Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
The Redwood Forest Defense (RFD) is a loose-knit group of activists who use nonviolent protest tactics to fight industrial logging in Northern California. And, as the short documentary Sentinels details, this includes a now years-long tree-sitting campaign to protect an 18-acre stretch of pine, fir and redwood trees in an otherwise quiet slice of Humboldt County, California. To make the film, the US directors Derek Knowles and Lawrence Lerew made visits to the protest site over the course of nearly 200 days, including to the small camps atop redwoods some 100 feet from the ground. The resulting portrait is an observational look into the group’s unyielding commitment to their cause, which requires a unique melding of survivalism, tree-climbing and activism expertise, and, perhaps above all else, the endurance to outlast the time, money and resources of their opponents. By allowing the camera to linger on scenes, Knowles and Lerew skilfully convey the passage of time, and contrast the quiet serenity of the treetop camps with sights and sounds of industrial logging just a few hundred feet away.
Directors: Derek Knowles, Lawrence Lerew
video
Design and fashion
The mundane becomes mesmerising in this deep dive into segmented displays
14 minutes
video
Physics
A song of ice, fire and jelly – exploring the physics and history of the trumpet
9 minutes
video
Architecture
Tour the European architecture that dreamed of a wondrous, fictitious China
16 minutes
video
Spirituality
Trek alongside spiritual pilgrims on a treacherous journey across Pakistan
6 minutes
video
Thinkers and theories
Photographs offer a colonialist window to the past – one that must be challenged
14 minutes
video
Animals and humans
An artist and ants collaborate on an exhibit of ‘tiny Abstract Expressionist paintings’
5 minutes
video
Mathematics
How a curious question about colouring maps changed mathematics forever
9 minutes
video
Cities
The rise and fall of Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong’s infamous urban monolith
18 minutes
video
Art
Inside the unique creative space where ‘outsider’ artists find their form
14 minutes