MARLBORO — Marlboro College, in collaboration with Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center, will host the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in honor of Earth Day 2013.
Presenting 13 of the best new environmental films, the festival is April 21 from 7 to 9 p.m., and April 22 from 4 to 6 p.m., in Marlboro's 125-seat, acoustically engineered Ragle Hall.
The national festival is billed as the largest of its kind, and features nearly 100 new movies on subjects ranging from environmental action to wildlife photography.
Created by South Yuba River Citizen's League 11 years ago, the Wild & Scenic Film Festival now brings thousands of visitors into downtown Nevada City, Calif., each January. For the past six years the festival has been on national tour, inspiring and motivating thousands more with screenings in museums, cinemas, and colleges.
According to Joan Carey, director of educational programs at BEEC, the festival (www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org) is an opportunity for community members to see some of the finest environmental films of the year, and to learn what they can do to make a difference on issues they care about.
“The films we've chosen include first-rate storytelling focusing on wildlife and environmental activism, two themes important to us at BEEC,” she said.
The program for the first day of the festival deals primarily with wildlife conservation, featuring titles such as “Return to the Forest” (2012), narrated by William Shatner, about reintroducing Asian elephants into the wild in Thailand; and “Wild Things” (2012) about living with native carnivores in the American West.
The second day focuses on sustainable environmental solutions, and presents films such as an award-winning profile of acclaimed environmental pioneer Marion Stoddart, a suburban housewife who started the campaign to restore Massachusetts' Nashua River.
The Monday program also includes “Murder Mouth” (2011) concerning a young woman's struggle with eating meat, and “Streams of Consequence” (2013) about the search for renewable energy solutions in Chile.
The Wild and Scenic Film Festival on tour visits Marlboro through a generous grant from Patagonia and support from the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation for environmental initiatives at the college.
Earth Day is an annual day on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection. Earth Day is observed on April 22 each year.