Environment Film Festival Returns to Peoria

Environmental Film Festival

The Heart of Illinois Sierra Club is once again hosting the Environmental Film Festival this year at the Apollo Theater in downtown Peoria.  The festival runs Friday, November 6th to Saturday, November 7th starting at 7:00 PM both nights.  Come to the festival to enjoy the amenities of the Apollo, win door prizes from the information booths of local merchants, and view some of the latest thought provoking films on environmental topics.  Visitors will also have the opportunity to see two local films debuted at the festival including

• Sinking the Heartland: Longwall coal mining in Montgomery County, IL
• Lake DePue and the Village of DePue’s EPA Superfund site (DePue, IL).

Download the festival flyer: 2009 Environmental Film Festival .

Friday night’s feature film: Burning the Future: Coal in America

Writer/director David Novack examines the explosive conflict between the coal industry and residents of West Virginia. Confronted by emerging “clean coal” energy policies, local activists watch a world blind to the devastation caused by coal’s extraction. Faced with toxic ground water, the obliteration of 1.4 million acres of mountains, and a government that appeases industry, our heroes demonstrate a strength of purpose and character in their improbable fight to arouse the nation’s help in protecting their mountains, saving their families, and preserving their way of life. www.burningthefuture.com (US, 2008, 89 mins)

Saturday night’s feature film: Extreme Ice

Art meets science in photographer James Balog’s Extreme Ice Survey. The project has captured global warming in the act using 26 solar-powered cameras taking time-lapse photographs of glaciers in Greenland, Iceland, Alaska, the Alps, and the Rocky Mountains. In the course of shooting, Balog recognized that extraordinary amounts of ice were vanishing with shocking speed. Features that took centuries to develop were being destroyed in just a few years or even just a few weeks. These changes are the most visually dramatic and immediate manifestations of climate change on our planet today. The documentary is a joint venture between National Geographic Television and NOVA, the PBS signature television series. www.extremeicesurvey.org (US, 2009, 56 mins)

Tickets:

• Adults $5.00
• Children 11 and under $3.00