‘Geographies of Solitude’ and ‘Matter Out of Place’ denounce trash

Two films at Webster University offer a sobering view of the tons of trash we humans generate and the efforts by admirable activists to alleviate the pollution of gorgeous natural locations. “Geographies of Solitude” documents one location, Sable Island, while “Matter Out of Place” visits multiple locations, from Austria to Nepal, Greece to Albania, the U.S. to the Maldives.

In “Geographies of Solitude,” Canadian director Jacquelyn Mills shares enjoyable hours with environmental scientist Zoe Lucas, a most pleasant person with whom to share time. In 1972 she first traveled to Sable Island, twenty miles long, one mile wide, one hundred miles off the coast of Nova Scotia. Lucas began as a cook with a seal research group. Enamored of the beauty and peace, she still lives there.

Her research now includes thousands of entries on the “parasite load” of the over five hundred horses thriving on the island, no predators in sight. She also collects and transforms trash into art objects, when possible, while also describing the often surprising origins of found debris. Lucas serenely communicates her love of Sable Island, its unique appeal reinforced by the cinematography and the music, some of that made by the Sable Island snail, an ant crawling up a leaf, and the Calosoma Beetle as electrodes translate electric currents into musical patterns. The magic of the sound complements the island’s otherworldly presence.

Director Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s “Matter Out of Place” also visits lovely locations, all of them strewn with trash. The title “refers to any object or impact not native to the immediate environment,” referring to the mountains of garbage that contaminate and pollute the Swiss Alps, Kathmandu, the Pacific Ocean, and the Nevada desert of Burning Man, among other locales. But hope comes from the many efforts to clean up our mess: Volunteers for a Clean Homeland work on beaches, a line of volunteers scours the desert, scuba divers gather tires and debris from the ocean, a recycling plant and an incinerator process refuse.    

“Geographies of Solitude” screens Tuesday, April 4 and Saturday, April 8. “Matter Out of Place,” in English and German with English subtitles, runs Friday, April 7 and Sunday, April 9, at Webster University’s Winifred Moore auditorium at 7:30 each of those evenings. For more information, you may visit the film series website.