Kōbō Abe wrote WOMAN IN THE DUNES beginning in about 1960. It was published as a novel in 1962 to international acclaim, establishing him as a major writer. Kōbō Abe’s primary cinematic collaborator, Hiroshi Teshigahara, brought Abe’s own adaptation of the novel to cinemas two years later.

WOMAN IN THE DUNES tells the tale of a self-absorbed entomologist named Niki Jumpei who travels from Tokyo to a remote oceanside desert. He’s there to search for rare tiger beetles in the hopes that he can gain acclaim by pinning his own name to an undiscovered version of them. After missing his bus back to the city, he’s tricked by villagers who imprison Niki in a deep sand pit with a mysterious woman who has been living in an expectedly rustic house down there for quite some time.

Beyond winning major awards, including several Oscar nominations, upon its release, the film version of WOMAN IN THE DUNES is renowned as an arthouse masterpiece of the Japanese New Wave.

Kōbō Abe’s literary qualities are often associated with existentialism, surrealism, alienation, and absurdity. While all of these are appropriate to some extent, his expansive ecological imagination is present throughout his work. And while it hasn’t gone completely ignored, like many things ecological in the fractured world that Abe critiqued, it has been under-explored despite its singular mystique.

This is why we selected WOMAN IN THE DUNES for inclusion in our expansive ecological imagination series, which frames an ongoing exploration and motivation to do what the title suggests: expand our individual and collective imagination about ecological possibilities, questions, inspirations, solutions, and beyond.  

To help us delve into the ecology of WOMAN IN THE DUNES and Kōbō Abe beyond that novel and film, we turned to one of the foremost experts and scholars on Kōbō Abe: Dr. Timothy Iles. Dr. Iles has been learning, teaching, and writing about Abe and his collaboration with Hiroshi Teshigahara for decades.

We discuss themes of community, metamorphosis, adaptation, and identity in the Abe’s work, as well as what they have to teach humanity about the world we live in and some of the problems we face. We also discuss the characters that haunt WOMAN IN THE DUNES and how the narrative brims with allegorical possibility.

Find Dr. Iles' film amd literature recommendations--and more here.

Our theme music is from the song “Earth Worship” by the amazing band, Rubblebucket.

Our podcast is hosted, edited, and produced by Rozzell Medina.

The Portland EcoFilm Festival is a signature program of the Hollywood Theatre, Portland's premier modern-historic movie palace.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Film Forever Northwest or its affiliates.

During the first half of our conversation, we discuss the ecology of place-based filmmaking, the ancient cinematic impulse, and the ecological characteristics of Satyajit Ray’s films, which kept David company as he shot TO THE WEST, IN ZAPATA as a one-man crew on location in the Cuban wilderness. 

Then we focus on TO THE WEST, IN ZAPATA more intently. David shares his experience capturing one of the film’s most iconic sequences while wading chest-deep in the swamp, and we discuss the cyclical nature of the love and land that gives life to his award-winning film. 

Our interpreter is Luis Medina--with additional assistance from Stefania Montaña.

Our theme music is from the song “Earth Worship” by the amazing band, Rubblebucket.

Our podcast is hosted, edited, and produced by Rozzell Medina.

The Portland EcoFilm Festival is a signature program of the Hollywood Theatre, Portland's premier modern-historic movie palace. Learn more at hollywoodtheatre.org.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Film Forever Northwest or its affiliates.

The resulting film, CRADLED BY THE EARTH (DE COLO DA TERRA), is a connective, conversant, and uplifting meditation on the vitality of customs, play, and the Earth as teacher.

We visited with Renata and David about working in deep collaboration with Indigenous communities, how the film fits into their ongoing creative project about childhood (Territory of Play), rejoicing in the remembrance of our responsibility to future generations, cinema as a bridge between cultures, and more.

CRADLED BY THE EARTH is an Official Selection in the 2026 Portland EcoFilm Festival's Indigenous Voices series, where it received its USA premiere at the Clinton Street Theater.

Learn more about the Portland EcoFilm Festival and our podcast at portlandecofilmfest.org where you'll also find detailed show notes and our guests' film recommendations from this episode.

Our theme music is from the song “Earth Worship” by the amazing band, Rubblebucket.

Our podcast is hosted, edited, and produced by our festival director, Rozzell Medina.

The Portland EcoFilm Festival is a signature program of the Hollywood Theatre, Portland's premier modern-historic movie palace. Learn more at hollywoodtheatre.org.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Film Forever Northwest or its affiliates.

We discussed finding inspiration in dreams and the more than human world, expanding our imaginations around ecological grief and grieving, simultaneously loving and letting go of what the world used to be--and more.

This episode features audio excerpts of Giles' hauntingly beautiful score for the film--and a brief excerpt from a piece of music that he considers to be ecological.

DISTANCE TO THE MOON is an Official Selection in the 2026 Portland EcoFilm Festival. It was featured in our EXPANSIVE ECOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 1 program on March 26, 2026 at the Hollywood Theatre (sponsored by SOLVE).

