Cli-Fi films recomendations.
March 15, 2022 1:46 PM

My wife and I are running a film club, we're interested in screening some cli-fi films (climate change related science/speculative fiction). Give me some ideas.

We’d like to offer an unusual selection of independent and international films and avoid the obvious and the mainstream. We don’t necessarily want to be strict with the definition of cli-fi and are happy to include dystopian films with vague allusions to the climate emergency such as Brazilian film Bacurau (which is mainly dystopian and imagines a world where there’s very little water available). Or Beasts of the Southern Wild, which was actually inspired by storm Katrina, but could also be watched as a sort of cli-fi film, as there are no references to real events. Any input greatly appreciated.
posted by multivalent to Media & Arts (24 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
I feel like Parasite is almost explicitly a climate disaster movie.. along with being a class war movie.
posted by latkes at 1:57 PM on March 15, 2022


I think I Am Mother could qualify under that rubric. Australian, 2019.
posted by foxfirefey at 2:00 PM on March 15, 2022


(Oh sorry I forgot you want sci fi genre)
posted by latkes at 2:01 PM on March 15, 2022


You really can't go wrong with Children of Men here. Twelve Monkeys would also work.
posted by cakelite at 2:02 PM on March 15, 2022


Is Snowpiercer too mainstream?
posted by hydra77 at 2:09 PM on March 15, 2022


It's not available for streaming yet (maybe it will be after the Oscars), but I've heard good things about Footsteps on the Wind
posted by Mchelly at 2:49 PM on March 15, 2022


Safe has stuck with me for a long time and probably counts. First Reformed is a bit oblique but very good.
posted by cocoagirl at 2:51 PM on March 15, 2022


The Day after Tomorrow?
posted by Rabarberofficer at 2:58 PM on March 15, 2022


Ponyo?
posted by latkes at 3:04 PM on March 15, 2022


There’s always Waterworld
posted by jamjam at 3:26 PM on March 15, 2022


Automata starring Antonio Banderas.

Space Sweepers.
posted by starfishprime at 4:59 PM on March 15, 2022


Bikini Atoll Nuclear Waste Storage This documentary explores the problem of stored nuclear waste at Bikini Atoll with the problem of rising seas and climate change. Not science fiction. Very worthwhile watch.
posted by effluvia at 5:02 PM on March 15, 2022


Wall-e from Pixar.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 5:29 PM on March 15, 2022


Maybe The Wanting Mare. I say "maybe" because it's far more interesting than good and I'm unclear if it's supposed to be earth. But it's definitely dealing with climate change.
posted by edencosmic at 5:43 PM on March 15, 2022


More of the obvious: Bruce Dern in Silent Running from 1972 and Edward G. Robinson in Soylent Green from 1973.
posted by Rash at 6:08 PM on March 15, 2022


Z.P.G. is a weird and interesting 1972 over-population dystopia in the Soylent Green kinda mode. It might be on YT...
posted by ovvl at 6:20 PM on March 15, 2022


Young Ones (2014). A farmer and his family fend off water thieves in the future US.
posted by Monochrome at 7:43 PM on March 15, 2022


Oh! Fast Color is really good!
posted by latkes at 11:57 PM on March 15, 2022


Released last year Everything Will Change
posted by JohnnyForeign at 12:38 AM on March 16, 2022


Here's a good Letterboxd list and an article that addresses some of the subgenresNoah wouldn't be my pick, but I guess it counts if you look at it from a particular angle.
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 2:00 AM on March 16, 2022


I’ve heard mixed reviews, but Reminiscence is set in a flooded Miami.
posted by Happy Dave at 4:36 AM on March 16, 2022


Take Shelter is pretty good

The Quiet Earth is a big stretch for cli-fi sci-fi, but I believe the central mystery involves a government program involving a search for unlimited energy via Tesla (Nikola) -type experiments, gone terribly wrong...so, maybe?
posted by Bron at 8:11 AM on March 16, 2022


Also, John Boorman's The Emerald Forest, while not sci-fi in any way and based on a true story, has a devastating portrait of rain-forest destruction at its core.
posted by Bron at 8:41 AM on March 16, 2022


it's never made clear precisely what, but something causes a planetary catastrophe in The Road. Father and son are nomadic (temporary?) survivors. hard to watch.

do a mefi search for threads. nuclear winter.
posted by j_curiouser at 9:57 PM on March 16, 2022


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