Totoro’s Forest to Bloomington: Film, Community, and Growing Our Urban Canopy

This fall, IU Cinema, CanopyBloomington (Canopy) and its partners—including the Center for Documentary Research and Practice, Environmental Futures, Environment, Society & Sustainability Institute, ReWild, City of Bloomington's Office of Sustainability, Urban Greenspace and Urban Forestry Teams, Environmental Resilience Institute and others—invite the community into a two-part cinematic journey. Together, these screenings explore how forests, whether imagined or urban, nurture us and how we, in turn, are called to nurture them.

• My Neighbor Totoro (1988, dir. Hayao Miyazaki) — Tuesday, September 30 at 7:00 p.m. | Japanese with English subtitles | Introduction by Julie Roberts. IUC Event Page - Tickets

• City of Trees (2015, dir. Brandon Kramer) — Tuesday, October 7 at 7:00 p.m. | Introduction by Sarah Mincey | Q&A to follow. IUC Event Page - Tickets

Both screenings are free but ticketed through IU Cinema.

Totoro: A Whisper from the Forest

Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro patiently lingers on rustling leaves, the hum of cicadas, and the stillness of trees to reveal the quiet joy, comfort, and wonder in the spirit of the forest. In that stillness lives Totoro, a forest spirit who befriends two young sisters in rural Japan. For them, the forest is not something to escape from or exploit—it is a companion, a source of wonder, even a place of healing in the face of uncertainty.

What’s remarkable is how a work of fantasy rippled into reality. Moved by the film, communities in Japan rallied to preserve the Sayama Hills where Totoro’s forest was imagined. In that way, the movie became not just entertainment but a call to conservation. It whispered to viewers: pay attention, the trees are speaking.

City of Trees: Roots in Justice

Brandon Kramer’s City of Trees, by contrast, offers no whimsy. Its story is grounded in Washington, D.C., where a nonprofit’s effort to create green jobs through urban forestry confronts the weight of systemic injustice. What begins as the simple act of planting trees becomes complicated by community mistrust, inequities, and the pressures of scarce funding.

Here, trees are not magical spirits but symbols of resilience. Planting them becomes a way to reclaim dignity, to fight for belonging in neighborhoods that have too often been overlooked. The film reminds us that every tree planted in a city carries a story larger than its roots—planting a tree in a city can be an act of justice as much as an act of care. When done well, entire communities benefit.

The Q&A following the film will include Sarah Mincey (Canopy Co-Founder and Managing Director of Environmental Resilience Institute), Ava Hartman (Canopy Executive Director), Madeline (Mads) Gullion (Community Engagement Manager, Indianapolis Office of Sustainability) and Haskell Smith (City of Bloomington Urban Forester).

Stories to Inspire Action

Placed side by side, these films seem worlds apart. Yet together they suggest something profound: that planting and caring for trees is both an act of imagination and an act of social justice. Totoro asks us to wonder. City of Trees asks us to act.

Canopy is offering exactly that opportunity through its fall neighborhood plantings and celebrations. Audience members can step directly from the theater into a neighborhood, helping plant trees and becoming part of Bloomington’s own urban forest story.

This season, volunteers and neighborhood residents will join together to plant trees, share food, and celebrate community:

• Saturday, October 18 | 9 a.m.–1 p.m. | Waterman

• Saturday, October 25 | 9 a.m.–1 p.m. | Near West Side

• Saturday, November 8 | 9 a.m.–1 p.m. | Pigeon Hill

Residents in these neighborhoods may request up to three free trees for their yards (requests due by September 19). Tree Request/Agreement Forms After planting, everyone is invited to linger for music, food, and fellowship—proof that trees do more than grow roots; they grow community.

Volunteers are warmly invited to sign up online at Volunteering | CanopyBloomington.

The Near West Side planting on October 25 is part of the City of Bloomington's Sustainability Spooktacular Challenge and will be followed by a block party at Rev. Ernest D. Butler Park (12:30–2:30 p.m.), with local food vendors—Planted, Pili’s Party Tacos, Betty’s Hot Dogs—and live music by Busman’s Holiday and others. More information on the City's Sustainability Spooktacular Challenge can be found here: bloomington.in.gov/sustainability/zeroin

Knowing and Growing Your Urban Forest—Join Us!

• Totoro reminds us of the joy, imagination, and intimacy we can find with trees.

• City of Trees shows us the resilience, labor, and cooperation required to make trees thrive in communities.

• CanopyBloomington invites us to bridge these worlds—bringing wonder and action together.

The films at IU Cinema may stir us. But in the plantings, the tending, the showing up together, that is where the story continues. If Totoro asks us to listen to the whisper of the leaves, and City of Trees shows us the challenges of caring for them in community, CanopyBloomington invites us to join in writing the next chapter.

So, come to IU Cinema. Meet Totoro. Witness the struggles of growing urban trees in D.C. Then, roll up your sleeves and join your neighbors as we grow Bloomington's urban forest.

Because every urban forest—whether on screen or in our city—thrives only when there are people who care enough to plant and nurture their trees.

CanopyBloomington

CanopyBloomington is a social impact organization created to maximize Bloomington's tree canopy and sustainably manage Bloomington's urban forest for trees' many environmental, health, economic, and social benefits, with a focus on tree equity and community engagement. The staff, board and volunteers work year-round to plant and care for trees, improve air and water quality, and make neighborhoods healthier and more beautiful. But we can’t do it alone.

By donating to CanopyBloomington, you help fund tree-planting initiatives, educational programs, and community engagement efforts that make a lasting impact. Whether you contribute financially, volunteer for a planting event, or participate in our tree adoption programs, your involvement directly supports a greener, more pollinator-friendly Bloomington.

Join us in creating a thriving urban canopy that works for both people and our trees. Visit CanopyBloomington.org to learn more and make a donation today.