The Discovery Channel will air its documentary “Killing the Colorado” on Thursday, August 4 at 9 pm. The program tells “the true story of the American West’s crippling water crisis.”
One of three films in the program, “Dammed If You Do” directed by Jesse Moss highlights the Gila River diversion issue. We’re pretty sure that Norm Gaume is in the piece, but many of you might be too if you attended last year’s Gila River Festival or NM CAP Entity meetings last fall.
GCC will host a watch party Thursday night at 9 pm at the Little Toad Creek bar to watch the program.
“Killing the Colorado” starts at 9 pm on the Discovery Channel and is available August 5 on Discovery.com, Discovery Go, and Discovery On Demand.
Spaceship Earth Passenger Briefing, Dave Gardner (2014, 2 min)
What if every passenger on our planet, Spaceship Earth, had to watch a quick safety video before takeoff? What advice would we get to avoid a crash or other disaster? Fasten your seatbelt and watch!
The Colorado River, Jeff Litton (2014, 5 min)
The Colorado River is more than beautiful, it sustains life for 11,000 species including us. Seasoned Expedition Leader Dave Edwards shares a funny story & what he takes away after almost 40 years of rowing down the Grand Canyon. We drink the river dry, but right now you can send 1,000 gallons back to the river by texting “RIVER” to 77177 or visit ChangeTheCourse.us
Delta Dawn, Peter McBride (2014, 17 min)
The Colorado River hasn’t kissed the sea in almost two decades — until the spring of 2014 when an experimental pulse of water was released into this forgotten delta. A team of river runners followed the water to witness this unprecedented restoration effort, and attempted to be the only, and potentially the last to float the Colorado River to the sea by paddle board. With unpredictable adventure as the backdrop, filmmaker Pete McBride tells the story of Western water, a challenged Colorado River and the uplifting potential for environmental restoration via collaboration, all through his repeated experiences chasing a river to the sea.
Monarchs & Milkweed, Steven M. Bumgardner (2014, 8 min)
Take a microcosmic safari through a field of milkweed and discover a whole world of life, from bees to wasps to hummingbirds to butterflies. The charismatic Monarch butterfly is completely dependent on milkweed for its survival, and places like Yosemite National Park offer protection for this often overlooked plant.
Spine of the Continent, Alex Suber, David Spiegel, Brendan Boepple (2014, 17 min)
The paradigm of conservation biology is about to change. Climate change, the decline of carnivores on the landscape, and increasing habitat fragmentation all threaten the places that we cherish most: our national parks. Five students set out on a journey to discover what it will take to protect these places into the future.
Gila’s Fight, Chris Theulen (2015, 2 min)
Deep in America’s Southwest, an ecosystem provides life. Under threat from a water diversion project, the Gila fights.
Gila River: Up Against the Wall, Kate Brown (2016, 3 min)
Footage from WNMU New Media professor Peter Bill and students’ projections on the Murray Hotel in Silver City, NM, with trumpet accompaniment by WNMU’s Danny Reyes, during the 2015 Gila River Festival, forms the basis for this short piece with added digital collage and animation.
Everywhere is a Gila, David S. Smith (2015, 3 min)
Using its unique combination of tools: flight, film, and education, CAVU empowers people to take meaningful action on critical conservation and social justice issues in their own communities. CAVU’s short film about the Gila River features a spoken word poem by Albuquerque inaugural poet laureate Hakim Bellamy that encourages us to protect New Mexico’s last free-flowing river. Produced in collaboration with Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. More information at CAVU.org
What would Planet Earth post about humans on its profile? The Earth fast forwards through a virtual relationship with humans — but soon starts to ask itself whether it wants to be friends with a species that exploits its national resources and threatens animals and plants.
A Line in the Sand, Justin Clifton, Chris Cresci (2014, 2 min)
If you only had 2 minutes to advocate for Wilderness, what would you say?
The Story of Place, Sinuhe Xavier, Justin Clifton (2014, 8 min)
Deep into the unprotected territory of Southeastern Utah, Author Craig Childs narrates the story of this grand landscape, how it has shaped each and every one of us, and the threats this wild landscape is currently facing.
Thirsty for Justice, Rev. Lindi Ramsden, Ian Slattery (2014, 39 min)
In the richest nation on earth – and the wealthiest state in the nation – how can so many people lack access to safe, affordable water for their basic human needs? Thirsty for Justice shares powerful stories of those who suffer from this assault on their personal health and human dignity, as well as the inspiring story of the grassroots movement that made the human right to water the law of the land in California.
