Transitions Film Festival 2019

Overview

The world as we know it could do with some improvement. That's a bit of an understatement; however it's also the idea behind Melbourne's returning Transitions Film Festival. This showcase of cinema aims to explore ways in which our future could be brightened, covering a huge range of topics such as food, climate change, animal welfare and renewable energy.

Transitions doesn't just have an environmental focus, however. Technological innovation, gender equality, online privacy, social justice and artificial intelligence all rate a mention on the fest's 28-doco lineup — which includes 24 Australian premieres. Screening flicks at Cinema Nova between Thursday, February 21 and Friday, March 8, and hosting events at Loop Project Space & Bar and Brunswick Mechanics Institute too, the program also features sustainability academics, artists and entrepreneurs chatting about the subjects covered on-screen.

Film-wise, opening night's Point of No Return explores the first ever solar-powered flight around the world, Vestige heads to South Africa to cover the efforts to save the few remaining black and white rhinos, and It Will Be Chaos charts an Eritrean refugee's attempt to navigate Italy's immigration system. There's also The Guardians, about the illegal logging threat to an ancient Mexican forest; She Started It, which highlights women tech entrepreneurs; and More Human Than Human, which ponders AI. And if you were a fan of Chasing Ice, The Cove and Racing Extinction, The Human Element comes from the same producers — and offers a visual depiction of how climate change is affecting our air, earth, fire and water.

Image: The Human Element, Matthew Kennedy, Earth Vision Institute.