Wales One World (WOW) Film Festival is endeavouring to raise awareness of environmental issues through a series of films and talks with their first ECOSINEMA event.
WOW Film Festival has been bringing international films to cinemas across Wales for the last twenty years. This year sees the festival launch its first ECOSINEMA, an event which will bring together stories of water from Wales and the world. Spanning the Amazon, Lebanon, Iceland and past and present Wales, these brilliant films invite reflection on the element essential to all life on Earth. The mini festival asks viewers to rethink their relationships with the rivers and seas that sustain us all.
‘ECOSINEMA is more than a selection of ‘green’ documentaries,’ explained Rhowan Alleyne, WOW Film Festival programmer. ‘We’re including drama, storytelling and talks to show the different ways water touches the lives of people around the world, and to inspire audiences to think about what we need to do to protect it.’
The festival will present a variety of films, including ‘The Last Forest’, co-produced by Greenpeace and Survival International with the Yanomami, Brazil’s largest native community, ‘Under the Concrete’, a drama about a Lebanese scuba instructor, ‘Lobster Soup’, a classic observational documentary, and ‘The Fairytale of Water’, a Welsh film about flood myths.
The festival will also feature a panel discussion, ‘Voices from the Water’, which will bring together a cast of spirited academics and activists to consider our relationship with water. ‘Voices from the Water’ will be live via Zoom on Sunday 19th September at 4pm. The panel includes Laura Owen Sanderson, founder and director of We Swim Wild, University of Wales Trinity Saint David social anthropologist Dr Luci Attala, Professor of Environmental and Ecological Economics in Aberystwyth University’s Business School, Mike Christie, and David Jones who represents Neptune’s Army of Rubbish Cleaners (NARC), an award winning Welsh charity.
Films and events in the ECOSINEMA programme will be available both at Aberystwyth Arts Centre cinema from the 16th–18th of September and online for viewers across the UK to enjoy from the 19th–26th of September.
‘ECOSINEMA builds on what WOW has done in the past with its selection of ‘green’ films’, said WOW festival director, David Gillam. ‘At a time when the impact of the ecological emergency has become all too apparent we want ECOSINEMA to help inspire viewers to think about the significance of water to the health of all life on the planet. We’re thrilled to present a thought-provoking, beautiful, inspiring and entertaining selection of films that audiences across the world have enjoyed. ECOSINEMA is your only chance to see such important films in the UK so don’t miss them!’
To find out more about WOW’s ECOSINEMA event, visit their website here.
