Friday Evening Session in the Main Hall with Actor Peter Coyote
8:00pm
Rivers and Tides - Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time (90 min.)
Rivers and Tides is a beautiful journey into the mind of sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. A land-artist who uses materials from nature to make site-specific works, Goldsworthy allows the elements to have the last say in his beautiful creations, as his ingenious patterns of wood, leaves, stone and ice move and erode over time. German filmmaker Thomas Riedelsheimer followed the artist for over a year in several outdoor locations, intimately documenting his improvisational process and capturing the serene spectacle of his works and their delicate changes. Although Goldsworthy's private and often ephemeral pieces have been documented extensively in still photographs, this remarkable movie uses the artist's own voice to guide us through his process and help us "… see something you never saw before, that was always there but you were blind to it."

Golden Gate Award - San Francisco International Film Festival 
 

10:30am
We have put together a wonderful selection of fun, animated films for kids of all ages.  Journey of the Blob, Dinner for Two, The Boy and the Snow Goose, Turtle World, Arkelope, and Forest Family Forever are a combination of short films of various animation styles with stories of light-hearted messages about the environment.

Turtle World received:

Best Environmental Program - Vermont International Film Festival
Best Environmental Program - MountainFilm in Telluride
Best Animation - Japan Wildlife Film Festival

Forest Family Forever received:
2002 CINE Golden Eagle Award

11:15am
Ryan’s Well
Ryan’s Well is about a young boy’s determination to make a difference in the world. His is a classic story of the power of one. Through perseverance and determination, Canadian Ryan Hreljak has raised over $70,000 to improve the lives of his pen pal Jimmy Akana, his family and his friends in Angola, Uganda, by building a well. Ryan has become a local activist speaking at schools and community events about water conservation, poverty and global understanding. In this moving and inspirational documentary, we join Ryan on his Journey to Africa and his lifelong journey to help the people of Uganda. 

10:30am
Echo of Water
On March 10th, 1957, the newly constructed Dalles Dam closed its floodgates, backing the Columbia River over Celilo Falls. Regional newspapers heralded an era of hydropower, while upstream hundreds of people paid their final respects to the passage of a 10,000-year-old way of life. The flooding of Celilo Falls was an important day in Northwest history. It changed people personally and collectively. Two generations later, the memory of Celilo still resonates, like the echo of water against rocks.

10:45am
Troubled Waters
Taking a look at the effect of dams on rivers, Troubled Waters is a stunning documentary by filmmakers Beth and George Gage. Using beautiful footage and conversations with the likes of Bruce Babbitt and David Brower, the film takes viewers on a trip across America to ask the question, ‘Do we need all of these dams?’

11:40am
El Dorado
Narrated by Mary Steenburgen, El Dorado is more than an environmental film. It is a film about America: about dislocation and downsizing, about anger, about activism and ultimately about the human ability to solve problems. It will lead the audience to a greater understanding of the struggle that people in every part of this country are facing as a result of changes in the American economy and the ongoing battle over how to use—and protect—our natural resources. El Dorado takes an unusually unbiased look at four local residents, two timber workers and two environmentalists, as they try to balance the health of the El Dorado National Forest in the Sierra Nevada foothills with the jobs of the workers who depend on it. By humanizing all the characters, the film shows a profound respect for both sides of this extremely volatile issue.

Best Documentary - Canyonlands Film Festival

12:10pm
Stories of the Yuba    
in the Stone Hall

A film festival in Nevada County would not be complete without a screening of the documentary about the beautiful and Wild and Scenic South Yuba River. Join local filmmaker, Greg Schiffner on a walkabout down the river of his youth …. on a quest to know the geography, the natural environment, and the cultural history of this small place that tells a universal story. The film features a soundtrack of 22 regional songwriters inspired by the Yuba.

1:00pm
Subdivide and Conquer
In the West, as in the rest of the country, sprawl is gobbling up the land. What makes it more shocking in the West is that it assaults our cultural myths about the frontier, its wide-open spaces and unique landscapes. After examining the causes of sprawl and its devastating effect on our sense of community and the environment, Subdivide and Conquer suggests remedies and shows examples of sound public policy and good land use planning. It seems that, when presented with a real choice, most of us want to live in distinct, well-designed neighborhoods, with all the amenities and attractions that they provide, and where we don't have to spend inordinate amounts of time in our cars.

Best Environmental Program - MountainFilm in Telluride
Bronze Plaque - Columbus International Film Festival

1:30pm
This is Nowhere
Each year tens of thousands of travelers steer their RVs into Wal-Mart parking lots to "camp" for a night or two. Not because they have to. Rather, because they want to. Just as they seek out national parks and historic sites, RV travelers have marked Wal-Mart stores as travel destinations. Full of irony, This is Nowhere humorously captures the essence of American attitudes toward nature, equality, and civic values as it documents RV travelers' interactions with landscape, technology, communities, and each other.

