SENTIENT TIMES Dec/Jan 2002

Environmental Film Festival Coming to Ashland February 8th and 9th

Imagine watching some of the most awe-inspiring and beautiful films conceivable. Then imagine that the messages in these films arouse your emotions, raise your spirits and give you a feeling of purpose, hope and courage. And now imagine getting to discuss the ecological implications of the films with the film makers and activists who work on the issues.

The Siskiyou Environmental Film Festival, founded on the ethic of environ-mental responsibility and a spirit of hopefulness, will be such an event. Hosted by the Siskiyou Project and co-sponsored by  Southern Oregon University’s Masters Program in Environmental Education, Native American Studies Program, the Ecology Center of the Siskiyous, and many southern Oregon businesses, the goal of the Siskiyou Environmental Film Festival is to inspire and motivate different segments of our community to take a more active role in local, regional and global issues that effect all of our lives. Our hope is that the films spur discussions of possible solutions and appropriate actions for some of the problems we face as a society and a world.

This inaugural environmental film festival is dedicated to Cathy Hocker, an Illinois Valley environmental activist who passed on earlier this year. She was clearly dedicated to making the future a better place for her children, Chelsea and Austin. In this spirit, the festival honors film makers who produce films featuring ecological themes and activists who, through a labor of love, work to make all of our communities better places to live and to preserve a quality environment for all of Earth’s creatures.

Many of the screenings, which will be held in the Meese Auditorium in the Center for Visual Arts on SOU campus, will be followed by a discussion led by either filmmakers or activists. The festival will also include a youth component including a variety of animated, feature and documentary films which will take place at the auditorium in the Science Building on campus.

The Siskiyou Environmental Film Festival will showcase artistic, animated, feature and documentary films with ecological themes from around the world. By sharing these educational, thought provoking, and energizing films, in accordance with the educational mission of all of the sponsors, the festival will attempt to stimulate the intellect, arouse the emotions, inspire discussion and expand the viewer’s notion of what an “environmental” film might be.

Without a doubt, we’d like to move you to action. Hopefully, the age of armchair citizenship ended in September. The world we want, the world we imagine, won’t come about unless more of us get involved. And while it once seemed important, it is now crucial.

Last April, Julie Norman and I traveled to Leavenworth, Washington to attend the 3rd Annual Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival. At the 3-day event we were inundated with a wide variety of films and filmmakers all with a common purpose: to educate the public about the value of conserving some part of our shared natural heritage. Little did I know then that I would be so overwhelmed by the quality of the films that we would travel home brainstorming about how to make a film festival happen in southern Oregon.

The first film we viewed opened with a black screen, white letters and some very dramatic music. It then showed historic footage of Celilo Falls on the Columbia River being flooded by the new Dalles Dam. Like most of us who have been in the Columbia Gorge, I had never seen places such as Celilo Falls. I couldn’t imagine what the area might have looked like nor what the impact had been on the land or the river. Nor could I have known what it must have felt like to the Native Americans who had survived there for millennia. I was saddened to realize it may have been the last straw, the death knoll for that culture.

One of the highlights of the festival was having conversations with some of the film producers. It seemed their motivations were not often very different from many of my colleagues and friends: to share information, to right a wrong and, in general, to make the world a better place to live in. They seemed like starving artists trying to change the world.

Films have the power to arouse complex and sometimes strong responses, and these sentiments can lead to action. In our modern, sedate lives we too often forget that action empowers us while satisfying some deep seated needs. The impact of film was made perfectly clear to me as a child. I watched my first environmental movie at an early age. While the techniques were not very sophisticated, the message was certainly graphic: the effects of nuclear power could be very bad … and scary. Set in the cold war days of the 1950’s, Them was a  movie about the effects of nuclear testing and radiation. Watching those giant ants appear on the screen had a chilling affect, and it wasn’t until many years later that I realized the impression it had upon me. Ironically, the first real environmental issue I worked on was nuclear energy.

Film continued to effect my life as I moved from my state of naiveté into one of awareness and activism. In a college English class we studied the works of Stephen Crane including The Red Badge of Courage. This led me to films such as Johnny Got His Gun and Soldier Blue, films that explored the casualties of war and some of society’s injustices. The effect of these films on my psyche clearly moved me into the life of a peace and social justice advocate and activist. The evolution from there to my work as an environmental activist wasn’t a large leap.

It is clear that many humans tend to take a short term view of the world. It wasn’t until the 19th Century that we saw the beginning of an environmental conscious-ness with the awakening of Henry David Thoreau and his colleagues. People who weren’t struggling to survive started to notice that the air was not as clean; nor was the water. Something was wrong, but little was done to find solutions, or to emulate the thinking of indigenous cultures who understood they were a part of the larger environment and that the lives of their descendants depended on maintaining the integrity of the world around them.

During the 20th Century, humans have begun to address the environmentally deleterious consequences of the industrial age. New laws, regulations, technologies and industries have emerged in response to growing concern for the global environ-ment. These developments have not gone unnoticed by the film industry. Over the course of its continued development, film has been a medium not only for enter-tainment, but also for expressing opinions, documenting evidence, and visually representing critical issues. Today, a sizeable collection of cinematic work is focused on the environment, with more produced every year. Earlier this year, actress Julia Roberts received an Academy Award for her performance in the environmental film Erin Brockovich.

The film industry has the power to become the greatest single force for education and change that the world has ever known, with the ability to reach all corners of the globe and touch the hearts of all people. In fact, Filmmakers for Conser-vation is a group that is passionate about the natural world and work to ensure that we pass the Earth on to future generations knowing it will still care for all its inhabitants.

“Wildlife film makers know very well the alarming disappearance and destruction of habitat around the world that is causing what biologists refer to as the 6th major extinction period. As more and more of humanity moves to large urban centers, our connection with and need for nature becomes less obvious. There has never been a time when a conservation message is more urgently needed,” stated Dr. David Suzuki, geneticist, broadcaster and author.

Conserving species and protecting the environment are admirable goals, but if no one hears about your projects then attitudes remain unchanged, public support suffers, and things get steadily worse. To inform, educate, encourage and inspire—and to bring about change for good—is an essential task.

With that in mind, I invite you to attend the Siskiyou Environmental Film Festival. With award winning films such as In The Light of Reverence, The Greening of Cuba, and Rough & Ready Creek: Mining Threatens an Ancient Landscape, and with award winning producers such as John de Graaf and Emily Hart, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Come be inspired; come find your passion; come find out how you can be part of the solution. Come change the world.

Look for tickets at the Northwest Nature Shop and The Outdoor Store in Ashland and join us for the opening reception on February 8th at 6:00 p.m. in the Meese Auditorium. For more information or to volunteer, please call the Siskiyou Project at (541) 592-4459 or email me at barry@siskiyou.org.

Barry Snitkin is the Community Organizer for the Siskiyou Project in southern Oregon, where he has worked since 1992 doing community relations, coalition building and working with private landowners on in-stream water rights and conservation easements. He is currently organizing the Siskiyou Environmental Film Festival and enjoys playing in Oregon’s whitewater in his inflatable kayak.

SENTIENT TIMES
PO Box 1330 Ashland, OR 97520
PHONE (541) 512-1084 • FAX (541) 512-1085
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