Environmental film festival goes virtual
For the past three years, the Philadelphia Environmental Film Festival has brought the wonders of the world to your doorstep.
But, in 2020, the bash is delivering those magical movies to your living room with its first virtual film festival. Running Sept. 23-27, the event includes 13 programs boasting 39 shorts and 11 feature films, all off which spotlight a wide variety of environmental challenges and solutions,
There will also be filmmaker sessions, panel discussions and award announcements.
Among the highlights is “Honeyland,” an Oscar nominee for both Best Documentary Feature and Best Foreign Film. The riveting flick unreels the story of one of Europe’s last female bee-hunters, a Macedonian woman who finds herself defending her way of life against a family of nomads interested in immediate profits rather than carefully maintaining the bee colonies for future use.
“Honeyland” will be introduced by the film’s directors, Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov.
Also on tap at the Festival is “Mossville: When Great Trees Fall,” which tells the story of a century-old black community uprooted by petrochemical plants and one man’s refusal to give up the fight to preserve natural riches.
Additional features include “Tribes on the Edge,” a documentary about the indigenous communities of the Amazon by Céline Cousteau, granddaughter of renowned filmmaker and conservationist Jacques Cousteau: and “The River and The Wall, “an exploration of the huge environmental and social impacts of the proposed border wall between Texas and Mexico.
PHEFF’s line-up also features intriguing short films from around the globe, including regionally made movies from local talent, such as “Beyond the Philth,” a look at Philadelphia’s perennial trash problem; and “Organize For Our Lives,” a Roxborough youth’s first-hand account of Philadelphia stu
dents’ strike for climate justice in 2019.
If you’re interested in checking out the entire festival, including all 13 programs, buy an Unlimited Virtual Pass for $30. Individual program tickets are $12. Tickets and passes are available now at the Festival website: www.philaenvirofilmfest.org.
NEW TO BLU-RAY: Fans of blood-drenched horror shockers should check out “Rob Zombie Trilogy” (2002-2019, Lionsgate, R, $30), a trio of flicks focusing on everyone’s favorite thrill-killing family (Sheri Moon Zombie, Sid Haig, Bill Moseley,
Richard Brake).
While the concluding chapter “3 From Hell” wears out its welcome long before the final scene, “House of 1000 Corpses” and “The Devil’s Rejects” deliver plenty of Zombie’s patented blend of murder, mayhem and twisted black comedy.
Best of all, Bethlehem native Daniel Roebuck pops up in all three films as Morris Green, a TV news journalist.
Zombie and Roebuck met years ago in Los Angeles while both were shopping for movie
memorabilia.
“I have a unique hobby; I collect horror movie memorabilia,” Roebuck said last year. “I met Rob the first time when we were looking to buy model kits of monsters, and a friend, upon seeing him, said, ‘Hello Mr. Zombie.’
“And I said, ‘What the heck did you just call that guy?’ Little did I know what an impact Mr. Zombie would have on my life.”