International Wildlife Film Festival Comes to Sandpoint | Arts & Culture

It's been a couple years since the International Wildlife Film Festival has made its way to Sandpoint. This year it's back and being hosted by Sandpoint High School's Venture Club. 

This the first year the club is sponsoring the event. They're using it to fund their upcoming white water trip. "Our club members are doing all the volunteering, including securing donations from local businesses," said John Hastings, science teacher at Sandpoint High School. 

The club hosts climbing, camping, mountain biking, hiking sailing and other outdoor opportunties for the students at Sandpoint High School. 

The film festival will feature four nationally acclaimed films: 

South Pacific: Fragile Paradise

"This film aims to visualize the sheer scale and intensity of modern fishing methods, as part of a portrait of the conservation issues faced by the South Pacific – one of the few healthy seas left. Over 60% of the world’s fish catch comes from the Pacific, and like all oceans, it has little or no protection. So what’s being done to preserve this fragile paradise? The program sent its own crew out for weeks at sea so they could track the scale of the problem. Purse seine fishing is a high-tech operation where there can be 150 tons of fish in one haul. The programs also looks at what else is being done to conserve the South Pacific – from coral reef gardens to marine conservation areas and the pole and line fishing of the Solomon Islanders."

Expedition Grizzly

"Renowned naturalist Casey Anderson, and his best friend Brutus, an 800-pound grizzly bear, set out on an expedition to document the lives of vulnerable grizzlies in Yellowstone National Park. Casey has made a full-fledged commitment to the study of grizzlies by living among them, right down to partaking in their diet, including the Army Cutworm Moth. The video received an honorable mention for ‘Human Wildlife Interaction.’"

Termites: Attack of the Killer Echidna

"The featured videos not only evoke curiosity and charm, but also meet the viewer’s comedic needs. "Termites: Attack of the Killer Echidna” cleverly reveals that there is a way to get rid of pests without poisoning the environment by making the problem part of the solution.  This film was the winner of the Festival’s ‘Best Animation’ and ‘Best Sense of Humor’ awards."

Snow Leopard Beyond the Myth

"received the ‘Best of Festival’ award in 2009. The movie is a heart-warming tale of a man’s quest to find and film the wild snow leopard, which lives in the remote mountains of northern Pakistan near the Afghan border.  Pakistani journalist Nisar Milak and cameraman Mark Smith spent two years documenting the daily lives of the snow leopard, finally lifting the veil on the most elusive of all cats."

The festival begins on April 15th, 7 p.m. at the Panida Theater, 300 N. 1st Ave. 

Tickets are available at the door for $10.00. Children 12 and under and get in for $6.00. There will be opportunities for door and raffle prizes provided by local businesses.