Why I Think The World Should End, Brandon Sloan (2014, 5 min)
Experience this spoken word call to action from Prince Ea.
5th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival Kicks Off 2016 with Films that Inspire
Saturday, January 9, 6:00 pm at WNMU’s Light Hall; Doors open at 5:30 pm
Kick off 2016 with some inspiration and join the Gila Conservation Coalition (GCC) at the 5th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival on Saturday, January 9 at 6:00 pm at Light Hall on the Western New Mexico University campus. Doors open at 5:30 pm. Tickets are $12 at the door, GCC members $10, and students are free. A special price for admission plus a GCC membership will be offered for $20.
“This year’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival features films of wild rivers, social justice, wildlife, climate change and conservation biology. We have a great lineup, with both serious and light-hearted selections, and locally produced films about the Gila River. It’s a great way to start off the new year with inspiration and renew our commitment to protecting the planet,” said Gila Conservation Coalition executive director Allyson Siwik.
Delta Dawn documents the Colorado River in the spring of 2014, when an experimental pulse of water was released into its long-dry delta, and filmmaker Pete McBride captured the resulting explosion of life. A film titled simply Colorado River follows a seasoned expedition leader as he shares a funny story and lessons learned after almost forty years of rowing through the Grand Canyon.
Due to climate change, conservation biology has a lot of work to do, as portrayed in Spine of the Continent. Writer Craig Childs narrates the story of southeast Utah’s wild landscape in The Story of Place. In the richest nation on earth, why do so many people lack clean drinking water? Thirsty for Justice shares powerful stories of the grassroots movement for water accessibility as a human right.
New this year is a segment of New Mexico-produced films, such as Everywhere is a Gila produced by Santa Fe-based CAVU and featuring aerial footage of the Gila River watershed, with a cutting-edge spoken word poem by Albuquerque’s inaugural poet-laureate Hakim Bellamy. Selected film shorts from WNMU Professor Peter Bill’s New Media students will also be screened, such as Gila’s Fight by Chris Theulen and Gila River: Up Against the Wall by Kate Brown.
Great prizes from national sponsors Patagonia, CLIF Bar, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Orion Magazine, Klean Kanteen, Earthjustice, and Barefoot Wine & Bubbly as well as local sponsors will be awarded as part of the raffle, free with admission.
Additionally, on display will be a beautiful Gila River landscape painting by Tom Holt, which he generously donated to GCC and Southwest New Mexico Audubon Society to fund efforts to defend the river he so dearly loves. Raffle tickets for Holt’s painting are $20 each, with the drawing to be held at the April 22 Earth Day celebration. All proceeds from the film fest and raffle sales benefit work to protect the Gila River.
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival is a natural extension of the Gila Conservation Coalition’s work to inspire people to act on behalf of the Gila River and its watershed. Events such as GCC’s annual Gila River Festival are an opportunity for people to appreciate and understand the importance of New Mexico’s last free flowing river and to encourage them to work to preserve this ecological gem. The Wild & Scenic Film Festival shows us through film how communities like ours are working to protect their watersheds and unique landscapes.
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival was started by the watershed advocacy group, the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) in 2003. The festival’s namesake is in celebration of SYRCL’s landmark victory to receive “Wild & Scenic” status for 39 miles of the South Yuba River in 1999. The 4-day event features over 100 award-winning films and welcomes over 100 guest speakers, celebrities, and activists who bring a human face to the environmental movement. The home festival kicks-off the international tour to over 150 communities around the globe, allowing SYRCL to share their success as an environmental group with others organizations. The festival is building a network of grassroots organizations connected by a common goal of using film to inspire activism. With the support of National Partners: Patagonia, CLIF Bar, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Orion Magazine, Klean Kanteen, Earthjustice, and Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, the festival can reach an even larger audience.
A special thanks to our local sponsors: Gila Resources Information Project, Southwestern New Mexico Audubon Society, Upper Gila Watershed Alliance, Western Institute for Lifelong Learning, and Western New Mexico University.
GCC Announces 5th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival
Saturday, January 9, 6:00 pm at WNMU’s Light Hall
The Gila Conservation Coalition invites you to join us at the 5th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival on Saturday, January 9 at 6:00 pm at Light Hall on the Western New Mexico University campus. Tickets are $12 at the door, GCC members $10, and students are free. A special price for admission plus a GCC membership will be offered for $20.
