Translate page with Google

Pulitzer Center Update March 25, 2016

Three Documentaries Screened at 2016 DC Environmental Film Festival

Authors:
Media file: pumpeddry2-california.jpg
English

In places around the world, supplies of groundwater are rapidly vanishing. As aquifers decline and...

author #1 image author #2 image
Multiple Authors
Media file: sm-eff-2016-front.jpg
On the island of Sulawesi outside the city of Bombala, a 3-year-old girl bathes in runoff from a nearby gold mining operation. Small scale gold mining is common in this part of Sulawesi and constant exposure to mercury vapors during gold production has tainted groundwater and food sources consumed by the local population. Original image by Larry C. Price. Indonesia, 2015. Edited by Jin Ding. March, 2016.

The 2016 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital featured Pulitzer Center-supported journalists who report on critical global environmental issues using visual storytelling.

"Global Environmental Storytelling," an evening program in collaboration with the festival featured three short documentaries by filmmakers and journalists Steve Elfers, Ian James, Sharron Lovell and Larry C. Price. The documentaries examine vanishing groundwater around the globe, mercury pollution as an environmental concern as well as public health issue, and the impact of water transfer projects. Screenings were followed by a discussion with our grantees, moderated by Jon Sawyer, founder and executive director of the Pulitzer Center.

If you missed the event on Thursday, March 24, 2016, you can view the short documentaries below.

Documentary titles and synopses:
"Pumped Dry: The Global Crisis of Vanishing Groundwater"
Across the globe, supplies of groundwater are rapidly vanishing. As aquifers decline and wells go dry, people are being forced to confront a growing crisis. A film by Ian James and Steve Elfers, for USA Today/The Desert Sun. RT: 20 minutes



"Gold's Lethal Toll in Indonesia"
Small-scale gold mining, widespread throughout the developing world, is one of the biggest sources of mercury pollution. A film by photojournalist Larry C. Price and producer P.J. Tobia for PBS NewsHour, part of an Emmy-award winning series on gold mining. RT: 7 minutes.


"Drinking the Northwest Wind: China's South-North Water Transfer Project"
Like so many of Mao's pronouncements, it sounded simple: "The South has a lot of water; the North lacks water. So if it can be done, borrowing a little water and bringing it up might do the trick." What China's huge water-transfer project means for those at both ends of the pipeline. A film by Sharron Lovell and Tom Wang for Foreign Policy/China File. RT: 11 minutes

SECTIONS
Media file: r_20140920_snwtp_djk_trip2143.jpg
English

What happens at the source of the worlds biggest water transfer project?

Media file: PricePhilippinesChildLaborProjectTeaser.jpg
English

Tiny children and teens toil in the gold mines of the Philippines and Indonesia. A risky, often...

RELATED TOPICS

yellow halftone illustration of an elephant

Topic

Environment and Climate Change

Environment and Climate Change
Trade

Topic

Trade

Trade
navy halftone illustration of a female doctor with her arms crossed

Topic

Health Inequities

Health Inequities
navy halftone illustration of a boy carrying two heavy buckets

Topic

Water and Sanitation

Water and Sanitation