Every time I go to the movies, I'm still astounded by the $12.50 cost of tickets -- practically the same price as a month's worth of Netflix. So I was intrigued to receive an email about the new ecologically-minded film "Home," which is being released this Friday (also World Environment Day) globally and completely gratis. Who could pass up free entertainment that
also earns you conscience points?


Supported by PPR's Francois-Henri Pinault and produced by Luc Besson, "Home" is the pet project of French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a devotee of environmental causes whose work over the past ten years has been carbon offset -- any carbon dioxide emissions generated by his occupation have been counterbalanced by putting money toward providing clean energy for those in need. For "Home," Arthus-Bertrand spent the past three years shooting exclusively aerial, HD footage of over 50 different countries to tell the visual story of humans' simultaneous impact and reliance on nature and the planet's resources. An English version of the 90-minute film is voiced by Glenn Close, while Salma Hayek narrates a Spanish one. As a means of neutralizing its production carbon footprint, the makers of "Home" are
financing a project for the diffusion of anaerobic digesters in the Hassan region of India.


"Home" will be shown Friday at 9 p.m. EST on the National Geographic Channel and can be viewed on YouTube. A special premiere will be held Wednesday at the FIAF's Florence Gould Theater and this Friday, there will be a Stella McCartney-sponsored screening in Los Angeles. Other public screenings are planned for New York and Boston with support from Puma and the French Embassy.