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival features films of wild rivers, social justice, wildlife, climate change and conservation biology. We have a great lineup, with both serious and light-hearted selections, and locally produced films about the Gila River.
Delta Dawn documents the Colorado River in the spring of 2014, when an experimental pulse of water was released into its long-dry delta, and filmmaker Pete McBride captured the resulting explosion of life. A film titled simply Colorado River follows a seasoned expedition leader as he shares a funny story and lessons learned after almost forty years of rowing through the Grand Canyon.
Due to climate change, conservation biology has a lot of work to do, as portrayed in Spine of the Continent. Writer Craig Childs narrates the story of southeast Utah’s wild landscape in The Story of Place. In the richest nation on earth, why do so many people lack clean drinking water? Thirsty for Justice shares powerful stories of the grassroots movement for water accessibility as a human right.
New this year is a segment of locally-produced films, such as Everywhere is a Gila produced by CAVU and featuring aerial footage of the Gila River watershed, with a cutting-edge poem by Albuquerque’s inaugural poet-laureate Hakim Bellamy. Selected film shorts from WNMU Professor Peter Bill’s New Media students will also be screened.
Great prizes from national sponsors Patagonia, CLIF Bar, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Orion Magazine, Klean Kanteen, Earthjustice, and Barefoot Wine & Bubbly as well as local sponsors will be awarded as part of the raffle, free with admission.
Additionally, on display will be a beautiful Gila River landscape painting by Tom Holt, which he generously donated to GCC and Southwest New Mexico Audubon Society to fund efforts to defend the river he so dearly loves. Raffle tickets for Holt’s painting are $20 each, with the drawing to be held at the April 22 Earth Day celebration. All proceeds from the film fest and raffle sales benefit work to protect the Gila River.
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival is a natural extension of the Gila Conservation Coalition’s work to inspire people to act on behalf of the Gila River and its watershed. Events such as GCC’s annual Gila River Festival are an opportunity for people to appreciate and understand the importance of New Mexico’s last free flowing river and to encourage them to work to preserve this ecological gem. The Wild & Scenic Film Festival shows us through film how communities like ours are working to protect their watersheds and unique landscapes.
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival was started by the watershed advocacy group, the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) in 2003. The festival’s namesake is in celebration of SYRCL’s landmark victory to receive “Wild & Scenic” status for 39 miles of the South Yuba River in 1999. The 4-day event features over 100 award-winning films and welcomes over 100 guest speakers, celebrities, and activists who bring a human face to the environmental movement. The home festival kicks-off the international tour to over 150 communities around the globe, allowing SYRCL to share their success as an environmental group with others organizations. The festival is building a network of grassroots organizations connected by a common goal of using film to inspire activism. With the support of National Partners: Patagonia, CLIF Bar, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Orion Magazine, Klean Kanteen, Earthjustice, and Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, the festival can reach an even larger audience.
A special thanks to our local sponsors: Gila Resources Information Project, Southwestern New Mexico Audubon Society, Upper Gila Watershed Alliance, Western Institute for Lifelong Learning, and Western New Mexico University.
Albuquerque’s Inaugural Poet Laureate (2012-2014), Hakim Bellamy, released his latest song, “Everywhere is a Gila,” to draw attention to the looming deadline for Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell to sign an agreement with New Mexico that would allow a billion-dollar diversion of the Gila River to go forward. The song, accompanied by aerial and ground shots of America’s first wilderness area and the adjacent area slated for diversion, encourages listeners to take action by writing to Jewell in opposition to the project.
“My son is 8. My job is to share with him all the beauty I’ve ever been fortunate to find in this world. The Gila is part of that beauty. I did this song because I don’t know what else to do. I’m an artist. I generally feel powerless unless I am ‘arting.’ It’s what I know how to do to impact change. It just seems ridiculous to get rid of something our state is known for, unless we’ve tried every way possible to preserve it first. I hope that this video won’t be essentially an artifact to show the beauty of the Gila for posterity,” said Bellamy.
Aerial images of the Gila were shot on a Sierra Club overflight with CAVU, a non-profit organization that uses flight, film and education to aid in social justice and conservation issues. The video work illustrates the natural beauty of the Gila while the song highlights the risk to this very special place, said CAVU Executive Director David S. Smith.
