Independent film makers explore our world
in ecclectic, elegant, interesting and inspiring ways
<img src=http://SONewMex.com/images/RioFest2.jpg align=left hspace=3 border=1>
Socorro, NM – Explore our world, from the Rio Grande’s headwaters to Tierra del Fuego. Rediscover submerged Glen Canyon, then traverse New Zealand and the Australian outback – all through the lens of innovative, independent film makers. Hear the natives of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge voice their concerns about the oil reserves beneath their fragile, abundant landscape. And be forewarned: 20th-century explorer Katie Lee’s achingly beautiful songs and photographs of now-submerged Glen Canyon might break your heart, but strengthen your resolve to fight to preserve the Earth’s wild places.
Katie Lee is among the featured filmmakers who have been invited to attend the second RioFest International Environmental Film Festival, Jan. 25 and 26, 2008, at NM Tech’s Macey Center.
“The films we’ve selected are eclectic and elegant, interesting and inspiring,” says the festival’s executive director Carol Lynn Tiegs. “We hope the films will help viewers think of our world in new ways, generate discussion and spark new environmental action.”
The film-mix is guaranteed to engage viewers of all ages and attitudes. From issues about air, water and soil, to the hiker’s gentle footprint and the clomping of a long-distance pack-horse, from glorious photos of a drowned, red-rock canyon to the saving of Australia’s bilby in a landscape overrun with rabbits – you will cry and cheer, laugh and sigh, grow outraged and inspired.
Award-winning Gimme Green, for instance, is funny while infuriating as it examines America’s largest irrigated crop, the residential Lawn.
French Fries to Go tells how one young guy really did make a difference!
And Texas Gold introduces us to the most outrageous middle-aged fisherwoman-activist that the Gulf Coast petro-chemical industry has ever had to contend with.
These are just a taste of the festival’s offerings. See the complete list below or go to the festival web site for more detailed information about each film, www.riofilmfest.com (http://www.riofilmfest.com/).
Mark your calendars for Friday evening, Jan.25, and all day Saturday, Jan.26, 2008, to attend the RioFest International Environmental Film Festival at the Macey Center performance arts complex on the campus of New Mexico Tech, just 90 miles south of Albuquerque in Socorro.
For more Festival information call Carol Lynn Tiegs, 575-418-8642, or visit the web site at www.RioFilmFest.com (http://www.riofilmfest.com/).
A complete schedule of screenings will be available at the door or through the website. Films to be shown (in no particular order) are:
French Fries to Go by Charris Ford. Documents the Telluride Biodiesel Project which launched the nation’s first biodeisel city bus line. Follows the ‘Granola Ayatollah of Canola’ as he develops and sells a ski town on his restaurant-recycled fuel. Winner: MountainFilm’s ‘Best Environmental Film’ Award
Bilby Brothers: the Men Who Killed the Easter Bunny by Larry Zetlin and Jim Stevens. Two larger-than-life Australians, a park ranger and a rancher, join forces to save the bilby, an endangered marsupial. An army of volunteers helps them accomplish the ‘impossible’ and promoting these little critters as “the Easter Bilby” wins the hearts of a nation.
Behaviours of the Backpacker, by Sandor Lau. A young Fulbright scholar walks 500km alone, Auckland to Cape Reinga, New Zealand’s geographic and spiritual headlands. This noir comedy records tales of international hikers, organic farmers, tour and hostel operators, and Maori villagers. Discover the exact weight of a toothbrush and the true distance to home.
20,000 Miles On A Horse by Tom Jennings (Sponsored by Socorro Striders & Riders) A Russian and an American rode from Tierra del Fuego to the Bering Sea č the longest horseback ride ever made. A five-year saga, the best part is: they filmed EVERYTHING.
A Gathering of Waters: Rio Grande, Source to Sea by Eric Stacey From our rio bravo’s birth in Colorado’s San Juan range, to its confluence with the Gulf of Mexico 1,875 miles later, the ribbon of agua is traversed by canoe, raft, motor boat, hot-air balloon, horseback, auto, bicycle and por pie (on-foot), celebrated every precious drop of the way.
Love Song to Glen Canyon by Katie Lee. Renown rafter/explorer Katie Lee eulogizes a paradise lost: Glen Canyon, drowned under Lake Powell along the Colorado River. Her stunning photographs, poetry, fierce politics and her songs tell the story. Katie’s sixteen expeditions there“resurrected my spirit, melted my heart, showed me time was not my enemy ╔ and diluted my ego to its proper consistency. The Glen gave me roots as tenacious as the willow along its banks.”
