This March, a New Brunswick-made film about the work of Sackville’s very own Community Forest International (CFI) will be taking home a major award at the world’s largest environmental film festival in Washington, D.C.
The film is called Kokota: The Islet of Hope and features the climate change work CFI has been doing in Africa. Along with three other short documentaries, Kokota will be playing at the Vogue Cinema as part of the Tideland Doc Fest on Wednesday Feb. 8, from 7 to 9 pm.
The film premiered at the Atlantic Film Festival last September and struck gold with a win for best cinematography. Two months later it received Best Canadian Short at Canada’s largest eco film festival, Planet in Focus in Toronto.
Now, it is taking home the Eric Moe Award for Best Short on Sustainability from the Environmental Film Festival. The film’s director, Craig Norris, will receive the award when he screens it for the festival at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., on March 20.
“I get goosebumps anytime I tell someone. Ten years ago I started off as a photographer and I dreamed of shooting for National Geographic, so doing anything related to that organization is literally a dream come true,” Norris said.
Tideland Doc Fest will also feature Sunrise on the Total Chaos, Amazing Places of the Fundy Biosphere Reserve and the fan favourite Surviving the Fundy Footpath. The latter is the story of a non-hiker from Toronto who backpacks the extremely difficult Fundy Footpath for his first hike. The uncensored version of this documentary will be played, so some foul language should be expected.
Together, these New Brunswick-made films have been featured at 23 film festivals in eight countries on four continents. However, until now there hasn’t been an easy way for New Brunswickers to see the films – enter Tideland Doc Fest.
“We have several films that we want to tour around New Brunswick and they all revolve around the same themes: nature, conservation and climate change. So it just made sense to package them up and tour them together,” Norris said.
This February, the inaugural version of this touring, two-hour documentary festival will be making stops in Sackville, Moncton, Fredericton and Saint John. Films will be screened for students at seven high schools and there will be four evening events open to the general public. Admission is free, but there will be a suggested donation of $5 at the door and proceeds will be donated to Community Forests Pemba.
For more information please visit the Tideland Facebook Page. https://www.facebook.com/TidelandDocFest/