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Nature Now Environmental Film Festival
MORE THAN FILM - IT’S A MOVEMENT
By Natalie Downey
If a picture is worth a thousand words, the Nature Now Environmental Film Festival is the catalyst for an entire movement, sparking conversations that shed light on environmental issues and inviting the community to connect with nature. With an entire lineup of gripping environmental shorts and documentaries, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to see these interesting stories about interesting people and the cinematic creativity of the filmmakers who bring them to life.
Nature Now is a local environmental education nonprofit that hosts the only annual film festival in our community, featuring unique documentaries that all share the common thread of a love for nature.
Now in its fifth year, the organization focuses its efforts on raising awareness, educating, and inspiring audiences through carefully curated lineups full of breathtaking cinematography and fascinating stories of real-life people, and the measures they’re taking to advocate for issues relevant to.
For the past several years Columbus was a stop for the Wild and Scenic Film Fest. The second year, Columbus was the largest on-tour host for Wild and Scenic in the country. “We were adding so much extra content,” explains Paige Swift, director of Nature Now, “And it just became larger and larger, so it made sense to establish it as it’s own stand-alone film fest.”
What’s typically a one night program in other towns, became a true three day festival experience of films, talks, special guests, art, parties, and a whole network of local ventures, all uniting to celebrate and support environmental awareness. Through Paige’s efforts to expand on the festival, it has grown far beyond the WSFF
On Tour platform. So, in 2021, the Columbus based nonprofit organization Nature Now was started with its own vision for advocacy through an annual environmental film festival.
Nature Now contracts content from the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in addition to films from other resources such as Reel Rock, an ontour rock climbing film fest, Southern Exposure, films which produces short documentaries about Alabama issues, and films from a variety of independent filmmakers.
The festival extends beyond the screen, connecting the community with filmmakers and offering people the chance to experience the films through all kinds of events. “It’s multi-faceted,” Paige explains. “It’s not just films. It’s integrating concepts into the community and giving people the opportunity to learn new things.”
The stories told in this year’s films are inspiring, thought-provoking, memorable, and bold. They take hold of the viewers and ask to be retold, raising awareness that leads to action and change. The opportunity to experience these unique stories, through films we might otherwise have never encountered, is one our community is lucky to have.
One such film is the story of a veteran struggling with PTSD whose life was changed because of fly fishing. Chad Brown’s film, called “Sanctuary” is on the film festival lineup, and he will also be discussing it in person at a coffee talk taking place the weekend of the film fest. In addition, he will be a special guest at a fly fishing clinic for those interested in trying the sport out and taking the concepts from the film beyond the screen.
Other films feature stories such as the oldest person to hike the Appalachian Trail, a blind kayaker overcoming the challenges of his disability, diversity in the world of ice climbing, and many more topics of courageous people facing the challenges nature and society bring together.
In addition, “The Wintering Grounds,” a documentary about the lifestyle of nomadic whitewater kayakers, based largely out of Phenix City and Columbus, will screen at this year’s Nature Now film festival.
The weekend will be full of activities, including Q&A sessions with a panel of filmmakers, a brunch at Bo Bartlett Center, a lunch and learn at the Do Good Fund Gallery, an Enviro-Fair with vendors, a sensory garden installation from Columbus Botanical Gardens, a kayaking clinic for visually impaired kayakers, films and activities for kids, a conversation with Mercy Med about their meal prep program, and a “Sunday Funday” Rapids River Run event.
The Nature Now film schedule as well as tickets for the festival and additional activities can be found on the website at watchnaturenow.org. All films will screen twice, so attendees are encouraged to look at the schedule and plan their weekend ahead of time.
