The Powered Green team spent this past weekend enriching our minds by attending the Tales From Planet Earth film festival in Madison, WI. The free festival was a collaboration of the Nelson Institute’s Center for Culture, History, and the Environment (affectionately known as CHE) and Working Films.
Image courtesy of Tales From Planet Earth
The theme of Justice paved the way for the festival, with each film relating to one of four categories: Landscapes of Labor, Strange Weather, In the Company of Animals, and Precious Resources. This year’s Tales attracted 4,600 viewers, an increase of 1,300 from the 2007 inaugural.
Majora Carter spoke on opening night, preceding a screening of Trouble the Water, a film about transportation (or lack thereof) during Hurricane Katrina. Director Catherine Gund and her daughter, Sadie Hope-Gund, flew in from New York to attend What’s On Your Plate?, a kid-friendly film about where food comes from. Alex Rivera, Emily Hubley, Ian Cheney, Judith Helfand, Jennifer Redfearn, and a host of other filmmakers graced Madison with their presence this weekend.
One of my courses this semester, Community Engagement Through Film, revolved around Tales From Planet Earth. I had the unique opportunity to coordinate outreach events with the festival’s community partners and work behind the scenes to help make the weekend a success. In addition to this, I was able to meet and interact with fantastic directors, writers, and stars for the entire weekend. Needless to say, I’m pretty worn out.
Stop back in th next few days to see festival highlights, photographs, and interviews. There is some really great material on my camera!
