The Portland EcoFilm Festival's Global Ecological Cinema Podcast

When Renata Mireilles and David Vêluz prepared to make a feature-length documentary about Indigenous childhood in Brazil, they did so not with a script in hand and cameras pointed, eagerly. Instead, they approached the exploration with open hearts and minds, asking the Guarani Kaiowá, Guarani Ñandeva, Baniwa, and Khisêtjê peoples, “What would you like to celebrate about the ways you raise your children?”The resulting film, CRADLED BY THE EARTH (DE COLO DA TERRA), is a connective, conversant, and uplifting meditation on the vitality of customs, play, and the Earth as teacher.We visited with Renata and David about working in deep collaboration with Indigenous communities, how the film fits into their ongoing creative project about childhood (Territory of Play), rejoicing in the remembrance of our responsibility to future generations, cinema as a bridge between cultures, and more.CRADLED BY THE EARTH is an Official Selection in the 2026 Portland EcoFilm Festival's Indigenous Voices series, where it received its USA premiere at the Clinton Street Theater.Learn more about the Portland EcoFilm Festival and our podcast at portlandecofilmfest.org where you'll also find detailed show notes and our guests' film recommendations from this episode.Our theme music is from the song “Earth Worship” by the amazing band, Rubblebucket.Our podcast is hosted, edited, and produced by our festival director, Rozzell Medina.The Portland EcoFilm Festival is a signature program of the Hollywood Theatre, Portland's premier modern-historic movie palace. Learn more at hollywoodtheatre.org.The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Film Forever Northwest or its affiliates.

DISTANCE TO THE MOON is a stop-motion animation film about X, who discovers a ladder that stretches infinitely into space and goes on a journey that isn't just physical. He traverses solitude, memory, grief, and hope, encountering various meaningful beings along the way. For this episode, we spoke with the film's writer and co-director, Sacha Kyle, and composer, Giles Lamb. We discussed finding inspiration in dreams and the more than human world, expanding our imaginations around ecological grief and grieving, simultaneously loving and letting go of what the world used to be--and more.This episode features audio excerpts of Giles' hauntingly beautiful score for the film--and a brief excerpt from a piece of music that he considers to be ecological.DISTANCE TO THE MOON is an Official Selection in the 2026 Portland EcoFilm Festival. It was featured in our EXPANSIVE ECOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 1 program on March 26, 2026 at the Hollywood Theatre (sponsored by SOLVE).We are a signature program of the Hollywood Theatre, Portland's premier modern-historic movie palace.Find more extensive show notes, including Sacha's ecological film recommendations and Giles' ecological music recommendations at: portlandecofilmfest.org/podcastPlease subscribe, share, and give us a great review! Thanks for listening, for supporting global ecological cinema, and for all the good you do in the world!Our theme music is from the song “Earth Worship” by the amazing band, Rubblebucket.Our podcast is hosted, edited, and produced by our festival director, Rozzell Medina.The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Film Forever Northwest or its affiliate

We speak with Antoine Chapon, a French filmmaker who collaborated with former residents of Damascus, Syriah's Basateen al-Razi neighborhood to share their memories and perspectives, and reimagine the future of the land they once called home. Antoine's film, AL BASATEEN (THE ORCHARDS) is an official selection in our 2026 festival.Until recently, Basateen al-Razi was home to some of the oldest orchards in the world. In 2015, residents were informed that the area had been targeted for redevelopment. Many were given less than two months to leave their homes, and most of them never received any form of compensation.The homes were destroyed, and so were the ancient orchards. The stated reason for the mass displacement was the construction of Marota City, a shiny new urban development project scheduled to contain luxury homes, skyscrapers, and commercial centers.But according to our guest —and many others—an underlying reason for the displacement was revenge. During the Syrian Revolution, the beloved trees, once treasured for fruit and shade, provided tactical cover, making Basateen al-Razi a center of strong resistance to the now former dictator, Bashar al-Assad.We discuss the use of CGI and VFX by Antoine and his collaborators to tell a story of collective rebellion and loss, the old, troubling relationship between authoritarianism and urban planning, ecological cinema as counter-propaganda, and much more.Learn more about the Portland EcoFilm Festival and our podcast--where you'll also find detailed show notes and our guests' film recommendations from this episode.portlandecofilmfest.org/podcasthollywoodtheatre.orgOur theme music is from the song “Earth Worship” by the amazing band, Rubblebucket.AL BASATEEN is featured in our EXPANSIVE ECOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 1 program on March 26, 2026 at the Hollywood Theatre (sponsored by SOLVE).Our podcast is hosted, edited, and produced by our festival director, Rozzell Medina.The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Film Forever Northwest or its affiliates.

