Arts

Film Festival Puts Conservation In Context

Over the past five years the American Conservation Film Festival has brought more than 100 films from around the world to Shepherdstown for its unique annual showcase. Each year about a dozen filmmakers come to Jefferson County for the festival—some renowned and some the best of student filmmakers nationwide. This season ACFF has expanded the scope of the festival by inviting scholars, policy experts, and scientists to join the filmmakers in special Conservation in Context post-screening discussions.

ACFF also is expanding its offerings in downtown Shepherdstown for the November 6–9 festival, showing films at the Erma Ora Byrd Center, the Byrd Science Center Auditorium, and a full slate of films at the Shepherdstown Opera House. As in past years, films also will be presented at the National Conservation Training Center.

“We’re excited to have so many films in town,” said festival manager Tatiana Petrone. “Being in-town allows our patrons a chance to have dinner and drinks, and visit the shops. We want the American Conservation Film Festival to be part of the local economy, as well as its cultural scene.”

More than 20 films are scheduled, examining topics like global climate change, endangered species, mountaintop removal in West Virginia, and modern agriculture. And for kids and parents, turtles, snakes, and parrots accompany their human companions at special presentations.

A festival preview event will be held November 5 in partnership with the National Conservation Training Center featuring Gregg Mitman, director of the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin. His presentation Glorious Species: Animals in Film kicks off the Conservation in Context series.

“We’re very grateful to the West Virginia Humanities Council for helping launch Conservation in Context,” said Amy Mathews Amos, president of ACFF.

The dozen Conservation in Context speakers include Cindy Rank of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, who will discuss coal mining; Joette Borzik, an expert on parrots and other non-game birds, will discuss the need for bird rehabilitation.  And children’s author Lynne Cherry will discuss offers a sneak preview of a film about kids playing leading roles in addressing climate change.

An ACFF Sampler

Reinventing Everything: Waste Equals Food. Rob van Hattum’s award-winning documentary explores how companies like Nike, Herman Miller and Ford are experimenting with ways to completely reinvent how products are designed, made, and used. Following the concept that “waste equals food,” a new industrial philosophy is emerging that promotes clean and sustainable production, a world where every ingredient in every product is designed to be re-used. It’s an idea that is triggering a new industrial revolution among designers and manufacturers.

For the Birders: The Lord God Bird. The ivory-billed woodpecker had been presumed extinct for decades. Then came the report in  spring of 2005 that the ivory-billed woodpecker had been discovered deep in the swamps of Arkansas. The rarest of rare birds, the ivory-bill is so spectacular that according to folk legend those who see it spontaneously cry out “Lord God!”  For most Americans the discovery came as a piece of rare good news from the conservation front. But to the inner circle of bird enthusiasts it was the latest installment in a legendary tale of hope and survival. Made in association with The Nature Conservancy, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and National Geographic Feature Films, this strikingly beautiful film, with music by Paul Cantelon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), is the first in a planned trilogy of films dealing with extinction by director George Butler.

From Smithsonian Networks. The Seed Hunter and Zoo Vets. One of the first casualties of global warming will be food crops. Australian scientist Ken Street and his team of ‘gene detectives’ are hunting for plant genes that could help our food withstand the impact of 21st century global warming. Seed Hunter is a remarkable journey from the drought ravaged farms of Australia, to the heart of the Middle East, to the mountains of Tajikistan, to secure planet-saving plants and store the bounty in the newly constructed seed bank known as the ‘doomsday vault.’ Along the way they meet farmers struggling to grow crops in a climate  gone haywire, and scientists working at the front line of gene technology to save tomorrow’s food.

See www.conservationfilm.org for the complete schedule of movie times, venues, and directions.  All films shown at the National Conservation Training Center are free of charge.  Tickets to films shown at the Shepherd University’s Erma Ora Byrd Auditorium and the Opera House are $7 for an evening of films, $5 for one film, or $3 for students with an ID (except at the Opera House).