"Do Something Reel" Film Series Hits Austin This Week

I've never thought of Whole Foods as a film distributor, but I may have to think again, as the Austin-based grocery chain has  started a film series that will premiere six documentaries in 70 U.S. cities during April, aka "Earth Month." The Whole Foods Do Something Reel Film Festival, which focuses on movies with environmental themes, starts in Austin tonight at Alamo Drafthouse Village.

The Do Something Reel website includes descriptions and trailers for the half-dozen films, along with screening information for all the cities in which the movies will be shown. Although most of these documentaries have been on the film-fest circuit in the past year or two, as far as I can tell none of them have played Austin yet.

After the jump, check out the schedule for Austin for each film in the series. All screenings in Austin are at Alamo Village.

• Monday, April 4 (7 pm): Bag It, a film about one man who vows not to use plastic grocery bags, and the surprising effect this has on his life.*
• Tuesday, April 5 (7 pm): Vanishing of the Bees, a British film about the wide-ranging effects caused by the decline of bee populations. Narrated by Ellen Page.
• Saturday, April 9 (1 pm): Lunch Line, in which a half-dozen Chicago schoolkids decide to do something to improve their school lunches.
• Sunday, April 10 (1 pm): Planeat, which explores the problems with excessive meat and dairy in Western diets, and promotes the benefits of eating more vegetables.*
• Monday, April 11 (7 pm): Urban Roots (pictured above), a film about a project to promote urban farming in Detroit.
• Tuesday, April 12 (7 pm): On Coal River, which that looks at coal mining and strip mining in West Virginia.*

P.S. My inner feminist would not be satisfied without my telling you that at least four of these movies are co-directed or directed by women. You want to know where the women filmmakers are? Apparently they're making independent and grassroots environmental docs. Kudos to Whole Foods for programming a film series that's not a sausage fest.