Friday night 6:00 PM University Union Havasupai ABC Rooms. Free Pizza Party for attendees!
Film Synopsis
Sometimes the best solutions to the biggest problems can be found in the most unexpected places. Meet the beaver believers: five scientists and a sassy, spicy hairdresser who are tackling climate change one stick at a time.The Beaver Believers is the urgent yet whimsical story of an unlikely cadre of activists who share a common vision: restoring the North American Beaver, that most industrious, ingenious, bucktoothed engineer, to the watersheds of the arid West. The Beaver Believers encourage us to embrace a new paradigm for managing our western lands, one that seeks to partner with the natural world rather than overpower it. As a keystone species, beaver enrich their ecosystems,creating the complexity and resiliency our watersheds need to absorb the impacts of climate change. Beavers can show us the way and even do much of the work for us, if only we can find the humility to trust in the restorative power of nature and our own ability to play a positive role within it. Shot in 8 western US states,Mexico, and Canada, through desert drought, raging wild fires, spring floods, and wetland tranquility, this film will change the way you think about climate change and inspire you to step up to confront the challenges we face.
About the Filmmaker
Sarah Koenigsberg is an award-winning filmmaker, photographer, writer, and educator whose work focuses on stories of art, environment, and community in the American West. Her films and teaching cross disciplines, illuminating the power of storytelling as a medium through which to explore complex science and policy issues. Her commercial film clients include the US Forest Service, River Management Society, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Grand Canyon Trust, Methow Salmon Recovery
Foundation, and Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. Her photography has been published in Science, High Country News, and the 2018 National Climate Assessment. Koenigsberg’s work has screened across North America in venues such as the National Climate Adaptation Forum, the North American Congress for Conservation Biology, and the American Fisheries Society’s annual conference. Winner of the American Conservation Film Festival’s Green Spark Award, her documentary “The Beaver Believers”
has screened worldwide in festivals such as the Banff Mountain Film Festival, Banff World Tour, International Wildlife Film Festival, London Eco-Film Festival, Ireland Wildlife Film Festival, Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, Environmental Film Festival at Yale, and the Portland EcoFilm Festival, among others. As an educator, she has developed digital media storytelling curriculums for Whitman College, and regularly presents on science communication for agencies, nonprofits, and universities. In the time since beaver have taken over her life, she has helped launch the nonprofit The Beaver Coalition. She loves strong coffee, dark chocolate, organizing cupboards, and climbing things she’s not supposed to to “get the shot.” She detests sticky jar lids and tangled power cords.
Student Water Symposium 