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Films that change minds
Sometimes a documentary does what a hundred statistics cannot. These are the ones we think are worth an evening, starting with an Australian film that is free to watch right now. Videos load only when you press play.
Featured · Free
The Plastic Country
Australia’s Hidden Plastic Crisis. A full-length independent documentary by Kal Glanznig that follows Australia’s plastic from supermarket shelf to landfill, export and ocean, and meets the people trying to change the system. Free on YouTube.
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Featured · Trailer
The North Drift
A feature documentary by Steffen Krones (Germany, 2022, 94 minutes). He finds a German beer bottle on a remote Arctic island in Norway and wonders if rubbish from his home city, Dresden, could really drift that far. With an engineer neighbour and marine scientists, he builds satellite-tracked buoys, sets them loose on the river Elbe and follows them out to the North Sea and north towards the Arctic.
Funded by public funds in Saxony, Germany: the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (the central German film fund) and Saxony’s media authority. Trailer from ravir film, the production company.
Rent or buy it from the makers on Vimeo On Demand (paid). In Germany, Austria and Switzerland it is also on Amazon, Apple TV and Google Play. Screenings for groups, including schools, need a licence from the German distributor, mindjazz pictures.
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Documentaries
Plastic People: The Hidden Crisis of Microplastics (2024)
78 min · Directed by Ben Addelman and Ziya Tong · Named one of Variety’s best documentaries of 2024
Journalist Ziya Tong tests her own home, food and body for microplastics while scientists explain what they are finding in blood, placentas and brains. The best single film on the human-health story. Contains surgery scenes.
Rubber Jellyfish (2018)
79 min · Directed by Carly Wilson · Australia
Wildlife carer turned filmmaker Carly Wilson follows balloons released at celebrations back down to the sea, where burst balloons look like jellyfish to hungry sea turtles, and asks why the balloon industry resists change. Free to stream worldwide, with a screening kit and resources for educators.
The Story of Plastic (2019)
95 min · Emmy winner · The Story of Stuff Project
Follows plastic from oil well to landfill and shows why recycling was never going to be the answer. Free study guides for classrooms.
Plastic Wars (2020)
54 min · PBS Frontline and NPR
An investigation into how the plastics industry promoted recycling while knowing most plastic would never be recycled. Free to stream.
A Plastic Ocean (2016)
100 min · Directed by Craig Leeson
The film that put ocean plastic on the map, shot in 20 locations over four years. Strong on wildlife impacts.
Microplastic Madness (2019)
76 min · Cafeteria Culture
Fifth-graders in Brooklyn investigate plastic in their school and take on their city. Made for and with children; ideal for ages 8 to 14.
The Plastic Problem (2019)
54 min · PBS NewsHour
A clear one-hour overview of how plastic became a crisis, and what different countries are doing about it. Free on YouTube.
Bag It (2010)
78 min · Directed by Suzan Beraza
One man’s question about plastic bags turns into an investigation of plastic in everyday life. Light, funny and still accurate.
Plastic Earth (2023)
Directed by Janice Overbeck and Jack Winch
A campaigning look at the scale of plastic pollution and the solutions already in reach.
Short videos for classrooms
TED-Ed’s animated explainers and the Story of Stuff shorts (5 to 10 minutes) are embeddable under Creative Commons licences and are listed, by age, in the schools section. If you know a film we have missed, tell us in the community.