Join Us For Four Unforgettable Days Featuring 28 Inspiring Films That Share Stories Of Hope, Resilience, And The Individuals Making A Difference For Our Planet.

- Experience These Stories As They Were Meant To Be Seen—On The Big Screen (With Open Captioning) Surrounded By A Community Of Passionate And Curious Individuals.
- Engage With Filmmakers And Hear From Special Guest Speakers, Gaining Behind-The-Scenes Insights And Expertise.
- All Conveniently Located At The Frank Arts Center On The Campus Of Shepherd University In Shepherdstown, Wv With Free And Easy Parking.

Schedule Of Events:

March 6, 2025
4pm - Short Film Block 1
Timber Rattlesnakes Of Catoctin Mountain Park
Saving The Southern Appalachian Red Spruce Forest
Friends Of The Frogpool Lane
Wild Hope: Unleaded
Reviving The Forgotten River (Student Film Award)
Runtime: 58 Minutes

6:30pm - The Grab
Invited Feature Film
This Thriller Combines Hard-Hitting Journalism From The Center For Investigative Reporting With Compelling Character-Driven Storytelling. It Takes Viewers Around The Globe From Arizona To Zambia To Reveal One Of The World’s Biggest And Least Known Threats: Governments, Private Investors, And Mercenaries Working To Seize Food And Water Resources At The Expense Of Entire Populations.
Runtime: 104 Minutes

March 7, 2025
4pm - Short Film Block 2
Quota - This Animated Short Asks The Question: What If Every Global Citizen Had Their Co2 Emissions Tracked In An App? It Makes Little Impact Until They Discover The Consequences Of Reaching Their Designated Quota.

Plant Heist - When A Ca Department Of Fish And Wildlife Officer Gets A Tip About Suspicious Packages In A Small Northern California Town, His Investigation Exposes A Network Of Plant Poachers That Rip Native Succulent Dudleya Farinosa From Their Natural Habitat. Just One Plant Is Worth Thousands In China. Volunteers, Native Plant Biologists, And Local Government Cooperate To Stop This Ecological Destruction.

Vanishing Voices: Saving Our Hawaiian Forest Birds - Native Hawaiian Forest Birds Face Extinction From Mosquito-Borne Diseases. This Documentary Highlights The Urgent Battle To Save Hawaii’s Vibrant Honeycreepers. Through Innovative Technology And Determined Conservation Efforts, Scientists And Local Communities Work Together To Combat This Escalating Ecological Crisis.

Deep Trouble - Deep Sea Mining Is An Immediate Ecological Threat, With Significant Consequences For The Ocean And All Life. Though The Impetus Is To Supply Minerals For Batteries To Power The “New Green Revolution,” Alternative Technologies Already Exist To Produce Batteries Without Them. The Film Features Ocean Advocate Sylvia Earle And Cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

7pm - Mollie’s Pack
Invited Feature Film - On January 12, 1995, Us Fish And Wildlife Service Staff Returned Gray Wolves To Yellowstone Park 50 Years After Their Extirpation. This Documentary, Made From Newly Recovered And Restored 16mm Film Footage, Includes Interviews With Those Involved And Shows Mollie Beattie, The First Female Director Of The Fws, Carrying The First Canadian-Born Wolf, Alpha Female Wolf No. 5, Into The Park’s Experimental Acclimation Enclosure.

March 8, 2025
11am - Bury Me At Taylor Hollow
Runtime: 57 Minutes
After 15 Years In The Conventional Funeral Industry, A Passionate Mortician Works To Create Tennessee’s First Natural Burial Ground. Bury Me At Taylor Hollow Recounts His Personal Journey From Mortuary Traditionalist To Global-Thinking Environmentalist As He Seeks A Better Place And Way For His Community To Be Laid To Rest.

1:30pm - An Optimist’s Guide To The Planet
Runtime: 51 Minutes

The Tragedy Of The Apple Tree
Many People Talk About Pollution And Deforestation, But Very Few Talk About How We Are Overusing The Planet’s Resources. This Short Film Is Based On The Tragedy Of The Commons And How Small Actions Have A Great Impact On The Environment And People.

4pm - Short Film Block 3
Runtime: 59 Minutes
Bat Boy
A Young Man On The Autism Spectrum Is Obsessed With The Bats Living In An Underpass Near His East Los Angeles Home. When They Go Missing, He Gets A Jaded Biologist To Help Him Find Out What Happened.

Catapults To Cameras
Filmmaker Ashwika Kapur Seeks To Uncover The Roots Of An Illegal Wildlife Hunting Festival In The Forests Of Her Home In Bengal, During Which Thousands Of Protected Animals Are Massacred. Children Are Included In The Hunt. Kapur And Conservationist Suvra Chatterjee Interview Some Of The Children And Hope To Ignite Change Within These Hunting Communities.

(This Film Has Created A Lasting Legacy And Impact. What Began As A Modest Documentary Has Triggered A Real-World, Kid-Led Conservation Project. Project Catapults To Cameras Is Transforming The Lives Of Both Children And Animals In Rural Bengal.)