“It is difficult for me to imagine a clearer issue than the proposed diversion of the Gila River. Almost 100 years ago, the Gila was designated the world’s first Wilderness Area.The world’s first. That fact should be sacrosanct. Let’s leave this place alone, so that our children, and our children’s children, and their children may love it, and learn from it,” said Smith.
“The proposal to build the Gila River Diversion is a billion-dollar boondoggle that will benefit private consultants more than any actual water users. Scientific evidence shows us that the diversion will pump more sand than water, and it will be New Mexico taxpayers that have to foot the bill. We can save more water now by implementing conservation projects that we already have the money in hand to carry out. The time to take action is now. We hope people will watch the video and write to Secretary Sally Jewell before it’s too late,” said Camilla Feibelman, Director of the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter.
Everywhere is a Gila
Make you a believer,
Jesus, where is a miracle when you need one
Sermon on the Mount
Is what the people asking for
cause 5 loaves and 2 fish ain’t enough to feed the poor
Wilderness gotta eat
And the River is the source
Everybody wanna piece
when the profit is enormous
Especially when it’s free
cause taxpayers are payin’ for it
Tell Governor Martinez our families are getting torn up
Separating mother earth, from her grandsons and daughters
A Billion dollars deported
a runoff of our resources
Evaporating the forest
New Mexico can’t afford it
First they walled the border
Now they wallin’ the water
A living organism
our watershed could use a lawyer
Save the flora y fauna,
that don’t get no human rights
And the river their aborting
while praying to be pro-life
First World War 18 Millions souls
World War II 3% of the Globe
Cold war, hot water, turn off the faucet
The next world war gon’ be about water
Gulf War fossilized, Thermo is threatening
Even Turbine, Condensers need that hydroelectric
Now that Mars found water, Orson Welles is a prophet
Cause the next world war gon’ be about water
Ever see the sunlight marble on the canopy floor
Picking rocks out the river, grandkids on all fours
Gonna miss the babbling brook bliss when it’s gone
after drownin’ our future in the baptism waters
Way down by the riverside burial sight
where generations of Gila River Indians bore life
we talkin’ bout more life, Interstate Stream Commissioners
and elected officials think of your future constituents
4 -legged or two, actin like you’re superior
so we floodin’ your office Secretary of the Interior
fountain penning these letters, freezing the phone lines
an acre of water on your bathroom floor ought to remind ya
this is survival, like a water balloon fight
‘cept the only thing we’re full of is inflation and tax hikes
Our people are high and dry, on this side of the state line
First National Wilderness torpedoed by states rights
– Hakim Bellamy, Inaugural Poet Laureate of Albuquerque, New Mexico (2012-2014)
Song: Everywhere is a Gila By: Hakim Bellamy Produced by: Colin Diles Hazelbaker @ Central Root Studios Mastered by: DJ Icewater Photography: David Aubrey, Peter Bill, Nat Stone, Junchen Huang, BJ Allen, Allyson Siwik Producer, Director and Pilot: David S. Smith Supporting Organizations: CAVU, Sierra Club – Rio Grande Chapter, Gila Conservation Coalition, Center for Biological Diversity
Thursday, September 24 – Gila Time-lapse Film Fest
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm WNMU Light Hall; $5 donation at the door; Students free
Timelapse films allow our human perceptions to stretch as we observe changes on the land that we otherwise would not as we go about our quotidian pursuits. We find timelapse films to be instructive and fulfilling because they can compress a day, a month, a year into a short burst of film that we can perceive in an instant. Time-lapses show us that the world at different timescales is very strange, and much different than our everyday experience: it’s vibrating, buzzing, and moving. By viewing processes we take for granted at different timescales, we hope to change how we interact with the great natural forces that surround us, and find our society’s balance anew.
Join Peter Bill, artist, filmmaker, New Media Professor at Western New Mexico University, and the mastermind behind this film festival, as he talks about time-lapse filmmaking, its technical aspects, historical perspective, and zeitgeist behind time-lapse.
After his presentation, we’ll screen the time-lapse films selected for this festival.
Thursday, September 24 Take a Walk on the Wild Side, Keynote Address with Godfrey Reggio
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm; WNMU Light Hall; $10 suggested donation at the door; Students Free
Beyond solar panels, sustainable development.
