Block 7 - The Earth is Our Mother

About This Program

These three short documentaries illustrate the wild places, their gifts, and their mysteries. And sometimes we need to fight for them.

Hello, Banff

Director: Adam Gualtieri

Documentary Short, Canada, 2018, 4 min, Color

Living in a city stripped of all color, blighted by conformity, it can be easy to forfeit freedom. Sometimes you just need to step amidst the trees and breathe the fresh air.

Great Lakes Connection: The filmmaker was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Adam Gualtieri returns to the Soo Film Festival this year for the third time.  He has won two Audience Choice awards for his short documentaries: Best Documentary Short for A Place Like Home in 2015 and Runner-Up Student Documentary for Together is Home in 2016.

Project Website 

Intelligent Trees

Directors: Julia Dordel, Guido Tölke

Audience Choice Award - Best Documentary Feature

Audience Choice Award - Best Foreign Documentary Feature

Documentary Short, Germany, 2016, 45 min, Color

Trees talk, know family ties, and care for their young? Is this too fantastic to be true?

Great Lakes Connection: The filmmaker was urged to enter the film by a Newberry (Michigan) News columnist.

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Standing Rock Take Me from the River

Director: Denny Rauen

Audience Choice Award - Best Documentary Short

Documentary Short, United States, 2017, 29 min, Color

A Q&A session with the filmmakers follows the screening.

The Standing Rock Sioux struggle in North Dakota to protect their water and sacred sites based on the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 and 1868.

Great Lakes Connection: The film is about protecting our fresh water. The filmmaker is from Wisconsin.

Project Website