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PIFF 42 Official Selection

Anthropocene: The Human Epoch

Directed by Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, Edward Burtynsky

Canada • 2018 • 87 mins. • In English, Russian, Italian, German, Mandarin, Cantonese with subtitles

Showtimes & Past Screenings

Previously collaborating on 2006’s Manufactured Landscapes— itself a monumental film about human impact—Baichwal, Burtynsky, and de Pencier now turn their focus to the buzzword of the moment: the anthropocene, or the age of human domination over the ecology, climate, and environment of the earth. Featuring voiceover by actress Alicia Vikander, this stunningly-shot wake-up-call details several global ecological catastrophes including rampant large-scale strip mining, luxury marble excavation, and endless trash dumps in order to sketch a picture of the destruction humanity has wrought on our planet. Though this sounds like a pure doom-and-gloom diagnosis, this devastatingly beautiful film offers us a chance to open our eyes and see things for exactly as they are—views which often go uncaptured, unreported, and unremarked upon.

Filmography: Manufactured Landscapes (2006)

Sponsored by Consulate General of Canada, Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, and Ketel One Vodka

Appears in: 42nd Portland International Film Festival, PIFF 42: Documentary Views

The Northwest Film Center recognizes and honors the Indigenous peoples of this region on whose ancestral lands the museum now stands. These include the Willamette Tumwater, Clackamas, Kathlemet, Molalla, Multnomah and Watlala Chinook Peoples and the Tualatin Kalapuya who today are part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and many other Native communities who made their homes along the Columbia River. We also want to recognize that Portland today is a community of many diverse Native peoples who continue to live and work here. We respectfully acknowledge and honor all Indigenous communities—past, present, future—and are grateful for their ongoing and vibrant presence.