Film introduced me to my passion.  I was only 5 or 6 years old – not contemplating the production quality or story arc on the screen in front of me.  But the visuals were enough:  lions on the Serengeti, cheetah after a kill, elephants at the watering hole.  Those nature documentaries on television got me every time.  And when I learned that some of those fabulous creatures were threatened by human activities, I was hooked.   I had my mission in life.

I’m now 25 years into a career in conservation.  Those old National Geographic documentaries not only captured my heart, but gave me the confidence to pursue my passion.  Growing up in 1960’s and 70’s suburbia, there weren’t a lot of role models for little girls interested in science and conservation.  But if Jane Goodall could save the chimps on television, then so could I.  I’ve done a lot of professional conservation work since then – mostly in the halls of Washington DC rather than the savannah of Africa.  But dry policy briefs can’t inspire the way film does.  ACFF is one way I can help make that happen for others.

Our mission at ACFF is to promote outstanding film and the arts to educate and inspire people to become engaged in conservation.  Our approach is to show the highest quality films we can, that cover a range of conservation topics.  Although charismatic megafauna (as we say in the conservation biz) is always a crowd-pleaser, our films go far beyond traditional wildlife documentaries.   The world is more complicated than it was in 1970 and our audience at ACFF is pretty sophisticated.  Our films explore the intersection between people and the environment, how the environment shapes cultures and how our culture impacts the environment.  This can include hot topics like global climate change (pun intended), mountain-top removal coal mining, and endangered species.  But it can also include subjects like hiking the Appalachian Trail, living “off the grid” in remote New Mexico, or fighting obesity by getting kids outside to play.

One ACFF theme I’m particularly excited about this year is food as a conservation issue.  Food is one of our most fundamental connections to the land, and illuminates how our own health is linked to the health of the earth.  Yet most modern Americans are largely detached from what they eat.  We’re so detached that many of us don’t know what’s in season (and therefore freshest, tastiest, and healthiest) in our own area.   I first started thinking about food as a conservation issue when my mother was diagnosed with cancer years ago.  I immediately began choosing organic food as much as possible, with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in the back of my mind.  My interest in food grew as my husband and I began frequenting the local farmer’s market every weekend and falling in love with the freshness of the produce.  I’m now a full-blown locavore, having moved to Shepherdstown where local farming competes with housing developments, and eating locally means not only having fabulous food, but supporting the rural landscape and reducing our carbon footprint.

At ACFF, we’ve always invited filmmakers to introduce their films and answer questions, but in recent years we’ve also invited experts on the issues raised in the films to engage in dialogue with the audience.   This fall, among others, innovative farmer Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm, featured in the film Food Inc. will be joining us to talk about his techniques for growing healthy food while supporting a healthy environment.  We’ll also have local author and screenwriter Will Stoltzenburg talk about the role of predators in healthy ecosystems, and other panelists as well. We started inviting experts like these because, so often after a film at our festival, someone asks “what can I do?”  That’s when we know we’ve inspired.