabangau National Forest and on the indigenous populations of Central Kalimantan, who rely on natural resources and traditional ways of living.
All of Sabangau National Park is ancient peat swamp forest. Peat holds a tremendous amount of sequestered carbon, and when it is cut and burned, it dramatically accentuates the rate of global warming. Additionally, it has been associated with an epidemic of lung disease in the local people.
This program pieces together the inevitable results of deforestation—degradation of the landscape, loss of animal habitat, elongated dry seasons, and the unavoidable toll it is taking on the health and financial stability of the indigenous communities.
CHOCOLATE IN THE JUNGLE
A small group of Ecuadorians, united under the name of Itapoa, are buying up remaining land in the Choco Rainforest of Ecuador. Only 5% of its original size, very little of which is protected, the Choco once covered the northern lowlands from the base of the Andes to the Pacific. Logged and cut for banana production, the area is now being transformed into a sea of African Oil Palm Plantations. Remnants of this little-known forest persist in the few roadless areas at the base of the Andes, which continue to be difficult to access.
Community members who are onboard to save their forest have developed sustainable ways of earning a living including growing cacao on their land and selling the beans to French chocolate manufacturers paying four times the amount for organically grown products. In order to be included in the local cooperative and reap these financial benefits, co-op members must leave at least seventy-percent of their natural vegetation intact or grow that equivalent back as secondary forestland.
NDZOU CAMP
Filmed in Mozambique, a nation ravaged by deforestation and constant warfare, Ndzou Camp tells the story of a small community determined to protect their elephant population and conserve their natural resources while pursuing tourism as a means of a more sustainable future.
Highlighting the connection between economic opportunities, education, and progressive attitudes towards women and their roles in society, the film is an observation on the changing attitudes of rural communities in underdeveloped countries who are little by little transitioning into places where former ideological foundations are being re-examined.
A BUTTERFLY SPACE
Filmed in Malawi, this short documentary spotlights two British women who relocated to the country and set up myriad community outreach programs including a nursery and primary school for local children, nutritional assistance programs for people infected with HIV, and a center for people with disabilities, among many others.
COLOMBIA
The Golden Poison Frog (Phyllobates terribilis) is endemic to a very small region in the Pacific lowlands Choco Rainforest of Colombia and is considered the most poisonous frog in the world.
Eyes of the World Films visited Colombia in 2019, assisting the Itapoa Project by video documenting the forest of the San Miguel community.
​There is an effort to support the community in the adoption of sustainable organic fair trade cacao production. This will assist them in the conservation of a large tract of rare old growth Choco Rainforest.