4th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival and Gila River CD/DVD Release Party
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
For more information, visit GCC’s webpage, www.gilaconservation.org or the SYRCL’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival webpage at www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org.