Kert Davies

After Barack Obama swept to power promising a new era of hope and change, the emergence of a citizens protest movement called the Tea Party threatened to derail his agenda. Was this uprising the epitome of grassroots democracy? Or was it an example of "astroturfing" - the creation of fake grassroots groups, designed to put corporate messages in the mouths of seemingly independent citizens?

In this documentary, filmmakers Daniel B. Gold and Judith Helfand (Blue Vinyl) follow a troupe of self-proclaimed global warming "warriors" on a mission to get the world to care about rising temperatures and melting polar ice caps. Taking a topic that's inherently serious and applying their signature blend of humor and emotional heft, Gold and Helfand advance the environmental dialogue in a surprisingly entertaining way.

“Out of Balance: ExxonMobil’s Impact on Climate Change” details the science and consequences of global warming. Its focus, however, is on ExxonMobil’s financing of media campaigns and global warming skeptics. To tell the story, he interviewed leading writers and scientists on the topic, from Cameron Wake at the University of New Hampshire’s Climate Change Research Center to Rajendra K. Pachauri, chair of IPCC.

A look at how the fight between saving the planet and growing our economies has become humanity’s biggest challenge.