The South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) started the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival to promote community building within the Yuba Watershed, as well as a way to explore environmental issues through an exciting and influential medium.
SYRCL is a watershed advocacy group that was started in 1983 by a small group of concerned citizens who banded together to fight against several proposed dams. The festival’s namesake is in celebration of achieving Wild & Scenic status in 1999 for 39 miles of the South Yuba River. The Wild & Scenic Environmental festival celebrates its annual event each January in Nevada City, CA, and features over 125 award-winning films, plus speakers, celebrities, and activists who bring a human face to the environmental movement. SYRCL’s Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival is a call to action. At Wild & Scenic, filmgoers are transformed into a congregation of committed activists, dedicated to saving our increasingly threatened planet. We 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. Through these films, Wild & Scenic both informs people about the state of the world and inspires them to take action.
The tour allows SYRCL to share their success with other organizations nationwide. It is building a grassroots network connected by a common goal, to use film to inspire activism. The festival’s national partners have joined together to support this campaign. By showing the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival to diverse audiences across the country, we collectively inspire more individuals to take environmental action.
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