EnviroFest at the Black Bear Film Festival

**Graham Rice g*@tiscali.co.uk**

Garden writers tend to be interested in 
conservation isssues, so here are details of the 
one day, free EnviroFest at this year's Black 
Bear Film Festival in Milford, PA.

I can assure you (having chosen all five films) that this will be a great day.

Graham Rice

EnviroFest at the Black Bear Film Festival

www.blackbearfilm.com/envirofest

Sunday October 16, at the Trans-Lux Theatre, E. Catherine Street, Milford, PA

Celebrate the preservation of the natural world - 
from the global sweep to the local landscape - 
with five FREE films revealing and reflecting on 
our environment, the pressures which threaten it 
and on how we can help to preserve it.

10.30am
The Naturalist
Naturalist Kent Bonar has been called "the John 
Muir of the Ozarks" and is one of America's great 
naturalists. He lives the simple life of Henri 
Thoreau in a cabin without modern conveniences 
and has spent his life observing and recording 
the natural history of the Ozarks and working to 
protect it. His simple life, his profound 
relationship with the natural world, his 
startling attention to every detail of the 
forests and his relentless battle to protect them 
mark Kent Bonar as a unique exception in a world 
where conservation is so often the pragmatic 
conclusion of a battle between preservation and 
commercialism. Made over a period of four years 
this fascinating film about an extraordinary 
naturalist won the Outstanding Nature Documentary 
Award at the Cherokee Film Festival.

Discussion led by John Donahue. The film will be 
followed by a presentation and audience 
discussion on forest conservation led by John 
Donahue, Superintendent of the Delaware Water Gap 
National Recreation Area.

11.30am
Suzuki Speaks
David Suzuki is a world leader in sustainable 
ecology and an incisive environmental campaigner; 
Tony Papa is an award-winning director of feature 
films and documentaries and together they have 
produced a breathtaking film. Using stunning 
motion graphics they explore the belief of First 
Nations peoples that we are made of the four 
sacred elements: earth, air, fire and water. 
'There's no environment "out there" for us to 
interact with,' says David Suzuki. 'We are the 
environment.' Tony Papa's stunning visuals expand 
David Suzuki's insistent philosophy into an 
extraordinary sensory experience which literally 
creates new ways of seeing the world. Nominated 
for a WorldFest Award at the Houston 
International Film Festival. There will be a 
short break after the film during which the 
audience can recover from this dazzling 
experience.

12.30pm
Subdivide and Conquer
Presented in conjunction with The Alliance to Keep Pike Green
Do we really want to see our natural areas 
covered in sprawl, at the rate of 5500 acres a 
day? All over the country from the Rocky 
Mountains of the west to the forests of 
Pennsylvania subdivisions and developments are 
springing up, smothering our landscape and 
destroying for ever natural features which took 
millions of years to mature but which can vanish 
in minutes. And in separating people from their 
work, their families and friends, their shops, 
their churches and their cultural life sprawl 
increases our dependence on cars at a time when 
gas prices are only going to increase and when 
oil reserves are shrinking.  Subdivide and 
Conquer discusses the reasons for sprawl and 
suggests how the demand for homes can be met 
without destroying our natural heritage. Best 
Environmental Film at MountainFilm in Telluride, 
CO and winner of the Bronze Plaque at Columbus 
International Film & Video Festival. Resources 
for teachers who wish to develop the these of 
this film with their students are available at 
www.subdividefilm.com.

Introduced by Sue Currier, Executive Director of 
the Delaware Highlands Conservancy and a member 
of The Alliance to Keep Pike Green

Discussion led by Peter Pinchot. The film will be 
followed by a discussion led by Peter Pinchot, 
with Sue Currier, Director of the Milford 
Experimental Forest, a member Board of Directors 
of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation, and 
Chairperson of Vote to Keep Green.

2.00pm
A World at Waste
A husband and father secretly dumps his used 
motor oil in the creek and buries old car 
batteries rather than recycle them. Knowing it's 
wrong he just can't be bothered to do the right 
thing. But he sees the frightening results of his 
apathy - our apathy - as he's suddenly 
transported into the future where he meets his 
teenage son living as a tramp and sees his home 
town overwhelmed by garbage and destroyed by 
pollution. This novel warning of the results of 
our relentless desire to consume is an 
entertaining fantasy which could be all too real. 
Produced for Michigan's Lenawee County Solid 
Waste Department!

2.45pm
Life on the Delaware
Following the evolution of the Delaware River 
from its pure source in the wild Catskill 
Mountains to its maturity as a commercial 
waterway and fishery, we see the longest undammed 
waterway east of the Mississippi river through 
the eyes of people with an intimate connection to 
the river. From a grandmother who teaches fly 
fishing to a landscape photographer to a 
commercial shell fisherman and more, this is a 
fascinating portrait of the great river which 
runs alongside the home of our Festival. The 
trout in the headwaters and the horseshoe crabs 
in the estuary; the personal intimacies and the 
respectful commercialism; the purity and the 
annual clean-upŠ all are part of both a living 
ecosystem and a commercial resource.

Discussion and Q & A. Following the screening 
there will be a discussion and Q&A with Maya van 
Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, who features in 
the film. The Delaware Riverkeeper is the voice 
of the river and its streams, championing their 
rights as living members of our community.

PLUS, showing in the Milford Theatre (along with some wonderful feature films)
(For tickets, at $10 each, call 570.409.0909)

Saturday October 15 - 3.15pm
Grizzly Man
In an enthralling and often comedic documentary, 
famed filmmaker Werner Herzog explores the life 
and death of Timothy Treadwell, a bold, reckless 
activist who believed he had a special bond with 
Alaska's grizzly bears, through the hundreds of 
hours of video footage Treadwell produced. In 
some ways his being killed by one these creatures 
seemed inevitable. "An astonishing 
portraitŠbrilliant." - Roger Ebert

Sunday October 16 - 12.45pm
Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
A heartwarming true story of a Bohemian St. 
Francis and his remarkable relationship with a 
flock of wild South American red-and-green 
parrots. Mark Bittner, a former San Francisco 
street musician, falls in with the flock as he 
searches for meaning in his life, unaware that 
the wild birds will bring him everything he 
needs. "It is the emotional intensity of 
Bittner's experiences with parrots, experiences 
so strong and moving that he himself wonders, 
'How do you get so attached to an animal?' that 
forms one of the keys to the appeal." - Kenneth 
Turan, Los Angeles Times.

For full details of the Black Bear Film Festival 
and this year's films go to www.BlackBearFilm.com.
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