The Muddy River
The Muddy River: Boston’s Environmental Film Series already happened. And I wish desperately that I had found it sooner. Multiple films showcased what the Coolidge Corner Theater billed as “interests that make our community great: our cultural and our natural resources.” The three-day event highlighted a different aspect of environmental justice each day. Sunday’s theme was food, with a screening of Boston-based ilmmakers Curt Ellis’ and Ian Cheney’s King Corn, documenting Ellis and Cheney’s experiment in growing one acre of Iowa corn, and demonstrating the multi-faceted use and abuse of America’s most-productive, mostsubsidized grain. Appropriately, Mondovino was also shown after an organic wine and sustainable popcorn reception.
Monday’s featured event was The One Degree Factor, an National Geographic produced, Edward Norton narrated documentary on the day’s theme, climate change. It was followed by a Q&A with featuring Adam Wolfensohn, Co-producer, Ross Gelbspan, Pulitzer Prize-winning author,and Beth Daley of the Boston Globe.
Closing the series on Tuesday, was a presentation of The Sounds of Science, featuring a live musical performance from the renowned (and awesome!) band Yo La Tengo to the projected, rarely seen underwater films by the pioneering French avant-garde filmmaker Jean Painlevé. This show has only been performed a handful of times since the band composed the original score in 2001. The presentation was preceded with an introduction by Fabien Cousteau, filmmaker/explorer, a Boston University graduate and grandson of the famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.
A more extensive write-up of the event is available at their website.
