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A homeless musician finds meaning to his life when he starts a friendship with dozens of parrots.

Judy Irving ("The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill") follows a wayward California pelican from her "arrest" on the Golden Gate Bridge into care at a rehab facility and explores nesting grounds, Pacific coast migration and survival challenges.

Cold Refuge is about the physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects of full immersion in the natural world: how, though it may seem counter-intuitive, swimming in cold water helps mitigate some of life's most serious challenges. The film's diverse film subjects include a wheelchair-bound, paralyzed swimmer who faces fear by diving off a high pier; a Black man who was told by whites when he was 13 that "Black people don't swim" (it took him 30 years to try); a blind man who tethers himself to a sighted swimmer; a woman with aggressive breast cancer who "swims to chemo;" a lawyer who reduces courtroom stress in the open water; and a young woman who communes with her late mother in San Francisco Bay, where they both swam together. Along with swimmers' stories of adversity and resilience, the film's marine mammals, birds, artwork, and a variety of open-water locations create a visual meditation on what it means to escape our abstract digital world in favor of what's real. Cold Refuge is the fourth feature-length documentary by Sundance-and-Emmy-Award-winning filmmaker Judy Irving (Dark Circle, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, Pelican Dreams), who has been a year-round San Francisco Bay swimmer since 1984. In 2015, in recognition of her theatrical film track record, she was elected to the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Pelican Media, the production company, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The film was funded by individuals, foundations, and by several donor-advised funds. Cold Refuge premiered at the International Ocean Film Festival in April 2023.

Preserving our Waters takes a look at the 50-year history of the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve and the people behind the efforts to establish it as the first estuarine preserve in Florida. The 30-min documentary explores how these actions were the blueprint for the Florida Aquatic Preserve Act of 1975 and the statewide aquatic preserve system. Produced for WGCU Public Media by award-winning producer Tom James, the film examines the delicate balance between development and maintaining the integrity of an estuary. Funded in part by the Florida Humanities Council/National Endowment for the Arts, the documentary also addresses the state of the preserve's water quality today and the groups who are working to continue its preservation in increasingly challenging times. As issues with Lake Okeechobee, a growing regional population and potential sea level rise pose challenges for the next 50 years, what will it take to preserve our waters?