'Wild & Scenic' - Film Festival Coming To Healdsburg

The Mendocino County-based Solar Living Institute will present the Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour, on Saturday, October 25, 2014, at the Raven Film Center in Healdsburg.

The Hopland-based sustainability and solar training non-profit decided to locate the one-day festival in neighboring Sonoma County to access a wider audience and help spread their message of environmental awareness and action.

“Bringing the Wild & Scenic Film Festival to Healdsburg is a natural extension of the Solar Living Institute’s work to inspire people to act on behalf of the environment,” said Teresa Jodon-Manns, the SLI Executive Director. “It perfectly fulfills our mission of promoting sustainability through environmental inspiration and education.”

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival focuses on films which speak to the environmental concerns and celebrations of the planet.

“Films featured at Wild & Scenic give people a sense of place,” said WSFF Tour Manager, Lori Van Laanen. “In our busy lives, it’s easy to get disconnected from our role in the global ecosystem. When we realize that the change we need in this world begins with us we can start making a difference.”

Featured at the Raven Film Center, 415 Center St. in Healdsburg, will be 11 films ranging in duration from the 2 minute short “A Brief History of the 5-cent Bag Tax” to the 34-minute documentary “Damocracy.”

Other videos offer humorous, poetic or thought-provoking glimpses of compost, buffaloes, rivers, and a former slash-and-burn farmer in Amazonia, “Reynaldo,” who has become an evangelist for planting trees, not cutting them down.

Using examples from the Belo Monte Dam in Brazil and the Ilisu Dam in Turkey, “Damocracy” shows the potential disasters these dams would cause on cultural heritage, wildlife and local communities who rely on the rich natural resources provided by the Tigris and Xingu Rivers.

The issue is particularly timely in California as the state once again considers an elaborate tunnel-and-reservoir project, Proposition 1, a $7.5 billion water bond with more than a third of the bond dedicated to construction of the first new state-funded dams, reservoirs and other water storage projects in three decades.

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival was started by the watershed advocacy group, the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) in 2003. The festival’s namesake is in celebration of SYRCL’s landmark victory to receive “Wild & Scenic” status for 39 miles of the South Yuba River in 1999.

Their annual 4-day event in Nevada City each January features nearly 100 award-winning films and welcomes over 100 guest speakers, celebrities, and activists who bring a human face to the environmental movement.

With the support of their national partners Patagonia, CLIF Bar, Sierra Nevada Brewing and Mother Jones, the festival can reach an even larger audience in tour venues coast to coast. Additional Wild & Scenic Film Festival sponsorship for the program comes from Klean Kanteen, Orion Magazine, and local sponsors Health Resolutions and Viluko Vineyards.

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour will be held on Saturday, Oct. 25, at the Raven Film Center, 415 Center Street. Doors for this event open at 6:30, the program starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are currently available on the solarliving.org website for $20, with discounts for students.
For more information visit the event website www.solarlivingevents.org or call 707-472-2460.

EVENT DETAILS:
Date and Time: Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and shows start promptly at 7 p.m
Location Address: Raven Film Center, 415 Center St., Healdsburg. The screenings will be in one of the four screening rooms at the Film Center; the other three will continue with regular programming.

Ticket Prices: $20 online at www.solarliving.org. Students with a valid ID tickets are $15. There are also SLI Membership / Ticket packages online for $50 (basic SLI membership is $35/year).

Tickets can be purchased at the Raven Film Center box office the day of the event, or anytime online at https://www.solarliving.org/component/registrationpro/event/688/Wild-and-Scenic-Film-Festival?Itemid=147 .