Climate change and the impact of the way we live on our planet is something that has increasingly become a topic of great urgency and much debate. On 3 and 4 November, Showroom Cinema welcomes the UK Green Film Festival and selections from their programme of unforgettable documentaries from around the world. These films present some of the most urgent, debated, and misunderstood topics of today, including climate change, energy resources, activism and corporate corruption.

We have selected two of the most exciting and fascinating documentaries from a very strong selection of films offered by the festival. On 3 November, Elizabeth Unger’s Tigre Gente plays on our screen and is a thriller-like documentary investigation into the illegal jaguar trade. Tracking the route of poachers in Bolivia to importers in Asia, Unger’s film expertly looks at both the supply and demand for illegal poaching. 

Following a Bolivian park ranger and a Chinese journalist, Unger expertly explores the issue of animal poaching and the parallel lives of the two protagonists devoting themselves to protect endangered species. There is a real sense of peril throughout the film as the two make their efforts to protect the jaguars. Featuring undercover journalism and even a chase sequence, Tigre Gente is captivating from start to finish and highlights the efforts of those putting their own lives on the line to save animals. 

On 4 November, our second film, The North Drift, follows Steffen Krones as he undertakes a scientific research project to trace the journey of plastic waste as it makes its way from river to ocean. As a German beer bottle is washed ashore on one of Norway’s remotest islands on the Lofoten archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, Krones wonders: how did it get here? Did it really come from Germany? Or did a thirsty tourist down the beer and dispose of the bottle in the sea? 

Teaming together with engineers and scientists, Krones devises floating GPS devices that follow where the everyday rubbish that people throw to the ground or into the river finally rests. The film is a fascinating, gripping investigation into our impact on the planet with some surprising and shocking revelations about just how far our rubbish can travel by itself, and the impact that is having on our planet. 

More than ever, it is vital to engage with these issues and these films are essential viewing.  

Tickets for Tigre Gente and The North Drift are on sale now. 

This article first featured in the Sheffield Telegraph on Thursday 04 November 2022.