Silver Docs Enviro Film Profile

The annual Silver Docs film festival runs from June 15 – 22 at the AFI theater in Silver Spring. The festival offers an opportunity to see tons of great documentaries on a huge array of topics. The categories for this year’s documentaries include African interest, LGBT interest, music interest, environmental interest and more.

Obviously the environmental docs were the ones that caught our eye. One film in particular seemed the most interesting.

“No Impact Man” is a film centered on Colin Beavan, a New Yorker living with his wife and daughter in a downtown apartment. Beavan has committed to doing his part to prevent global warming by living a zero impact lifestyle. To accomplish his goal, Beavan gives up electricity, cars, toilet paper, etc. His family had to do the same, putting a serious dent in his wife’s Starbucks and shopping addiction.

The documentary begins as a glimpse into a no-impact world of bicycles, stairs, candles, hand washed clothes, compost piles and locally grown produce, but ends as a portrait of a family struggling to balance their environmental concerns with dreams of a higher quality of life.

“No Impact Man” is being screened at Silver Docs on Thursday, June 18th at 4:45pm and on Saturday, June 20th at 9:00pm. Following the screening on Thursday will be an interview with the filmmakers, as well as with Colin Beavan’s wife, Business Week senior writer Michelle Conlin.

Read more about “No Impact Man,” including a filmmaker Q&A on the Silver Docs website.

Photo Credit: AFI, Discovery Channel – Silverdocs Website