Theme: Film
Friday, October 18th
Life in the City of Dirty Water offers us an intimate portrait of the remarkable life of Indigenous climate change campaigner, Clayton Thomas-Muller, who went from being an abused child and an addicted and incarcerated street hustler to becoming a Sundancer, father, husband and one of the nation’s most renowned activists (with the Indigenous Environmental Network, Idle No More, and 350.org). Introduced by Clayton Thomas-Muller.
October 18th | 6:40 pm to 7:05 pm | Showcase Theater
Panelists
Clayton Thomas-Muller
Stop it at the Source Campaigner | 350.org
Clayton Thomas-Müller (Mathias Colomb Cree/aka Pukatawagan), currently the 'Stop it at the Source' campaigner with 350.org, is an award-winning Winnipeg, Canada-based Indigenous Rights/Climate Justice activist and media producer with 17+ years’ experience organizing in hundreds of First Nations across North America against the fossil fuel industry and leading delegations to major UN and other international conclaves. Clayton also serves on many boards, including for: Black Mesa Water Coalition, Indigenous Climate Action, and Bioneers.
This inspiring film conveys the deep spiritual connection to the natural world that was once fundamental to the experience of being human but that far too many modern people have lost. Featuring such stellar thought leaders as Bill McKibben, Naomi Klein, Rose Macario (CEO of Patagonia) and many others, it drives home how we must rediscover the awe and compassion that wild nature can awaken in us if we are to make sure we continue to have a habitable planet. Introduced by Suez Jacobson, Wild Hope’s Executive Producer; Dave Devine, Digital Project Content Manager.
October 18th | 7:10 pm to 7:50 pm | Showcase Theater
Panelists
Suez Jacobson
Executive Producer and Writer | Wild Hope
Suez Jacobson, Ph.D., a writer, activist and board member of Great Old Broads for Wilderness, is the Executive Producer and writer of the film Wild Hope (being shown at Bioneers this year). Suez, a ski bum in her youth, became a top echelon Wall Street financial analyst, and until last year when she became Emerita, a distinguished professor of economics who developed innovative economics curricula rooted in ecological awareness.
Dave Devine
Digital Media Specialist | Regis’ Dayton Memorial Library
Dave Devine, a digital media specialist at Regis’ Dayton Memorial Library in Denver, Colorado, was the Digital Project Content Manager for the film, Wild Hope, being screened at Bioneers this year.
This film tells the story of the truly exemplary socially conscious REBBL beverage company, which was born out of a campaign to combat the underlying causes of human trafficking (a global plague), initially in Peru, but now working in 29 countries. It focuses on the company’s efforts to partner with Indigenous Amazonian Brazil nut harvesters in Peru as a case study to highlight the sort of long-term engagement and relationship building required to develop truly ethical and sustainable supply chains. Introduced by Kathleen Tan of REBBL.
October 18th | 7:55 pm to 8:30 pm | Showcase Theater
Panelists
Kathleen Tan
Marketing Coordinator | REBBL Beverage Company
Kathleen Tan is the Marketing Coordinator and “brand storyteller” for the REBBL beverage company, a mission-driven enterprise devoted to combating human trafficking and helping address climate change and biodiversity loss by helping economically empower the often disenfranchised Indigenous and local communities that produce the raw materials for its products, as well as providing exquisite tasting elixirs made from potent ethically-sourced super herbs.
Emmy-winning film Dawnland follows the trajectory of the state of Maine’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (the first ever in the U.S.), created to investigate the systematic removal of Native American children from their homes, which continued in many parts of the country into the 1970s. Dawnland documents interviews of many witnesses who suffered devastating consequences from this state-sanctioned child abuse and attempted cultural erasure. It is the most powerful account of Indigenous child removal in the U.S. so far, and it foregrounds the immense challenges that this commission faces as it works toward truth, reconciliation, and the survival of all Indigenous peoples.
