Chesapeake Film Festival’s Live Showing of Environmental and Dramatic Films

Remember the excitement of watching films on a big screen with surround sound in a darkened theater among other film lovers, and then discussing them with the filmmakers?  That intimate experience returns this fall as the Chesapeake Film Festival offers a wall-to-wall weekend of provocative, insightful and innovative films October 1 and 2 at Easton’s Avalon Theatre.  Friday evening begins with a VIP reception for sponsors and donors followed by screenings and discussions of environmental films, including the world premiere of a new film by local favorites Tom Horton, Dave Harp and Sandy Cannon-Brown.  Saturday’s films feature two audience-pleasing narrative newcomers. Admission to Friday’s evening of environmental films and discussions is $25.  Admission for Saturday’s films is $15 each. 

The remaining complement of the Chesapeake Film Festival’s lineup will be shown virtually October 3-10. The CFF is thrilled to bring these films to audiences free-of-charge, but donations to help offset cost is encouraged.

For the Live and Virtual Festival, nearly 60 films will be shown, including documentaries, animation, shorts, narratives, student films, Made in Maryland films, thrillers and environmental films.

The films to be screened at the Avalon are:

Water’s Way: Thinking Like a Watershed – A Bay Journal film by Sandy Cannon-Brown, Dave Harp and Tom Horton.

Every drop of rain that falls on 64,000 square miles heads one way, Bayward. And the Chesapeake, which appears so long and broad is, in context, just a smallish and shallow pool of water on the receiving end of everything 18 million people in six states and the District of Columbia do with the land, for good or ill.  Controlling Bay pollution has achieved modest success in recent decades. But these technological solutions are pushing the limits of engineering and affordability. Alone they cannot achieve a healthy Bay.   Further progress must come from the lands of the watershed, from better understanding what was Water’s Way when the Chesapeake basin and the Bay it feeds were clearer, cleaner, healthier. One source of hope: beavers. These furry rodents have a lot to teach us about preserving a healthy, diverse, rich ecosystem. 

The Heat is On: Driving Climate Action for People and Nature -- World Wildlife Fund.

This short documentary produced by Kelley Ashford and Irene Magafan focuses on WWF’s climate work shortly after the big global climate report was revealed from the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change).  The film encourages individual activism to fight a universal challenge.

The narrative films on Saturday night, October 2 will be:

Minari – Directed by Lee Isaac Chung.

This critically-acclaimed film had its world premiere at Sundance in 2020 where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award, received a Golden Globe and six Academy Award nominations, including winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The heartwarming story follows a Korean American family as they face the challenges of a new life in the Ozarks.

TESLA –Starring Ethan Hawke.This freewheeling take on visionary inventor Nikola Tesla imagines his interactions with Thomas Edison and J.P. Morgan’s daughter Anne while it follows his uphill battle to bring his revolutionary electrical system to the world. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020.

Among the films in CFF’s free virtual festival include:

Fly Like a Girl – Documentary Feature – A young girl aspires to change the face of aviation. Fly Like a Girl is more than just a film. It’s a movement of young girls and women relentlessly pursuing their passion for aviation, a field dominated by men. From a lego-loving young girl who includes female pilots in her toy airplanes, to a courageous woman who helped lead shuttle missions to space, Fly Like a Girl shows us that women are in charge of their own destiny.

My Generation -- Celebrate the ‘60s: The Decade that Changed the World starring Michael Caine – Documentary Feature -- My Generation is a film directed by David Batty and presented by Michael Caine.  It follows the cultural revolution that occurred in 1960’s England and interviews various icons and key figures such a David Bailey, Roger Daltrey, Marianne Faithful, Paul McCartney, Mary Quant and Twiggy.

For more information, go to chesapeakefilmfestival.com, or call our Executive Director at 443-955-9144.