AKABABURU: EXPRESSION OF ASTONISHMENT is a short film from Colombia’s Karmata Rua Indigenous Reservation, presented primarily in the Emberá Chami language. It reimagines the myth of Kiraparamia, a woman who is punished by the gods for laughing at her husband. Through stop motion animation and live action, we see this legend come to life, framed by the experiences and connection of two young women who help each other understand that Kiraparamia’s laughter actually set her free and restored her essential bond to nature. On this, the second episode of our Global Ecological Cinema Podcast, we talked with Irati Dojura, director, and Laura Giraldo, producer, of AKABABURU: EXPRESSION OF ASTONISHMENT.They share their perspectives on some themes of the film—such as sisterhood and joy— related to ecology, what it was like to reimagine a mythological woman’s fate, producing a film in collaboration with Irati’s community, the gifts of Indigenous cinema, and more.AKABABURU is an Official Selection in our Indigenous Voices series, featured in our EXPANSIVE ECOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 1 program on March 26 at the Hollywood Theatre. It made history at the 2025 Berlinale by receiving a Special Mention from the Generation Kplus International Jury, marking a significant achievement for Indigenous storytelling.Learn more about the Portland EcoFilm Festival and our podcast--where you'll also find detailed show notes and our guests' film recommendations from this episode.Our interpreters are Paula Martín del Campo Salazar and Ariana Ramos Rocha, with important assistance from Stefania Montaña.Our theme music is from the song “Earth Worship” by the amazing band, Rubblebucket.Our EXPANSIVE ECOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 1 program is sponsored by SOLVE.Our podcast is hosted, edited, and produced by our festival director, Rozzell Medina.The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Film Forever Northwest or its affiliates.

For our very first episode, we focus on Agnès Varda's beloved documentary, THE GLEANERS AND I.Released in the year 2000, this warm, meandering masterpiece, which opened our 2026 festival, explores the act of gleaning, not only as collecting food that would otherwise go to waste, but as a multifaceted means of survival, expression, ecological responsibility, and belonging. Our featured guest is producer, writer, and film curator, Kiva Reardon. Kiva has dedicated countless hours to appreciating, studying, and writing about Varda. She even spent time with Agnés Varda and named her celebrated journal of film and feminism after the eponymous character of Varda’s breakthrough 1962 feature film, Cléo from 5 to 7.The founder of the Portland EcoFilm Festival, Dawn Smallman, joins our conversation, which explores what it was like to spend time with the famously curious filmmaker, radical empathy related to Varda's films and ecology, and much more.Kiva shares her favorite ecological films (several of which are available to rent at the world's best video store, Movie Madness, in Portland, Oregon.)Our host and the director of the festival, Rozzell Medina, also talks with Lizz Marks about what it was like to go from gleaning as a child to doing it professionally with Urban Gleaners. She shares insights into differences between the gleaning we see in Varda’s 2000 film, what it’s like to glean 26 years later in Portland, OR, and how people can put a foot into the gleaning world.Learn more about the Portland EcoFilm Festival and our podcast--where you'll also find detailed show notes and our guests' film recommendations from this episode.Our 2026 presentation of THE GLEANERS AND I at the Hollywood Theatre was sponsored by Lift UP, the Coalition to Advance Food Equity, and Urban Gleaners.The Portland EcoFilm Festival is a signature program of the Hollywood Theatre.Our theme music is from the song “Earth Worship” by the amazing band, Rubblebucket.Our podcast is hosted and produced by festival director Rozzell Medina.The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Film Forever Northwest or its affiliates.