EARTH depicts seven locations where humans have transformed entire sections of our planet on a grand scale: Mountains are moved in California, a tunneling machine bores through pre-historic rock at the Brenner Pass, a landscape is shredded in an open-cast mine in Hungary, quarrying marble in Italy rips mountains apart, a copper mine in Spain despoils a waterway, a subterranean radioactive waste facility in Wolfenbüttel creates a million-year generational threat, and tar sands excavations endanger indigenous people in Canada. Initially photographed from above as abstract paintings, these terrains are subsequently explored on the ground. The film weaves together observational footage of machines in operation with frank conversations with the workers that run them. The dimensions are gigantic, the proportions out of control; the world has slipped from humanity’s grasp. “There is always a bigger machine, a bigger engine and when all fails there is dynamite. We always win,” boasts a quarry worker. Or do we?
Earth
Earth
A film by Nikolaus Geyrhalter
About the Director
Director, producer, writer and cinematographer, Nikolaus Geyrhalter was born in Vienna, Austria in 1972. Geyrhalter’s static-camera, well-paced observational films tackle their subjects head-on, whether it’s exploring the terrain in Chernobyl, Ukraine (Pripyat), tracing the route of the Dakar Rally (7915 Km), or investigating the production of processed foods (Our Daily Bread).
DIRECTOR’S FILMOGRAPHY
1994 Angeschwemmt
1997 Das Jahr nach Dayton
1999 Pripyat
2001 Elsewhere
2005 Our Daily Bread
2008 7915 Km
2010 Allentsteig
2011 Abendland
2012 Donauspital
2016 Homo Sapiens
2018 Die Bauliche Massnahme
2019 Earth
Cast and Crew
CREW
Producers: Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Michael Kitzberger, Wolfgang Widerhofer, Markus Glaser
Director: Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Director of Photography: Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Assistant Directors / Research: Sophia Laggner, Evelyne Faye-Horak
Editing: Niki Mossböck
Sound Design: Florian Kindlinger
Sound mixing: Alexander Koller
Film Info
Year: 2019
Country: Austria
Runtime: 115 min
Color: Color
Language: English, German, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish
Subtitles: English
Format: 1: 1,85
Image: 4k
Sound: Dolby Atmos
Awards and Festivals
Berlinale Forum – Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival
Moscow International Film Festival
Seoul Eco Film Festival
Sheffield International Documentary Festival – International Award
Festival of Austrian Film – Best Sounddesign Documentary, Diagonale,
Dokufest Prizren – Best Green Dox Award
Festival for Editing and Montage Arts – Nomination for Best Editing, Filmplus
San Francisco Green Film Festival
Camden International Film Festiva – Harrell Award
Hamptons International Film Festival
Innsbruck Nature Festival – Special Award for Best Film on the Topic of Soil
Festival de Cinema Independent de Barcelona – Mención Especial, L’Alternativa
Planet in Focus
RIDM, Montreal
Play Dates
| Theater/Festival | City | State | Starting Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema | Birmingham | AL | 4/17/20 |
| FilmBar | Phoenix | AZ | 4/22/20 |
| The Loft Cinema | Tucson | AZ | 4/17/20 |
| Roxie Theater | San Francisco | CA | 4/17/20 |
| Varsity Theater | Davis | CA | 4/17/20 |
| The Frida Cinema | Santa Ana | CA | 4/17/20 |
| Lark Theater | Larkspur | CA | 4/17/20 |
| Onyx Theatre | Nevada City | CA | 4/22/20 |
| Lumiere Cinema at the Music Hall | Los Angeles | CA | 4/17/20 |
