‘KISS THE GROUND’
AT SOUTHERN SIERRA FILM FESTIVAL, SET FOR SUNDAY
In this community, we’re big on homegrown, whether it’s produce or talent. So it’s not surprising that we’ve got another film festival in the pipeline. Sunday will mark the inaugural Southern Sierra Film Festival, being held at the Kern County Museum.
Its goal is to celebrate the “unique natural resources” of the southern Sierra mountain communities, according to the festival website.
Gary Ananian, executive director and founder of the Kern River Conservancy, which is organizing the event, said this grew out of a need to support local filmmakers focused on this cause.
“We were going to film festivals outside of the area but saw there isn’t an environmental film festival for the southern San Joaquin Valley,” he said. “We thought it would be a good opportunity for local artists to show their work.”
There will be five short films shown by Kern County creators ranging in topics from environmental conservation and the water crisis to the tale of a single mom going on an adventure with her child.
Along with the local films, the festival will include a screening of “Kiss the Ground,” about regenerative farming. Released this fall on Netflix, the film narrated by Woody Harrelson makes a case for the healing power of soil, that some effects of climate change might be reversed by restoring degraded lands and facilitating carbon drawdown.
The festival kicks off with a cocktail hour with beer available from Tioga Sequoia Brewing Co., which is one of the event sponsors. Families can also enjoy snacks from vendors that will be offering mini doughnuts, kettle corn, coffee drinks and other items for sale.
The Appletons will perform and there will be information booths for other event sponsors as well as three local artists and photographers who will have their environmentally inspired work on display.
At 7 p.m., there will be the family hour for screenings, with all of the local submissions shown. An hour later, the short films will be screened again along with “Kiss the Ground,” which runs about 84 minutes.
Ananian said they’re offering two screening times to both accommodate the audience in the theater, which seats 75, and to allow families to enjoy the shorter movies.
“Kids are going to get impatient watching two hours of environmental films,” he said.
Organizers hope to draw about 150 people to Sunday’s event, with 110 already registered for free tickets.
If you can’t make it out on Sunday, take heart. Ananian said this is the start of the festival’s tour. In April, it will head to a location in Kernville and every month after it will go to different towns, with Tehachapi, a return to Bakersfield, Three Rivers and Fresno already in the works.
Ananian said any cities that would like to host the festival can reach out via the website (southernsierrafilmfest.org) to set that up.
Filmmakers, artists and photographers are also welcome to apply to take part in future festival stops. The application is free and also available on the website.
The festival will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday at the Kern County Museum, 3801 Chester Ave. It is free to attend but attendees are asked to RSVP via Eventbrite.com.
Visit southernsierrafilmfest.org for more information.