Beary Tales

Juxtaposed to the hustle and bustle of city life on the diminutive Caribbean island of Dominica, Jerry Maka West works his garden in the island's lush interior, his Zion, growing and preparing his food just as his grandparents once taught him. Jerry is Nom Tèw, Man of the Soil.

A short film featuring a coastal forest and the rocky coastline of downeast Maine.

Global warming in context. What the climate of the past tells us about the climate of the future.

14-part special in which botanist Francis Hallé explains forest science and processes. Part of the "Once Upon a Forest" physical release.

This film explores the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, home to the Soliga adivasis, highlighting their deep connection with the forest and the impact of exclusionary conservation policies since 1974. Documenting five decades of Soliga resistance and the ecological effects of restricted practices, it challenges forced eviction models and advocates for recognizing Soliga rights. This work is the result of a two-decade collaboration between researchers and filmmakers.

Geoff Lawton demonstrates how to grow a food forest from start to finish. Geoff helps get you on the right track toward growing a productive garden paradise.

A 49 minutes documentary on the footsteps of 87 years old "Grandma" Kuniko Shiiba, perpetuating a 4000 years traditional and sustainable form of agriculture. Shohei SHIBATA followed her a whole year through the forest and its medicinal plants, fire spirits and mountains.

In search of the lucrative matsutake mushroom, two former soldiers discover the means to gradually heal their wounds of war. Roger, a self-described 'fall-down drunk' and sniper in Vietnam, and Kouy, a Cambodian refugee who fought the Khmer Rouge, bonded in the bustling tent-city known as Mushroom Camp, which pops up each autumn in the Oregon woods. Their friendship became an adoptive family; according to a Cambodian custom, if you lose your family like Kouy, you must rebuilt it anew. Now, however, this new family could be lost. Roger's health is declining and trauma flashbacks rack his mind; Kouy gently aids his family before the snow falls and the hunting season ends, signaling his time to leave.

This black-and-white archival film outlines the importance of Canada's forests in the national war effort during the Second World War.

In March 2023, despite a flush of police raids and arrests in the struggle against Cop City in Atlanta, the Weelaunee Food Autonomy Festival gathered people for four days of learning and working in the forest. The observational film follows along as participants in the festival plant hundreds of fig, pawpaw, and persimmon saplings, give away fruit trees to neighbors of the forest, graft edible pears onto invasive trees, learn to mix herbal medicines, and restore an area of forest that had been recently disturbed by illegal demolition work.