October 18th | 8:35 pm to 10:00 pm | Showcase Theater
Saturday, October 19th
This short documentary captures the dynamism and commitment of the young activists of the Sunrise Movement, which catapulted into national attention to demand action on the Green New Deal.
October 19th | 6:40 pm to 7:00 pm | Showcase Theater
“I do not know of a company that does more per dollar for the earth and its people than Dr. Bronner’s.” Paul Hawken
Journey to Pavitramenthe explores how the exemplary socially and environmentally conscious Dr. Bronner’s soap company partners with more than 1,500 small-scale farmers who use regenerative organic agriculture practices in Bareilly, India.
October 19th | 7:00 pm to 7:10 pm | Showcase Theater
We are privileged to be able to be the first to show some excerpts of this yet-to-be-released work-in-progress by filmmaker Klea McKenna, which tracks the story of an unlikely 25-year friendship between American ethnobotanist Kathleen Harrison and an indigenous Mazatec shaman in the mountains of southern Mexico. What began as fieldwork became a deep entanglement of two families during an era of cultural upheaval. Introduced by Klea McKenna and Kathleen Harrison.
October 19th | 7:10 pm to 7:35 pm | Showcase Theater
Panelists
Klea McKenna
Photographer and Videographer | IN THE MAKE
Klea McKenna is a visual artist based in San Francisco whose photographs have been shown and collected by SFMOMA, LACMA, Datz Musum of Art in South Korea, The Hecksher Museum in NY, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. From 2011-2015 she was photographer and videographer for IN THE MAKE. She is the daughter of renegade ethnobotanists Kathleen Harrison and Terence McKenna.
Kathleen Harrison
Co-founder and President | Botanical Dimensions
Kathleen Harrison, renowned ethnobotanist and educator, has done extensive fieldwork among Indigenous cultures since the 1970s, specializing in studying plants and fungi used in ritual, healing and art, including traditional psychoactive species and their lore. Co-founder of the non-profit, Botanical Dimensions, and Director of its Ethnobotany Library in Occidental, California, Kat’s fieldwork includes a long relationship with Mazatec healers in Mexico that her daughter, artist/filmmaker Klea McKenna, is making a film about.
In 2015, Anne Laudisoit, a Belgian biologist expert in zoonotic diseases and explorer with EcoHealth Alliance who has long worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo, discovered a hitherto unknown-to-science band of chimpanzees, one of the world’s most endangered species, in a remote unstudied forest fragment in a frequently war torn part of the country. She and a team of Congolese researchers returned there in 2017 with a camera crew to document their findings: this extraordinary film is the result. Introduced by Anne Laudisoit.
October 19th | 7:40 pm to 8:40 pm | Showcase Theater
Panelists
Anne Laudisoit
Wildlife Field Biologist
Anne Laudisoit is a Belgian explorer, wildlife field biologist and disease ecologist specializing in tracking emerging and neglected vector-borne zoonotic diseases in a wide range of ecological and social contexts from Tanzania, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to Kazakhstan. Since 2015, in partnership with local researchers and villagers, she has been exploring and helping develop conservation plans for previously unstudied, remote, often war-torn regions of DRC’s Ituri province.
This powerful film offers us an intimate, raw look at the transformational journey of two combat veterans suffering from severe PTSD as they abandon pharmaceuticals to seek relief through unconventional means: the use of the Amazonian psychedelic, ayahuasca, as well as MDMA. It raises fundamental questions about war, the pharmaceutical industry, and our legal system, but it is above all a gripping account of two men and their spouses and families’ struggles to find healing. Introduced by Janine Sagert, one of the film’s producers.
October 19th | 8:50 pm to 10:00 pm | Showcase Theater
Panelists
Janine Sagert
Producer | The Film From Shock to Awe
Janine Sagert, Ph.D., an integration consultant and optimal performance coach, is a producer of the film From Shock to Awe, being shown at Bioneers this year. Profoundly affected by her experiences in her youth with psychedelics and studies in India, Janine became a researcher in altered states of consciousness and stress management and was a leading, early figure in bringing meditation to many workplaces.
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