Empowerment

That's the theme of the 8th Annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival coming up at the Pageant Theater and the Sierra Nevada Brewery Big Room on September 13th. For the first time a Children's Program is being offered Saturday morning at the Pageant Theater. Two showings of great short films will enlighten kids and their parents. In the afternoon a matinee of river, fish, and dam removal films featuring DamNation will demonstrate the power of river restoration to improve our ecosystems. The evening progra at Sierra Nevada's Big Room will feature 2.5 hours of inspiring environmental films. Sierra Nevada will prepare a delicious Brew Pub buffet and a wonderful selection of silent auctions items will be offered.

The Wild and Scenic Film Festival is a benefit for the Friends of Butte Creek. Films this year are focused on Empowerment of people to change our enviromental compass.

Friends of Butte Creek works to raise awareness and to provide protection for the future of the Last Best Run of Spring Run Salmon in California.

We need your support - Please sponsor the Film Festival, become a new member or renew your membership! Sponsor Request

Online Tickets

Tickets at Pure Skin, 136 W. 3rd. St., and Chico Natural Foods Co-op, 818 Main St. Chico

Major and Local Sponsors

Song of the Spindle

In this animation, a man and a sperm whale have a conversation about who is smarter. Each one lists various upsides and downsides of human and cetacean brains, but eventually come to an understanding. (Official Selection 2012 Sundance Film Festival, Audience Award for Short Film – Ashland Independent FF). (4 mins.)

Skateistan

Most people might think that helmets, kneepads, and skateboards are unusual tools for rebuilding a society, but not Oliver Percovich, who in 2007 founded Skateistan, Afghanistan’s first and only co-ed skateboarding school. (2 mins.)

My First Fish

My First Fish is a story about a boy’s first experience going steelhead fishing with his father on the Trinity River in Northern California. The film is focuses on the perspective of a child in this new magical environment and the exciting moment of catching his first fish. After an epic battle, the boy has memories of a lifetime.

Raptor Blues

A musical stop motion animation that tells the story of secondary poisoning of raptors from rat poisoning in a way that everyone can understand.

Rock Wall Climbing

How do big wall climbers get their start? With little walls, of course. This may be the case for 8-year-old climber Kathrin Houston who convinces her father to build a climbing wall in the other half of their small two-car garage.

The Scared is Scared

I asked a six year old what my movie should be about, and this is what he told me.

Bianca Giaever | 2013 | 8 min. | USA 

The Squeakiest Roar

“The Squeakiest Roar tells the story of a little lion called Bapoto. He is desperate to have a big, loud roar like his brothers and sisters, but every time he tries, Bapoto makes a very different sound. His roar is high and squeaky. Saddened, Bapoto decides he will never roar again. Until one day he found his voice.

The Man Who Lived on his Bike

After 382 days spent riding through the streets of Montreal, being sometimes quite cold, sometimes quite hot – and sometimes quite scared, the film maker dedicate this movie to his dad. (Best Short Film – Francophone FF; Jury – Boston Bike FF; People’s Choice – Bike Reel FF). (3 mins.)

Moonwalk (On Tour)

Dean Potter is nothing if not creative. In this short piece, he highlines across a desert landscape with a massive full moon as his backdrop.

Mikey Schaefer | 2012 | 4 min. | USA

How The Kids Saved The Parks (On Tour)

You know those movies where the kids get together and do something awesome? When they unite to overcome insurmountable odds? Maybe win the championship from the favored bad guys. Maybe embark on an epic quest to stop the grown ups from doing something stupid. This is one of those movies, except this one really happened.

Andy Miller, Robin Moore | 2012 | 14 min. | USA

Long Live the King

Long Live the King is a story of hope and resurgence for Alaska’s great King Salmon fishery. Returning numbers of the fish have been dropping steadily, and both 2012 and 2013 hit especially hard – with multiple rivers and regions across the state seeing some of the lowest returns ever, forcing Alaska Fish and Game […]

Cory Luoma | 2014 | 15 min. | USA

Sacred Headwaters

A multimedia piece featuring National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis and photographer Paul Colangelo on the fate of the Sacred Headwaters in northern Canada. The shared birthplace of three salmon rivers, the traditional territory of the Tahltan First Nation, and home to an incredible ecosystem of large mammals, the Sacred Headwaters is at risk of losing […]

Paul Colangelo | 2012 | 4 min. | Canada

High Altitude Fish Hunters

Anyone can drive to the river. But not everyone can climb a mountain to seek out wild, elusive and exclusive high altitude trout. Join Grit and Thistle as they hike above treeline to blow up SUP boards, put on camo to disguise themselves, and fly fish for Colorado’s Greenback Cutthroats.

