2020 Wild and Scenic Film Festival

Saturday Afternoon, SAEL School

Where Life Begins
Katie Schuler, Coral & Oak Studios, The Wilderness Society | 2019 | 10 min
Along the Arctic Coast, at the northmost point on American soil, we explore the inseparable bond between mother and child, the sacred and fragile moments after birth, and the importance of protecting the place Where Life Begins.

The Man of the Trees
Andrea Trivero | 2018 | 19 min
A portrait of Daniel Balima, a horticulturist from Tenkodogo, a small town in Burkina Faso. Daniel contracted Polio as a child and despite losing the ability to use his legs, followed his father around the family nursery on his hands. Through his 50+ years of work and over one million trees sown, he has nurtured a relationship of intimacy and reciprocity with the plants, and shares the abundance of his garden with community members in need.

Matsutake Hunters
Shannon Walsh | 2019 | 18 min
The forest holds many mysteries. We follow some unique foragers as they hunt for the elusive and highly prized Japanese Matsutake mushroom, also known as the Pine Mushroom, in Northern British Columbia. Surprisingly, it is on formerly logged, second-growth forests that the rare Matsutake flourish. Because of their high value in Japan, a unique human and non-human ecosystem, and economy, have emerged in Northern Canada.

All That Remains
Eva Rendle | 2019 | 20 min
A year after deadly wildfires ravaged Northern California's Wine Country, its vulnerable population of farmworkers, many of them undocumented, find themselves in a heightened state of insecurity and inequality. All That Remains is a portrait of the second responders and vineyard workers who are still dealing with the aftermath of the fires, long after the media has turned away.

Lowland Kids
Sandra Winther, William Crouse | 2019 | 22 min
The filming of Lowland Kids began as an adventure. A trip down to Isle de Jean Charles to experience this magical place before it's gone. I had heard many stories about this sinking island and America's first climate refugees - many of which pitted the islanders against each other - those who want to stay vs. those who want to go. But when our small crew arrived on Isle de Jean Charles we discovered a different truth: No one here wants to leave. Every family on the island would spend the rest of their life here, if they had the choice.