A love letter to nature and a call to action, ‘Nature Matters’ speaks across generations, using over a century of archive footage to remind us of our innate relationship with the natural world.

Have our fast-paced lives separated us from our childhood fascination with flora and fauna in the everyday, from countryside and coastal adventures, and knowledge of where our food comes from? Have we evolved to live in a society detached from nature?

This timely short film explores our need for balance in a changing world: from the demand for resources, drive for profits and ‘progress’, offset against our fundamental human rights to access green spaces, clean air, water, and fertile soils to grow healthy food to feed our families. What shines through is the human spirit, as individuals and communities fight to be on the right side of history, on a quest for environmental harmony and more sustainable lifestyles.

Produced by the Yorkshire and North East Film Archives, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and York St John University, ‘Nature Matters’ is both a prescient warning and a positive vision for the future.

Commissioned by York St John University’s Cinema and Social Justice Project, York Business School and the Yorkshire and North East Film Archives ‘Nature Matter’s project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.