Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival On Tour

Friends of the Inyo brings SYRCL's acclaimed film festival back to the Eastern Sierra for a third great year! Check out the films and the festival details at www.wseff.org and read on for film and event details.

This year, Cerro Coso College's Mammoth and Bishop campuses are the venues for the film fest, guaranteeing plenty of room for viewing and festivities.

Event Details:

Friday, December 4, 7 p.m.

Cerro Coso College's Mammoth Campus (101 College Pkwy, off Meridian Blvd, east of Vons)

Saturday, December 5, 7 p.m.

Cerro Coso College's Bishop Campus (4090 West Line Street, at Ed Powers RD)

Tickets: $10 per person, per night or FREE with new FOI membership or renewal. Join or renew online, at the door, or by calling 760-873-6500. Cerro Coso and other students get in free with ID. Tickets (no memberships) are also available at Access Art & Business Center in Mammoth and Wilson's Eastside Sports in Bishop starting Nov. 19.

Films:

Global Focus V – The New Environmentalists (different selections at both Mammoth and Bishop)

Will Parrinello, Tom Dusenbery, John Antonelli

Grassroots environmental heroes too often go unrecognized. Yet their efforts to protect the world’s natural resources are increasingly critical to the well-being of the planet we all share. Thus, in 1990 San Francisco civic leaders and philanthropists Richard N. Goldman and his late wife, Rhoda H. Goldman created the Goldman Environmental Prize. The Goldman Prize views “grassroots” leaders as those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen participation in the issues that affect them. Through recognizing these individual leaders, the Prize seeks to inspire other ordinary people to take extraordinary actions to protect the natural world.

Belgium - Ignace Schops: Raising more than US$90 million by bringing together private industry, regional governments, and local stakeholders, Schops led the effort to establish Belgium's first and only national park, protecting one of the largest open green spaces in the country.
Russia - Marina Rikhvanova: As Russia expands its petroleum and nuclear interests, Rikhvanova campaigned to protect Siberia’s Lake Baikal, one of the world’s most important bodies of fresh water, from environmental devastation brought on by these polluting industries.
Mozambique - Feliciano dos Santos: Using traditional music, grassroots outreach and innovative technology to bring sanitation to the most remote corners of Mozambique, Santos empowered villagers to participate in sustainable development and rise up from poverty.

Goldfish (Mammoth)

Joe Wein, Jana Memel

Two girls, one mission and a lot of fish. Goldfish is a narrative film with plot and characters versus  documentary style. Here is the storyline… A little girl questions why each one of her classmates were given a goldfish to foster and wonders if the fish wouldn't be happier in the water with their family. So she recruits a friend to return the fish to their habitat by flushing them down the toilet much the same way Nemo got back to the ocean in the acclaimed Disney film. Only to find out later when she in the principle's office that…(don’t want to ruin the ending)  Suitable and adored by audiences of all ages. Many awards, including Audience Award, Austin FF www.goldfish-movie.com (US, 2007, 13min)

The Last Descent (Mammoth)

2009 Wild & Scenic People’s Choice Award

Kathryn Scott, Charlie Center, Scott Ligare

Join a group of world class whitewater kayakers to some of the worlds most amazing rivers ... descending them possibly for the last time.  The Marsyangdi River of Nepal, the Brahmaputra River in India and the White Nile River in Uganda are all threatened or are in the process of being destroyed by large scale hydroelectric projects.   www.thelastdescent.com, www.internationalriver.org

Hardrock Mining – Rethink, Reform (Mammoth)

Adam Cramer, Nat Lopes

As human-powered outdoor recreation enthusiasts, we all need metal, from climbing carabiners and bike frames to trekking poles and ski edges. However, there remains a problem: 19th century values and policy are guiding 21st century high-tech mining technology. (US, 2008, 6:25min) www.outdooralliance.net

I Met the Walrus  (Mammoth and Bishop)

