Generation Restoration Film Festival

We invite you to join us at the Generation Restoration Film Festival, which will air a series of short and feature films focused on the global land restoration movement. The Festival is brought to you by the Global Landscape Forum (GLF) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).  This international film festival will take citizens to the frontiers of ecosystem degradation and restoration. Screened during the civil society week of #COP26 , it will facilitate exchange between creatives, community leaders, policymakers and the global civil society.

Highlights include:

• A special preview and panel discussion on 10th November around “From Devil’s Breath” – an upcoming new documentary on the devastation of forest fires and the promise of restoration, produced by Leonardo di Caprio and directed by Oscar-winner Orlando von Einsiedel
  • Ask your questions and join the interactive discussion panel following the screening – featuring film director Orlando von Einsiedel, National Geographic’s Malaika Vaz, UN Decade Advisory Board Co-Chair and Restor Visionary Tom Crowther, together with restoration practitioners and forest fire witnesses Monalisa from Indonesia and Sofia Carmo from Portugal
• A special screening and panel discussion hosted by our UN Decade Partners from Kiss the Ground on 10th November
  • Engage live with a dynamic panel following the screening, including UNEP Goodwill Ambassador and Kiss the Ground Executive Producer Gisele Bündchen, farmers & restoration experts Gabe Brown from the USA and Precious Phiri from Zimbabwe, alternative Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Vandana Shiva, ecologist, filmmaker and UN Decade Advisory Board Member John D. Liu and Kiss the Ground Co-Founder and UN Decade Partner Finian Makepeace
• A unique closing panel on 10th November bringing together filmmakers, artists, athelets and adventurers around the key question: Can film move us into climate action?
  • The panel will be moderated by our UNDP-lead for the UN Decade, Musonda X Mumba from the UNDP Rome Center for Sustainability, UN Champion of the Earth and TNC Chief Scientist Katharine Hayhoe, dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Corey Baker, paraglider and filmmaker Craig Leeson, director Pamela Tanner Boll and Oscar-winning director Volker Schlondorff.

• Throughout the festival, you have the opportunity to watch outstanding films portraying the need for #GenerationRestorarion for free and online – the lineup includes:
  • A new short film documenting UNEP Patron of the Oceans Lewis Pugh as he goes to extremes in to draw attention to the devastating decline of the Antarctic ice sheet – wearing nothing but a cap, goggles and speedos.
  • The Grand African Greenup – first screened on National Geographic Africa and now available to all, online. The film  tells the story of people across Africa who are restoring their landscapes, from the dry forests of Senegal to the green hills of Kenya, as part of Africa’s most ambitious environmental initiative.
  • To which we belong highlights the lives and struggles of farmers and ranchers, from Chihuahua, Mexico to Connecticut, USA, leaving behind conventional practices that are no longer profitable or sustainable.
  • In The Forest Maker, Oscar-winner Volker Schlondorff acccompanies several outstanding personalities and farmers who are trying to save their environment and thus the climate with innovative methods. The film puts a spotlight on Farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR).
  • Filmed on location at Millennium Wind Farm in the Scottish highlands, Leaders of a New Regime champions moves to renewable energy, with a soundtrack by Lorde. It’s a meeting of awe-inspiring movement, music, landscapes and engineering.
  • Godney Marshes highlights successes and aspects of rewiliding in this COP’s host country, the United Kingdom.