PLANET GREEN ADDS FIVE NEW TITLES TO DOCUMENTARY BLOCK
Reel Impact airs Saturdays 8 pm to 10 pm ET starting Sept 12th
July 30, 2009
Silver Spring, Md. - Planet Green announced today the addition of five exceptional titles to Reel Impact, its new weekly documentary strand set to launch in September. This powerful and eclectic two-hour block debuts with the world television premieres of The Last Beekeeper and A Sea Change. The strand will also present highly acclaimed classic films like Leonardo DiCaprio's The 11th Hour, An Inconvenient Truth and Who Killed the Electric Car? and high-profile films like No Impact Man, which will air on Planet Green in 2010. Each film's story and characters illustrate the tremendous impact humans have on the environment and how we interact with the planet.
Planet Green will continue to acquire films to present in the block, with a total of 20-26 films signed by 2010. Simulcast in HD, Planet Green's Reel Impact now includes the following new documentary features:
BIG RIVER MAN Directed by John Maringouin (U.S. Premiere)
In February 2007, a larger than life horse-burger loving Slovenian in his fifties named Martin Strel attempted to become the first person to swim the entire length of the world's most dangerous river, the Amazon. A four-time world record holding endurance swimmer, Strel, who has previously swam the Mississippi, Danube, Paraná and Yangtze rivers, puts his life in jeopardy to highlight the impact of pollution on these important waterways. "The Fish Man," as he is called by local tribes, has braved blisters, sunburn, exotic stomach illnesses, piranhas, anacondas, crocodiles, and a parasitic fish in his tireless quest. Big River Man follows the eccentric and celebrated Strel as he navigates 3,375 miles of river over 66 days to prove, once and for all, that one man can make a difference.
H2OIL Directed by Shannon Walsh (U.S. Premiere)
Ever wonder where the United States gets most of its oil? If you thought it was Saudi Arabia or Iraq you are wrong. America's biggest oil supplier has quickly become Canada's oil sands. Located under Alberta's pristine boreal forests, the process of oil sands extraction uses up to 4 barrels of fresh water to produce only one barrel of crude oil. But water - its depletion, exploitation, privatization and contamination - is one of the most important issues facing humanity in this century. As the war for oil is well underway across the globe, a struggle is increasingly being fought between water and oil, and as Alberta rushes towards large-scale extraction, the social, ecological and human impacts are hitting a crisis point with the province at the center of the tension. H2Oil follows a voyage of discovery, heartbreak and politicization in the stories of those attempting to defend water in Alberta against tar sands expansion. Unlikely alliances are built and lives are changed as they come up against the largest industrial project in human history. Ultimately we ask, what is more important, oil or water?
INHERITANCE: A FISHERMAN'S STORY Directed by Peter Hegedus (Network Premiere)
When a dam burst at a Romanian goldmine in early 2000, more than 100,000 tons of cyanide was released into the Tisza River, devastating its ecology as well as the livelihoods of fisherman in neighboring Hungary and creating Central Europe's worst ecological disaster since Chernobyl. Inheritance: A Fisherman's Story follows fisherman Balazs Meszaros as he struggles with the effects of the disaster on his own community and attempts to confront the corporate forces behind the mining operation in an effort to prevent a similar disaster from happening in the future. Filmmaker Peter Hegedus captures this quiet fisherman's profound transformation into a man who stands alone against huge multinational corporations to expose the environmental and human consequences of unregulated globalization.
RECIPES FOR DISASTER Directed by John Webster (U.S. Premiere)
Filmmaker John Webster is concerned about the world's addiction to oil and its disastrous environmental consequences, so he convinces his family to go on an "oil diet" for one year to reduce their carbon footprint. Recipes for Disaster chronicles Webster's efforts along with reluctant participants -- his wife and two young sons -- revealing the personal difficulties involved in making such a radical lifestyle change and the surprising extent to which petroleum-based products figure into our everyday lives. The family is confronted with the magnitude of their oil addiction and faces acute withdrawal symptoms, but hopes that by using reason, logic and sound judgment they can overcome their dependence and convince others to find "green" alternatives.
SPLIT ESTATE Directed by Debra Anderson (U.S. Premiere)
Imagine discovering that you don't own the mineral rights under your house and that an energy company plans to drill for natural gas only 200 feet from your front door. Many citizens in the Rocky Mountains face the reality of having no recourse against energy companies and must accept an unregulated industry in their backyard while watching their civil liberties, communities and health erode. Exempt from federal protections, the oil and gas industry leaves this idyllic landscape and its rural communities scarred with abandoned homes and polluted waters as they seek new drilling sites in as many as 32 additional states. Producer/director Debra Anderson cracks the sugarcoating on an industry touted as a clean alternative to fossil fuels and poignantly drives home the need for real choices.
Today's announcement follows the June 17, 2009 announcement of Planet Green's Reel Impact. The initial acquisitions for the documentary strand included The Last Beekeeper, No Impact Man, A Sea Change, Black Wave, Grizzly Man, The 11th Hour, Who Killed the Electric Car? and An Inconvenient Truth.
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Planet Green is the multi-platform media destination devoted to the environment. Launched on June 4, 2008, this brand with a mission is available in 57 million homes. Planet Green is the center for a new conversation, speaking to people who want to understand how humans impact the planet and how to live a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle. It's for people who truly want to make a difference in meeting the critical challenge of protecting our environment.
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