Film Festival set to benefit Rappahannock River

By EMILY DALY

Movies, nature, adventure, environmental activism, coffee and doughnuts. If any combination of these words makes your heart beat faster, then you may love the annual South Yuba River Citizens League’s Wild and Scenic Film Festival being hosted by Friends of the Rappahannock on March 19. SYRCL, an activist group for the preservation of the Yuba River and the Greater Yuba Watershed, has led this national event for five years now.

Their website says that their mission is to “unite the community to protect and restore the Yuba River” and “advocate powerfully, engage in active stewardship, educate the public, and inspire activism from the Sierra to the sea.”

The local hosts of the event, FOR, is known for working alongside UMW students to promote watershed advocacy and conservation along the Rappahannock River. Their website says that FOR’s mission is “to be the voice and active force for a healthy and scenic Rappahannock River.”

The festival will “show environmental and adventure films that illustrate the Earth’s beauty, the challenges facing our planet and the work communities are doing to protect the environment” and “inspire people and unite communities to heal the earth,” according to SYCRL’s Wild and Scenic Film

Festival website. The FOR’s press release said that attendees can expect to witness movies in which people travel through the great outdoors sharing their passion for the environment to inspire activism and preservation of nature.

The event will be held on March 19 at Paragon Village in Fredericksburg behind the mall from 8 a.m. until 12 p.m. Tickets will be priced at $5 for students, and $10 in advance or $15 at the door for non- students.

There will be coffee and doughnuts from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., and films will be shown from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. A second showing will be held April 3 at the Daniel Technology Center on the Germanna Community College campus from 12 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Food trucks and a produce market will be available from 12 p.m. until 1:30 p.m., and films will be shown from 1:30 p.m. until 4 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.riverfriends.org.

If you want more information about the event or FOR in general, you can call 540-373-3448 or email Community Conservationist and Membership Coordinator Woodie Walker at woodie.walker@riverfriends.org.