Films

NOT ON THIS LAND

Not On This Land tells the story of a diverse coalition of citizen activists, environmental organizers, lawyers, and others who fought for six long years to stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline from crossing some of the most beautiful and historic lands in the country, including Native American land and a predominately Black community founded after Emancipation.

The film premiered in 2023 at the historic Paramount Theater in Charlottesville, Virginia. Most of the film’s leading characters were there, and they saw themselves on the theater’s enormous screen: The North Carolina farmer, the Lumbee elder, the lawyer challenging every permit, the descendant of formerly enslaved people defending his land. These are the heroes we need to see on big screens everywhere.

The film is being screened at conferences, film festivals, and other venues across the country. It was directed and edited by Christopher Landry, with cinematography by Jafar Fallahi and Benjamin Landry. Funding was provided by Mertz Gilmore Foundation. Learn more here.

I WILL RISE UP

I Will Rise Up tells the story of Q’eqchi’ Maya girls and young women living in the cloud forest of Guatemala. There they face extreme poverty, chronic malnutrition, high rates of maternal and infant mortality, deforestation, and ecosystem degradation. But many are becoming empowered by connecting to traditional agroecology, heirloom crops, and a renewed sense of who they are and might be. The film was directed and edited by Christopher Landry with cinematography by Stephen Milligan.

In Joanna Macy and the Great Turning, the Buddhist systems thinker shares her perspective on these times when we must confront the potential loss of everything we love. Joanna’s wisdom, heart, and compassion shine through and inspire all who are awake to the opportunities we have to build new ways of being on earth. The film was directed and edited by Christopher Landry with cinematography by Colby Gottert. Paul Hawken calls the film, “Arguably the greatest interview of our time with one of the wisest women of our time." Learn more here.