An Acquired Taste

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70 Minutes
Filmmaker: Vanessa Lemaire
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Why kill your own food? A new, mindful generation of teens defy factory farming and turn to hunting as a way of connecting with the source of their sustenance. Nick, Alex and Ashlie leave behind their modern lives and embark on a journey that is foreign to their parents. To make a humane kill, these animal lovers confront tormenting ethics and their worst nightmares, partly to eat dinner and partly to carve out their own identities.

Screens on Sunday, October 30 during BLOCK 14, which begins at  1:30 pm – The Frank Center on the Shepherd University Campus.

The Babushkas of Chernobyl

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72 Minutes
Filmmaker:  Holly Morris
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In the radioactive Dead Zone surrounding Chernobyl’s Reactor No. 4, a defiant community of women scratch out an existence on some of the most toxic land on Earth. They share this hauntingly beautiful but lethal landscape with an assortment of visitors – scientists, soldiers, and even ‘stalkers’ – young thrill-seekers who sneak in to pursue post-apocalyptic video game-inspired fantasies. Why the film’s characters, Hanna, Maria and Valentyna, chose to return after the disaster, defying the authorities and endangering their health, is a remarkable tale about the pull of home, the healing power of shaping one’s destiny, and the subjective nature of risk.

Screens on Saturday, October 22 during BLOCK 6, which begins at 6:30 pm at the Frank Center on the Shepherd University Campus.

Beneath Paradise

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12 Minutes
Filmmaker: Darlien Morales
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The island of Culebra, located off the coast of Puerto Rico, is one of the richest ecosystems in the Caribbean. Abundant mangroves, coral reefs and world-renowned beaches, like Flamenco Beach, attract tourists from all over. Today, active munitions from WW2 pose a threat to people, wildlife, and the environment. Activists, fishermen, professors, and military personnel aim to prevent further irreparable damage to Culebra’s coral reefs.

Screens on Sunday, October 23 during Block 8, which begins at 3:30 pm at Reynolds Hall on the Shepherd University Campus.

Bluebird Man

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12 Minutes
Filmmakers: Matthew Podolsky and Neil Paprocki
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Bluebird Man is the story of 91-year-old Al Larson, a self-taught conservation hero who has committed the last 35 years of his life to saving North America’s bluebirds. Breathtaking scenery, intimate conversations, and stunning footage of all three species of bluebird create a powerful film with the goal of inspiring our next generation of citizen scientists.

Screens on Sunday, October 23 during Block 9, which begins at 6:00 pm at the Byrd Center for Legislative Studies the Shepherd University Campus.

Canyon Song

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14 Minutes
Filmmakers: Amy Marquis and Dana Romanoff
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A Navajo family balances modern life with the traditional “Navajo Way,” teaching their children their language, culture, and ceremony within the sacred walls of Canyon de Chelly National Monument. This is the second film in the NPX | Stories For a New Century film series.

Screens on Friday, October 21 during BLOCK 2, which begins at 6:30 pm at Reynolds Hall on the Shepherd University Campus.

Catching the Sun

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2016 ACFF GREEN SPARK AWARD– HIGHLIGHTING PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABILITY
ACFF 2016 Green Spark Laurels large74 Minutes
Filmmaker: Shalini Kantayya
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Through the stories of workers and entrepreneurs in the U.S. and China, Catching the Sun captures the global race to lead the clean energy future. With countries like China investing in innovative technologies and capitalizing on this trillion-dollar opportunity, the film tells the story of the global energy transition from the perspective of workers and entrepreneurs building solutions to income inequality and climate change with their own hands. Their successes and failures speak to one of the biggest questions of our time: will the U.S. actually be able to build a clean energy economy?

Two screenings!  Screens on Sunday, October 23 during Block 7, which begins at 1:00 pm at Reynolds Hall on the Shepherd University Campus. Encore screening on Friday, Oct 28th during Block 11, which begins at 6:30 pm at Reynolds Hall.

Defined by the Line

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8 Minutes
Filmmakers: Fitz Cahall
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Josh Ewing began visiting the Bears Ears region of southeastern Utah to climb at Indian Creek and explore the local archaeology. But when he moved to the town of Bluff, he saw degradation from oil drilling, looting, and careless visitors. Ewing knew simply loving a place was no longer enough.

Screens on Sunday, October 23 during Block 8, which begins at 3:30 pm at Reynolds Hall on the Shepherd University Campus.

EO Wilson: Of Ants and Men

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2016 ACFF GREEN FIRE AWARD
ACFF 2016 Green Fire Winner Laurels Large 201692 Minutes
Filmmaker: Graham Townsley
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Follow the extraordinary scientific odyssey of one of America’s greatest living thinkers, E.O Wilson. Often dubbed “a Darwin for the modern day,” his lectures at Harvard were picketed and he was even physically attacked on stage at a scientific conference, all because he suggested that human nature could be studied scientifically. Time has borne Wilson out, and sociobiology has become a well-established and accepted part of the humanities. The film culminates in a rapturous finale about his work in the great national park of Mozambique, Gorongosa, once torn apart by civil war, now being restored to its former glory.

Two Screenings!  Screens on Saturday, October 22 during BLOCK 4, which begins at 2:15 pm at the National Conservation Training Center. Encore screening on Sunday, October 30 during BLOCK 16, which begins at 6:00 pm at the Frank Center on the Shepherd University Campus.

Forget Shorter Showers

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11 Minutes
Filmmaker: Jordan Brown

Forget Shorter ShowersWould any sane person think dumpster diving would have stopped Hitler? That composting would have ended slavery or brought about the eight-hour workday? That recycling would have helped put in place the Voting Rights Act of 1957 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Then why now, with the entire world at stake, do so many people retreat into these entirely personal “solutions” for social change? Why are these solutions not sufficient? But most importantly, what can be done instead to actually stop the destruction of the planet? Based on an essay by Derrick Jensen published in Orion Magazine.

Screens on Friday, October 21 during BLOCK 1, which begins at 6:00 pm at the Byrd Center for Legislative Studies on the Shepherd University Campus.

Harbinger

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10 Minutes
Filmmaker: Sam Sheline
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In the mid 2000s, the deadly chytrid fungus pushed many of Panama’s unique amphibians to the brink of extinction. Golden frogs are the country’s national animal, a talisman of good luck, and extinct in the wild. Biologist Edgardo Griffith saved the beloved frogs and then had to come to terms with losing them in the wild.