# Planet in Focus

Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival (PIF) is an incorporated not-for-profit film festival and registered charitable organization, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

## History

Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival (PIF) is an incorporated not-for-profit film festival and registered charitable organization, founded in 1999, by Mark Haslam.
PIF is currently run by a volunteer Board of Directors and a small staff including Executive Director, Katherine Bruce, Programs Director, Alessandra Cannito, Programmers Julian Carrington and Lesley Johnson, and Pre-Screeners, Ron Ma, Hui 'Jane' Wang, Gesila Azorbo, Michael John Long, and Gabriela Aguilar.
Planet in Focus operates year-round to produce the annual film festival in October, as well as year round programs such as the Cross Canada Campus Tour, Green School Tours and Eco-Film Lab filmmaking workshop for elementary students.
PIF grants yearly Eco-Hero Awards, and patrons include David Suzuki, Vandana Shiva, Rob Stewart, Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Autumn Peltier, Ron Finley, Col. Chris Hadfield, Jennifer Baichwal, Margaret Atwood, Edward Burtynsky, and James Balog, among others.

### Award Winners

       Best Canadian Short Film - The Pipe Dreams Project directed by Faros Des Roches and Ryan Vandecasteyen
       Best Canadian Short Film Honourable Mention - Spokedirected by Lulu Wei
       Best Canadian Feature Film - Occupy Love directed by Velcrow Ripper and produced by Ian Mackenzie and Nova Ami
       Best Canadian Feature Film Honourable Mention - Lost Rivers directed by Caroline Bacle and produced by Katarina Soukoup
       Best International Short Film - HOT & BOTHERED (UK) directed by Giannina Lasalvia
       Best International Feature Film - Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth directed by Frauke Sandig and Eric Black
       The Mark Haslam Award - Rainforest: The Limit of Splendourdirected by Richard Boyce
       The Mark Haslam Award Honourable Mention - Just Do It! directed by Emily James
       The Green Pitch Award - Honey For Sale directed by Amanda Strong
       The Green Screen Award sponsored by Astral's Harold Greenberg Fund - Warehouse 13, Honorable Mention, In Organic We Trust directed by Kiplin Pastor2011

### Award Winners

       Best Canadian Short Film - Nanameskueu (Tremblement de terre) directed by Réal Junior Leblanc
       Best Canadian Feature Film - Waking the Green Tiger directed by Gary Marcuse
       Best International Short Film - Carbon for Water directed by Evan Abramson and Carmen Elsa Lopez Abramson
       Best International Feature Film - There Once was an Island: Te Henua e Nnoho directed by Briar March
       The Mark Haslam Award - Keepers of the Water directed by Ayelen Liberona
       The Green Pitch Award - Carpe Diem directed by Charlotte Engel
       The Green Screen Award sponsored by Astral's Harold Greenberg Fund - Score: A Hockey Musical directed by Avi Federgreen, Honorable Mention, Powerful: Energy for Everyone directed by David Chernushenko
       Canadian Eco-Hero - Kevin McMahon
       International Eco-Hero - Ric O'Barry

### Toronto Premieres

       Urban Roots directed by Mark MacInnis
       On Coal River directed by Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood
       La Reine Malade (The Ailing Queen) directed by Pascal Sanchez
       Waseya Dizihin directed by Kevin Papatie
       White Water, Black Gold directed by David Lavallee
       The Clean Bin Project directed by Grant Baldwin
       L'Homme de glace (Ice Philosophy) directed by Melanie Carrier and Olivier Higgins
       There Once was an Island: Te Henua e Nnoho directed by Briar March
       Darwin directed by Nick Brandestini
       Solartaxi: Around the World With the Sun directed by Erik Schmitt
       Waking the Green Tiger directed by Gary Marcuse
       Spoil directed by Trip Jennings and Andy Maser

### Canadian Premieres

       Revenge of the Electric Car (Opening Night Gala Presentation) directed by Chris Paine
       The Whale (Closing Night Gala Presentation) directed by Suzanne Chisholm
       Future of Hope directed by Henry Bateman
       Happy People: A Year in the Taiga" directed by Werner Herzog
       Silent Snow: The Invisible Poisoning of the World directed by Jan van den Berg and Pipaluk Knudsen-Ostermann
       Der Tag des Spatzen (Day of the Sparrow) directed by Philip Scheffner
       Enjoy Your Meal!:How Food Changes the World directed by Walter Grotenhuis
       L'Or des autres (The Gold of Others) directed by Simon Plouffe
       Powerful: Energy for Everyone directed by David Chernushenko
       Leonids Geschichte (Leonids Story) directed by Rainer Ludwigs
       Second Nature: The Biomimicry Evolution directed by Guy Lieberman
       The Polar Explorer directed by Mark Terry
       Last Stand on the Island directed by Evan Abramson and Carmen Elsa Lopez Abramson
       To Reveal the Fourteen Windows directed by Christina Battle
       Cowboys in India directed by Simon Chambers
       Le White (White Houses) directed by Simona Risi