We see the world through language. Should our languages no longer describe the world in which we live, then indeed, not only the blind cannot see. “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” (Wittgenstein)
The Homeric poems caution, “Fire, their brilliance, their flaw.” This arguably may now read: technology, their brilliance, their flaw. The incantations of modernity tell us technology is something we use, we’re in charge, it’s neutral. Or is it Mary Shelley’s, not Hollywood’s, Frankenstein? Technology is as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. We do not use technology, we live it. As the new and comprehensive host of life it is our environment, the new terra firma, the sun that never sets. Being sun gazers, we become blind to the world we live in. That most present is most unseen. As Einstein said, “The fish will be the last to know water,” as we shall be the last to know technology. Being sensate, we become our environment; we become what we see, hear, smell, touch and taste; we become technology.
Anything we could have said about the Divines, we now say about technology: it is remaking the world in its image and likeness. Its truth, the truth; its language, 0 1; its shibboleth, “Pray for more.” In this twilight of the real, adrift in the Cloud, we are all together, all at once the cyborgs of wonderland.
Being also so human an animal, we might consider to “Take a walk on the wild side.” Resist destiny. Act free in deed. Live in an uncreated future. Or, we continue on the path to wonderland, infested with -isms, tuned to destiny, the rooted future.
Godfrey Reggio is an inventor of a film style which creates poetic images of extraordinary emotional impact. He is prominent in the film world for his Qatsi trilogy, essays of visual images and sound which chronicle the destructive impact of the modern world on the environment. His other films include Songlines, Anima Mundi, Evidence, and Visitors.
Born in Louisiana, Reggio spent 14 years in a Roman Catholic religious order, living in community, dedicated to prayer, study, and teaching. Based in New Mexico during the sixties, he taught grade and secondary school and college, and co-founded Young Citizens for Action, a community organization project to help gang members. Following this, Reggio co-founded La Clinica de la Gente, a facility that provided medical care to 12,000 community members in Santa Fe, and La Gente, a community organizing project in northern New Mexico’s barrios. In the 1970s, he co-founded the non-profit Institute for Regional Education, and co-organized a multi-media public interest campaign on the invasion of privacy and the use of technology to control behavior.
KOYAANISQATSI: FILM ONE OF THE QATSI TRILOGY, Film by Godfrey Reggio
WNMU Light Hall, 8:30 to 10:30 pm, immediately following Godfrey Reggio’s keynote
Introduced with selections from the Gila Time-lapse Film Festival
$5 suggested donation at the door, Students FREE
Koyaanisqatsi, the first film of the Qatsi trilogy, is a Hopi word meaning “life out of balance.” Created between 1975 and 1982, the film is an apocalyptic vision of the collision of two different worlds: urban life and technology versus the environment. The haunting musical score was composed by Philip Glass.
Koyaanisqatsi attempts to reveal the beauty of the beast. We usually perceive our world, our way of living, as beautiful because there is nothing else to perceive. If one lives in this world, the globalized world of high technology, all one can see is one layer of commodity piled upon another. There seems to be no ability to see beyond, to see that we have encased ourselves in an artificial environment that has remarkably replaced the original: nature itself. We do not live with nature any longer; we live above it, off of it, as it were. Nature has become the resource to keep this artificial or new nature alive.
The meaning of Koyaanisqatsi is up to the viewer, as art has no intrinsic meaning. This is its power, its mystery, and hence, its attraction. It stimulates viewers to insert their own meaning and value. The film’s role is to provoke, to raise questions that only the audience can answer. This is the highest value of any work of art, not predetermined meaning, but meaning gleaned from the experience of the encounter.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
Friday, September 25 – SACRED WATER: THE INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVE Presentation and films by Victor Masayesva
3:15 to 5:15 pm, Light Hall, WNMU; $5 suggested donation at the door, Students Free
In this introduction to his films, Hopi filmmaker Victor Masayesva will speak about several converging topics: the spirituality of water, indigenous communities’ relationship to time, calendars, and environmental discord. He’ll speak to humane approaches to technology, with a keen awareness of their impacts on human societies, including the Hopi people.
Immediately after Masayesva’s talk, we’ll show three of his films.
Paatuwaqatsi – H2opi Run to Mexico (56 minutes)
Environment, culture, prayer and beliefs all converge in this meditative depiction of running. The sacred and the profane are bridged in the act of running in which individual expended energy merges with the natural world. Paatuwaqatsi is distinct from the typical gloomy representations of impoverished Native American communities. Inspiring and uplifting, it offers profound insights into traditional prayers for water in contemporary Native America.
