The new green film genre is gaining momentum as the Whole Foods Market’s Do Something Reel Film Fest launches nationwide on April 1st in celebration of Earth Month. Bringing environmentally and socially conscious films to a wide audience, the Do Something Reel Film Festival is screening six provocative documentaries covering different environmental topics, and will travel to over 70 cities across the nation.
This film festival certainly has an agenda; to support “budding green-genre filmmakers” and remind people that even small changes can be made for good. The Whole Foods Market (which has its headquarters here in Austin) is debuting this film festival to encourage the public, but also to continue its own commitment as a retailer of natural and organic foods.
Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, said it best:
“Through our Whole Foods Market “Do Something Reel” Film Festival we want to raise awareness of environmental and food issues, and support filmmakers who are creating films that inspire people to question the impact our choices have on our health, body and environment. We see film as an inspirational medium that can spark an active dialogue and encourage people to take action locally.”
Whole Foods Market is establishing a grant for green genre filmmakers, and the six films will be playing near Whole Foods Markets across the nation. For a list of locations and screenings, visit the film festival website at www.dosomethingreel.com.
To celebrate Earth Day on April 22, the film festival website will stream the documentary Dig It. This motivational documentary follows the members of the band Pearl Jam as they plant trees and participate in beautification efforts in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Here’s a brief rundown of the upcoming films. Bag It! follows an average American who decides to take a closer look at the use and abuse of plastic and its effects on the world. Lunch Line studies six kids from inner city Chicago who set out to fix their school’s lunch and end up in the White House. On Coal River follows a former coal miner and his neighbors as they journey from helpless bystanders to informed experts on mountaintop removal. Ellen Page narrates Vanishing of the Bees, a film about the disappearing bee population and industrial farming. Urban Roots and PLANEAT deals with growing food and food nutrition issues.
I’ll be screening some of these, so check back for reviews!