### North American Premieres

       Up in Smoke directed by Adam Wakeling

### World Premieres

       Portrait of Resistance: The Art & Activism of Carole Conde and Karl Beveridge directed by Roz Owen
       The Past as Future directed by Ton van Zantvoort
       From Chernobyl to Fukushima: A Campaigner's Journey directed by Aube Giroux
       Brick by Brick: The Story of the Evergreen Brickworks directed by Catherine Annau
       Niger River: A River Under Siege directed by Bernice Notenboom
       Carbon for Water directed by Evan Abramson and Carmen Elsa Lopez Abramson
       On the Line directed by Frank Wolf

## Toronto Premieres

       Blue Gold: World Water Wars directed by Sam Bozzo
       Peace with Seals directed by Miroslav Novak
       Boreal Forest Expedition directed by Nick and Lindsay Bradford-Ewart
       Northland: Long Journey directed by Edie Steiner
       Chasing Wild Horses directed by Matt Trecartin and John Wesley Chisholm
       Howser in Peril directed by Tom Prior
       Death in the Forest directed by Gordon McLennan
       Being Innu directed by Catherine Mullins
       Waste = Food directed by Rob Van Hattum
       Addicted to Plastic directed by Ian Connacher
       Umbrella (film) directed by Du Haibin
       Birth of the Smoked Meat directed by Jeanne Pope and Zoe Mapp
       Tableland directed by Craig Noble
       Papiroflexia directed by Jaoquin Baldwin
       The Poet of Grappa directed by Stefano Scarafia
       Flowers of Rwanda directed by David Muñoz
       Intestines of the Earth directed by Barbier Olivier
       Gimmie Green directed by Isaac Brown and Eric Flagg
       Mama Coco: The Sacred Leaf directed by Felix Atencio-Gonzales
       Rallco, a Bad Business directed by Nicholas Garcia and Xavier Vasqué
       Pick me Up directed by Andrea Bussman
       Gates of the Arctic directed by Rory Banyard

### Canadian Premieres

       Our Wonderful Nature directed by Tomer Eshed
       Michael Schmidt: Organic Hero or Bioterrorist directed by Norman Lofts
       Heron Pond: A Boardwalk View directed by Cade Bursell
       Eviction directed by Terra Schnoor
       Terra Sacer directed by Alberto Guevara, Elysee Nouvet
       A Massacre Foretold directed by Nick Higgins
       The Beggars in Addis Arabia directed by Jakob Gottschau
       Paradise- Three Journeys in this World directed by Elina Hirvonen
       The Sacred Food directed by Jack Pettibone Riccobono
       My Inventions directed by Robert Holbrook
       Global Food: Once Upon a French Fry directed by Pierre-Olivier François
       Land of Writers directed by Silvio Ciuccetti
       Slow Food directed by Vanja Ohna
       Greina directed by Villi Hermann
       On Relations directed by Jorge Acebo
       Roaming Around directed by Brigette Bertele
       Fighting Goliath- Texas Coal Wars directed by Mat Hames
       Charcoal Traffic directed by Nathan Collett
       Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives: The Environmental Impact of War directed by Alice and Lincoln Day
       Where Do They Go? directed by Julianne Becker
       The Right to Survive- Turtle Conservation and Fisheries Livelihoods directed by Rita Banerji, Shilpi Sharma
       The Squid Daddy’s Labour Room directed by Ke Chin Yuan
       Today the Hawk Takes One Chick directed by Jane Gillooly
       We Belong to this Country directed by Alison Leonard
       One of the Last directed by Paul Zinder
       Fate of the Lhapa directed by Sarah Sifers
       Sounds of the Seas directed by Volker Barth
       The Last Nomads directed by Andrew Gregg
       Eternal Mash directed by Catherine van Campen
       Journey of a Red Fridge directed by Lucian and Natasa Muntean
       Strange Homeland directed by Jens Schanze
       Boomrang directed by Daryoush Gharibzadeh
       One Water (documentary) directed by Ali Habashi and Sanjeev Chatterjee
       Justice Now directed by Martin O’Brien, Robbie Proctor
       Alethea directed by Petra Holzer, Ethem Ozguven
       Crossed Wires directed by Elida Schogt
       The Green Dragon directed by Caroline Harrison
       Digital Cemeteries directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos
       Crabs on the Road directed by Gabriela Dominguez
       Atlantis Approaching directed by Elizabeth Pollock
       This Much I Know directed by Bridget Hanna
       A Moment of Clarity directed by Sarah Cowhey, Louise Davidson
       If Man Could Fly directed by Yael Kipper Zaretzky
       Ma’rib directed by Rainer Komers
       Farms Without Farmers directed by Jessica Weisberg, Benjamin Thorp Brown
       The Hunger Season directed by Beadie Finzi
       Are There Still Any Shepherds directed by Jorge Pelicano

### North American Premieres

       Begging for Change directed by Dave Jones
       Alchemy directed by Eva Bakkeslett
       Showdown at the Top of the World directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos
       Welcome Aboard Toxic Airlines directed by Tristan Loraine
       49 Words for Snow directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos

### World Premieres

       Driven By Vision directed by Michael McNamara
       The Falldown directed by Ben Graeme
       Tales of a Yellow Bike directed by Tina Hahn
       Soldiers of Peace directed by Timothy Wise
       Breadmakers directed by Yasmin Fedda
       Return to Nepal directed by Robert Lang
       Thirst directed by Gail Maurice