Arbor Day ‘Wild & Scenic Film Festival’ screening spotlights what inspired documentaries can do

Red wolves and gnomes and hairy scary merry fairies.

These will be featured during Wild & Scenic Film Festival screenings as Trees Columbus celebrates Arbor Day with a slate of events Thursday through Saturday.

The first movie series will be 6 p.m. Thursday at the Springer Opera House’s Dorothy McClure Theater, and then a second set for children will be 10 a.m. Saturday at the Columbus State University Seaboard Depot Gallery, 941 Front Ave.

Each features a special guest. Coming to Columbus for a panel discussion during the Thursday screening is Regina Mossotti, director of Animal Care and Conservation at the Endangered Wolf Center. Her previous research included catching and collaring mountain lions; now she’s helping manage survival plans for endangered species such as the red wolf, Mexican wolf and African painted dog.

She can talk about the film, “Red Wolf Revival,” which documents efforts to save the species in eastern North Carolina.

At the children’s showing will be Renee Simmons Raney, author of “Hairy, Scary, but Mostly Merry Fairies! Curing Nature Deficiency through Folklore, Imagination and Creative Activities.” Among the creative activities is building a fairy house.

She can discuss the movie “The Gnomist,” about fairy houses people find in a suburban forest.

Tickets for the Thursday screening are $15 at www.treescolumbus.org, and seating is limited to 150. Tickets for Saturday are $10.

At 8 a.m. Friday, Trees Columbus will host a talk by Kathleen Wolf of the School of Environmental and Forest Services at the University of Washington College of the Environment. An expert on the benefits of urban forestry, she will speak in the W.C. Bradley Museum, 1017 Front Ave., followed by an “urban tree ramble” through downtown.

During a reception Friday evening from 5:30 to 7 in the Bay Gallery of CSU’s Corn Center for the Visual Arts, 921 Front Ave., the winners of a “Plant Preserve Protect” high school poster contest will be honored at an exhibit featuring works from the Canary Project. The project created by artists Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris uses diverse media to focus on environmental issues such as climate change and species extinction.

Hoping to inspire

The Arbor Day movie screenings are a preview to this summer’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival, set for July 26-27. Organizers hope the productions shown here will inspire local filmmakers and film students to make their own environmental documentaries.

Columbus makes a fitting host city, now that it’s blossoming into an education center for Georgia’s blooming film industry, and a hub of outdoor activities such as whitewater rafting and kayaking.

“Trees Columbus has been around for 18 years now, and our members and supporters have recently been asking us for more ways to get involved and interact with other people who have a common interest in a greener and healthier Columbus,” said Dorothy McDaniel, the nonprofit’s executive director.

“This film fest is a perfect fit for Trees Columbus because it leaves you feeling inspired and motivated to make a difference in the community, and you're in a room full of people who feel the same way. ‘Wild and Scenic’ will help us build a community of volunteers and activists.”

Some other films on the schedule are:

“Guided,” the story of Maine Wilderness guide Ray Reitze and his insights into living in harmony with nature.

“The Wild President,” about Jimmy Carter, who came to understand the wonder of untamed rivers when he first paddled the Chatooga River’s Bull Sluice.

“The Living Forest,” about the Kichwa Tribe in the Amazon’s Sarayaku Region in Ecuador, where they’re fighting oil companies trying to exploit their land.

“Climbing Kilimanjaro: A 12-Year-Old’s Passion Project,” about Lilliana Libecki, who set out to visit seven continents by the time she was 12, and became inspired to focus on environmental issues.

“Destiny’s Bay,” about Destiny Watford, who organized residents to fight construction of a massive incinerator to be built within a mile of her Baltimore high school.

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival was created by the South Yuba River Citizens League, which formed in 1983 to fight building two dams on the South Yuba River in Nevada City, Calif. The annual event there draws thousands of fans and filmmakers. It’s next scheduled for Jan. 17-21, 2019.

This story was originally published February 10, 2018 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Arbor Day ‘Wild & Scenic Film Festival’ screening spotlights what inspired documentaries can do."