Edward Burtynsky's "ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch" Screening

ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch

by Jennifer Baichwal, Nick de Pencier & Edward Burtynsky

feature documentary, 87 mins, 2018

Wednesday, August 12th, 2026

Doors open at 6:30PM

Screening begins at 7:30PM

A cinematic meditation on humanity’s massive reengineering of the planet, ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch is a four years in the making feature documentary film from the multiple-award winning team of Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky.

Third in a trilogy that includes Manufactured Landscapes (2006) and Watermark (2013), the film follows the research of an international body of scientists, the Anthropocene Working Group who, after nearly 10 years of research, are arguing that the Holocene Epoch gave way to the Anthropocene Epoch in the mid-twentieth century, because of profound and lasting human changes to the Earth.

From concrete seawalls in China that now cover 60% of the mainland coast, to the biggest terrestrial machines ever built in Germany, to psychedelic potash mines in Russia’s Ural Mountains, to metal festivals in the closed city of Norilsk, to the devastated Great Barrier Reef in Australia and surreal lithium evaporation ponds in the Atacama desert, the filmmakers have traversed the globe using high end production values and state of the art camera techniques to document evidence and experience of human planetary domination.

At the intersection of art and science, ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch witnesses in an experiential and non-didactic sense a critical moment in geological history — bringing a provocative and unforgettable experience of our species’ breadth and impact.

In September 2018 ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch made its world premiere as a Special Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival.

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Awards & Nominations

Winner Royal Canadian Geographic Society's Gold Medal 2019

Winner Allan King Award for Excellence in Documentary 2019 [DGC Awards]

Winner Testimony on Nature in Film, ji.hlava international documentary film festival 2019

Winner Polly Krakora for Artistry in Film, DC Environmental Film Festival 2019

Winner Director Spotlight - Jennifer Baichwal, Cleveland International Film Festival 2019

Winner Robert Brooks for Documentary Cinematography - Nicholas de Pencier, Canadian Society of Cinematographers 2019

Winner Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary, Canadian Screen Awards 2019

Winner Best Cinematography in a Feature Length Documentary - Nicholas de Pencier, Canadian Screen Awards 2019

Winner Best Canadian Film, Toronto Film Critics Association 2018

Winner Best Canadian Documentary, Vancouver Film Critics Circle 2018