Planet in Focus
Canadian film festival
title: "Planet in Focus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1999-establishments-in-ontario", "environmental-film-festivals", "film-festivals-in-toronto"] description: "Canadian film festival" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_in_Focus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Canadian film festival ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox Film Festival"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Planet in Focus |
| image | Planet in Focus logo.png |
| caption | Planet in Focus Festival Logo |
| location | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| founded | 1999 by Mark Haslam |
| awardsreceived | 2007 Green Toronto Awards: Leadership, 2008 Green Toronto Awards: Environmental Awareness |
| awards | Eco Hero Awards, |
| Mark Haslam Award, | |
| Best Green Pitch, | |
| Best Canadian Short, | |
| Best International Short, | |
| Best Canadian Long, | |
| Best International Long. | |
| host | Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival |
| number | 100+ |
| language | International |
| website | http://www.planetinfocus.org/ |
| :: |
| name = Planet in Focus | image = Planet in Focus logo.png | caption = Planet in Focus Festival Logo | opening = | closing = | location = Toronto, Ontario, Canada | founded = 1999 by Mark Haslam | awardsreceived = 2007 Green Toronto Awards: Leadership, 2008 Green Toronto Awards: Environmental Awareness | awards = Eco Hero Awards, Mark Haslam Award, Best Green Pitch, Best Canadian Short, Best International Short, Best Canadian Long, Best International Long. | host = Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival | number = 100+ | date = | language = International | website = http://www.planetinfocus.org/
Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival (PIF) is an incorporated not-for-profit film festival and registered charitable organization, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
History
Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival (PIF) is an incorporated not-for-profit film festival and registered charitable organization, founded in 1999, by Mark Haslam.
PIF is currently run by a volunteer board of directors and a small staff, including executive director, Katherine Bruce, programs director, Alessandra Cannito, programmers Julian Carrington and Lesley Johnson, and Pre-Screeners, Ron Ma, Hui "Jane" Wang, Gesila Azorbo, Michael John Long, and Gabriela Aguilar.
Planet in Focus operates year-round to produce the annual film festival in October, as well as year-round programs such as the Cross Canada Campus Tour, Green School Tours and Eco-Film Lab filmmaking workshop for elementary students.
PIF grants yearly Eco-Hero Awards, and patrons include David Suzuki, Vandana Shiva, Rob Stewart, Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Autumn Peltier, Ron Finley, Col. Chris Hadfield, Jennifer Baichwal, Margaret Atwood, Edward Burtynsky, and James Balog, among others.
Award winners
::Best Canadian Short Film - The Pipe Dreams Project, directed by Faros Des Roches and Ryan Vandecasteyen ::Best Canadian Short Film Honourable Mention - Spoke, directed by Lulu Wei ::Best Canadian Feature Film - Occupy Love, directed by Velcrow Ripper and produced by Ian Mackenzie and Nova Ami ::Best Canadian Feature Film Honourable Mention - Lost Rivers, directed by Caroline Bacle and produced by Katarina Soukoup ::Best International Short Film - HOT & BOTHERED (UK), directed by Giannina Lasalvia ::Best International Feature Film - Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth, directed by Frauke Sandig and Eric Black ::The Mark Haslam Award - Rainforest: The Limit of Splendour, directed by Richard Boyce ::The Mark Haslam Award Honourable Mention - Just Do It!, directed by Emily James ::The Green Pitch Award - Honey For Sale, directed by Amanda Strong ::The Green Screen Award, sponsored by Astral's Harold Greenberg Fund - Warehouse 13, Honorable Mention, In Organic We Trust, directed by Kiplin Pastor2011
Award winners