Time Keepers – Calendario Desconocido (15 minutes)
With the ending of the great Maya Cycle and advent of the new, several indigenous communities have become more aware of traditional calendar and time keeping. With a feeling of urgency, they are watching the effects of climate and environmental upheavals within the context of their time keeping practices.
Color of Wilderness (20 minutes)
This film challenges the predominance of American conceptualization of wilderness, and presents diverse social perspectives on the meaning of wilderness for people of color. It’s a call to the public to become involved in the diversification and perpetuation of color in wilderness.
Hopi filmmaker Victor Masayesva has been honored with numerous awards, including the University of Arizona Distinguished Alumni Award, the Gold Hugo at Chicago Festival, Two Rivers Visionary Award, Taos Festival’s distinguished filmmaker award and others. He is at the forefront of experimental filmmaking in the Native American media community, and is a prominent advocate for the indigenous aesthetic from the international community.
Masayesva has curated programs and been a resident artist at several art centers, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of America Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Art Institute of Chicago. He has been a guest artist and juror at film festivals in many countries, and his films are available in several languages. Masayesva continues to reside in the village of Hoatvela in Arizona.
POWAQQATSI: FILM TWO OF THE QATSI TRILOGY, Film by Godfrey Reggio
Light Hall, 9:00 to 11:00 pm, immediately following “Thinking Like a Watershed” panel
Introduced with selections from the Gila Time-lapse Film Festival
$5 suggested donation at the door, Students FREE.
The overall focus of Powaqqatsi, the second film in the Qatsi Trilogy, is on indigenous peoples of the Third World — the emerging, land-based cultures of Asia, India, Africa, the Middle East and South America — and how they express themselves through work and traditions. What it has to say about these cultures is an eyeful and then some, sculpted to allow for varied interpretations.
Where Koyaanisqatsi dealt with the imbalance between nature and modern society, Powaqqatsi is a celebration of the human-scale endeavor: the craftsmanship, spiritual worship, labor and creativity that defines a particular culture.
It’s also about contrasting ways of life, and in part how the lure of mechanization and technology and the growth of mega-cities are having a negative effect on small-scale cultures.
“Powaqqatsi” is a Hopi Indian conjunctive — the word “Powaqa,” which refers to a negative sorcerer who lives at the expense of others, and “Qatsi,” or life. Powaqqatsi, says director Godfrey Reggio, is not a film about what should or shouldn’t be, but rather “an impression, an examination of how life is changing…. What we sought to capture is our unanimity as a global culture.”
Powaqqatsi is a record of diversity and transformation, of cultures dying and prospering, of industry for its own sake and the fruits of individual labor, presented as an integrated human symphony, with Philip Glass’ score providing the counterpart, performed with native, classical and electronic instruments.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
Saturday, September 26
NAQOYQATSI: FILM THREE OF THE QATSI TRILOGY – Film by Godfrey Reggio
Introduced with selections from the Gila Time-lapse Film Festival
WNMU Light Hall, 1:00 to 3:00 pm; $5 suggested donation at the door, Students FREE
More important than empires, more powerful than world religions, more decisive than great battles, more impactful than cataclysmic earth changes, Naqoyqatsi chronicles the most significant event of the last five thousand years: the transition from the natural milieu, old nature, to the “new” nature, the technological milieu.
Nature has held earthly unity through the mystery of diversity. New nature achieves this unity through the awesome power of technological homogenization.
Naqoyqatsi is a reflection on this singular event, where our subject is the medium itself, the wonderland of technology. The medium is our story. In this scenario human beings do not use technology as a tool (the popular point-of-view), but rather we live technology as a way of life. Technology is the big force and, like oxygen, it is always there, a necessity that we cannot live without, and it is consuming the finite world of nature. It is in this sense that technology is Naqoyqatsi, a sanctioned aggression against the force of life itself – war life.
Naqoyqatsi takes us on an epic journey into a land that is nowhere, yet everywhere, where the real gives way to the virtual. As the gods of old become dethroned, a new pantheon of light appears in the integrated circuit of the computer. Its truth becomes the truth.
