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American Conservation Film Festival expands children’s programming with Two Rivers Giving Circle grant

By Tabitha Johnston - Chronicle Staff | Mar 15, 2024

Children attempt to carry a styrofoam egg on their feet, like a penguin would, in the McCoy Rehearsal Hall on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Children who attended the American Conservation Film Festival’s (ACFF) screening of family-friendly short films were able to enjoy a further dive into conservation-related issues, with the help of a Two Rivers Giving Circle grant.

On Saturday afternoon, the festival featured a series of three, family-friendly short films in the Frank Arts Center Theater — ACFF Next Gen Capture Conservation Contest winner “Human Trash Bag vs. Recycle Man,” “Judy’s Creek” and “Serengeti.” Attendees were then encouraged to walk down to the McCoy Rehearsal Hall, where a variety of kid-friendly activities were set up for children of all ages to explore.

“The Two Rivers Giving Circle [grant] allowed a group of filmmakers from American University and Jeremy Monroe — a film director for ‘Judy’s Creek’ — to come to this event,” said ACFF board member Elise Baach, mentioning grant funding from the giving circle has made the Next Generation contest possible for the last few years. “The object of the film festival is to get the youngest generations involved in conservation. One way to do that is through activities that interest them and learning how to do their own films.”

For filmmaker and ACFF board member Sarah Gulick, who organized the event, bringing in master’s degree students from her alma mater, the American University Center for Environmental Filmmaking, was an excellent way to encouraging interest in environmental filmmaking among the younger generation.

“One of the things that’s cool about filmmaking, as a topic with kids, is that it’s kind of an entry point to talking about environmental topics or sustainability or conservation or sciences or science communications,” Gulick said. “Films are a vehicle to a conversation. It’s not necessarily that we’re trying to recruit the next generation of filmmakers, although that’s also a cool possibility — filmmaking wasn’t something I knew was a career field at their age!

Faith Christian Academy kindergartner Locke Friend plays the Cacapon Institute’s Stream Cleaner pinball machine, as his sister, Faith Christian Academy third grader Silvia Friend, and Shepherdstown resident Sandy Brown look on in the Frank Arts Center on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston

“The festival has always been interested in bringing films to the community, and also supporting emerging filmmakers. This is a combination of different things we’ve talked about before, and we finally decided to do it,” Gulick said, before expressing her appreciation to the giving circle for making it possible. “Funding can kind of be a nice way of gut-checking an idea. If someone is financially supportive of an idea, it’s like a vote that, ‘Hey, there is a need for this.’ It’s really encouraging when you can get funding for a project — to realize that other people are interested in making it happen!”

Four American University students — Brooke Matthews, Giovana Roskosz Reis, Charles Connell and Lee Green — worked together at the event to share the filmmaking experience with the children in attendance, by talking with and recording them speaking on camera.

“People think of all these National Geographic films, when they think of environmental filmmaking, which are filmed in remote locations hours away from civilization,” Reis said. “But we want to encourage the kids to think about what’s in their own backyard!”

Choosing their school to participate in this event was, according to Matthews, a brilliant idea.

“American University is one of the few environmental filmmaking programs in the country. We are very focused on environmental filmmaking and sustainable filmmaking programs, promoting sustainability and more environmentally conscious practices on set,” Matthews said. “We have become used to a lot of environmental filmmaking practices. And, we obviously have a good time doing it. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here!”

Families gather around AmeriCorps Service Member and Potomac Valley Audubon Society representative Will O’Boyle, as he demonstrates the importance of recycling in the decomposition process in the McCoy Rehearsal Hall on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston

A number of other activities were offered at the event. Some were related to the festival’s films, such as a number of python skins on display, in connection with the “Python Huntress” short film shown in this year’s festival. Others were related to local conservation organizations, like a decomposition timeline game and a penguin egg balancing game from the Potomac Valley Audubon Society.

Children and parents alike take a turn examining the skin of a python — an invasive species in the Florida Everglades featured in one of festival’s films, “Python Huntress,” this year — in the McCoy Rehearsal Hall on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston