Wild and Scenic Film Festival Comes to Whitehorse

Media Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 26, 2015

Whitehorse – One of the largest environmental- and outdoor-pursuit-themed film festivals in North America will be making its Yukon debut on March 5th at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre. CPAWS Yukon has secured the rights to bring the Wild and Scenic Film Festival to Whitehorse audiences as a fundraiser for the campaign to protect the Peel Watershed.

“The timing just felt right,” says CPAWS Yukon’s Conservation Campaigner, Amber Church, “The films screening in this year’s festival cover a range of themes including land conservation, habitat connectivity, fracking, tourism, and sustainability – all issues that the Yukon is currently grappling with.”

She adds, “And the films tackle these issues in unique and inspiring ways. For example the film ‘The Little Things’ follows a set of pro snowboarders, looking at how they are working towards sustainability in their personal lives, while filling the screen with some excellent sports footage. The film ‘Dryden’ looks at how a dedicated group of community members used municipal laws to ban fracking in their community and inspired a slew of communities across their state to do the same.”

The screening will be opened with the premiere of the newest film from National Geographic filmmaker, Andy Maser. Headwaters of the Wild was created from last summer’s International League of Conservation Photographers trip into the Peel Watershed. The film will be introduced by photographers Peter Mather and Tomohiro Uemura, who took part in the trip.

The films screening at this year’s festival include:
• Common Ground: several ranching and farming communities living against the stunning landscape of the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana are faced with the decision of what is to become of this unprotected public land.
• Dryden- The Small Town that Changed the Fracking Game: this is the true story of people who discovered their shared strength and turned the tables on a powerful industry.
• Earthbook: what would Planet Earth post about humans on its profile?
• I Heard: a Seuss-esque journey into some of the 110+ million acres of designated American wilderness.
• The Little Things: features professional snowboarders who have chosen to be outspoken and make positive changes towards a sustainable environment.
• Pride of Namibia: tells the story of communities committed to protecting wildlife, of a nation that has enshrined conservation into its constitution, and of the future of responsible travel.
• River of Eden: a journey into the Fijian Highlands to discover why the locals said “no” to easy money from resource extraction, and how they turned to tourism to fund a conservation area that protects one of the most beautiful rivers on Earth.
• Spine of the Continent: Climate change, the decline of carnivores on the landscape, and increasing habitat fragmentation all threaten the places that we cherish most: our national parks.

The Wild and Scenic Film Festival takes place on Thursday, March 5, at 7:30 pm at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre. Tickets are available from CPAWS Yukon (506 Steele Street, 393-8080), online (https://eventbrite.com/event/15658215143/), or at the door (while quantities last).

For more information contact:

Amber Church
Conservation Campaigner
CPAWS-Yukon
393-8080 x 2
achurch@cpawsyukon.org

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