| International Film Series | Boulder | CO | 4/17/20 |
| Boulder Environmental / Nature / Outdoors Film Festival | Boulder | CO | 4/17/20 |
| Suns Cinema | Washington | DC | 4/17/20 |
| The Movies at Midway | Rehoboth Beach | DE | 4/17/20 |
| Cinema Paradiso Hollywood | Fort Lauderdale | FL | 4/17/20 |
| Enzian Theater | Maitland | FL | 4/17/20 |
| Sun-Ray Cinema | Jacksonville | FL | 4/17/20 |
| O Cinema | Miami | FL | 4/22/20 |
| Prado Theatres | Bonita Springs | FL | 4/17/20 |
| Cinematique of Daytona | Daytona | FL | 4/22/20 |
| CinemaSavannah | Savannah | GA | 4/17/20 |
| Gene Siskel Film Center | Chicago | IL | 4/17/20 |
| Facets | Chicago | IL | 4/17/20 |
| The Ryder Film Series | Bloomington | IN | 4/22/20 |
| Cinema Worcester | Worcester | MA | 4/22/20 |
| West Newton Cinema | West Newton | MA | 4/17/20 |
| West Newton Cinema | West Newton | MA | 4/17/20 |
| Amherst Cinema | Amherst | MA | 4/21/20 |
| Waters Edge Cinema | Provincetown | MA | 4/22/20 |
| AFI SILVER | Silver Spring | MD | 4/17/20 |
| Michigan Theater | Ann Arbor | MI | 4/17/20 |
| The Film Lab | Detroit | MI | 4/17/20 |
| Greater Farmington Film Festival | Farmington | MI | 4/22/20 |
| Webster Film Series | St. Louis | MO | 4/17/20 |
| Screenland Theatres | Kansas City | MO | 4/17/20 |
| Tivoli Cinemas at the Nelson-Atkins | Kansas City | MO | 4/17/20 |
| Moxie Cinema | Sringfield | MO | 4/22/20 |
| Guild Cinema | Albuquerque | NM | 4/17/20 |
| Violet Crown Santa Fe | Santa Fe | NM | 4/17/20 |
| Jean Cocteau Cinema | Santa Fe | NM | 4/17/20 |
| Center for Contemporary Arts | Santa Fe | NM | 4/17/20 |
| Taos Center for the Arts | Taos | NM | 4/24/20 |
| DCTV | New York | NY | 4/17/20 |
| Proctors | Schenectady | NY | 4/17/20 |
| Maysles Documentary Center | New York | NY | 4/22/20 |
| Little Theatre | Rochester | NY | 4/17/20 |
| North Park Theatre | Buffalo | NY | 4/17/20 |
| Museum of the Moving Image | Queens | NY | 4/17/20 |
| Cinema Arts Center | Huntington | NY | 4/22/20 |
| Anthology Film Archives | New York | NY | 4/22/20 |
| George Eastman Museum | Rochester | NY | 4/17/20 |
| The Plaza Cinema | Patchogue | NY | 4/22/20 |
| Upstate Films | Rhinebeck | NY | 4/22/20 |
| Cleveland Cinema | Cleveland Hts | OH | 4/17/20 |
| Gateway Film Center | Columbus | OH | 4/17/20 |
| Living Room Theaters | Portland | OH | 4/17/20 |
| Cincinnati World Cinema | Cincinnati | OH | 4/17/20 |
| Oklahoma City Museum of Art | Oklahoma City | OK | 4/17/20 |
| Clinton Street | Portland | OR | 4/17/20 |
| Salem Cinema | Salem | OR | 4/17/20 |
| Harris Theater | Pittsburgh | PA | 4/17/20 |
| Row House Cinema | Pittsburgh | PA | 4/22/20 |
| Lightbox Film Center | Philadelphia | PA | 4/17/20 |
| Film Society of Northwestern Pennsylvania | Erie | PA | 4/17/20 |
| Cinema Du Parc | Montreal | QC, Canada | 4/17/20 |
| Violet Crown Austin | Austin | TX | 4/17/20 |
| Lyric Theatre | Blacksburg | VA | 4/19/20 |
| Naro Cinema | Norfolk | VA | 4/17/20 |
| Violet Crown Charlottesville | Charlottesville | VA | 4/17/20 |
| Court Square Theater | Harrisonburg | VA | 4/17/20 |
| The Byrd Theatre | Richmond | VA | 4/22/20 |
| Epsilon Spires | Brattleboro | VT | 4/20/20 |
| Vermont International Film Festival | Burlington | VT | 4/17/20 |
| White River Indie Film Festival | White River Junction | VT | 4/17/20 |
| Kiggins Theatre | Vancouver | WA | 4/17/20 |
| Liberty Theatre | Camas | WA | 4/22/20 |
| Rose Theatre | Port Townsend | WA | 4/17/20 |
| Oriental Theatre | Milwaukee | WI | 4/22/20 |
| UWM Union Theatre | Milwaukee | WI | 4/22/20 |
