The beauty of Martha’s Vineyard (Noepe) is sacred to the Wampanoag, and attracts many to its shores. Concern for the environment abounds, and numerous organizations across the Island work to address the challenges to our waters and land. There is the Vineyard Conservation Society, the Trustees of Reservations, the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, and BiodiversityWorks, to name just a few.
With this in mind, Richard Paradise, founder and executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society, launched the Environmental Film Festival more than a decade ago, which will run this year from May 22 to 25. “We live in a beautiful and eco-friendly place,” he says. “Our community is interested in water and land ecology and climate change. People gravitate toward those subjects, and it was a no-brainer 11 years ago for me to say, ‘What would be a niche film festival that we could do in the Film Center?’” Paradise immediately collaborated with the Vineyard Conservation Society, which has been a partner ever since.
The films are international in scope. The festival opens on Thursday, May 23, with a reception with live music and libations at 6:30 pm. “Earth Protectors” screens at 7:30 pm. It focuses on Anne de Carbuccia, an environmental artist who captures the stories of a diverse new generation working to save our planet. The film addresses our need to adapt as a species to the Anthropocene, the new era in which the impact of humans overwhelms natural cycles with fires, floods, pollution, super-typhoons, and deadly viruses. Paradise notes, “It’s meant to … inspire you to do something in your local community to help the Earth.”
“The White House Effect,” on Friday, May 23, at 4 pm, uses archival footage to revisit the past and document how a crucial opportunity to take meaningful action on global warming was squandered and intentionally undermined due to a political battle during the George H.W. Bush administration.
At 7:30 pm is “A Life Among Elephants.” This documentary, about the life and work of Save the Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton, reveals his journey from pioneering scientist studying African elephants in Tanzania to passionate conservationist fighting against the ivory trade, starting with the poaching epidemic in the 1970s.
“With & Without: A Coral Story” screens on Saturday, May 24, at 1 pm. Coral creates vital underwater ecosystems that support marine life, coastal communities, and the global environment. The film focuses on stony coral tissue loss disease. From its controversial origins in 2014 to the present, scientists are still battling to understand this disease and how to combat it. At the heart of the issue is the human impact. Without significant changes to everyday life and corporate cooperation, we risk losing one of the most important animals on Earth: coral.
The two films for the 4 pm show look at the environmental potential of bicycles.
“When We Cycle” asks questions about the future: What might be the role of the bike in these possible futures? Does the fast, efficient cyclist get priority, or are other scenarios conceivable? How will that affect the city in the future?
With the Vineyard’s abundant bike paths and older adult population, “Cycling Without Age” is a thought-provoking look at a nonprofit started in Copenhagen in 2012, and now in 40 countries worldwide. Cycling Without Age is a global movement that uses e-bike rides to connect older adults with mobility limitations and volunteers. The program helps combat social isolation and promotes intergenerational connections while benefiting the environment. Paradise, an avid biker, comments, “It’s a beautiful film about getting people who are elderly or disabled out on a bicycle. I love bicycling, and there is nothing freer than being on a trail and pedaling under your own power. Just being out in the fresh air and nature is a great experience.”
“Her Shark Story,” at 7:30 pm on Saturday, parallels the Island-wide 50-year celebration of “Jaws.” The documentary concerns Sofia Green, a young marine biologist in the Galápagos, who reconnects with her absent father through their shared passion for trying to save the whale shark, the world’s biggest fish.
The final day, Sunday, May 25, begins with a reception for the Vineyard Conservation Society Student Art Show at noon, followed by “Holding Back the Tide” at 1 pm. This impressionist hybrid documentary traces the oyster through its many life cycles in New York, once the world’s oyster capital. Now its specter haunts the city through queer characters embodying ancient myth, revealing the overlooked history and biology of the bivalve that built the city. A Q and A with Director Emily Packer will follow the screening.
It’s another double feature at 4 pm, starting with “Sequoias of the Sea,” covering the environmental, cultural, and economic destruction affecting a coastal town that has lost its kelp forest. The film delves into the lives of fishermen, tribes, scientists, and a community striving to restore a habitat devastated by a warming climate.
Then, remaining underwater, we have “Seaweed: A Love Story.” Dr. Nicole Miller, diver, seaweed advocate, and founder of Explore Your Coast, documents the beauty of local kelp forests while revealing the stark challenges they face due to overfishing, pollution, and climate change.
“Been Here, Stay Here” is the final screening, at 7:30 pm on Sunday. This film examines the quiet yet profound crisis unfolding on Virginia’s Tangier Island, where climate change isn’t an abstract concept, but a daily reality threatening to erase an entire community, as told through the stories of three generations living there.
Richard Paradise shares that advocacy is part of the festival’s raison d’être. “All these films are for education, but they’re also for inspiration, to get motivated. If you feel like you’re doing something, then you’re less likely to feel depressed about what’s going on with the Earth.”
For information and tickets to the Environmental Film Festival at the M.V. Film Center, visit mvfilmsociety.com/nature-as-inspiration.