2009 Wild & Scenic Honorable Mention

Josh Raskin, Jerry Levitan

In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview. Using the original interview recording as the soundtrack, director Josh Raskin has woven a visual narrative romancing Lennon’s every word in a cascading flood of multi-pronged animation. (Canada, 2007, 5:15min) ww.imetthewalrus.com

Water Loving Doggies II (Mammoth and Bishop)

2009 Wild & Scenic Honorable Mention

Phil Hassan

When will those dog days of summer at the Yuba return? (US, 2008, 5min)

Division Street (Mammoth)

Eric Bandick

Roads and cars have fragmented wild landscapes, ushered in urban sprawl, and challenged some of the bedrock values we once took for granted.  But as the transportation crisis appears to be spiraling out of control, a new generation of ecologists, engineers, city-planners, and everyday citizens are transforming the future of the American road. From pristine roadless areas to concrete jungles, follow filmmaker Eric as he tours North America, dodging Yellowstone’s grizzlies and Miami’s taxicabs, and highlighting sustainable road projects and wildlife corridors for the 21st century. (US/CANADA, 2008,  49min) www.divisionstreetmovie.com, www.transalt.org

180° SOUTH (Mammoth)

Woodshed Films?This is a short trailer for the soon to be released film, "180° SOUTH," told through the eyes of climber/surfer/writer Jeff Johnson during a 6-month voyage to South America to climb a mythical peak called Corcovado. The film delves deep into the roots of climbing, surfing and the environmental movement's most prolific renegades, including Patagonia founder Yvon Choinard, whose own trip to South America iin 1969 served as Johnson’s inspiration.  www.woodshedfilms.com, www.180south.com

Historia de Letrero (Bishop)

Alonso Alvarez Barreda

With a stroke of the pen, a stranger transforms the afternoon for another man in this emotionally stirring film. The winner of the short film online competition at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. (Mexico/US, 2007, 5:45min) www.wamafilms.com

Roadless is More: Taking Care of Our National Forests (Bishop)

Adam Cramer, Tom O’Keefe, Nat Lopes

Backcountry areas that remain road-free provide a host of ecosystem services, such as clean drinking water and a refuge for many imperiled species. They also contain extremely high value recreational opportunities. Now, more than ever, these wild, backcountry areas need the help of those who enjoy them most-outdoor recreation enthusiasts. (US, 2008, 2:22min) www.outdooralliance.net, www.hilride.com

Homegrown Revolution  (Bishop)

Jules Dervaes

In the midst of a densely urban setting in downtown Pasadena, radical change is taking root. For over twenty years, the Dervaes family have transformed their home into an urban homestead. As a family for this new paradigm, they harvest nearly 3 tons of organic food from their 1/10 acre garden while incorporating many back-to-basics practices, as well as solar energy and biodiesel. (US, 2007, 15:44min) www.freedomgardens.org

American Outrage (Bishop)

2009 Wild & Scenic Honorable Mention

Beth & George Gage

Carrie and Mary Dann are feisty elderly Western Shoshone sisters who have always grazed their livestock on the range outside their ranch in north central Nevada. That range is part of sixty million recognized by the U.S. as Western Shoshone land in the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. In 1974, the U.S. sued the Dann sisters for trespassing on United States Public Land without a permit. Their dispute swept to the United States Supreme Court and eventually to the United Nations. The film examines why the U.S. would spend millions prosecuting and persecuting two elderly women grazing a few hundred horses and cows in a desolate desert?

March Point (Bishop)

Annie Silverstein, Tracy Rector, Nick Clark, Cody Cayou and Travis Tom

Cody, Nick, and Travis, three teens from the Swinomish Tribe, wanted to make a gangster movie, but they ended up filming one about the impact of two oil refineries on their rez. This film is a coming of age story, following the boys as they begin to understand themselves, the environment and the threat their people face. (US, 53:30min) www.marchpointmovie.com