3:15pm
Shaman’s Apprentice
Narrated by Susan Sarandon, The Shaman's Apprentice is a story of survival against the odds. It interweaves the luminous rain forest world of phenomena and legends with western science and the grim realities of extinction. In the story of one man's quest to preserve the ancient wisdom of our species, we find the intelligence, cooperation and hope that could save one of the most glorious places on Earth. Deep in the jungles of Suriname, Dr. Mark Plotkin is racing against time. Here is the Amazon of legend, where men become jaguars, where frogs cry along the riverbanks with voices of lonely women, where fire-feathered birds screech and click in a thicket of vines. Here are remote tribes of Amerindians, eighteenth century African villages, and forest people living in the Stone Age. Here in the vast canopy of trees is a treasure of unknown dimension—the chemically rich and diverse plant life of the forest—the secrets of which could one day yield cures for our most troubling illnesses. But the world is standing outside the treasury door with a torch in its hand, hungry for land, gold, and timber. Mark Plotkin, a committed and passionate conservationist, has vowed to save this forest, acre by acre.

Gold Remi - Worldfest Houston
Best of the Festival - Explorer's Club Film Festival
Gold Documentary Award - Crested Butte Reel Fest
Best of the Festival - 10th Festival iCine Latino
Best Documentary Feature - Durango International Film Festival
Best Documentary - San Luis Obispo International Film Festival
Special Jury Prize - MountainFilm in Telluride

4:15pm
On Nature’s Terms: People and Predators Co-Existing in Harmony
The first film of its kind advocating the protection of predators and ecosystems, On Nature's Terms uses dramatic footage and inspirational stories to show how ordinary citizens in both rural and urban America are doing their part to coexist in harmony with predators. An uplifting and optimistic approach to a serious environmental crisis, this program tells stories, from Wyoming to California, of the U.S. Forest Service ripping up roads, ranchers using non-lethal methods of predator control, biologists studying urban wildlife, a coalition of diverse individuals and agencies protecting critical wildlife corridors and more. The film deftly illustrates how these beautiful and majestic species, and the places they inhabit, are finding a place in America's landscapes and in the heart and mind of the American public.

4:45pm
Beyond Organic: The Vision of Fairview Gardens
Narrated by Meryl Streep, Beyond Organic is the inspiring story on one urban farm in Goleta, California, battling to survive in the face of rapid suburban development. Managed by visionary Michael Abelman, this organic farm has become a model of sustainable food production and community involvement. The story draws a sharp contrast between community-supported agriculture and conventional chemical farming.

Best of Category - EarthVision Environmental Film and Video Festival, Tokyo
Bronze Plaque - Columbus International Films and Video Festival

1:30pm
America’s Monuments
This short but effective PSA was created for the organization Environment Now by filmmaker Todd Felderstein. It looks at the overlogging occuring in our National Forests.

1:32pm
Quartzite’s Fall: A Wilderness Tale
The destruction of a class V+ whitewater rapid is investigated in Quartzite’s Fall, a film by Kristi Atwell and Watershed Productions. Federal Agents arrest eight men for blowing up Quartzite’s Falls, the most dangerous rapid in Arizona’s Salt River Canyon. As the story behind the crime unravels, their defense, to make a deadly place safer, sparks debate about the survival of wilderness in the United States. Narrated by Peter Coyote, the film includes music by Ani DiFranco.
Silver Award Winner - Crested Butte Reel Festival

2:00pm
Grandmother
Filmmaker, Bonnie Thompson brings together cutting-edge technology and ancient tribal mythology in the stunning production of renowned poet, Paula Gunn Allen’s evocative retelling of a traditional Native American creation myth. Grandmother Spider Woman gives the gift of creation in this mythological tale deeply rooted in the natural world.

2:05pm
Life of the River: The Futaleufu
This beautiful film by Liz McGregor follows travel writer Rick Montgomery as he travels south of south to do a story about the ultimate whitewater adventure in Chile. After getting up close and personal with some of the finest class V rapids on the globe, Rich meets the local community and finds out that the talk of a dam on the Futaleufu isn’t just talk after all.

3:10pm
My Narmada Travels
This unique film by Leena Pendharkar is a documentary about an untouched people in a land that’s slowly sinking beneath the waters of development. She tells the story of Domkhedi, a small village being submerged by the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Over 200,000 indigenous people face displacement as a result of the dam. Leena speaks with villagers, government officials taking viewers through an amazing journey of discovery, constantly wondering: what it the price of progress?

