The Environmental Nature Center is once again a Community Partner of the Newport Beach Film Festival! We are co-presenting the screening of Environmental Short Documentaries on Saturday, April 22, at 1:15pm at Triangle Cinemas.
Tickets available via the Newport Beach Film Festival website www.newportbeachfilmfest.com. Each film is listed separately (all scheduled to begin at April 22 @ 1:15 pm). Purchase tickets to one and see them all!
Here is more about the individual shorts:
Gardeners of the Forest
For generations, Laos was known as the Land of a Million Elephants. Today, there are around 600 elephants left in Laos. If the Laotian elephants become extinct, not only does it mean a loss of one of the largest mammals on earth but also the loss for Laotian history and culture. This documentary will explore how the Chinese market, deforestation, and tourism all play a role in the imminent extinction of elephants in Laos.
Mining the Mother Lode
Combining cinematic western landscapes with intimate poetry recitation, “Mining the Mother Lode” is an agrarian dirge on wasted resources, our culture of consumption, and brokers who trade on our most precious resource: water.
How to Stop a Pipeline
When powerful international oil companies threaten the environment and livelihood of First Nations and local communities, people come together to save what’s most important. The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline is designed to carry tar sands oil from central Alberta to Kitimat, British Columbia for energy bound for Asian markets. It bisects the Coast Mountain Range and some of the wildest and purest countryside in the world. A group of environmentalists travel to British Columbia to meet with First Nations leaders, local organizations, and traverse 100 miles of the proposed route to learn what is really at stake.
Love of Place
In 1982 Southern Pacific Railroad employee Bill Wolverton was pulled into his boss’s office and informed he was being let go. Left without a job and facing an uncertain future, Bill was disheartened. In a daring move Bill sold his Sacramento home and headed east to a small town called Escalante in search of a new life. Bill had first heard of Escalante, a quaint desert town in southern Utah, in Backpacker Magazine, and once there he became obsessed with hiking and exploring the beautiful red-rock landscape. Bill dug into his new life and community. Volunteering as a National Park Ranger he was quickly tasked with removing an invasive species tree called the Russian Olive that threatened the delicate desert ecosystem. Since 1999, working along the Escalante River, Bill has hacked and chain-sawed his way through over 40 miles of Russian olive trees. Today, continuing a project only half complete, the now 66 year old volunteer defies age and rationality, returning day after day fixated on killing every last tree. Despite the drudgery and immensity of the project, Bill remains driven, laboring away with worn hands and a heart filled with purpose.A short documentary film, LOVE OF PLACE explores the obsessive determination that fuels Bill through a project that has dominated his life. Reflecting on earlier times in Sacramento, Bill considers how things might have been if he had continued working for a big company. Realizing how passionate he’s become in his Russian olive work, something that was missing at his railroad job, Bill is grateful for his current situation, surmising that getting let go in Sacramento might have been the best thing to ever happen to him.
Above and Below Socorro
Socorro Island (Mexico) is one of the worldwide top dive destinations. In ‘Above and Below Socorro’, Florian Fischer (of the film crew BEHIND THE MASK) teams up with free diving champion Nik Linder. Together they get on board the Nautilus Belle Amie to explore the waters around the island by scuba and by free diving. On their trip Florian and Nik come across countless Giant Manta Rays, Dolphins, and Sharks. And in the end, maybe even some Humpback Wales cross their way.