‘Unearth’ screens at Princeton Garden Theatre on Sunday, April 6.
The Princeton Public Library’s Princeton Environmental Film Festival returns for its 19th year, running Friday, April 4, through Sunday, April 13.
A selection of films will be screened both in person in the library’s Community Room and virtually via the Eventive platform. Some will be shown only in person or only available to stream online. In-person screenings take place April 4 through 6; virtual screenings remain available through April 13.
There will also be an off-site screening at the Princeton Garden Theatre on Sunday, April 6, and a shadow puppet show Saturday, April 5, at the Arts Council of Princeton.
The festival schedule includes:
Flow, the family-friendly Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature, follows a cat who finds refuge on a boat with other animals after surviving a flood. The Latvian, French, and Belgian co-production has no dialogue. 84 minutes. Friday, April 4, 5:30 p.m., Community Room.
Hvaldimir, Conversation With a Spy Whale is about a beluga whale, believed to have escaped a Russian military base, who appeared in Northern Norway and became a social media phenomenon in early 2019. Fascinated by him, a French cetacean researcher, his daughter, a Norwegian journalist, and a marine biologist embark on an extraordinary adventure with Hvaldimir through the Norwegian fjords. 90 minutes. Saturday, April 5, 10 a.m., Community Room.
In Wild Blue and You: The Save Coastal Wildlife Story, Jenna Reynolds, president/founder of Save Coastal Wildlife nonprofit, recounts her journey to become an environmental educator as a trans woman. 20 minutes. Saturday, April 5, 4 p.m., Community Room and online.
The short film Birdsafe highlights effort to create a bird-safe campus at Princeton University. A Q&A with filmmaker Jared Flesher follows the screening. 10 minutes. Saturday, April 5, 4 p.m., Community Room and online.
Birdsong follows Irish ornithologist Seán Ronayne as he attempts to record the sound of each of the nearly 200 bird species in Ireland. 52 minutes. Saturday, April 5, 4:30 p.m., Community Room.
Seaweed Stories explores the wonders of seaweed, and some of the extraordinary stories and characters whose lives have been entangled by the marine organism. 30 minutes. Saturday, April 5, 2 p.m., Community Room and online.
Been Here Stay Here follows three generations as it explores the quiet yet profound crisis unfolding on Tangier Island, where climate change isn’t an abstract concept but a daily reality threatening to erase an entire community. 86 minutes. Sunday April 6, 11 a.m., Community Room.
In Chasing Time, after providing some of the first visual evidence of climate change through the study of melting glaciers, James Balog returns to Iceland to close the last chapter of his life’s work. A Q&A with filmmaker Sarah Keo follows the screening. 39 minutes. Sunday, April 6, 1 p.m., Community Room and online.
Two programs take place at venues outside the library:
Set against the urgent demand for metals and minerals to fight climate change, commercial salmon fishermen and Indigenous tribal council-members face the threat of North America’s largest-ever copper mine in their beloved homeland of Bristol Bay, Alaska, in Unearth. Director Hunter Nolan introduces the film and leads a post-screening Q&A. 93 minutes. Sunday, April 6, 4 p.m., Princeton Garden Theatre, 160 Nassau Street; free tickets required through princetongardentheatre.com.
The Three Little Pigs, a shadow puppet show with live music, is a performance for all ages featuring puppets crafted from recycled materials and presented by the Garden of Shadows. Saturday, April 5, 1 p.m., at the Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street.
Additionally, several films are available to be viewed online only:
In The Endless Tide, Aboriginal rangers in the remote community of Mapoon in northern Australia are faced with the overwhelming task of cleaning up tons of plastic waste washing up on their beaches. 15 minutes.
Holding Back the Tide offers educational snapshots about the oyster’s ecological role, mating habits, communal living, and historical presence, taking on new meaning and flirt with the mythic. 77 minutes.
In Karuara: People of the River, Mariluz Canaquiri says her river is a more than just a body of water, it’s a living being. Beneath the surface lies a world of spirits led by the Karuara, the “people of the river” or metaphysical ecologists who maintain the delicate balance of life in the Amazon’s rivers. 56 minutes.
In The Researcher, Gianluca Grimalda is the first employee ever fired for having refused to catch a plane for environmental reasons. He did an act of civil disobedience to save five tons of CO2 and to raise awareness on the causes of climate change. Was it worth it? 71 minutes.
The Volunteers: Mountain Rescue Brings Us Home is a journey with historian Mark S. Weiner from America to Austria and back again as he considers the origins and meaning two mountain rescue organizations linked by a surprising historical connection. 57 minutes.
Way of the Shepherd follows Peruvian shepherd Christian Aliaga, who works the hillsides of northern California with a massive herd of goats and two exceptional Border Collies, conducting wildfire mitigation with their old-world, natural approach to vegetation management. 9 minutes.
The full lineup of PEFF films and events, visit princetonlibrary.org/peff.
