Environmental Film Fest. comes to Durham

Special to The Chronicle
Special to The Chronicle
The environmental movement is often understood in terms of global proportions, from climate change to rising sea levels. However, in order for the environmental movement to be successful, it must communicate local impacts. On the heels of the Duke Arts Festival on Sustainability, this sentiment was put to action as Duke artists shared compelling personal stories about their relationship to the environment. Similarly, the Wild & Scenic Film Festival will unite the global and the local this
Thursday, Nov. 8 , at the Durham Arts Council by bringing personal stories about communities from around the world to the PSI Theater of Durham.

The festival is part of a larger campaign originating in Nevada City, California where filmmakers, activists, innovators and adventurers gather to discuss and galvanize environmental activism. From there, the festival tours the country in order to promote its message and make the films accessible to more audiences. Although the Wild & Scenic Film Festival is in its twelfth year nationally, this is only its third year in Durham.

“It was first brought to Durham in 2011 when a group in the Nicholas School wanted to educate people about environmental issues and raise money for the Environmental Internship Fund,” said Taylor Tully, a masters student at the Nicholas School and the lead coordinator of the festival. “The festival continues to be fully volunteer-led and the fund has been able to provide support to students who do environmental advocacy work in not-for-profit organizations.”

As in past years, the proceeds from the festival will help fund student projects through the Environmental Internship Fund. This year, the festival has introduced a silent auction that will include items and services from local businesses. One of the main supporters of the festival includes Great Outdoor Provisions, which has not only sponsored the festival but has assisted in building it into a larger event in Durham.

“Great Outdoor Provision Company is a locally owned shop that has enjoyed serving North Carolina customers for over 40 years and one of the most fun parts of our jobs is getting to learn about some of the meaningful organizations that exist in our backyard, like the Environmental Internship Fund from Duke’s Nicholas School for the Environment,” said Chad Pickens of Great Outdoor Provision Company. “This program has made a big difference in the lives of Duke grad students and the communities they serve, and we at Great Outdoor Provision Company wanted to help bring the critically acclaimed Wild and Scenic Film Festival to this area in order to support this program.”

This year’s festival will feature four films: “Wild Things” from Daniel Hinerfeld, Molly O’Brien and Lisa Whiteman, “Carbon for Water” from Evan Ambramson and Carmen Elsa Lopez Abramson, “The Water Tower” from Pete McBridge and “Return to the Forest” from Patricia Sims and Michael Clark.

“These films feature places around the world, from a film on elephants being introduced to the wild in Thailand to an explorer who climbs Mount Kenya in search of a water god to carnivores in North America,” said Tully. “It will be inspiring for Durham audiences to see environmental advocates having a profound effect throughout the world.”

Tully shared a particularly moving story from last year in which a local Durham resident came up to the organizers of the festival and admitted that he now wanted to quit his job and change his life because the films inspired him to meaningfully lead a sustainable life and engage in environmental justice.

“Science, especially environmental science, is largely driven by facts and numbers, but the personal aspect is often lost behind those numbers,” said Tully. “It is important to convey these environmental issues in arts and media, so people can actually see these concepts in relation to their own lives.”

Pickens related a personal moment of epiphany from last year’s festival when he watched a profile of two Girl Scouts who had been working to remove palm oil from their organization’s cookies because the harvesting of it threatened orangutan habitats. As a result, Pickens's purchasing habits were changed in regards to Girl Scout cookies. Stories like Pickens’s and Tully’s are a reminder of the ability of film to provoke thought and change.

“Wild and Scenic films really do a great job of reminding folks about the power and majesty of nature, as well as the importance of community,” said Pickens. “While the settings for these films are scattered around the globe, the lessons learned are just as relevant here in our own community.”

This Thursday, Nov. 8, the Duke community can attend the Wild & Scenic Film Festival at the Durham Arts Council in the PSI Theater from 5:30 p.m. until 10 p.m. Tickets are $10. For further information visit http://wildandscenic.wordpress.com/.

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