OPENING NIGHT FILM + PARTY
CFI launches the 2018 edition of DocLands with Montreal-based photographer/ethnologist Matthieu Rytz’s exquisitely shot feature, a real-time climate change story. Most often a hard-to-grasp scientific abstraction that seems little evident in day-to-day life, climate change could hardly be more heartbreakingly immediate for the residents of Kiribati, a nation in the central Pacific Ocean. The engaging residents in Rytz’s film guide us through their predicament: Kiribati’s 33 atolls sprawl over an expanse as wide as the U.S., yet barely rise above sea level—and that level is rising. As global warming generated by industrialized countries swallows Kiribati whole, this small, isolated culture is being destroyed. Lovely and mournful,
Anote’s Ark chronicles the peculiarities of a population whose all-too-imminent future will be strictly as refugees, their homeland only accessible to divers. Will the Herculean efforts of former President Anote Tong stop this catastrophe? Or will it simply warn the world of the lessons that Kiribati’s fate makes so very clear? | CALIFORNIA PREMIERE
IN PERSON Director Matthieu Rytz; Film Subject Anote Tong, former president of Kiribati
May 3rd screening only: preceded by WATER TOWN US 2017, 24 min Director Maya Craig
IN PERSON: Director Maya Craig
Immerse yourself in Matthieu Rytz's ANOTE'S ARK 9-minute virtual reality experience that takes you on a journey to Kiribati. Sign up at the Smith Rafael Film Center throughout the Festival.
May 3, 7:00pm | SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER
PROGRAM $35 / $30 CFI members
PROGRAM & PARTY $55 / $50
OPENING NIGHT PARTY
9:00-11:00pm | ELKS LODGE, MAPLE LAWN TERRACE, 1312 Mission Avenue, San Rafael
ENVIRONMENTAL YOUTH FORUM SCREENING OF ANOTE'S ARK (Public tickets available for purchase)
May 4, 1:00pm | CINÉARTS SEQUOIA
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