Gimme Green by Eric Flagg and Isaac Brown. Gimme Green examines the American obsession with ‘The Lawn’ č a disturbing, award-winning and hilarious study of the nation’s largest irrigated ‘crop’ and the $40 billion, toxic industry which supports it.
Out of Balance: ExxonMobil’s Impact on Climate Change by Joe Public Films. How the largest company on earth funded global warming “skeptics” and influenced the Bush administration, while ignoring climate science.
Oil on Ice by Dale Djerassi & Bo Boudart. A compelling and comprehensive documentary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, its migratory wildlife and native peoples, threatened by the prospect of oil extraction in a fragile, exquisite ecosystem.
TEXAS GOLD: Unreasonable Woman Diane Wilson by Carolyn Scott A fourth-generation fisherwoman and mother of five from the Texas Gulf Coast takes on the petro-chemical giants who destroyed the fisheries and poisoned Calhoun County. The most uppity woman you’ll ever hope to meet!
Desert Gold captures the seemingly miraculous, springtide blooming of wildflowers throughout the desert Southwest. Patient, highly unlikely, and extraordinarily beautiful. In tandem, we will view an exquisite short by the same filmmakers, Sand Blossoms.
Shorts
Gone by Bill Madden. Fusing film and music, this metaphorical environmental warning raises questions about the consequences of war and societal assaults by corporations.
Chickens in the City. Somewhere beyond the Golden Gate, the cable cars and coffee bars, San Francisco teems with chickens. Tale of two backyard coops, their caretakers and the rise of ‘slow food’ consciousness.
Independent Animation from the Netherlands from il Luster Productions. Renown for its technical prowess and sheer originality, Dutch animation is a sensory delight. RioFest showcases the recent and the best. No translations necessary.
Lost Cargo R2D2 meets the Chocolate Factory, only sweeter. (Sponsored by Steppin’ Out)
Teddy an elder slows ‘way down amid bustling urbanites; brutal and tender.
Hard-Boiled Chicken – a pair of winsome poultry outwit the farmer. (Sponsored by Gambles/the Torres family)
The Procession a gorgeously-drawn homage to ‘crossing over’ and passing on.
in ecclectic, elegant, interesting and inspiring ways
<img src=http://SONewMex.com/images/RioFest2.jpg align=left hspace=3 border=1>
Socorro, NM – Explore our world, from the Rio Grande’s headwaters to Tierra del Fuego. Rediscover submerged Glen Canyon, then traverse New Zealand and the Australian outback – all through the lens of innovative, independent film makers. Hear the natives of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge voice their concerns about the oil reserves beneath their fragile, abundant landscape. And be forewarned: 20th-century explorer Katie Lee’s achingly beautiful songs and photographs of now-submerged Glen Canyon might break your heart, but strengthen your resolve to fight to preserve the Earth’s wild places.
Katie Lee is among the featured filmmakers who have been invited to attend the second RioFest International Environmental Film Festival, Jan. 25 and 26, 2008, at NM Tech’s Macey Center.
“The films we’ve selected are eclectic and elegant, interesting and inspiring,” says the festival’s executive director Carol Lynn Tiegs. “We hope the films will help viewers think of our world in new ways, generate discussion and spark new environmental action.”
The film-mix is guaranteed to engage viewers of all ages and attitudes. From issues about air, water and soil, to the hiker’s gentle footprint and the clomping of a long-distance pack-horse, from glorious photos of a drowned, red-rock canyon to the saving of Australia’s bilby in a landscape overrun with rabbits – you will cry and cheer, laugh and sigh, grow outraged and inspired.
Award-winning Gimme Green, for instance, is funny while infuriating as it examines America’s largest irrigated crop, the residential Lawn.
French Fries to Go tells how one young guy really did make a difference!
And Texas Gold introduces us to the most outrageous middle-aged fisherwoman-activist that the Gulf Coast petro-chemical industry has ever had to contend with.
These are just a taste of the festival’s offerings. See the complete list below or go to the festival web site for more detailed information about each film, www.riofilmfest.com (http://www.riofilmfest.com/).
Mark your calendars for Friday evening, Jan.25, and all day Saturday, Jan.26, 2008, to attend the RioFest International Environmental Film Festival at the Macey Center performance arts complex on the campus of New Mexico Tech, just 90 miles south of Albuquerque in Socorro.
