Whidbey Island Center for the Arts will present selections from the Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival on Friday, March 29, and Saturday, March 30. Screenings begin at 5 p.m. each day and will run until 10:30 p.m.
The festival, held at Sleeping Lady Conference Center in Leavenworth, is one of the leading environmental film festivals in the country, and explores ways in which filmmakers and the environmental community can help raise public awareness. The festival’s mission is to improve the quality and effective use of media. Film passes are $5 for each night, and will be available at the door.
A screening of two films for Langley Middle School students will be Friday morning. The school’s 7th grade adventure education program, in collaboration with Director Doug Dirkson, has created an educational recycling video, “The Green Dream — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” The project was create as a result of adventure education students’ role as recycling coordinators for the middle school. Students created a fun and informative video to help educate not only their classmates, but the entire community about recycling. The video stars students, as well as community members. The video includes a tour of the Coupeville Recycling and Solid Waste Station. The video’s premiere will be held at WICA on Friday March 29, with special showings for all LMS students and all interested community members. One showing will be from 9 to 9:30 a.m. and another will be from 10 to 10:30 a.m.. A shorter version of this film will be Saturday.
For a full schedule go to www.
whidbey.com/wica or call (360) 221-8262.
FRIDAY
The Green Dream: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, 9:-9:30 a.m. and 10-10:30 a.m.,
The Last Frog, 11:15 a.m. Frogs across the planet seem to be doing a puzzling disappearing act. The Last Frog is a murder mystery, starring our amphibious friends and supported by a cast of devotees who are frantically trying to unravel the curious decline of frogs throughout the world.
The Stork , 5 p.m. This animated film delivers a poetic warning about overpopulation in a highly consumptive society as the storks‚ special deliveries transform the Earth.[Nina Paley, 2002]
Not for Sale, 5:15 p.m. Global trade agreements are expanding what corporations can own and control from things like machinery, to knowledge and living creatures. This new television documentary examines the consequences for the environment, the food supply, and human rights. It shares the stories of farmers, indigenous people, and anti-globalization activists who oppose patents on life.
Trinity and Beyond (92 minutes), 5:50 p.m. This is an unsettling yet visually fascinating documentary presenting the history of nuclear weapons development and testing between 1945 until 1963. Features an original score performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and reveals previously unreleased and classified government footage depicting in graphic detail these weapons. Kuran started his career in 1976 working as an animator on the original Star Wars.
Bunch of Fives: Five Short Films, 7:45 p.m. A series of award-winning animated films that comment ruefully on our relationship with the natural world.
Echo of Water Against Rocks, 8:15 p.m. In 1957, Celilo Falls was swallowed by the rising backwater of the newly constructed Dalles Dam. With historic, never-before-seen images and original interviews, this film looks back through two generations and pays homage to the loss of Celilo.
In the Light of the Reverence, 8:30 p.m. The story of Native American struggles to protect landscapes of spiritual significance.
The Greening of Cuba , 9:50 p.m. Profiles Cuban farmers and scientists working to reinvent a sustainable agriculture, based on ecological principals and local knowledge rather than imported inputs.
SATURDAY
Seeds of Plenty, Seeds of Sorrow, 5 p.m. A documentary from India about the effects of the highly touted Green Revolution there. Credited with ensuring that India is no longer a developing countries’ basket case, the Green Revolution is widely regarded as one of the most successful development strategies of the 20th century. But this film reveals that in India it has helped to create a new serf class and the dramatic yields of the early years have fallen away in the wake of pesticide poisoning and the short-lived miracle wheat strains.
The Dollars and $ense of Preserving Community Character, 6:05 p.m. This video focuses on the economic, social, and environmental benefits of preserving community character. The video is narrated by Ed McMahon, Vice President and Director of the Center for Conservation and Development at The Conservation Fund. This video is ideal for sharing the keys to successful communities with local officials, business groups and civic organizations. It addresses the role that historic preservation, urban design, trees and landscaping, open space preservation and other issues play in shaping our sense of place. A discussion on citizen-led efforts to implement design review standards in Island County will follow the film.
Beyond Organic: The Vision of Fairview Gardens, 7:30 p.m. Fairview Gardens is an urban farm located in Goleta, Calif., in the middle of some of the most expensive real estate in the U.S. This 12-acre organic farm has become a model of sustainable food production and community involvement. This film tells the story of the farm’s battle to survive in the face of development.
Viva Judi Bari, 8:05 p.m. On May 24, 1990, a pipe bomb exploded under Earth First! Activist Judi Bari’s car, crippling her. Her survival and return are the subject of this film. In the years following, Judi continued to organize in the forests and federal courtrooms.
The Buffalo War, 8:30 p.m. Native Americans, ranchers, and environmental activists clash over the killing of wild buffalo near Yellowstone National Park.
The Green Dream, 9:45 p.m.
Defending the Forests: The Struggle of the Campesino Environmentalists of Guerrero, 10 p.m. The deforestation of Guerrero’s Petatlán and Coyuca de Catalán mountain ranges dates back to the 1950’s. In the 1970’s, logging increased, accompanied by militarization and repression of Guerrero’s rural communities. This is the story of the Organization of the Campesino Environmentalists created in 1998, and their success in halting Boise Cascade’s exploitation of their forests. .
Fire in the Eyes, 10:20 p.m. A powerful look at Humboldt County’s policy of using pepper spray directly on the eyes of non-violent protesters. This controversial tactic is called “pain compliance.”
