IS THIS OUR LAST CHANCE?
Das geheime Leben der Bäume [The Hidden Life of Trees] (2020)
May 31–June 6
Directors: Jörg Adolph and Jan Haft
Time: 96 minutes
German; Turkish and English subtitles
Based on Peter Wohlleben’s 2015 international best-seller “The Hidden Life of Trees,” in the documentary of the same name, the crucial centrality of trees in Earth’s ecosystem is explored. A forester by training, Wohlleben resigned from his job when he saw the damage wrought by the cycles of clear-cut and single species cultivation in his native Germany. How trees pass wisdom down to the next generation through their seeds, what makes them live so long, and how forests handle immigrants are some of the topics Wohlleben delves into to decipher the signals that plants send to each other. By mapping these hidden networks and relationships, Wohlleben gives a better understanding of the non-human world.
Forests, like ant colonies, are a kind of superorganism: trees are interconnected, they communicate with each other, and even offer community healthcare in the form of shared nutrients. Wohlleben journeys to the oldest known tree (a 10,000-year-old Swedish spruce), he visits businesses in Canada that are looking for a new approach to how to treat the woods; he joins the Hambacher Forest anti-coal demonstrators. In this documentary, Wohlleben explores and celebrates the beauty and magic of the forests and reminds us of the urgent need to protect them.
SALT’s Is this our last chance? program is supported by its founder, Garanti BBVA. The films will only be accessible to online audiences in Turkey.
IS THIS OUR LAST CHANCE?
Longyearbyen, a Bipolar City (2016)
June 7–13
Directors: Manuel Deiller and Nina Ardoin
Time: 52 minutes
English, French; Turkish and English subtitles
Located in the Arctic’s Svalbard archipelago, the Norwegian city of Longyearbyen has been extracting coal for one hundred years as a source of energy and income. The city is named after the American timber and mineral developer John Munro Longyear, who was one of the two cofounders of the Arctic Coal Company, which became the area’s first working industrial coal operation in 1906. Today, Isfjorden (The Ice Fjord) northwest from Longyearbyen hasn’t been ice-covered mid-winter for the last ten years. Researchers point out that the fjord’s marine life is changing from the Arctic to the Atlantic climate zone. The rapidly changing climate in Svalbard has caused the local population many problems in recent years. Higher temperatures and increased rainfall have resulted in more avalanches.
Longyearbyen, a Bipolar City captures Svalbard’s local elections as the price of coal decreases, community members realize that the dire need to discuss sustainable development is now more critical than ever. Through interviews with officials and locals, the filmmakers probe into the environmental paradoxes of the city and the consequences of these. For scientists, politicians, and city locals, Longyearbyen is now facing a race against the clock.
SALT’s Is this our last chance? program is supported by its founder, Garanti BBVA. The films will only be accessible to online audiences in Turkey.