We are a signature program of the Hollywood Theatre, Portland's premier modern-historic movie palace.

Find more extensive show notes, including Sacha's ecological film recommendations and Giles' ecological music recommendations at: portlandecofilmfest.org/podcast

Please subscribe, share, and give us a great review! Thanks for listening, for supporting global ecological cinema, and for all the good you do in the world!

Our theme music is from the song “Earth Worship” by the amazing band, Rubblebucket.

Our podcast is hosted, edited, and produced by our festival director, Rozzell Medina.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Film Forever Northwest or its affiliate

Until recently, Basateen al-Razi was home to some of the oldest orchards in the world. In 2015, residents were informed that the area had been targeted for redevelopment. Many were given less than two months to leave their homes, and most of them never received any form of compensation.

The homes were destroyed, and so were the ancient orchards. The stated reason for the mass displacement was the construction of Marota City, a shiny new urban development project scheduled to contain luxury homes, skyscrapers, and commercial centers.

But according to our guest —and many others—an underlying reason for the displacement was revenge.

During the Syrian Revolution, the beloved trees, once treasured for fruit and shade, provided tactical cover, making Basateen al-Razi a center of strong resistance to the now former dictator, Bashar al-Assad.

We discuss the use of CGI and VFX by Antoine and his collaborators to tell a story of collective rebellion and loss, the old, troubling relationship between authoritarianism and urban planning, ecological cinema as counter-propaganda, and much more.

Learn more about the Portland EcoFilm Festival and our podcast--where you'll also find detailed show notes and our guests' film recommendations from this episode.

portlandecofilmfest.org/podcast

hollywoodtheatre.org

Our theme music is from the song “Earth Worship” by the amazing band, Rubblebucket.

AL BASATEEN is featured in our EXPANSIVE ECOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 1 program on March 26, 2026 at the Hollywood Theatre (sponsored by SOLVE).

Our podcast is hosted, edited, and produced by our festival director, Rozzell Medina.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Film Forever Northwest or its affiliates.

On this, the second episode of our Global Ecological Cinema Podcast, we talked with Irati Dojura, director, and Laura Giraldo, producer, of AKABABURU: EXPRESSION OF ASTONISHMENT.

They share their perspectives on some themes of the film—such as sisterhood and joy— related to ecology, what it was like to reimagine a mythological woman’s fate, producing a film in collaboration with Irati’s community, the gifts of Indigenous cinema, and more.

AKABABURU is an Official Selection in our Indigenous Voices series, featured in our EXPANSIVE ECOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 1 program on March 26 at the Hollywood Theatre. It made history at the 2025 Berlinale by receiving a Special Mention from the Generation Kplus International Jury, marking a significant achievement for Indigenous storytelling.

Learn more about the Portland EcoFilm Festival and our podcast--where you'll also find detailed show notes and our guests' film recommendations from this episode.

Our interpreters are Paula Martín del Campo Salazar and Ariana Ramos Rocha, with important assistance from Stefania Montaña.

Our theme music is from the song “Earth Worship” by the amazing band, Rubblebucket.

Our EXPANSIVE ECOLOGICAL IMAGINATION 1 program is sponsored by SOLVE.

Our podcast is hosted, edited, and produced by our festival director, Rozzell Medina.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Film Forever Northwest or its affiliates.

Released in the year 2000, this warm, meandering masterpiece, which opened our 2026 festival, explores the act of gleaning, not only as collecting food that would otherwise go to waste, but as a multifaceted means of survival, expression, ecological responsibility, and belonging. 

Our featured guest is producer, writer, and film curator, Kiva Reardon. Kiva has dedicated countless hours to appreciating, studying, and writing about Varda. She even spent time with Agnés Varda and named her celebrated journal of film and feminism after the eponymous character of Varda’s breakthrough 1962 feature film, Cléo from 5 to 7.

The founder of the Portland EcoFilm Festival, Dawn Smallman, joins our conversation, which explores what it was like to spend time with the famously curious filmmaker, radical empathy related to Varda's films and ecology, and much more.

Kiva shares her favorite ecological films (several of which are available to rent at the world's best video store, Movie Madness, in Portland, Oregon.)

Our host and the director of the festival, Rozzell Medina, also talks with Lizz Marks about what it was like to go from gleaning as a child to doing it professionally with Urban Gleaners. She shares insights into differences between the gleaning we see in Varda’s 2000 film, what it’s like to glean 26 years later in Portland, OR, and how people can put a foot into the gleaning world.

Learn more about the Portland EcoFilm Festival and our podcast--where you'll also find detailed show notes and our guests' film recommendations from this episode.

Our 2026 presentation of THE GLEANERS AND I at the Hollywood Theatre was sponsored by Lift UP, the Coalition to Advance Food Equity, and Urban Gleaners.

The Portland EcoFilm Festival is a signature program of the Hollywood Theatre.

Our theme music is from the song “Earth Worship” by the amazing band, Rubblebucket.

Our podcast is hosted and produced by festival director Rozzell Medina.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Film Forever Northwest or its affiliates.