Local Films
Saving Cherry Valley
Videography by Todd Leatherman; Produced by Kelly Proctor and Bill Rawlyk of the Open Space Institute | 2019
In September 2019, conservation partners celebrated the addition of over 4,300 acres to Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge, protecting land for the bog turtle, migratory birds, the Appalachian Trail, and drinking water within the Delaware River Watershed.
The Air That We Breathe
WQED Multimedia Pittsburgh | Produced by Ash Warren and Iris Samson; Edited by Amy Grove | 2020
While the Pittsburgh region evolves into a magnet for tech, education and new business, its air quality remains stuck in the unhealthy past. This documentary short from WQED explores some of the reasons behind the city’s poor air quality rankings and introduces people working for change.
National Films
Every Nine Minutes
Hub Strategy & Communications, Oliver Hamilton | 2018
Every nine minutes, the weight of a blue whale (300,000 pounds) in plastic makes its way into our ocean. To call attention to this, the Monterey Bay Aquarium built a life-sized replica of a blue whale made of single-use, locally sourced plastic trash. Certified by Guinness World Records, the whale is the largest sculpture of its kind ever built.
Detroit Hives
Palmer Morse, Rachel Weinberg, Matthew Mikkelsen, Spruce Tone Films | 2019
East Detroit urban beekeepers Tim Paule and Nicole Lindsey are a young couple working to bring diversity to the field of beekeeping and create opportunities for young Detroit natives to overcome adversity. Detroit ranks fourth in the United States for the most vacant housing lots with well over 90,000 empty lots to date. In an effort to address this issue, Detroit Hives has been purchasing vacant lots and converting them into buzzing bee farms. Detroit Hives explores the importance of bringing diversity to beekeeping and rebuilding inner-city communities one hive at a time.
Sounds of Survival
Katie Garrett | 2018
Deep in the emerald cloud forests of Cusuco National Park of Honduras, scientists are on a quest to record the never-before-heard call of the endangered “exquisite spike-thumb frog” (Plectrohyla exquisita). What ensues is both a delightful portrait of the process of scientific discovery and an inspiring example of the power of sound as a tool for conservation.
Station 15
Kira Akerman | 2017
High school student and poet, Chasity Hunter, experienced intense flooding in her New Orleans neighborhood during both Hurricane Katrina and recent summer rainstorms. Inspired to find out how safe her city really is, she investigates its infrastructure and questions water experts, finding her own voice along the way.
(Re)Connecting Wild – Restoring Safe Passage
Jake Willers, Alyson Andreasen, NineCaribou Productions, LLC | 2019
This is the remarkable story of the decade-long effort by the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) and its partners to improve human safety by re-connecting a historic mule deer migration that crosses over both US-93 and I-80 in rural Elko County, Nevada. Witness the wildlife crossing structures along I-80 from construction to the restoration of safe passage for migratory mule deer to more than 1.5 million acres of summer and winter habitat.
