IWFF Shorts Block 2: Studying the Wild

What’s so special about jumping spider vision? (“The World According to Jumping Spiders”) Why might a reindeer population in Norway growing in the face of climate change actually be a bad sign? (“Reindalen”) Do honeybees actively make decisions when collecting pollen, or are they just running on instinct? (“Uncovering Animal Minds”) These are a handful of questions filmmakers are asking in the “Studying the Wild” shorts block.


Houston's Whitebeam
Directors: Alex Darby, Libby Houston

Houston's Whitebeam follows climber, botanist and poet Libby Houston who, at 80 years old, continues her work climbing the 300-foot cliffs of Bristol's Avon Gorge to investigate rare plants.


Reindalen
Director: Morgan Heim
Producers: Neon Raven Story Labs, Samantha Paige Huset Dwinnell

In the fastest-warming place on Earth, two friends and their canine sidekick uncover how the world's smallest and fattest reindeer are thriving because of rising temperatures. But are they seeing a positive side-effect of climate change in the Arctic, or witnessing the end of innocence for Svalbard reindeer?


Uncovering Animal Minds
Director and Producer: Josie Harris

Animal behavior scientists offer new insights into the minds of animals, while grappling with the profound implications for their welfare. Uncovering Animal Minds investigates the intellectual qualities of honeybees, Cornish Cross chickens, and gray wolves.


The World According to Jumping Spiders
Directors: Nathan Dappen, Neil Losin

From Aristotle to Galileo, humanity’s greatest thinkers have puzzled over the fundamental nature of color. Yet if one team of researchers is correct, new insights into what color really is – and the ways we and other animals perceive it – might not come from the human mind at all, but from the pinhead-sized brains... of jumping spiders.


Followed by a Q&A with filmmakers!