GILA TIME-LAPSE FILM FEST 7:45pm – 9:30pm FREE
Intersection of Yankie and Texas Streets in downtown Silver City
Wait until dark for the Gila Time-lapse Film Festival to begin. We’ll project the selected short films on the side of the Murray Hotel. Peter Bill, film professor at Western New Mexico University, choreographs this street performance, with spontaneous trumpet riffs by Danny Reyes, composer and WNMU music professor. Winners of the film fest will also be announced.
FREE FLOW ON THE GILA RIVER (Nat Stone, 2013, 20 min)
During a 2013 trip down the Gila River in the company of fellow free-flow advocates, author and outdoorsman Dutch Salmon reminisces about the motives for his first descent from the Gila headwaters to Safford, Arizona with his tomcat and hound dog, and recounts the continuing need to defend New Mexico’s last free-flowing river from man-made depletion. Advocates for natural water cycles anywhere, and government officials who legislate water policy, will find with Dutch a passionate voice for water protection that freely crosses partisan lines.
A collaborative effort between GCC and the WNMU Expressive Arts Program documentary film class, The Gila River is in Our Hands explores the value of the wild Gila River, how it is currently threatened by powerful interests intent on diverting its waters, and how we can meet our future water needs while also protecting its free flow.
The Gila Conservation Coalition invites you to join us at the 4th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival on Saturday, June 7 at 6:30 pm at the Buckhorn Saloon and Opera House in Pinos Altos. The new Gila River CD/DVD set, with songs written and performed by local musicians and films about the Gila, will also be released at the event. Some of the featured musicians on the CD will perform their Gila River songs throughout the film fest. The CD/DVD set will also be available for purchase. Tickets are $12 at the door, GCC members $10, and students are free. A special price for admission plus a GCC membership will be offered for $20. All proceeds from the film fest and sales of the CD/DVD set will benefit the Gila Conservation Coalition’s work to protect the Gila River.
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival will feature films of wild rivers, misguided dam projects, and inspiring tales of activism around the globe. We have a great lineup, including funny and moving films, animated films, and two movies about the Gila’s larger basin, the Colorado.
One of the festival’s feature films, Damocracy debunks the myth of large-scale dams as clean energy and a solution to climate change.It records the priceless cultural and natural heritage the world will lose in the Amazon and Mesopotamia if two planned large-scale dams are built, Belo Monte dam in Brazil and Ilisu dam in Turkey. One of the latest animated shorts from Free Range Studios, The Story of Solutions, asks “what if the goal of our economy wasn’t more, but better? better health, better jobs and a better chance to survive on the planet?” You’ll enjoy spectacular imagery in such films as Paramos: Water for Life and I am Red.
Wild Gila: Forever Free is the title of the new CD/DVD compilation of original Gila River music and films produced by GCC to celebrate New Mexico’s last wild river. The CD features original songs performed by Charlie Alfero, Azaima B Anderson, Bayou Seco, Michael Cook, Andrew Dahl-Bredine, Peggy Hunter Edmister, The Fiddle Club, Gordee Headlee, Daniel La Brake, Wally Lawder, Ron McFarland, Paul Pino, Greg Renfro, Silver City String Beans and Barbie Williamson. The DVD includes films by the Gila Conservation Coalition, WNMU digital media professor and artist Peter Bill, and filmmaker Nat Stone.
Several musicians will appear live to perform their original songs throughout the film fest. Great prizes from national sponsors Patagonia, CLIF Bar, Osprey Packs, Sierra Nevada Brewing and Mother Jones will be awarded as part of the raffle, free with admission.
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival is a natural extension of the Gila Conservation Coalition’s work to inspire people to act on behalf of the Gila River and its watershed. Events such as GCC’s annual Gila River Festival are an opportunity for people to appreciate and understand the importance of New Mexico’s last free flowing river and to encourage them to work to preserve this incredible resource. The Wild & Scenic Film Festival shows us through film how communities like ours are working to protect their watersheds and unique landscapes.
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival was started by the watershed advocacy group, the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) in 2003. The festival’s namesake is in celebration of SYRCL’s landmark victory to receive “Wild & Scenic” status for 39 miles of the South Yuba River in 1999. The 3-day event features over 100 award-winning films and welcomes over 100 guest speakers, celebrities, and activists who bring a human face to the environmental movement. The home festival kicks-off the national tour to over 100 communities nationwide allowing SYRCL to share their success as an environmental group with others organizations. It is building a network of grassroots organizations connected by a common goal of using film to inspire activism.
