Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City

Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

This post was written by Carolyn Weddle, 2012 Project Specialist.

This past weekend the South Yuba River Citizen’s League (SYRCL) held their tenth annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City.

Mono Lake Committee staff at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City. Photo courtesy of Margaret Eissler.

Communications Director Arya Degenhardt, Education Director Bartshe Miller, Eastern Sierra Policy Director Lisa Cutting, and I were lucky enough to be able to go to this exciting event and see the world premiere of the Mono Lake Committee’s brand new film, The Mono Lake Story. The festival consisted of seven venues at a variety of locations in the town, which showed approximately 140 films from around the world.

We arrived at the Wild & Scenic headquarters on Friday afternoon and it was bustling with filmmakers and film-lovers alike. After a brief meeting and walk-through of all the national sponsor tables (Patagonia, Osprey, Sierra Nevada Brewery, AJA Video Systems, and Mother Jones Magazine) we took our festival programs and were off to the first of seven film sessions of the weekend. Inspirational, beautiful, adventurous, and comedic are just a few words I can use to describe what was shown during this weekend. Film themes included  adventure, agriculture, community activism, conservation, energy/climate change, environmental justice, landscapes, and, of course, water. Some of the attendees included the filmmakers, representatives from environmental non-profits across the state, and the general public. It was a great opportunity to meet these people and learn their stories. Many filmmakers were on hand for question-and-answer sessions, which gave an insider’s look into some amazing stories.

On Saturday, the world premiere of The Mono Lake Story happened in two sessions. Arya and Bristlecone Media’s Ryan Christensen and Jonah Matthewson were on hand for question-and-answer sessions for the packed audiences. Both showings of The Mono Lake Story were well received, with great questions about the making of the film as well as the ongoing work of the Mono Lake Committee.

By the Sunday morning session, I was pretty exhausted from the rigorous schedule of films and festivities. We traveled back to Lee Vining inspired and ready to tackle the task of hosting the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Los Angeles on March 8, 2012. Check the website soon for more information and event details!

One comment