In celebration of the 45th anniversary of Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22, the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center will screen three short films by Vineyard filmmakers Liz Witham and Ken Wentworth of Film-Truth Productions. The shorts are part of the married couple’s documentary series, Sustainable Vineyard Episodes. The three films —The Hidden Life of Conch, The Story of Seeds, and Goatscaping — are free to the public.
The goal of the series is to promote a sense of community by profiling Islanders who are working to develop a sustainable local environment. Vineyarders active in the Island environmental movement and interviewed in the three shorts will answer questions following the film screenings. Participants include: Noli Taylor, director of Island Grown Schools; Melinda Rabbitt-DeFeo, Edgartown School garden program; Tim Boland, executive director of Polly Hill Arboretum; Tim Clark, curator of Polly Hill Arboretum; Ian Jochems, horticulturist for Polly Hill Arboretum; Kristen Fauteux, director of stewardship at Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation; Rebecca Gilbert, owner of Native Earth Teaching Farm; Shelley Edmundson, doctoral student in the department of biological sciences at the University of New Hampshire; as well as the two filmmakers.
In The Hidden Life of Conch, Ms. Edmundson describes her ongoing research on the conch, which make up the Island’s largest fishing industry, earning $6 million annually. With most information on conch dating from the 1940s, relatively little up-to-date data on this sea snail, also known as the channeled whelk, is available. Conch harvested by Vineyard fishermen travel primarily to Hong Kong, and Ms. Witham has suggested that one local project might be to persuade an Island chef to develop a menu using this marine animal.
The Story of Seeds examines the Island movement to collect local plant varieties and make them available to gardeners. By learning how to save seeds from local plants rather than destroying them, individuals can help counter the increasing corporatization of the U.S. food industry, according to Ms. Witham.
Goatscaping explores the use of goats to remove invasive foreign shrubs and woody plants. Goats also consume poison ivy, and unlike herbicides, they don’t leave behind any toxic residue. In this short, Ms. Fauteux describes how the Sheriffs Meadow Foundation has used goats at Cedar Tree Neck to eliminate bittersweet, one of the invading species at that site.
Ms. Witham and Mr. Wentworth came up with the idea for making a series of film shorts on Island sustainability in 2010, while they were working on a full-length documentary, The Greening of Eden, about the broader issue of humanity’s relationship to plant life. They received a 2014 Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellowship and a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant to produce the series.
Ms. Witham explained Film-Truth Production’s decision to make shorts about Island sustainability rather than a full-length documentary. “With increasing use of the Internet, people are consuming media differently than they did even just a few years ago. We designed the Sustainable Vineyard series of short documentaries in a form and length that is optimal for sharing online. Our concept was to make short pieces that are easy to utilize but that can also be combined and played together to make a wonderful, longer short documentary that is optimal for film festivals and community screenings.”
They have also made Foraging in Aquinnah with Kristina Hook-Leslie and Pig Farming with Jan Buhrman. While The Story of Seeds was shown last month at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival, The Hidden Life of Conch and Goatscaping will receive their first public screenings on April 22. Film-Truth Productions plans to make the series available to Island schools, libraries, and sustainability organizations. The film company is also exploring broadcast opportunities.
Earth Day originated in 1970, after Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson witnessed the massive 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, Calif., and organized a national teach-in on the environment with California Rep. Pete McCloskey. Earth Day went global in 1990, expanding to include 141 countries, and in 2010 it emphasized the threat of global warming and the need to develop sources for clean energy. Formed in 1970, the Earth Day Network supports year-round environmental awareness and action worldwide.
Sustainable Vineyard Episodes, Wednesday, April 22, 7:30 pm, Martha’s Vineyard Film Center, Tisbury Marketplace, Vineyard Haven. For tickets for these and other scheduled films, see mvfilmsociety.com. For additional information on Sustainable Vineyard Episodes and Film-Truth Productions, contact Liz Witham at liz@film-truth.com or 508-693-3672.