::Best Canadian Short Film - Nanameskueu (Tremblement de terre), directed by Réal Junior Leblanc ::Best Canadian Feature Film - Waking the Green Tiger, directed by Gary Marcuse ::Best International Short Film - Carbon for Water, directed by Evan Abramson and Carmen Elsa Lopez Abramson ::Best International Feature Film - There Once was an Island: Te Henua e Nnoho, directed by Briar March ::The Mark Haslam Award - Keepers of the Water, directed by Ayelen Liberona ::The Green Pitch Award - Carpe Diem, directed by Charlotte Engel ::The Green Screen Award, sponsored by Astral's Harold Greenberg Fund - Score: A Hockey Musical directed by Avi Federgreen, Honorable Mention, Powerful: Energy for Everyone, directed by David Chernushenko ::Canadian Eco-Hero - Kevin McMahon ::International Eco-Hero - Ric O'Barry
Toronto premieres
::Urban Roots, directed by Mark MacInnis ::On Coal River, directed by Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood ::La Reine Malade (The Ailing Queen), directed by Pascal Sanchez ::Waseya Dizihin, directed by Kevin Papatie ::White Water, Black Gold, directed by David Lavallee ::The Clean Bin Project, directed by Grant Baldwin ::L'Homme de glace (Ice Philosophy), directed by Melanie Carrier and Olivier Higgins ::There Once was an Island: Te Henua e Nnoho, directed by Briar March ::Darwin, directed by Nick Brandestini ::Solartaxi: Around the World With the Sun, directed by Erik Schmitt ::Waking the Green Tiger, directed by Gary Marcuse ::Spoil, directed by Trip Jennings and Andy Maser
Canadian premieres
::Revenge of the Electric Car (Opening Night Gala Presentation), directed by Chris Paine ::The Whale (Closing Night Gala Presentation), directed by Suzanne Chisholm ::Future of Hope, directed by Henry Bateman ::Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, directed by Werner Herzog ::Silent Snow: The Invisible Poisoning of the World, directed by Jan van den Berg and Pipaluk Knudsen-Ostermann ::Der Tag des Spatzen (Day of the Sparrow), directed by Philip Scheffner ::Enjoy Your Meal!:How Food Changes the World, directed by Walter Grotenhuis ::L'Or des autres (The Gold of Others), directed by Simon Plouffe ::Powerful: Energy for Everyone, directed by David Chernushenko ::Leonids Geschichte (Leonids Story), directed by Rainer Ludwigs ::Second Nature: The Biomimicry Evolution, directed by Guy Lieberman ::The Polar Explorer, directed by Mark Terry ::Last Stand on the Island, directed by Evan Abramson and Carmen Elsa Lopez Abramson ::To Reveal the Fourteen Windows, directed by Christina Battle ::Cowboys in India, directed by Simon Chambers ::Le White (White Houses), directed by Simona Risi
North American premieres
::Up in Smoke, directed by Adam Wakeling
World premieres
::Portrait of Resistance: The Art & Activism of Carole Conde and Karl Beveridge, directed by Roz Owen ::The Past as Future, directed by Ton van Zantvoort ::From Chernobyl to Fukushima: A Campaigner's Journey, directed by Aube Giroux ::Brick by Brick: The Story of the Evergreen Brickworks, directed by Catherine Annau ::Niger River: A River Under Siege, directed by Bernice Notenboom ::Carbon for Water, directed by Evan Abramson and Carmen Elsa Lopez Abramson ::On the Line, directed by Frank Wolf
Toronto premieres
::Blue Gold: World Water Wars, directed by Sam Bozzo ::Peace with Seals, directed by Miroslav Novak ::Boreal Forest Expedition, directed by Nick and Lindsay Bradford-Ewart ::Northland: Long Journey, directed by Edie Steiner ::Chasing Wild Horses, directed by Matt Trecartin and John Wesley Chisholm ::Howser in Peril, directed by Tom Prior ::Death in the Forest, directed by Gordon McLennan ::Being Innu, directed by Catherine Mullins ::Waste = Food, directed by Rob Van Hattum ::Addicted to Plastic, directed by Ian Connacher ::Umbrella (film), directed by Du Haibin ::Birth of the Smoked Meat, directed by Jeanne Pope and Zoe Mapp ::Tableland, directed by Craig Noble ::Papiroflexia, directed by Jaoquin Baldwin ::The Poet of Grappa, directed by Stefano Scarafia ::Flowers of Rwanda, directed by David Muñoz ::Intestines of the Earth, directed by Barbier Olivier ::Gimmie Green, directed by Isaac Brown and Eric Flagg ::Mama Coco: The Sacred Leaf, directed by Felix Atencio-Gonzales ::Rallco, a Bad Business, directed by Nicholas Garcia and Xavier Vasqué ::Pick me Up, directed by Andrea Bussman ::Gates of the Arctic, directed by Rory Banyard
