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It starts today! The
Nature as Inspiration film festival begins this week as an online
event, bringing to your home six feature-length documentaries, an
amazing collection of shorts, and the first showing of the works from
the 2020
Art of Conservation (read more below). All will be available to view at
your convenience any time between today and May 27 – so check out the full schedule and then purchase your All Access Pass today!
Akashinga: The Brave Ones, the story of an all-female anti-poaching unit in Zimbabwe, is part of this year's collection of short films.
A Quiet Victory for the Oceans
One story of Nature as Inspiration
Every so often, I see a film that haunts me . . . haunting in a good way,
leading to thinking, questioning, searching. One of the most powerful
of these experiences came back in 2016, following a viewing of Sonic Sea at the annual film festival hosted by the MV Film Society and VCS.
I went in with no expectations. But after seeing that film, I went
straight home and googled sonar and whales, learning all about the
devastating effects of industrial and military sonar on not just whales,
but all aquatic life.
Then
I discovered that this film, as affecting as it was, was far more than
an exposé of something bad happening somewhere far away: it was also a
call to action. In 2016, NOAA was working on an Ocean Noise
Strategy Roadmap, a plan to quiet the oceans over the next 10 years.
NOAA was seeking public comment over the next month, and it felt good to
be able to participate in something so significant.
Reading
the newspaper later that summer I felt a rush of victory: a U.S. Court
had barred the Navy from using submarine-hunting sonar throughout much
of the world’s oceans. For over a decade, the Navy had been claiming
that their use of this form of ultra-loud sonar was safe for marine
life, but the Court disagreed. In one important way, the ocean was about
to become quieter.
And the story isn’t over. Unfortunately, now there are plans to use
deafening underwater air guns for seismic mapping of the ocean floor for
gas and oil drilling. Hopefully a positive outcome will be reached on
that issue as well, and the more people there are who are informed and
motivated, the better our odds. One inspirational film viewed four years
ago led this one person to care deeply about a new issue and take
action – but I am sure I was not the only one.
I applaud VCS and the MVFS for always putting on a great festival,
helping to inform, engage, and inspire our community. This year, I’m
looking forward to streaming all seven films at home across the next
seven days. The trailers (and the festival's track record) promise yet
another excellent program. Thumbs up!
Thank you to Jennifer Blum, VCS vice president, for this contribution. Photo above from Sonic Sea, part of the 2016 festival.
Opening Show: Solace & Insight
Join us Saturday for the first look at this year's art contest
Every
year, one of the highlights of the film festival is the opening show of
our high school art contest, the Art of Conservation. As with many
other things happening in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, this year
will be different. We will  truly
miss bringing the winners up on stage for their awards, as their works
are hanging in the Film Center's Feldman Family Artspace for all to see,
but the show must go on! Please help us do our best to honor their hard
work and creativity by checking back on Saturday (following tomorrow's
judging), when we unveil the winners at both our website and the MV Film Society.
Special thanks to this year's judges, Posey Haeger, Arnie Reisman, and
Jack Yuen, and to our wonderful art teachers for helping make the Art of
Conservation a reality. Financial support for the contest comes from
the Martha's Vineyard Cultural Council.
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