BIFF Shorts: Climate Stories + Earth Works

An ode to sovereign seeds, restoration of vanishing habitats and practices, and biodiversity in its myriad, magnificent forms. Stories about TEK/SEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge + Scientific Ecological Knowledge); and how we value, measure, monitor and conserve ecosystems around the world; as well as what's at stake on a cultural and personal level.

Total runtime is 80 minutes.

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“Kanenon:we - Original Seeds”

Katsitsionni Fox (Dir), 27 minutes, Onondaga Nation / Oneida Nation / USA, Western New York Premiere

Director Katsitsionni Fox and Documentary Participant Angie Ferguson in attendance.

"Kanenon:we - Original Seeds" carries viewers into the grassroots Indigenous seed sovereignty movement led by Haudenosaunee women. Prior to European contact there was a rich and vibrant diversity of foods, with women primarily responsible for caretaking of the seeds. Genocidal practices including boarding schools, land theft, forced relocation, imposed religion and even food warfare contributed to a disconnection from traditional foods and seeds. Indigenous seed keepers are vigilantly protecting the biodiversity of seeds under threat of Agro-Chemical Giants that currently control over sixty percent of seeds worldwide. As these Haudenosaunee women step back into their sacred responsibility as seed keepers they offer a powerful view of what is possible in Indigenous communities working towards food sovereignty.

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“The Spectrum of Life”

Otto Whitehead + Jeremy Shelton (Dir), 36 minutes, South Africa, World Premiere

Co-Director Otto Whitehead and Documentary Participant Adam Wilson, PhD of SUNY Buffalo Dept. of Geography.

"The Spectrum of Life" documents NASA’s first airborne campaign dedicated to studying biodiversity from above in one of the most diverse parts of the planet, South Africa's Greater Cape Floristic Region. It features interviews with international scientists and engineers that explore how NASA’s latest remote sensing technology has the potential to revolutionize how we measure, monitor and conserve ecosystems around the world, as well as offering a new lens on the life that surrounds us.

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"ابراهيم / Beneath Which Rivers Flow"

Ali Yahya (Dir), 16 minutes, Iraq, East Coast Premiere

In Arabic w/ English subtitles.

In the marshlands of Southern Iraq, Ibrahim and his family live in solitude as strangers to the outside world, their lives tethered to the river, the reeds, and the buffalo they tend. Silent and withdrawn, Ibrahim finds comfort only in his buffalo, his sole companion. But as the rivers dry and the landscape withers, Ibrahim faces unrelenting forces threatening the only life he has ever known, and the only creature he has ever understood.

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