Sam Bricker, Nathan Ward, Claude DeMoss | 2012 | 5 min. | US

Water & Wood

After more than a century of ‘cleaning’ dead wood out of our rivers, we have accidentally removed critical life support systems needed for salmon and many other river creatures… and it’s now time for some heavy lifting. Water & Wood shows how far some restoration groups are going to get this important habitat element back […]

Jeremy Monroe, David Herasimtschuk | 2013 | 4 min. | US

Fall Run

“Fall Run” is the ultimate Pacific Northwest steelhead adventure. This is the true story every angler dreams about retelling around the campfire forever. Hooking and landing a steelhead on a fly is not easy. It is arguably the most difficult type of fly fishing in the world. Add the challenges of Mother Nature’s moods, an […]

Todd Moen | 2013 | 15 min. | USA

DamNation

Join us for the premier showing of DamNation in the North State. Learn about the destructive nature of many dams and how easy it can be to remove them. This journey with Ben, Travis and Matt demonstrates the need to reassess many dams and their future usefulness. It is clear that many dams need to go!

Ben Knight, Travis Riley, Matt Stoecker 2014 73 min USA

I Am Red

The Colorado River runs 1450 miles across seven states and two countries supplying water for 36 million people. It flowed to the sea for six million years but has not kissed the ocean since the late 1990s. A video poem to highlight the beauty and challenges of this national icon, American River’s Most Endangered River […]

Pete McBride | 2013 | 4 min. | USA

Snows of the Nile

Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains rise 5000m from the heart of Africa. At their summits are some of Earth’s only equatorial glaciers. But these “Mountains of the Moon,” whose existence caused a sensation in Europe when they were first climbed in 1906, are changing fast. Snows of the Nile follows two scientist/photographers on an ambitious expedition to […]

Nathan Dappen, Neil Losin | 2013 | 20 min. | USA

Return to the Tepuis

“I hear the most beautiful sound in the world,” says Dr. Bruce Means. Referring to the call of a toad that he and his expedition team – North Face Climber Mark Synnott and National Geographic contributing photographer Joe Riis — travelled to the tops of the Tepuis of South America to find. Means has a […]

Joe Riis, Jenny Nichols | 2013 | 9 min. | Guyana / USA

North of the Sun

Inge Wegge (25) and Jorn Ranum (22) spent nine months of cold, Norwegian winter in the isolated and uninhabited bay of a remote, arctic island by the coast of Northern-Norway, facing nothing but the vast Atlantic Ocean. There they built a cabin out of driftwood and other cast-off materials that washed up on shore, and […]

Inge Wegge, J | 2012 | 46 min. | Norway

Cascada

Tangled vines. Endless rain. Dodgy hotel rooms. Mud. Biting flies. Aggressive viruses… Perfection. Is this a vacation? Erik Boomer, Tyler Bradt, Galen Volckhausen, Tim Kemple, Anson Fogel, Blake Hendrix and Skip Armstrong hunt the remote Mexican jungle for the perfect waterfall…and the perfect shot. Paddler and cinematographer alike explore a world beyond the unexpected.

Anson Fogel, Shannon Ethridge | 2013 | 8 min. | USA

Lost Fish

One of the Pacific Northwest's oldest fish is dissapearing, and along with it the sacred place it holds among many American Indian Tribes. For a species that has squeezed through most of the earth's great extinctions, the sharp declines in Pacific Lamprey populations are a signal of how severely we have changed river ecosystems.

A Boom With No Boundaries

The Bakken oil boom in North Dakota has brought much-needed jobs and economic development to the region. But the fast pace of the drilling has caused many problems, including industrial-scale impacts on Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the land surrounding it. “A Boom With No Boundaries” explores how one of America’s 59 national parks is […]

Andrew Satter, Jessica Goad | 2013 | 5 min. | USA

The Joy of Air

“Leave the ground beneath your feet, Rise up, your inner legend greet. A body in motion – Twisting, turning, churning, yearning – Apex found, heaven bound. But remember, what goes up must come down. Director Bryan Smith of Reel Water Productions explores the concept of catching air across a variety of sports. Words by Fitz […]

Bryan Smith, Fitz Cahall | 2013 | 4 min. | Canada

Damocracy

Damocracy is a short documentary that exposes the myth of dams as ‘green’ energy through two examples from Amazonia and Mesopotamia: the Belo Monte Dam in Brazil and the Ilisu Dam in Turkey. The documentary shows the potential disasters these dams would cause on cultural heritage, wildlife and local communities who rely on the rich […]

Todd Southgate, Tolga Temuge, Doga Dernegi | 2012 | 34 min. | Brazil & Turkey