Films depict climate change’s global impact

A still from the documentary “The Taste of Honey.” The five-minute Bangladeshi film is about a “tiger widow” who faces ruin and rising seas when she is shunned by her family after her husband’s death.

The Jamestown Arts Center will commemorate Earth Day with a series of 12 short films about the effects of climate change on the environment and society.

The nonprofit organization at 18 Valley St. will host the Climate Future Film Festival at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 22. Admission is $10 through jamestownartcenter.com.

The shorts range from a three-minute Swiss animation (“Ex-Tract,” which poses the question, “Will things we discard cause future anthropologists to call us chicken-loving amnesiacs?”) to a 19-minute French drama “Mercure” that calls itself “a domestic look” at rising seas when everything seems fine. The story follows a wealthy family whose waterfront home is flooded during a storm.

“From George Orwell to Gen Z, this year’s program brings together a global selection of films that explore the artistic and human dimensions of climate change, moving across documentary, animation and experimental forms to trace stories of resilience, loss and resistance,” organizers say.

The festival was created by Jamestown resident Jim Stahl. The festival’s first “chapter” premiered in Jamestown in October 2023 and has since been screened internationally, from India to New Zealand. He called it “appropriate” for his hometown to also host the second chapter.

“What’s so cool to me is that it all starts right here in the village,” he said.

Stahl’s background is in educational publishing, not film, but he was inspired to establish the festival through the work of his wife, Mary Jane, who works in climate policy. That led to the creation of Merlyn Climate Grants, which supports people ages 13-30 who take “the lead in bringing the public’s attention to the climate challenge.”

“I just felt I wanted to make a contribution myself in a way that felt comfortable for me,” Stahl said.

Stahl said every short touches upon the aspects and effects of climate change. The films, however, are not like the investigative documentaries that would appear on programs like PBS’ “Frontline.”

“These aren’t solution films,” Stahl said. “The emphasis of the festival is the emotional, the visceral, the artistic, the more creative responses to what’s possibly coming down the pike. These are filmmakers who are looking at the challenge of climate from a more interior perspective.”

One of the films, for instance, is “Beyond the Soil,” a five-minute documentary by Jamie Jacobsen and Eric Forbes about the issues farmers and ranchers in the West faced due to water shortages and extreme weather.

“Some Thoughts About the Common Toad,” which Stahl called “outstanding,” is a nature film in which British actress Tilda Swinton narrates an essay by Orwell. In “Gen Z Mental Health: Climate Stories,” documentarian Tehya Jannett interviews four teenagers about how adults are handling the climate crisis.

Stahl said the festival features a “full and complex range of responses” to climate change through different genres, tones and subjects.

“It speaks to the purpose of the festival that these aren’t your traditional documentary-solution films,” Stahl said. “They’re really meant to give expression to the range and complexity of feelings people have about what we might be in for. That lends itself sometimes to animation or dark humor and drama.”

The films were chosen through the website FilmFreeway, where filmmakers can submit their screenplays to festivals around the world. Stahl’s organization posted a solicitation on the site seeking shorts about climate change and received about 250 submissions from 30 countries. The submissions were then viewed by the festival’s volunteer jury, which pared it down to the 12 finalists.

In addition to the jury, the festival was assisted by Oscar-nominated actor Edward Norton, who is an environmental activist. Stahl sent letters to celebrities who he knew were interested in climate change, and Norton was the first to respond. The “Primal Fear” actor viewed the 12 films and selected winners for best performance, best actor, best cinematography and best direction. Norton’s selections will be announced at the screening, although he is not expected to attend.

Writer and environmentalist Bill McKibben also is an honorary judge for the event. In between the films are interludes that were made by Rhode Island filmmaker Ryan Vemmer, which provide “comic relief.”

Jocelyn Schaffer, who heads the arts center’s film committee, said Stahl and his team “did a great job” selecting the films. She pointed to the diverse representation.

“They’ve got a nice array of cultures,” Schaffer said. “Climate change is a worldwide problem, and I love that they’ve shown that it’s affecting people around the world.”

Stahl said he hopes the program will convince viewers to start helping to protect the Earth. As for the people already on the frontlines, he added, Stahl hopes the films inspire them to increase their activity.

“No matter what your current relationship is to this challenge of climate change, I’m hoping the screening will give you the reasons you need to double, whether it’s time or money or involvement,” he said.