Wild and Scenic Film Festival Recap

ACES Staff

March 24, 2015

Wow! The Wild & Scenic Film Festival event at the Wheeler was so much fun! It was amazing to sell out this event in its first year, and in doing so, raise significant funds for our Tomorrow’s Voices program.

We couldn’t have done it without the generous support of sponsors. These are businesses in our community that believe in environmental education and civic responsibility, the tenets of the Tomorrow’s Voices mission. So please thank our partner Patagonia Snowmass, our Gold sponsors Aspen Sports, Forum Phi Architecture and Interiors, and Aspen Daily News.

The evening was especially poignant for those who knew Willard Clapper. Willard, together with lifelong friend AO Forbes, founded Tomorrow’s Voices more than fifteen years ago. AO took the stage to say a few words in memory of Willard, including recounting their youthful fishing adventures on Hunter Creek, and how those experiences shaped their futures as environmental advocates.

For folks who couldn’t get a ticket, or missed the event for any reason, here’s a recap of our film program. Our goal was to balance education and inspiration and to showcase movies that inspire a desire to advocate for the places you love. Click on the thumbnails to learn more or watch the films online.

	Earthbook (4 min) What would Planet Earth post about humans on its profile? The Earth fast forwards through a virtual relationship with humans — but soon starts to ask itself whether it wants to be friends with a species that exploits its national resources and threatens animals and plants.
	A Life Well Lived/Jim Whitaker (4 min) A film about taking risks and finding your passions.
	River of Eden (6 min) Join filmmaker Pete McBride, a National Geographic Freshwater Hero, on a journey into the Fijian Highlands to discover why the locals said “no” to easy money from resource extraction, and how they turned to tourism to fund a conservation area that protects one of the most beautiful rivers on Earth.
	Sea Change (19 min) “Sea Change” follows the grassroots efforts of Ikal Angelei, a charismatic 31 year-old Kenyan woman, as she tries to mitigate the impact of the Gibe III dam in Ethiopia on the indigenous people who have relied on the Omo River and Lake Turkana as their vital source of water and food for centuries.
	Pride of Namibia (7 min) World Wildlife Fund’s film about empowered communities and responsible tourism in Namibia.
	The Great Frack Forward (29 min) Mother Jones’ Jaeah Lee and Climate Desk’s James West traveled to central China and uncovered alarming trends with global consequences. The duo reveals how as China aims to wean itself from coal, it has called on multinational oil and gas giants to help it tap into its vast natural gas resources. As fracking technology crosses over from the fields of Pennsylvania to the mountains of Sichuan, so have questions about its risks and consequences. The practice, which has been linked to contaminated water, methane leaks, and earthquakes in the US, may pose greater risks in China, given what one expert describes as a “pollute first, clean up later” mentality.
	The Joy of Air (4 min) A short by Duct Tape Then Beer about the joy of adventure in the outdoors.
	Adventures With A Purpose: A Higher Calling (15 min) Renowned snowboarder, Jeremy Jones, teams up with Clif Bar and Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation to study glacial fresh water reserves across the globe. Get the facts with Dr Natalie Kehrwald and ride with Jeremy Jones as he collects ice samples from the high peaks of the Himalaya, on a mission to protect the places where we play.
	Catch It (10 min) Léa Brassy grew up surfing the warm waters of Southern France. Accustomed to a life on the road, her nomadic lifestyle takes a pause at the Unstad break in the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway. Trading in her bikini for a thick wetsuit, she connects with the surrounding mountains, Arctic surf, and simple living. Whether it’s paddling hard for a wave, or chasing after a passion – Léa reminds us that if the timing is right, we have to Catch It.
	The World Beyond the World (4 min) Using text adapted from Robert Marshalls “Alaska Wilderness: Exploring the Brooks Range” (1929) and images from Expedition Arguk (2013), “The World Beyond the World” aims to celebrate that most ancient and sublime of human pleasures: moving through a mysterious, beautiful, and unknown landscape.
	The Story of Place (8 min) Craig Childs, Sinuhe Xavier, and Ace Kvale, legendary photographer, are working with Our Canyon Lands to tell the powerful stories of the fragile and threatened canyon country of southern Utah. “It would be easy to let a place like this go unprotected,” says Craig, “if you didn’t know what this place was made of to begin with.”
	White Earth (20 min) In this 2015 Oscar nominee in documentary short, three children and an immigrant mother face a long and difficult winter in North Dakota, which has attracted many people seeking work during an oil boom.
	I Heard (4 min) A Seuss-esque journey into some of the 110+ million acres of designated American wilderness that we have to enjoy. Award-winning filmmaker Michael Ramsey’s short film celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act which ensures that we will have places “…where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”