Posted By Sarah Margolius
The first-ever Environmental Week Film Festival featured 20 timely and topical documentaries at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, home to Canada’s natural history collection and one of the largest in the world. Having been renovated over six long years, the results are magnificent – entirely new galleries and exhibitions, beautiful architectural elements including the stunning “lantern”, plus an all-new HD theatre to screen exciting audio-visual programming.
Co-presented with Planet in Focus, the imaginative and bold roster of films highlighted the natural world and our impact upon it. Many of these films literally rocked our worlds! Audiences experienced the exhilaration and fear of being on a boat chasing a Japanese whaling ship in Battleship Antarctica; humility as First Nations and northern peoples adapt to new environmental challenges within the magnificent landscapes of Gates of the Arctic; devastation and joy as Latin American children took us through their everyday lives and dependence on the land in Campesinos…We Will Inherit the Earth; and inspiration as we got up close and personal with a variety of environmental leaders from every corner of the planet in Visionnaires planétaires. These were just a handful of the powerful and engaging films featured. A roster of terrific speakers gave everyone a chance to ask questions and learn more about the topics tackled onscreen.
Thanks is owed to the Museum of Nature for making it possible to screen these powerful films from the Planet in Focus Environmental Film Library. After all, learning more about nature and the potential impact human interaction has on the environment allows us all to make better decisions about resources.
We’re working on an expanded national Museum program for 2011. We hope to bring this kind of programming to more audiences throughout 2011. Stay tuned for details!
The Environmental Week Film Festival at Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa took place June 2-6, 2010.
