Blue whales. Amazonian Indigenous people. Black surfers. Canadian cavers. A grizzly bear in the Tetons. Redwood trees. Mount Washington rescue personnel. A man adrift in the Atlantic Ocean. Reintroduced wolves. Pakistani paragliders. Zambezi river rafters. Caddisflies.
What do those have in common? They are among the subjects of the more than 80 documentaries about the great outdoors to be screened this weekend at the NatureTrack Film Festival.
That’s more than double the number of films from last year, thanks to a new location and increased capacity at Goleta’s Camino Real Cinemas. A new festival hub (former site of Pier 1) will be for ticketing, special events, daily panel discussions, a VIP lounge and an art exhibit.
Short and feature-length film entries span from local shores to more than 30 countries. Seven world, six North American and four U.S. premieres are slated, and 38 filmmakers will attend.
Movies will run nonstop on two screens from 9 a.m. until 11 p.m. Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday in “blocks” from one to two hours long. Some blocks are groups of like-themed films. Others showcase a single documentary, and several include post-screening Q&A sessions with filmmakers.
Tickets for individual blocks are available, as are 4-Packs (four tickets), Full Festival VIP Passes and more. Find a complete schedule of blocks at naturetrackfilmfestival.org.
“The festival has evolved as an extension of our overall goal to connect people with the natural world,” said Sue Eisaguirre, executive director of the NatureTrack Foundation, which she founded in 2011. “Through the power of film, we want to get people excited, especially the younger generation.”
In keeping with that goal, 600 fifth-graders from Goleta schools will attend a specially curated block of four films pre-approved by the school district, free of cost, on Friday morning.
Friday’s opening night will feature the Central Coast premiere of “Jane Goodall — Reasons for Hope,” in which the famed environmentalist presents inspirational stories from around the globe.
It will be paired with world premiere showings of short films by two local filmmakers — “Open Space” by Cody Westheimer and “Otter Space” by Mike Love. Goodall cannot attend, but the two filmmakers will be featured in a post-show Q&A.
Westheimer’s film was shot in local open spaces such as the Douglas Family Preserve, Stevens Park and More Mesa, and is set to a score he wrote with and performed by Shakuhachi (Japanese flute) master Riley Lee.
“The film is a call to action to be outside and connect with nature, which I call ‘our ultimate vitamin,’” Westheimer said. “There are so many places locally where you can easily do just that.”
The films’ similar names were a happy coincidence, according to Bryce Thompson, who is in his first year as festival programming director.
“My driving force was to find as many films as I could, from as many sources as I could, to put on the best show,” he said. “I looked for trends or highlights that could build on each other.”
He received more than 380 submissions from 50 countries, which were then cut to the final 80.
“I am more of a generalist in film, but have my own experiences in the natural world,” said Thompson, an Oregon native who studied film at the University of Oregon and received his master’s degree from Chapman University. “I’m proud of this year’s diversity. We get to hear different voices, see different experiences and contextualize them as part of this natural landscape we are all a part of.”
Even nature itself is diverse, he said. “Animal Pride: Nature’s Coming Out Story” will have its world debut on Saturday night. In it, queer naturalist Connel Bradwell reveals the science behind queer animal behavior.
“Ploverize,” a film by students in UC Santa Barbara’s Coastal Media Project, also will debut in that block. Director Alexandria Spell uses humor to address the threatened, yet contentious little bird that causes seasonal beach closures in Lompoc, angering local beachgoers. Both Bradwell and Spell will attend the screening.
“The festival is also about the need for activism and how we can be better stewards of the natural world,” Thompson said.
Harry Rabin, another local filmmaker, will speak following the screening of “Greetings From Summerland,” his 21-minute film recounting the impact of offshore drilling on the seaside community.
Rabin’s film is part of the Stewardship Block featuring profiles of a tribal attorney who worked to reverse the Klamath River damming; native people of Haruku Island, Indonesia, facing culture change as a result of climate change; Kenyan women who run a remote elephant sanctuary; and an Illinois man dedicated to wetlands preservation.
Another block will feature seven student films that traverse the globe to address conservation issues in Australia, Cyprus, Malaysia, China and the United States.
For films that are difficult to categorize, Thompson created Saturday’s late-night “Experimental” block of seven films from six countries.
“They are weirder, and push our ideas about what the natural world is and what we think it is,” he said, “such as ‘Wrought,’ a time-lapse film showing decay and rot. I appreciated that perspective.”
The films will all be in competition, and the winners will be announced at a party following the closing night world premiere screening of “Tagliamento, King of the Alpine Rivers” with director Giuseppe Bucciarelli in attendance.