Canadian premieres
::Our Wonderful Nature, directed by Tomer Eshed ::Michael Schmidt: Organic Hero or Bioterrorist, directed by Norman Lofts ::Heron Pond: A Boardwalk View, directed by Cade Bursell ::Eviction, directed by Terra Schnoor ::Terra Sacer, directed by Alberto Guevara, Elysee Nouvet ::A Massacre Foretold, directed by Nick Higgins ::The Beggars in Addis Arabia, directed by Jakob Gottschau ::Paradise- Three Journeys in this World, directed by Elina Hirvonen ::The Sacred Food, directed by Jack Pettibone Riccobono ::My Inventions, directed by Robert Holbrook ::Global Food: Once Upon a French Fry, directed by Pierre-Olivier François ::Land of Writers, directed by Silvio Ciuccetti ::Slow Food, directed by Vanja Ohna ::Greina, directed by Villi Hermann ::On Relations, directed by Jorge Acebo ::Roaming Around, directed by Brigette Bertele ::Fighting Goliath - Texas Coal Wars, directed by Mat Hames ::Charcoal Traffic, directed by Nathan Collett ::Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives: The Environmental Impact of War, directed by Alice and Lincoln Day ::Where Do They Go?, directed by Julianne Becker ::The Right to Survive- Turtle Conservation and Fisheries Livelihoods, directed by Rita Banerji, Shilpi Sharma ::The Squid Daddy’s Labour Room, directed by Ke Chin Yuan ::Today the Hawk Takes One Chick, directed by Jane Gillooly ::We Belong to this Country, directed by Alison Leonard ::One of the Last, directed by Paul Zinder ::Fate of the Lhapa, directed by Sarah Sifers ::Sounds of the Seas, directed by Volker Barth ::The Last Nomads, directed by Andrew Gregg ::Eternal Mash, directed by Catherine van Campen ::Journey of a Red Fridge, directed by Lucian and Natasa Muntean ::Strange Homeland, directed by Jens Schanze ::Boomrang, directed by Daryoush Gharibzadeh ::One Water, directed by Ali Habashi and Sanjeev Chatterjee ::Justice Now, directed by Martin O’Brien, Robbie Proctor ::Alethea, directed by Petra Holzer, Ethem Ozguven ::Crossed Wires, directed by Elida Schogt ::The Green Dragon, directed by Caroline Harrison ::Digital Cemeteries, directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos ::Crabs on the Road, directed by Gabriela Dominguez ::Atlantis Approaching, directed by Elizabeth Pollock ::This Much I Know, directed by Bridget Hanna ::A Moment of Clarity, directed by Sarah Cowhey, Louise Davidson ::If Man Could Fly, directed by Yael Kipper Zaretzky ::Ma’rib, directed by Rainer Komers ::Farms Without Farmers, directed by Jessica Weisberg, Benjamin Thorp Brown ::The Hunger Season, directed by Beadie Finzi ::Are There Still Any Shepherds, directed by Jorge Pelicano
North American premieres
::Begging for Change, directed by Dave Jones ::Alchemy, directed by Eva Bakkeslett ::Showdown at the Top of the World, directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos ::Welcome Aboard Toxic Airlines, directed by Tristan Loraine ::49 Words for Snow, directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos
World premieres
::Driven By Vision, directed by Michael McNamara ::The Falldown, directed by Ben Graeme ::Tales of a Yellow Bike, directed by Tina Hahn ::Soldiers of Peace, directed by Timothy Wise ::Breadmakers, directed by Yasmin Fedda ::Return to Nepal, directed by Robert Lang ::Thirst, directed by Gail Maurice
References
References
- Anderson, Jason. (16 November 2014). "Planet in Focus has some unexpected pleasures". [[Toronto Star]].
- (14 October 2015). "York U has deep roots in Planet in Focus film festival". [[York University]].
- Rearson, Kiva. (23 September 2011). "Planet in Focus Announces 2011 Lineup". [[Torontoist]].
- Knight, Chris. (11 October 2011). "Electric cars & German stars at Planet in Focus filmfest". National Post.
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