KCET and Link TV announce their lineup for the 2nd Annual Earth Focus Environmental Film Festival, held in Santa Monica. Taking place on April 21, the festival is being held just in time to celebrate Earth Day.
Throughout the course of the day, the festival will feature multiple films that highlight the natural world and the daily struggles of the wildlife that inhabit it.
9:45 a.m.: UCLA LENS Environmental Shorts Screenings
The festival will be opening with a series of short films. The Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies (LENS) launched a yearlong collaboration project to produce immersive films for environmental reporting and documentaries.
Films being shown include “Taylor Yard: A Change of Heart in Los Angeles,” and “Urban Ark Los Angeles” introduced by Allison Carruth, LENS Faculty Director. After these films, a Q&A sessions featuring LENS co-founder Jon Christensen moderated by UCLA Film professor Kristy Guevara-Flanagan will take place. This series will run for the first hour of the festival, and is free attendance, with reserved tickets required.
10 a.m.: “March of the Penguins 2: The Next Step”
The festival will be showing “March of the Penguins 2: The Next Step,” the sequel to the award-winning documentary filmed ten years prior. This sequel dives back into the wild penguins of Antarctica with new technologies to capture the story of a father and a son overcoming the incredible challenges of the continent.
Q&A will follow featuring Sara Mandel, an aviculturist (bird expert) from the June Keyes Penguin Habitat at Long Beach’s Aquarium of the Pacific. This film will be a free attendance event, with ticket reservations required ahead of time.
11 a.m.: “Evolution of Organic” and short film “The Soil Story”
Academy Award®-nominated director Mark Kitchell will be showing his latest film, which tells the story of those who began the organic farming movement and their journey to bringing organic foods in the mainstream of society. Showing the development of organic foods across the country, Kitchell captures the history and effects of one of the biggest movements in the American food industry.
Opening this film is the short film “The Soil Story,” showing the low-cost way to reverse climate change through soil care. Following both of these films, a Q&A session will follow, with regenerative agriculture expert Annie Martin. This screening costs three dollars (plus a processing fee), and can be booked online ahead of time.
12 p.m.: “The Last Animals”
Photographer Kate Brooks focuses on the killing of African Elephants and Rhinos, showing both the factors contributing to this epidemic and the heroic efforts of the conservationists, park rangers, and scientists striving to save these animals.
After this film, there will be a Q&A will actress Kim Delaney. This screening costs three dollars – as well as a processing fee – to be reserved ahead of time.
2:30 p.m.: “Jane”
Director Brett Morgen debuts newly uncovered footage of conservationist Jane Goodall and her 1960 expedition into the remotes regions of Tanzania to study chimpanzees. Also including exclusive interviews with Goodall, Morgen offers a new and intimate side to a woman who defied odds to become one of the world’s most admired conservationists.
This screening costs three dollars plus a processing fee to be reserved ahead of time.
5 p.m.: “Earth Focus: Sea Level Rising-Living with Water” and “Earth Focus: Climate Migration”
Concluding the festival, Earth Focus will be showing two episodes: “Sea Level Rising-Living with Water” and “Climate Migration”. The first episode focuses on how Louisiana has learned and adapted after suffering extreme damages from Hurricane Katrina. The second episode follows populations changing to adapt migration patterns to climate changes.
Following this film, a Q&A will take place with Director Nicky Milne, UCLA LENS co-founder Jon Christensen, and LENS Faculty Director Allison Carruth. This closing screening is free attendance, with ticket reservations available online.
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