Agatha’s Almanac

Filomena

2021 · ★ 6

The Filomena snowstorm in central Spain was undoubtedly exceptional. Its return period in many places exceeded half a century, particularly in Madrid. Despite accurate weather forecasts, Filomena brought roads, public transport, health centers, and other basic services in Madrid to a standstill. What went wrong in the management of this weather event?

100 Years of Change: Down Memory Lane with Mabel Wallace

Mabel Wallace is a woman from Shinrone, Ireland. She has just turned 100. This is her story.

Hedging

1942 · ★ 6

Is your hedge thin and straggly? Don't worry, help is at hand.

The Extraordinary Adventures of a Quart of Milk

1951 · ★ 10

Documentary short subject preserved by the Academy Film Archive, from the Marshall Plan Collection, in 2003.

A Home on the Range: The Jewish Chicken Ranchers of Petaluma

2002 · ★ 8

"A Home On The Range" tells the little-known story of Jews who fled the pogroms and hardships of Eastern Europe and traveled to California to become chicken ranchers. Even in the sweatshops of New York they heard about Petaluma where the Jews were not the shopkeepers and the professionals, they were the farmers. Meet this fractious, idealistic, intrepid group of Eastern European Jews and their descendants as they confront obstacles of language and culture on their journey towards becoming Americans. Jack London, California vigilantes, McCarthyism, the Cold War and agribusiness all come to life in this quintessentially American story of how a group of immigrants found their new home, a home on the range.

West of England

1951

The people, the scenery and the industrial traditions of the Stroud valley and the growth of the woollen industry.

The Smog of the Sea

2017

The Smog of the Sea chronicles a 1-week journey through the remote waters of the Sargasso Sea. Marine scientist Marcus Eriksen invited onboard an unusual crew to help him study the sea: renowned surfers Keith & Dan Malloy, musician Jack Johnson, spearfisher woman Kimi Werner, and bodysurfer Mark Cunningham become citizen scientists on a mission to assess the fate of plastics in the world’s oceans. After years of hearing about the famous “garbage patches” in the ocean’s gyres, the crew is stunned to learn that the patches are a myth: the waters stretching to the horizon are clear blue, with no islands of trash in sight. But as the crew sieves the water and sorts through their haul, a more disturbing reality sets in: a fog of microplastics permeates the world’s oceans, trillions of nearly invisible plastic shards making their way up the marine food chain. You can clean up a garbage patch, but how do you stop a fog?

Children of Chernobyl

1991 · ★ 6.5

Mothers and doctors speak out about the grim reality of life in the five years following the Chernobyl disaster. In children, doctors witnessed a massive increase of recurrent infections, baldness, as well as leukaemia and other cancers.

An Inconvenient Truth

2006 · ★ 7

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

Burnt Country

2024

Could Australia's past help secure its future? 65,000 years in the making, Burnt Country is about fighting fire, with fire. Exploring the profound knowledge and wisdom of First Nations, this film is an invitation to connect to country and community.

Taking Stock

1994

The cod fishery off the east coast of Newfoundland was a way of life, the backbone of society -- until it collapsed. A review of the history leading up to the crisis and the subsequent call for a moratorium of the northwest Atlantic cod fishery.

Koyaanisqatsi

1983 · ★ 7.9

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.