Movies That Matter
A film series curated and presented in a collaborative partnership with the Caltech Center for Inclusion and Diversity, Caltech Sustainability, and the student-led Caltech Y. The films in this series address current concerns in various realms of science as well as important matters of social justice.
Upcoming Screenings
Small Island Big Song
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 7 p.m. PT
Beckman Auditorium
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Filmed over three years on 16 island nations across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, this grassroots musical features Indigenous musicians on the frontlines of the climate crisis who have crafted songs that speak to the immediate threat of sea level rise and the consequences to their cultures if they are forced to leave their island nations for higher land.
Immediately following the screening, there will be a Q&A with filmmakers Tim Cole and BaoBao Chen, who will join remotely from Taiwan.
Learn more about the film.
Past Screenings
Manzanar Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust
April 20, 2022, 6:00 p.m. PT
Sitting at the foot of the majestic snow-capped Sierras, Manzanar, the WWII concentration camp, becomes the confluence for memories of Payahuunadü, the now-parched "land of flowing water." Intergenerational women from Native American, Japanese American and rancher communities come together to form an unexpected alliance to defend their land and water from Los Angeles.
In a live Q&A following the screening, filmmaker Ann Kaneko and Max Christman, Caltech manager of sustainability programs, discuss relevant issues brought forth in the documentary and the significance of Earth Week.
Earth Day, held annually since 1970, has offered a continuing opportunity to recognize the human role in environmental protection. Caltech Sustainability hopes that collaboration with other Caltech groups with seemingly distinct missions will illustrate the interdisciplinary nature with which the world's greatest sustainability problems must be addressed. Environmental justice must be a leading theme as we look to address the climate crisis and other sustainability challenges.
This was a virtual, one-time, free screening
100 Years From Mississippi
February 11, 2022, 7:30 p.m. PT
100 Years From Mississippi is a true story of resilience, forgiveness, memory, and hope. Mamie Lang Kirkland still remembers the night in 1915 when panic filled her home in Ellisville, Mississippi. Her family was forced to flee in darkness from a growing mob of men determined to lynch her father and his friend. Mamie's family escaped, but her father's friend, John Hartfield, did not. He suffered one of the most horrific lynchings of the era. Mamie vowed to never return to Mississippi – until now. After 100 years, Mamie's youngest child, filmmaker, Tarabu Betserai Kirkland, takes his mother back to Ellisville to tell her story, honor those who succumbed to the terror of racial violence, and give testimony to the courage and hope epitomized by many of her generation.
Watch the trailer
A live post-screening Q&A followed with filmmakers Tarabu Betserai Kirkland and Barry Shabaka Henley; Allen Edson, President of the NAACP, Pasadena Branch; and Caltech's Danielle L. Wiggins, assistant professor of history, Division of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Watch the post-screening Q&A
This was a virtual, one-time, free screening