For more Festival information call Carol Lynn Tiegs, 575-418-8642, or visit the web site at www.RioFilmFest.com (http://www.riofilmfest.com/).
A complete schedule of screenings will be available at the door or through the website. Films to be shown (in no particular order) are:
French Fries to Go by Charris Ford. Documents the Telluride Biodiesel Project which launched the nation’s first biodeisel city bus line. Follows the ‘Granola Ayatollah of Canola’ as he develops and sells a ski town on his restaurant-recycled fuel. Winner: MountainFilm’s ‘Best Environmental Film’ Award
Bilby Brothers: the Men Who Killed the Easter Bunny by Larry Zetlin and Jim Stevens. Two larger-than-life Australians, a park ranger and a rancher, join forces to save the bilby, an endangered marsupial. An army of volunteers helps them accomplish the ‘impossible’ and promoting these little critters as “the Easter Bilby” wins the hearts of a nation.
Behaviours of the Backpacker, by Sandor Lau. A young Fulbright scholar walks 500km alone, Auckland to Cape Reinga, New Zealand’s geographic and spiritual headlands. This noir comedy records tales of international hikers, organic farmers, tour and hostel operators, and Maori villagers. Discover the exact weight of a toothbrush and the true distance to home.
20,000 Miles On A Horse by Tom Jennings (Sponsored by Socorro Striders & Riders) A Russian and an American rode from Tierra del Fuego to the Bering Sea č the longest horseback ride ever made. A five-year saga, the best part is: they filmed EVERYTHING.
A Gathering of Waters: Rio Grande, Source to Sea by Eric Stacey From our rio bravo’s birth in Colorado’s San Juan range, to its confluence with the Gulf of Mexico 1,875 miles later, the ribbon of agua is traversed by canoe, raft, motor boat, hot-air balloon, horseback, auto, bicycle and por pie (on-foot), celebrated every precious drop of the way.
Love Song to Glen Canyon by Katie Lee. Renown rafter/explorer Katie Lee eulogizes a paradise lost: Glen Canyon, drowned under Lake Powell along the Colorado River. Her stunning photographs, poetry, fierce politics and her songs tell the story. Katie’s sixteen expeditions there“resurrected my spirit, melted my heart, showed me time was not my enemy ╔ and diluted my ego to its proper consistency. The Glen gave me roots as tenacious as the willow along its banks.”
Gimme Green by Eric Flagg and Isaac Brown. Gimme Green examines the American obsession with ‘The Lawn’ č a disturbing, award-winning and hilarious study of the nation’s largest irrigated ‘crop’ and the $40 billion, toxic industry which supports it.
Out of Balance: ExxonMobil’s Impact on Climate Change by Joe Public Films. How the largest company on earth funded global warming “skeptics” and influenced the Bush administration, while ignoring climate science.
Oil on Ice by Dale Djerassi & Bo Boudart. A compelling and comprehensive documentary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, its migratory wildlife and native peoples, threatened by the prospect of oil extraction in a fragile, exquisite ecosystem.
TEXAS GOLD: Unreasonable Woman Diane Wilson by Carolyn Scott A fourth-generation fisherwoman and mother of five from the Texas Gulf Coast takes on the petro-chemical giants who destroyed the fisheries and poisoned Calhoun County. The most uppity woman you’ll ever hope to meet!
Desert Gold captures the seemingly miraculous, springtide blooming of wildflowers throughout the desert Southwest. Patient, highly unlikely, and extraordinarily beautiful. In tandem, we will view an exquisite short by the same filmmakers, Sand Blossoms.
Shorts
Gone by Bill Madden. Fusing film and music, this metaphorical environmental warning raises questions about the consequences of war and societal assaults by corporations.
Chickens in the City. Somewhere beyond the Golden Gate, the cable cars and coffee bars, San Francisco teems with chickens. Tale of two backyard coops, their caretakers and the rise of ‘slow food’ consciousness.
Independent Animation from the Netherlands from il Luster Productions. Renown for its technical prowess and sheer originality, Dutch animation is a sensory delight. RioFest showcases the recent and the best. No translations necessary.
Lost Cargo R2D2 meets the Chocolate Factory, only sweeter. (Sponsored by Steppin’ Out)
Teddy an elder slows ‘way down amid bustling urbanites; brutal and tender.
Hard-Boiled Chicken – a pair of winsome poultry outwit the farmer. (Sponsored by Gambles/the Torres family)
The Procession a gorgeously-drawn homage to ‘crossing over’ and passing on.