30 years of fighting for the environment and human rights
Destruction of nature and disregard for human rights - large corporations and banks that also use our money are often behind this. For over 30 years, the environmental and human rights organization urgewald has been uncovering such financial flows and resisting destruction and displacement. urgewald has prevented forced resettlements, blocked cluster munition loans and stopped the construction of a nuclear power plant: a documentary film tells the story of the small association that became an influential organization - an advocate for the environment and human rights.
It all began in 1992 at the kitchen table of a shared flat in Sassenberg, Münsterland. Heffa Schücking founded the NGO urgewald with a handful of courageous activists. For more than 30 years now, the organization has been dedicated to one mission: the fight against powerful corporations whose business activities destroy the environment and climate or disregard human rights. For example, urgewald successfully prevented the construction of a dam and a nuclear power plant, and also blocked large-scale investments in fossil fuels. Today, urgewald employees present innovative research projects such as the "Global Coal Exit List" coal database at international climate conferences. In this way, the organization successfully persuades banks, investors and insurers to withdraw from destructive projects.
The documentary by Peter and Karin Wejdling looks back over the past decades and shows how a small association has become an influential organization that effectively protects the environment and human rights. And which has long been respected and listened to as a critical voice in the boardrooms of the financial sector. In addition to the founders and team members of urgewald, financial insiders, activists and politicians such as Claudia Kemfert, Luisa Neubauer and Jürgen Trittin also have their say in the film.
We would like to thank the following for their special support of the theatrical release:
urgewald, Protect the Planet, Sick-Umweltstiftung, EWS
Festivals / film awards
- 2024: Fünf Seen Filmfestival, Horizonte-Filmpreis
Partners
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