Shorts Block: UNEXPECTED CONSERVATION

1717 Leonard Street,Dallas TX 75201

14 May, 2022

Description

Saturday, May 14, 4:30pm: UNEXPECTED CONSERVATION Hall Arts UNEXPECTED CONSERVATION Why repopulate Toronto’s ravines with grandmother seedlings? Find sustainability in atheism? Weave recycled plastic into clothing? Unexpected Conservation shines a light on the overlooked corners of the world, where individuals work to solve whatever problem is within reach. Featuring Short Films: The Land of Griffons We Decided to Become Farmers The Wilderness Within The Seeker The Monster in Our Closet Humanity Has Not Yet Failed Screening Times: Sat. May 14 – Hall Arts – 4:30pm Short Film: THE LAND OF GRIFFONS (dir. Riccardo Soriano) Runtime: 10min Year: 2021 On the North-western coast of Sardinia lives the last native Italian colony of Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus fulvus). Domenico Ruiu, an experienced photographer and conservationist, tells us about the dangers threatening the survival of the colony and about the work of the “Life Under Griffon Wings” project fighting to ensure a safe future for the colony. Meet the Director: Riccardo Soriano is a BAFTA shortlisted and award winning filmmaker based between Rome and London. Soriano’s film projects focus on environmental and conservation issues. Soriano grew up in Calabria, where he established a deep connection with nature and developed his aesthetic sensibility. In 2020 he started an MA at the prestigious National Film and Television School (UK). Short Film: WE DECIDED TO BECOME FARMERS (dir. Rob Herring, Ryan Wirick) Runtime: 18min Year: 2020 In the heart of a food desert what kind of empowerment is possible? We Decided To Become Farmers highlights the historic impact of The Urban Farming Institute and the transformation of unused lots into community solutions. Follow Bobby, Nataka, and Sierra through the streets of Boston, as they reconnect to nature across the seasons, catalyzing unexpected personal healing. Meet the Directors: Rob Herring and Ryan Wirick formed Earth Conscious Films to share empowering stories of solutions for environmental and human health. Their most recent feature, The Need To GROW, narrated by Rosario Dawson, won multiple Best Documentary Awards and has screened in over 175 countries. Their project, Farmacy of Light, is in post-production, with a scheduled release for 2022. Short Film: THE WILDERNESS WITHIN (dir. Jason van Bruggen) Runtime: 13min Year: 2021 The Wilderness Within is the story of one man's obsessive quest to re-wild Toronto's ravines by bringing the offspring of ecological elders, or mother trees, back to their natural homes. The film is a call to arms for nature lovers around the world to restore urban wilderness. Meet the Director: Jason van Bruggen is a self-taught photographer and film-maker based in Canada. Van Bruggen’s work is focused on depicting North American wilderness. Van Bruggen’s images capture the vulnerability of the ecosystems and the people who live within them, illuminating a tension between the strength and fragility of the region and the age-old resolve to survive. Short Film: THE SEEKER (dir. Lance Edmands) Runtime: 19min Year: 2020 Kenneth Copp, an excommunicated Amish woodworker, struggles with spirituality, poverty and life as an outcast from his strict, insular community. The Seeker, shot on 16mm film, is an endearing, lyrical portrait of what it means to pursue the truth — no matter the consequence. Meet the Director: Lance Edmands was born in Maine and later graduated from NYU. Edmands’ work has been featured at the Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, Berlin and New York Film Festivals. Edmands’ first feature, Bluebird, was an New York Times “Critic’s Pick.” Edmands’ has had three shorts; Strays, Whiteout and The Seeker, awarded Vimeo Staff Picks. Short Film: THE MONSTER IN OUR CLOSET (dir. Kathryn Francis, Nicole Gormley) Runtime: 27min Year: 2022 We are wearing fossil fuels. The fashion industry is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than France, Germany and the United Kingdom combined. The Monster in Our Closet documents how a determined lawyer, a surfing materials developer and a witty climate reporter work to tackle the problem of plastic in fashion by championing solutions through policy, design and individual action. Meet the Directors: Kathryn Francis is a documentary director and producer with a background in political science and international education. Francis’ two main goals in life and work are to protect our wild places and to empower marginalized groups and individuals to stand in their power to share their stories. Nicole Gormley is a documentary filmmaker with the aim to tell stories that inspire people to rethink their relationship to nature while inspiring them to protect the environment. Using her natural ability to connect with people, Gormley approaches projects from the lens of a shared human experience. Short Film: HUMANITY HAS NOT YET FAILED (dir. Norma V. Toraya, Jared P Scott) Runtime: 8min Year: 2022 Climate activist Greta Thunberg’s message juxtaposes the absurdity of political inaction with the straightforward high-stakes of the climate emergency in this animated film. Playful and poignant, Humanity Has Not Yet Failed pits a ludicrous status quo against the clear-eyed activism necessary to shift the balance of power and create a sustainable, just and equitable world. Meet the Directors: Norma V. Toraya aka Crankbunny is an award-winning AICP® animator and director. Toraya has animated films for the #MeToo movement, United Nations, Nike, Adult Swim, Plan Canada and the rock band Rush. Toraya has worked alongside Girls that Code, Wheaton College, Ghetto Film School. Jared P. Scott is an Emmy-nominated director and New York Times bestseller. Films include Requiem for the American Dream (Netflix), The Age of Consequences (Starz, PBS) and The Great Green Wall. Scott has worked alongside 350.org, Avaaz, the Sierra Club and the People’s Climate Movement to make films to spark climate action, fossil-fuel divestment. www.earthxfilmfestival.org