With the support of their National Partners, Patagonia, CLIF Bar, Osprey Packs, Sierra Nevada Brewing and Mother Jones, the festival can reach an even larger audience in tour venues coast to coast.
A special thanks to our local sponsors: Gila/Mimbres Community Radio, Conservation By Design, Curious Kumquat, Cissy McAndrew – United Country Mimbres Realty, Gila Hike & Bike, Gila Native Plant Society, Gila Resources Information Project, Heartpath-Meyoni, Martha & Tom Cooper, Morning Star, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, Silver City Food Co-op, Stream Dynamics, Syzygy Tile, TheraSpeech, Upper Gila Watershed Alliance, and Western Institute for Lifelong Learning
Mary Burton Riseley and Ron Henry Dedicate their Pilgrimages to Saving the Gila River
Mary Burton Riseley and Ron Henry will be walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain in support of preserving the Gila River, New Mexico’s last free-flowing river. They are seeking sponsors to raise funds for Gila River protection efforts of the Gila Conservation Coalition. A special website has been set up for this project through which you can support their journeys www.razoo.com/story/El-Camino-Walk-For-The-Gila . All contributions are tax-deductible.
You can find out more about this famous pilgrimage route and why Ron and Mary are dedicating their pilgrimages to the Gila River on Earth Matters available 24/7 via podcast at Gila/Mimbres Community Radio.
We wish Mary and Ron well on their upcoming journeys and we are grateful for their dedication of their pilgrimages to Gila River protection efforts.
Mary Burton Riseley has lived within a few feet of the Gila River for the last 15 years. She has developed a deep connection to the river as well as the plants and animals that depend on it for their survival. Mary is a 4th generation New Mexican who has spent most of her life in this state. She is well known in the area as a person who cares deeply about others and her community. She has shown this by 40 years of work for peace and other causes, as well as by donating her land to a land trust.
Mary is concerned that the Gila River is in serious danger from powerful outside forces. Her sense of alarm was so great that Mary decided to do something big to help protect the Gila River. She is going to Spain to make a holy pilgrimage on the Camino Frances of the Camino de Santiago Compostela (or St. James’ Way) a walk of 490 miles, this coming September and October, and is dedicating her walk to the Gila River and the Gila Conservation Coalition, a partnership of Gila Resources Information Project, Upper Gila Watershed Alliance and Center for Biological Diversity dedicated to protecting the free-flow of the wild Gila River.
The Camino or Way has been used since the 9th century to make pilgrimages to St. James’ shrine in Santiago de Compostela. According to her spiritual beliefs, she will offer those in prayer on behalf of saving the river as well as for protecting the people and animals that depend on it. Mary is asking people to sponsor her walking pilgrimage by donating to the El Camino Walk for the Gila. Those who donate will be put on a list that she will carry with her and read when she is praying at the stops. Mary hopes that friends and community members who support her walk will be generous in donating to the Gila Conservation Coalition’s Gila River protection efforts.
Ron Henry moved to the Silver City area 20 years ago and feels a deep connection to the Gila River and the mountain countryside that it meanders through. Ron and his children have enjoyed the beauty of the Gila River during hikes and picnics over the years. He is a native New Mexican whose grandparents came to New Mexico in a covered wagon. Ron shared that both his art and his spirituality are deeply connected to nature. He has been an artist all his life in addition to working at two careers (architecture and social work), and he often produces artworks that link nature and spirituality through nature’s symbols, such as the phoenix or the wolf.
A year ago, Ron walked 200 miles of the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain as a spiritual journey and this year he plans to walk the Camino again for the Gila River, honoring his reverence for nature. In September, he hopes to trek 320 miles of the Camino’s paths, plus an additional 60 more miles to get to the Atlantic Ocean.
Ron is dedicating his walk on the Camino de Santiago to saving the Gila River because for him it is the lifeblood for the region’s ecosystems. He is extremely disturbed by proposals for a Gila River diversion project that will rip open the earth for miles to run a huge pipeline and drain water away from our region. Ron worries that the loss of the Gila’s nourishing river water will overwhelm the natural balance here and bring great harm to our delicate ecosystem. He hopes that he can find enough sponsors of his walk to make a major contribution to the Gila Conservation Coalition to help defray their many expenses in promoting solutions that conserve and better utilize our water resources instead of a diversion project.