One Earth Film Festival at CLC includes virtual-reality film of Indonesian reefs – Chicago Tribune

Participants in the One Earth Film Festival in Lake County can experience a virtual reality movie in which they feel as if they are underwater with some of the 600 types of colorful coral and 1,700 species of fish in Indonesia.

The virtual reality film, "Valen's Reef," can be experienced before and after the movie "A Plastic Ocean" is shown on March 10 at the College of Lake County in Grayslake.

It's one of five films being shown Saturday-March 11 for the film festival. One will be at Prairie Crossing Charter School in Grayslake, two at CLC, one at the Waukegan Public Library and another at a Waukegan church. Participants will have the opportunity to meet a filmmaker, talk about issues with speakers and get involved with local Lake County projects to help the environment.

The virtual film will likely be the highlight of the festival, which is sponsored by the Green Communities Initiative, said Sally Stovall, one of the group's founding members.

"We've gone a step beyond this year to feature this experience. It should be quite spectacular," she said.

The initiative formed six years ago has been bringing environmentally related films to Chicago and the suburbs in February and March for the past six years, with the public invited to view the films for free.

"I'm finding Lake County is a very conservation-minded county. It's also very diverse," Stovall said. "We are working to find different ways to bring messages to the people and to communicate with them."

Two of the films have Spanish subtitles, and two include stories involving Waukegan and Grayslake residents. Discussions and resource fairs will be held before and after most of the movies. Waukegan residents who appeared in one of the movies, "Years of Living Dangerously," scheduled Sunday, will answer questions before and after the movie, which shows the tension between those who believe their health issues are related to a coal plant and those who depend on the plant for their livelihood.

Green Community Connections, a grass-roots sustainability group, was formed to spread awareness of the environment "from climate change to why we should compost our organic waste, why we should conserve water and why we should drive fewer miles in our cars," said Cassandra West, one of the group's founders.

The members started the festival in Oak Park, expanded into the Austin neighborhood in Chicago the next year and then into the collar counties including Lake and DuPage, she said. Roughly 500 members of the public attended films the first year, and 5,000 attended last year, West said.

"Our primary goal is to help people to find some way to take action," Stovall said, and she believes it's working. Surveys show that 96 percent of respondents who have attended one or more films said they had either strengthened sustainable practices, adopted new sustainable practices or done both, she said.

Participants said they were biking more, conserving water, composting and researching sustainability issues, she said.

David Husemoller, sustainability coordinator at CLC, said that's what he appreciates most about the film festival.

Husemoller said at CLC's two screenings, March 10 and 11, participants can visit action tables to gain ideas on helping the environment.

"The energy you get from watching such powerful films can inspire you to take action," Husemoller added. "There will be opportunities to connect with community groups working to improve things here in Lake County."

Stovall said she's seen several of the films that are being shown in Lake County. "Hometown Habitat," to be screened at Prairie Crossing on Saturday, "is beautiful,' she said.

"'You see all these beautiful native plants, the bees and the butterflies and the life that surrounds these plants," Stovall added. Filmmaker Catherine Zimmerman is scheduled to be at the screening of the documentary, which shows how residents of Florida, Arizona and Prairie Crossing are working to create native landscapes.

Stovall said the film sends a message of bringing nature home and working together. "It's really hopeful," she said.

"A Plastic Ocean," shown at CLC March 10, however "is not hopeful," she said. "But it is not hopeless."

She added that "it's a little hard to watch," saying it might not be appropriate for young children. The film shows how plastics entering the oceans end up in the fatty tissues of fish, which humans eat.

"It's the kind of film that gets you thinking, 'How can I reduce the amount of plastic I use?'" she said.

Before and after the showing, participants can experience the virtual reality movie. Participants will receive headsets they can wear so they can experience "actually being there," Stovall said.

Stovall added that "it's showing something people might not be likely be able to experience in person. There are studies that show how an experience like this can increase someone's empathy" toward issues such as environmental causes, which can lead to action.

In addition, a resource fair will follow the movie, and participants can create plastic sculptures.

Being involved in the film festival as a volunteer is what she's been called to do, Stovall said.

"I'm doing this for my children and my grandchildren," she said. "It's my passion."

Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.

See the article here:

One Earth Film Festival at CLC includes virtual-reality film of Indonesian reefs - Chicago Tribune