NONFICTION HOTLIST ORIGINALS
Eco-Hack!
Deep in the Mojave desert, an unconventional field biologist wages a high-tech war against ravens — think laser cannons, drones, exploding turtle shells — in a last-ditch effort to save the last few desert tortoises from extinction.
About the Film
For decades, biologist Tim Shields has watched desert tortoise populations decline in the Mojave Desert. Refusing to simply document their disappearance, he builds drones, laser cannons, and other unconventional inventions to outsmart ravens threatening the species. Eco-Hack! is an inventive portrait of one scientist's fight to change the future of conservation.
- DOCUMENTARY
- SHORT DOCUMENTARY
- NATURE & ENVIRONMENT
- SCIENCE
- CONSERVATION
- WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
- DESERT TORTOISE
- MOJAVE DESERT
- ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
- ECOLOGY
- BIODIVERSITY
- CLIMATE SOLUTIONS
- INNOVATION
- TECHNOLOGY
- DRONES
- ROBOTICS
- ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
- SUSTAINABILITY
- ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
- Director
- Josh Izenberg & Brett Marty
- Producers
- Josh Izenberg · Brett Marty
- Editor
- Jen Bradwell
- Production Companies
- Speculative Films
Festivals & Awards
- Hot Docs (Audience Award Winner, Best Doc)
- Palm Springs Film Festival (Audience Award Winner, Best Doc)
- Interfilm Berlin (Audience Award Winner, Best Doc)
- DOCNYC
- Cleveland International Film Festival
- Atlanta Film Festival
- Edmonton International Film Festival
- Jackson Wild Film Festival (Best Conservation Film Award Winner)
- Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
- Mill Valley Film Festival
- Mountain Film in Telluride
- Crested Butte Film Festival
- Planet in Focus International Environmental FF
- Fresh Coast Film Festival
- San Diego Int'l Film Festival
- Chicago Children's Film Festival
- Banff Film Festival
- Borrego Springs Film Festival
- Frozen River Film Festival
- Wild & Scenic
- New York WILD Film Festival
- Boulder International Film Festival
- American Conservation Film Festival
- DCEFF
- Fargo Film Festival
- REGARD (Saguenay, Quebec)
- Les Bois Film Festival
- International Wildlife Film Festival
- Walla Walla Movie Crush
- Salute Your Shorts
- Bernal Outdoor Film Festival
- All Living Things Festival
- All Living Things Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF)
- Swede Fest Palm Beach
- Virginia Film Festival
- Interfilm Berlin Children's Environmental Program
- City of Lights
- Salt Springs FF
- Positive Planet Kino
- ReFrame Film Festival
- Southside Film Festival
Production Stills
The Filmmakers
Brett Marty cut his teeth as a commercial director and made the transition to filmmaking with a handful of documentary projects and his narrative directorial debut, YOUTH, which won a handful of jury awards and played at more than 30 festivals, including Cannes. His latest docs have been commissioned or featured by Patagonia, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and National Geographic. In previous lives, he studied ceramic sculpture at UC Berkeley, drove an old Buick from San Francisco to Argentina, and helped Nate Silver launch FiveThirtyEight in 2008.
Josh Izenberg is a documentary filmmaker based in Oakland, California. His projects have covered surfing veterans, the search for extraterrestrial life, and controversial approaches to addiction rehab in Peru. His short documentary SLOMO won over a dozen awards, including best short documentary at SXSW and the IDA award, and premiered as a New York Times op-doc. His film RESURFACE won the Jury Prize at Tribeca, was acquired by Netflix, and was nominated for an Emmy.
More about the Film
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