First Prize - Earthvision Film Festival, Santa Cruz

3:33pm
Aftershocks: A Rough Guide to Democracy
A devastating earthquake strikes Gujarat, India, and leaves about 20,000 people dead and over 100,000 homes destroyed. This film by Rakesh Sharma is neither about the quake and its tragic aftermath nor about inadequate relief and rehabilitation. The film is a simple tale - the government controlled mining company GMDC sees the quake as a God-sent opportunity to acquire two quake-affected, lignite-rich villages. The film documents the process of acquisition/displacement and its human impact. It engages in the ongoing debate—Environment vs. Development and examines the fate of marginal citizens in a welfare state making its transition into a new economy of the new millennium. Aftershocks has been invited to over 30 international film festivals since its release in February, 2002.

Best Documentary - Fibourg International Film Festival, Switzerland Bronze Award for Best Documentary - Big Muddy Film Festival

4:50pm
Brigit Saves Winter
This entertaining animated film by Bill Roth introduces viewers to 10 year-old snowboarder, Brigit. She wakes up one morning to find an ad in the newspaper for the new “Dinowagon,” a gas-guzzling, pollution spewing monster vehicle. She springs into action to show the target buyers, the surfers, the error of their consuming ways and how global warming could eventually take away her winters.

4:55pm
Five O’Clock Shadows
Professor and multimedia artist, Kristin Palana, brings her world to the viewer through creative animation. In the film, a young woman faces her fears of being stalked and attacked in Brooklyn, New York, and in the Himalayas of India. Juror’s Award - New York Expo of Short Film and Video

5:00pm
Fed Up!
About 70 percent of the food in the grocery store contains genetically-engineered ingredients. These foods are unlabeled and not proven to be safe. The film, produced by Angelo Sacerdote, looks at genetic engineering as just the latest in an ongoing assault on the integrity of the food supply. Fed Up! features interviews with Vandana Shiva, noted author, activist and scientist, Peter Rosset and Anuradha Mittal of Food First, Marc Lappe and Britt Bailey of the Center for Ethics and Toxics, and many others. Using these interviews and hilarious and shocking archival footage, Fed Up! paints a picture of a food system driven out of control by the quest for corporate profits to the detriment of small farmers and consumers everywhere.

7:30pm
Riversense
The word riversense, like street smarts, is an innate sensibility and understanding of one’s surroundings. At its most basic level, a person who can look down a river, read where the water is going, pick a line and run it well, has riversense. Riversense is also an etiquette, which is about caring for the environment of rivers and being respectful of the community that a river runs through. At its deepest level, riversense describes the passion that paddlers have for running rivers and the choices they make in life to pursue this passion. Riversense, the documentary, by Brooklyn filmmaker Kate Geis is about the people and culture of the whitewater river kayaking community. All over North America are tribes of paddlers who are drawn to the whitewater lifestyle: running rivers, competing in whitewater rodeos, and pushing through fear to find themselves.

9:15pm
Into the Tsangpo Gorge
Outside Magazine teamed up with world class kayaker and Emmy-award winning cameraman Scott Lindgren to successfully accomplish the first descent of the most feared whitewater on the planet, the Tsangpo Gorge in Tibet. The Tsangpo, often referred to as "the Everest of Whitewater" is the world's deepest gorge and, until now, had stood as one of the last great unconquered adventure prizes on the earth.

8:30pm
The Man Who Planted Trees
This timeless film tells the inspirational story of a solitary shepherd who patiently plants and nurtures a forest of thousands of trees, single-handedly transforming his arid surroundings into a thriving oasis. Undeterred by two world wars and without any thought of personal reward, the shepherd tirelessly sows his seeds and acorns with the greatest care. As if by magic, a landscape that seemed condemned grows green again. A film of great beauty and hope, this story is a remarkable parable for all ages and an inspiring testament to the power of one person. The author, Jean Giono, created the story "to make people love the tree, or more precisely, to make them love planting trees", and to pay homage to the kind of unselfish individuality that leaves a positive mark on our planet.

Academy Award Winner - Best Animated Film, 1987

9:15pm
Baraka (104 minutes)
Baraka is an ancient Sufi word which can be translated as "a blessing, or as the breath, or essence of life from which the evolutionary process unfolds." For many people Baraka is the definitive film in this style. Breathtaking shots from around the world show the beauty and destruction of nature and man. Coupled with an incredible soundtrack including on site recordings of The Monks Of The Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery. An incredible journey through 6 continents, 24 countries, Baraka was created by Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson with music from Michael Stearns and others. Footage includes: Tibetan monks, Orthodox Jews, Whirling Dervishes, a solar eclipse, Buddhist monks, African tribal rituals, Jerusalem's Wailing Wall, rain forests, Ayers Rock, Big Sur country, Hawaiian volcanoes, Brazilian slums, post-Persian Gulf War shots of Kuwait's burning oil fields, burning-of-the-dead ceremonies on the Ganges, refuse dumps of Calcutta, Auschwitz, Egyptian Pyramids, Angkor Wat, Mount Everest, Tuol Sleng in Cambodia, Indonesian factory workers.
Best Picture - Montreal Film Festival