If the name of your movie showcase is literally the Transitions Film Festival, then chances are you’re going to be able to roll with the punches when the world undergoes an unexpected rollercoaster, as with last year. That’s why this showcase of documentaries that grapple with the biggest issues of our times, offering the brightest solutions, decided to jump online for 2021. Sure, Australian cinemas are open once more, but they still have to contend with limited capacities and, truth be told, pivoting to digital means the festival can reach an even bigger audience well beyond our capital city limits.
This year’s brilliant program, subtitled ‘Visions for a Better World’, is all about winning hearts and minds in a cultural landscape where hope is in high demand. Debuting online on February 26 and running through to March 15, Sydneysiders will be able to access the full line-up here. It's packed full of must-stream films that will have you strapped to your sofa for days.
While Hollywood star Mark Ruffalo might spend a lot of time saving the world in mean, green Hulk mode in the Avengers movies, he’s also an impassioned campaigner in the real world. He's worked on big topic movies like Spotlight and Dark Waters and he also produced and narrates Transitions highlight Invisible Hand. It follows the legal drama when a natural ecosystem (represented by a concerned community) asserted its right to exist in court, sparking a backlash by governments and big corps.
If architecture porn is more your thing, then we reckon you’ll love Danish doco Making a Mountain. It follows internationally renowned architect Bjarke Ingels as he sets out to create Copenhill, the world’s greenest waste disposal factory, and make it beautiful too. Towering over Copenhagen, the game-changer is crowned with an artificial ski slope and produces clean energy for 120,000 homes.
We love a feel-good animal story, and let’s just say that The Walrus and The Whistleblower, detailing the crusade of a former Niagara falls marine park worker determined to free his mammal mate, is tusk what the doctor ordered and will leave you a blubbering mess.
Green-fingered German Peter Wohlleben takes his best-selling book The Hidden Life of Trees to the big screen with this timely reminder of how much we rely on the big ol’ leafy ones so we can keep on breathing. Most of the features are bundled with an accompanying short doco too, with The Hidden Life of Trees paired with Australian film Beyond the Burning. It looks at the aftermath of last summer’s bushfires and the ancient wisdom handed down by the Traditional Owners of the land on which we live. You can top up on Aussie content with Youth On Strike!, a great doco about a group of students who joined thousands protesting out government’s inaction on the climate crisis by ditching school in March 2019.
Online tickets start at only $9, so you’ll be able to go large on inspiration this year thanks to the 2021 Transitions Film Festival.