Shorts Block 2 - Held & Rooted

Nature, with its constant death and rebirth, reveals how small we are in the grand scheme of things. As these films show, when we embrace it, we open ourselves to the transformations in our feelings about life and one another.


The Boys and the Bees
Dir. Arielle Knight (US)

The Boy and the Bees chronicles the changing seasons in the life of the Ray family as they pursue their dream of freedom: raising bees on a farm in rural Georgia, while teaching their young sons what they need to steward the planet they call home. Landscapes shift, boys grow, bees are tended, mistakes are made, animals die, and new ones come to nest.


Gatorville
Dir. Freddie Gluck (US)
Sponsored by The Good Store

In Colorado’s forgotten valley, two siblings face both alligators and the ache of leaving youth behind. 


Sound Guardians
Dir. Lee Varjacques (US, Indonesia)

As Jakarta sinks and sea levels rise, Indonesia is moving its capital to the island of Borneo. It’s building a futuristic new city named Nusantara in the middle of a forest, on the traditional land of the indigenous Balik people. Abidin, a Balik elder, is documenting his forest’s soundscape with the help of scientists to preserve ancestral knowledge before it’s too late.


Sky Speak
Dir. Kaitlynn Radloff (US)
Sponsored by Betty's Divine

Over 100 migratory bird species pass through Travelers’ Rest State Park annually. Sky Speak reflects on the habitat destruction shaped by human presence and imagines nature’s quiet persistence as it reclaims and regenerates in our absence.


Something to Hold
Dir. Jordan Hoffmaster (US)

In the wilds of Montana, a mountaineering artist embarks on the last summer of a decade-long project to draw all the named glaciers in the state. He reminisces about past seasons spent in the wilderness making art and bearing witness to his awe-inspiring subjects. With a highly anticipated gallery show looming, he also ponders if he will truly be able to finish the project.


Q&A with Sky Speak animator/director Kaitlynn Radloff and much of the crew of Something to Hold to follow the screening!