The recent emergence of new streaming services has made it possible for people all over the world to easily access environmental films and nature documentaries that previously were only available to select small audiences. There are now many new amazing visual materials available on social and environmental justice issues that can be used in college classrooms. But when they are just used to support content, we often end up employing these documentaries somewhat uncritically, not taking the time to step back and question filmmakers’ intentions and voices and their own positionalities, let alone make time to deliberate specific filmmaking techniques and devices.

How do films shape our experience about our world and the natural and built environments we live in? How are documentaries different from fiction films or animated films in conveying environmental content? What different kinds of environmental films are there and what exactly do we mean by “ecocinema”? How have wildlife and nature documentaries changed over time? Is all ecocinema activist, or can it also be merely meditative/contemplative or have even other aims?

The core emphasis in this course was on environmental documentaries released in the last 10-15 years as anthropocentric climate change has begun to loom increasingly large over our global environmental consciousness. We also included several fictional films in our marathon watch party, however, ranging from Hollywood blockbusters to both short and feature-length animated films.

Over the course of three weeks, nine students and their professor watched over 24 films and series episodes together. We all met synchronously four nights of the week, sometimes having watched up to three films a day in addition to reading academic articles and reviews about the material we covered. We also conversed asynchronously through our discussion board until we could all meet together. In each class, two or three discussants led the class in a discussion on the day's films. Conversation topics ranged from consumption habits, sustainability, anthropocentrism, Hollywood's relationship to nature, and more. For our final project, we created this website for you to read our thoughts on many of the films we viewed together as a class, including some we did not have time to cover.