Oscar Arias: Without a Shot Fired

This is the story of a tiny country that made a decision to do something that no other country had ever done -- it decided to abolish its army and declare peace to the world. And this is the story of a young boy who grew up in that country, and how he ended up challenging -- and sometimes even convincing -- the greatest powers in the world to follow Costa Rica's example. "Oscar Arias: Without a Shot Fired" is a Don Quixote-like saga with great historical touchstones -- Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, Cold War politics and Communism, Central American War and Peace. It follows a slight, academic, and most unlikely hero over the course of more than fifty years, as he travels the world in a quest to stop the spread of the weapons of war. In the end, it is a story about the triumph of reason, of the sparrow triumphing over the eagle, and how the impossible dream can sometimes come true.

biopixels

Shot at two cutting-edge research labs which specialize in the evolution of butterflies and moths, BIopixels is an animated short film exploring the world of evolutionary biology on the microscopic scale. The images - rendered from collections containing over 50,000 specimens - were take by microscopists over three years to create the animated shorts Nanoscapes and Biopixels. Both the animation and the score play with concepts of pattern, time, density and other means of development common to biological evolution.

Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet

David Attenborough and scientist Johan Rockström examine Earth's biodiversity collapse and how this crisis can still be averted.

Chavela

Inspired by an exclusive interview and performance footage of Chavela Vargas shot in 1991 and guided by her unique voice, the film weaves an arresting portrait of a woman who dared to dress, speak, sing, and dream her unique life into being.

Vivant

From infinitely small to super-predator, from the earthworm to the whale, from the blade of grass to the giant tree, Vibrant takes you on a journey to discover the biodiversity one country can host. Through the breathtaking natural environments of France, it is an exploration of the pyramid of life. It is also, and above all, an opportunity to marvel at these species capable of a thousand feats, subtly connected to each other and of which the human being is an integral part. A link that we have too often forgotten and that it is time to reweave.

Calling on Costa Rica

This travelogue of Costa Rica, the second smallest of the American republics, starts at San Jose Airport. Transportation is key within the country, boasting among the best roads in the world. San Jose itself is the capital, a small city of about 70,000, with many recreational areas in its suburbs. Heading out of the city, we come to an orchid farm, there being said to be more varieties of the plant in Costa Rica than anywhere else in the world. Next, we move to the volcanic mountains, the range within Costa Rica which contains the largest crater in the world. We then move to the farmland, with coffee and bananas being the primary agricultural export crops.

The Hummingbird Effect

Costa Rica's motto is Pura Vida - Pure Life - and this deceptively small country is bursting with some of the most spectacular wildlife and pristine ecosystems in the world. All this diversity thrives, in part, thanks to one surprising little creature: hummingbirds. Venture across Costa Rica's wild and rugged landscapes, from volcanic peaks to coastal jungle to misty cloud forests and discover the nation's dazzling diversity of hummingbirds. Watch how these tiny birds play an outsize role in maintaining some of the richest and wildest environments on Earth, where a whole community of creatures, such as macaws and monkeys, enjoys The Hummingbird Effect.

It's a Jungle Out There... An Independent Film in Costa Rica

An Independent Film in Costa Rica

Extinction: The Facts

With a million species at risk of extinction, Sir David Attenborough explores how this crisis of biodiversity has consequences for us all, threatening food and water security, undermining our ability to control our climate and even putting us at greater risk of pandemic diseases.

El Silencio del Impenetrable

River of Gold

Narrated by Academy Award winners Sissy Spacek and Herbie Hancock, River of Gold is the disturbing account of a clandestine journey into Peru's Amazon rainforest to uncover the savage unraveling of pristine jungle. What will be the fate of this critical region of priceless biodiversity as these extraordinarily beautiful forests are turned into a hellish wasteland?

A Small Section of the World

An inspirational story about a group of women from a remote farming region of Costa Rica whose ideas sparked a revolution in the coffee growing world.

1948

Behind The Garden Gate

'Behind The Garden Gate' is a documentary film about homegrown biodiversity and the challenges that come with it. In the 1970s Guus Lieberwerth and friends cleared a patch of agricultural wasteland in order to take care of rare and endangered plants and animals. ​Now, 50 years later nature is thriving within a hidden paradise just five minutes away from a city centre, but even closer to systemic pressures and land developers.

Memorias Encuadradas

One hundred years of the cinematic memory of a small country told through motion graphics. A brief tour of previously unseen images and forgotten fragments of Costa Rican cinema, which, amid state efforts and industrial ambitions, prevailed throughout the 20th century.

Costa Rica 1975

Sur le Front des Océans

La clara y oscura

Salango is a small parish south of Manabí. What this land means to Ecuador, however, is huge. Its name is associated with the pre-Columbian legacy of the Manta Wancavilca cultures, the humpback whales that arrive each year to mate, the homonymous island and its coral reefs, the great wealth of marine fauna. It is there, in one of the places with the greatest archeological and environmental heritage of our country, where the Polar fishmeal processor has been operating for 35 years. What does not emerge from the idyllic postcards of the area is the foul smell that pollutes the air, the portrait of people sick from the factory's toxic wastes, the disgusting black smoke that flows into the sea directly from the processor pipeline. That is why it is the struggle of the few members of the community who have not given up and demand that Polar leave.

Costa Rica Banana Republic

This film was originally made for the International Conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT) which was held in Vancouver, Canada. Taking as an example the production and marketing of bananas and the prevailing conditions in the world market - dominated by the virtual monopoly of three multinational companies -, it is shown how as a result of this monopolistic domination, the Costa Rican State has stopped receiving equitable taxes for what that, in the end, the housing and public services offered by the country are characterized as those of an underdeveloped society. The attempt made since 1974 by a group of banana-producing countries, aimed at improving sales prices to multinationals and raising taxes; The resulting “banana war” are examples of the enormous efforts that small banana countries have to make to achieve greater justice in the prevailing market conditions.

From the Interior, Colonized

Vandana Shiva discusses biodiversity at the World Women’s Congress for a Healthy Planet in Miami, Nov. 1991 in advance of the Earth Summit. In a follow up workshop women devise policy. Wangari Maathai reads the final platform. At a concluding press conference, Peggy Antrobus underscores that the real issues were discussed by women in Miami, and will not be put forth in Rio.