Des Rives

The Man Who Wanted to Change the World

2016

Peter Westerveld, artist and visionary, doesn’t want institutions to resolve the problems linked to earth’s problems. Growing up in Africa, he witnessed the advance of the desert and dedicated himself to finding solutions for the ongoing erosion and desertification of the land. The film follows Peter and the NGO working with him to realise his project; to build contour trenches that capture and store rain water under the surface and replenish the desert land.

Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet

2021 · ★ 7.5

David Attenborough and scientist Johan Rockström examine Earth's biodiversity collapse and how this crisis can still be averted.

The Wild Forest

2021 · ★ 7.3

“Let nature be nature” is the philosophy of the Bavarian Forest National Park. Despite massive resistance, this vision has become a groundbreaking showcase project. Because humans do not interfere with nature, the former commercial forests grow into a primeval forest, a unique ecosystem and a refuge for biodiversity. People from all over the world come here. They are looking for answers to the question of why we need more wild nature and what we can learn from it to preserve forests for future generations in times of climate change.

Killer Snakes

2021

Packed with a potent neurotoxic venom, one family of snakes kill more people than any other on earth. Scientists around the world race to uncover how.

The Living Room of the Nation

2009 · ★ 6.8

The Living Room of the Nation is a documentary film that portrays a number of Finnish living rooms. The film is a story of changes, the inevitable passing of time, and the human desire to be needed, visible.

Land Underwater

2019

Almost two decades ago, the Itoiz dam flooded seven villages and three natural reserves on the Pyrenean hillside in Navarra. The ecologist group Solidari@s con Itoiz registered the fight against its construction. Today, those who were there dream of the land lying beneath the water on video. Their voices and gestures come together to tell the tale of an individual and collective mourning still suffered today.

Sicko

2007 · ★ 7.4

A documentary about the corrupt health care system in The United States whose main goal is to make profit even if it means losing people’s lives. "The more people you deny health insurance, the more money we make" is the business model for health care providers in America.

Gorillas: From the Heart of Darkness

Rwanda was once a country of peace, beauty and fabulous wildlife. Romain Baertsoen arrived there in 1966 and started to film two of Rwanda's secrets, the Bahima tribe and rare mountain gorillas. The Rwandan Civil War shattered the peace in 1994, as warring factions pillaged towns and plundered the forests. Remarkably, the gorillas survived, but the world around them is increasingly uncertain.

Witness: Joplin Tornado

2012 · ★ 10

Weaving together dozens of professional and amateur archival sources, along with dramatic interviews with the people behind the cameras, Witness: Joplin Tornado reconstructs the deadliest tornado in modern times, through the eyes of those who lived through it. A group of strangers huddle together in a convenience store cooler, shrieking in terror as the tornado tears apart everything around them. A husband-and-wife stormchasing team find themselves caught in the teeth of the storm, then pressed into service when it finally passes. A young mother sobs as she surveys her daughter’s destroyed bedroom. Yet all the while they film, using their cameras to record both the harrowing experience of the storm itself and the shock of what confronted them after — homes destroyed, neighborhoods flattened, a city devastated. Witness: Joplin Tornado tells the story of that day and its aftermath entirely through the videos and voices of the survivors.

Emerald Islands Of Malaysia

2017

No synopsis available.

Shark Land: Welcome to Cocos Island

2015

“Entourage” star Adrian Grenier ventures to Cocos Island off the shore of Costa Rica to bring attention to the plight of endangered sharks who are being threatened by poachers and ocean pollution.

Alien Reefs

2012 · ★ 10

Coral reefs are believed by many to have the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem on the planet. A lot of the life found here can seem very alien at first, they occupy less than 1 percent of the ocean floor but yet are home to more than 25 percent of all marine life. Warm water reefs typically come to mind when thinking of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, these reefs are very well known but they don’t just occur in warm waters. In this one hour special, we are brought into this alien environment and discover for ourselves a strange, hidden world that is simply abundant with life, ranging from the weird to the wonderful.