All the Wild Things

A weekend of regional films that explore the climate crisis, cureated for 421 by Cinema Akil. As well as . This expansive program includes film screenings, talks, workshops, activations, and family-friendly screenings too. The mini festival includes screening of feature-length and short films across narrative, documentary, and experimental genres; there will also be panel discussions and Q&As on topics inspired by the films screened.

For adults the films are screened outside; for kids the screenings take place indoors (and include snacks and drinks).

The films:

23 Feb 4pm Children of the Sea (dir Ayumu Watanabe, 2019) Manga animation sold out

23 Feb 7pm The Golden Wings of Watercocks (dir Muhammad Quayum, 2022) Trapped in poverty by social exploitation and climate injustice, the rice farmers of the marshland regions of Bangladesh struggle to survive

23 Feb 9.45pm Wild Relatives (dir Jumana Manna, 2018) Fascinating documentary on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which stores seeds deep beneath the Arctic permafrost as a backup should disaster strike

24 Feb 4pm Ainbo (dir Richard Claus & Jose Zelada, 2021) Animated story of the epic journey of a young hero and her Spirit Guides, a cute armadillo and a goofy oversized tapir, on a quest to save their home in the Amazon rainforest

24 Feb 6pm Short Film Program: Earth Presses against Us

24 Feb 7pm Costa Brava, Lebanon (dir Mounia Akl, 2021) A family leave the polluted environment of Beirut, hoping to build a utopian existence in the mountains

24 Feb 9.15pm Honey, Rain and Dust (dir Nujoom Alghanem, 2016) The Emirati director’s much-lauded study of honey-harvesting traditions in the mountains of the UAE

25 Feb 6pm Short Film Program: Earth Presses against Us

25 Feb 7pm Aya (dir Simon Coulibaly Gillard, 2021) Documentary-style study of a young woman’s love for her birthplace, a fictional island off the Ivory Coast

25 Feb 9.15pm Taming the Garden (dir Salomé Jashi, 2021) Documentary following trees transported from the coast of the Republic of Georgia to a politician’s private garde at great expense and inconvenience