7pm - Wilding
Runtime: 75 Minutes

Based On Isabella Tree’s Best-Selling Book, Wilding Shows How A Young Couple Saves Their Failing 400-Year-Old Estate By Battling Entrenched Traditions, Ripping Down Fences, Setting The Land Back To The Wild, And Entrusting Its Recovery To Animals Both Tame And Wild. It Becomes One Of The Most Significant Rewilding Experiments In Europe.

March 9, 2025
11am - Short Film Block 4
Polar Bear Country
Polar Bear Country Explores How The Residents Of The Small Town Of Churchill, Manitoba, Coexist With Hundreds Of Polar Bears That Gather Annually Along Hudson Bay’s Shore. Through Interviews And Rare Footage, The Film Reveals How This Remote Arctic Town Navigates Life Alongside Earth’s Largest Land Carnivores.

Welcome Home - Celebrate The Incredible Story Of Wolf Reintroduction To Colorado. When The People Of Colorado Voted To Return Wolves To The State, They Set In Motion A Unique Conservation Success Story. Welcome Home Shows The Value Of Returning This Iconic And Beloved Carnivore To Colorado And How The State Is Recovering Wolves In A Thoughtful Way That Cares For Wildlife And People.

We Can Get There From Here - After Years Studying Marine Microplastics Around The Globe, Abby Barrows Was Ready To Come Home. In 2015, Looking For A Side-Project That Would Keep Her On The Water, She Bought The Lease For An Oyster Farm In Deer Isle, Maine. When She Saw The Mountain Of Plastic Gear That Came With It, The Side-Project Became Something Else. Today, Deer Isle Oyster Co. Is A Flourishing Family Business, A Proving Ground For Plastic-Free Mari-Culture Gear, A New Pier For A Working Waterfront Reliant On One Fishery, And A Purveyor Of Some Of The Best Oysters In The World. This Is The Story Of One Season On The Farm, Which Also Happens To Be The Story Of An Old Island’s Precarious Present And Potential Future.
Runtime: 66 Minutes

1pm - Short Film Block 5
Runtime: 53 Minutes
On The 8th Day - It Took 7 Days To Create The World; It Only Took One To Disrupt Its Balance. This Animated Short Portrays A Beautiful Land Of Seas Of Colorful Fish, Skies Full Of Birds, Jungles And Savannas With Animals Living In Symbiosis. But Darkness And Gloom Soon Creep Into This Ideal World.

The Snowy Owls Of Logan Airport - Norman Smith Has Dedicated His Life To Protecting And Relocating The Snowy Owls From Boston’s Busiest Airport Runways. Called “The Owl Man Of Logan Airport,” Smith Has Single-Handedly Relocated More Than 900 Snowy Owls, Creating The Blueprint For How Airports Across The Us And Canada Can Manage Wildlife Conflict.

The Bird In My Backyard - In An Urban Backyard On Canada’s West Coast, A Window Salesman Created A Living Laboratory For Investigating Hummingbird Behavior. This Film Follows Citizen Scientist Eric Pittman As He Documents The Journeys Of Two Female Anna’s Hummingbirds As They Attempt To Raise Their Young In His Garden.

Flora, Fauna, Funga - Chilean Mycologist Giuliana Furci Is Joined In Her Search For New Mushrooms On Tierra Del Fuego By Biologist And Author Merlin Sheldrake And Mycologist Toby Kiers. They Outline A Strategy For Greater Fungal Inclusion In Conservation Policy—Fungi Underpin Every Ecosystem On Earth Through Nutrient Cycling And The Essential Relationships They Form With Plants.

3:30pm - Short Film Block 6
Runtime: 59 Minutes

To Scale: Time

Truffles Are Hiding A Dirty Little Secret - In Kitchens Around The World, Truffles Represent Culinary Excellence And Prestige, But In The Forest, They’re Just Another Flora Fighting To Exist. In The Lush Woodlands Of The Pacific Northwest, These Mushrooms’ Unusual Adaptation Strategies Promote Not Only Their Own Survival But That Of Their Forest Ecosystem At Large.

Freetown’s Ultracool Roofs - In Freetown, Sierra Leone, Africa’s First Chief Heat Officer Partners With Mirrors For Earth’s Energy Rebalancing (Meer) To Tackle Rising Temperatures Using Innovative Mirror Technology To Reflect Sunlight And Cool Homes. This Groundbreaking Initiative Has Already Improved Living Conditions For Residents Of Kroo Bay, Offering Hope For Widespread Urban Heat Relief.

Planetwalker - After Witnessing An Oil Tanker Spill In San Francisco Bay In 1971, John Francis Embarked On A Journey That Would Redefine Environmental Activism. He Took A 17-Year Vow Of Silence, Renounced Motorized Transportation, And Began Walking Across The Us, Seeking A Deeper Understanding Of Humanity’s Relationship With The Earth. This Transformative Experience Led Him To Become The “Planetwalker.”

6:30pm - Queer Planet
Runtime: 93 Minutes
When It Comes To “What Mother Nature Intended,” It Turns Out She Was Pretty Open-Minded. This Film Explores The Rich Diversity Of Animal Sexuality And Introduces The Scientists Who Are Questioning The Traditional Concept Of What’s Natural.

Date: March 6–9, 2025

Location:
Frank Center, 260 University Dr, Shepherdstown, Wv 25443

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