Friends of the Inyo is hosting SYRCL’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival in the Eastern Sierra for the fifth year in a row! We’re bringing beautiful, inspiring and thought-provoking movies about environmental activism and outdoor exploration in three venues on December 2, 3 and 8. Enjoy food, drink and great raffle prizes (raffle entry included with $10 ticket purchase).
December 2 – Mammoth Lakes, Edison Theatre at 7 p.m. For specific venue and film program info, go here.
December 3 – Bishop, Cerro Coso College, at 7 p.m. For specific venue and film program info, go here.
December 8 – Lone Pine Film Museum, at 7 p.m. For specific venue and film program info, go here.
Tickets are $10 per person, but consider taking advantage of our special membership offer and go to the festival for free by renewing your membership or joining Friends of the Inyo before December 2! You’ll get 1 ticket per $35 donation, 2 tickets per $50 donation, or an all-festival pass for two people perdonation of $100 or more.
Donate online here (click on the drop box for “film festival” below “where the need is greatest”), call (760) 873-6500, or email cat@friendsoftheinyo.org to reserve tickets. To learn more about the home festival, visit SYRCL’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival website.
Mammoth Film Program
Willem & The Whales (3 min) – Willem is 5 years old and has a lot on his mind. Take a quick journey through the eyes of a child as Willem explains why people should stop whaling.
Open Space (8 min) – Produced for Sonoran Institute, Open Space examines the loss of one of the West’s most valuable assets, open space, which serves as a community agricultural base and wildlife habitat. The film offers a new vision for communities and landscapes in the American West.
Nico’s Challenge (16 min) – A 13 year-old-boy faces special challenges as he climbs Kilimanjaro, the world’s highest freestanding mountain. His goal is to raise money and deliver free wheelchairs to the people of Tanzania.
A Skier’s Journey – La Grave (12 min) – Jordan Manley traveled to three ski destinations during the 2010 ski season. Of the three chronicles of his journey, we chose La Grave, where Chad and Tobin continue their global ski journey. A quirky yet stalwart cable car transports the skiers to 3200m, high in the Southern French Alps. Here, the terrain is wild, unmarked and unpatrolled – a stripped down, raw version of big mountain skiing.
The Majestic Plastic Bag (4 min) – Follow a plastic bag from supermarket to its final migratory destinatino in the Pacific Ocean gyre. Jeremy Irons narrates this mock, nature documentary.
Brower Youth Award: Freya Chay (5 min) – The Brower Youth Awards honor founder and legendary activist David R. Brower. The awards recognize six young people in North America annually for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental justice advocacy.
Spoil (44 min) – This beautifully documents the International League of Conservation Photographers adventure through the Great Bear Rainforest to support the coastal First Nation’s fight against a proposed oil export pipeline from the tar sands. These world famous photographers attempt to capture the iconic wilderness and wildlife of this suddenly threatened landscape.
Bishop and Lone Pine Film Program
The Greatest Migration (20 min) – Snake River salmon swim more than 900 mils inland and climb almost 7,000 feet to reach their spawning grounds. These iconic fish travel farther and higher than any other salmon on Earth, but a gauntlet of dams blocks their great migration and is pushing them to extinction.
Crossroads (6 min) – An icon of the West, the sage grouse has been reduced from tens of million to about 200,000, a casualty of our progress. With federal protection officially warranted but unsupported, the fate of this bird in the face of new energy development is unknown. Crossroads was produced for Montana Audubon.
Walking the Line (29 min) – What’s it like to walk 500 miles of a proposed transmission line – a line that will run through some of the West’s most remote landscapes? Thru-hiker Adam Bradley journeys to find out how our country’s transition to renewable energy will affect the land, wildlife and people.
The Majestic Plastic Bag (4 min) – Follow a plastic bag from supermarket to its final migratory destination in the Pacific Ocean gyre. Jeremy Irons narrates this mock, nature documentary.
Disturbance (19 min) – This unique film explores the complexity of fire management and ecology of the Northern Rockies. It speaks to homeowners, taxpayers, and anyone who cares about the diversity of life on earth.
The Fishman (11 min) – Mike Kasic swims the Yellowstone River like a human-fish through river canyons and scenic mountain views, watching trout in fast currents filled with water tornadoes, stopping only to body surf river waves. His message is simple: a river is more than its water; what lies beneath is a wilderness that is often overlooked, but critical for the Yellowstone ecosystem to survive.
Willem & The Whales (3 min) – Willem is 5 years old and has a lot on his mind. Take a quick journey through the eyes of a child as Willem explains why people should stop whaling.