On Sunday, Nov. 14, from 4-6 p.m., Coastal Mountains Land and Midcoast Conservancy are hosting the Wild & Scenic Film Festival. This online event consists of eight short documentary films made by independent filmmakers to share brave and inspiring stories. Attendees will learn about individuals around the world stepping up to protect the environment and to create healthy, resilient communities. The films provide a needed tonic to the upside-down world and will leave the audience feeling encouraged and motivated to become part of the change.

One film takes the audience away to Florida’s wildest wetlands, where a team of explorers, photographers and filmmakers follow their quest to identify the pollinator of the ghost orchid for the first time. Others let attendees learn about the work of the Bird Genoscape project, whose goal is to protect the birds that connect the Western Hemisphere; follow a father and son on a canoe trip to the Slate Islands of Ontario; and visit the community devastated by the historic Camp Fire in Paradise, California, as its residents discuss their vision for a more resilient future.

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival is organized and produced by SYRCL (the South Yuba River Citizens League) in California. SYRCL says, “Since 1983, we’ve been building a community to protect and restore the rivers of our home watershed, from source to sea. The Wild & Scenic Film Festival puts our local work – and yours too – into the broader environmental and social context, and serves to remind us that we’re participants in a global movement for a more wild and scenic world.”

Tickets are available on the Midcoast Conservancy website at https://www.midcoastconservancy.org/events/2021-wild-and-scenic-film-festival/ or the Coastal Mountains Land Trust website at https://www.coastalmountains.org as is information on each of the films. The film festival will premiere at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14, but admission includes access to the films for five days, until Friday, Nov. 19. General admission is $20.