State Theatre hosts return of film festival
OROVILLE » The Wild and Scenic Film Festival returns to the State Theatre on May 21.
The purpose of the festival is to inspire environmental activism and a love for nature — through film encouraging festival-goers to learn more about what they can do to save the planet, according to Shannon DeLong, event coordinator.
“The festival is a way to bring people to theater and bring awareness to the health of the riparian environment along the feather river in downtown Oroville. We’re hoping people will rally and want to do a better job of taking care of it and celebrate the gift of having a river running through our town,” said DeLong.
The festival will feature nine short films focusing on the outdoor recreation, nature and the chinook salmon.
“The chinook salmon is the most valuable, largest in Pacific. It is threatened right now for a lot of reasons including conditions of river flows due to other pressures for water supplies, dams, and algae blooms which all threaten its existence,” said Shannon DeLong, event coordinator.
In addition to the nature films, a short film about Tiny Pine Foundation, a local nonprofit run by Alyssa Nolan Cain that builds tiny homes for wildfire survivors will also be screened.
“It’s a powerful film. I’ve seen it a couple of times and cry, in a good way, every time I watch it and I don’t cry that often,” said DeLong.
The festival is produced by the South Yuba River Citizens League and will be emceed by Lethi Watson, Tribal Liaison for Friends of the Plumas Wilderness.
“She is passionate about her work on the Feather River watershed. We are very excited to have her there. The goal is to increase awareness of issues threatening our watershed and unite the community in the need to protect and restore it locally,” said DeLong.
Sponsoring this year’s event are the State Theatre Arts Guild, Forebay Aquatic Center, Explore Butte County, Comer’s Print Shop, Friends of Butte Creek, Friends of Plumas Wilderness, Long Creek Winery, Grey Fox Winery, Union Bar and Grill, and Tong Fong Low.
Proceeds from the event, minus the cost of the films and theater, will be divided between the Forebay Aquatic Center’s Classrooms on the River Program and Tiny Pine Foundation.
The doors for the Wild and Scenic Film Festival open at 6:30 p.m. and the films start at 7:30 p.m. preceded by a short concert on the theater’s Mighty Wurlitzer organ. Adult tickets are $20 and include one drink of beer or wine. Tickets for youth 18 and under are $5. The theater’s snack bar will be open and there will be a raffle.
“The hope is the festival will bring people into action through awareness of what’s going on. It’s just something out of the norm to get people engaged. The more people we get on board with protecting and caring for our local natural resources without laying blame or fault on anyone, the better,” said DeLong.