Wild Spaces is Australia's only national film festival focused entirely on environmental, social justice and human rights issues. The festival will be screening around Australia showcasing a broad range of documentaries, animations and short films. Wild Spaces is a new media forum that is uncensored and committed to screening films that explore and depict real people from around the world, the issues they face, and the work they are doing to build stronger communities and a healthier planet.As a vehicle for environmental education the Wild Spaces Film Festival aims to entertain, inform and inspire our audience through our exploration of a number of vital contemporary issues.
This exploration takes us on a journey of locally, nationally and internationally made films and videos in the form of shorts, documentaries, animations and features made by video activists through to filmmakers of international standing.
The 9th National Wild Spaces Film Festival has unveiled an exciting program of International and local films that are sure to inspire and entertain audiences across the country.
19 short films, animations and documentaries have been selected from over a hundred entries to screen nationally in over 20 regional centres and capital cities during the month of September. From Alice Springs to Denmark, Stawell to Atherton, Wild Spaces is touring around Australia, screening a program of inspire and inform.
From struggles for self determination in Burma, stories of survival from women in Afghanistan post-Taliban, incredibly candid interviews with factory workers in China, kids in remote Aboriginal communities building bikes from recycled materials, marginalised communities resisting a global giant over natural resources in India and the response to the drive for industrialised fishing practices in a small community in Nova Scotia, Canada, this year's program is diverse and powerful.
The 2005 program features films that are not only well-crafted and innovative but also delve into some fascinating complex issues facing communities around the globe and within Australia.
It is the intention of the organisers to provide an experience for the Wild Spaces audience that goes further than just providing an opportunity for passive involvement in issues the films portray. We aim to inspire our audience into action and awareness: for people to see themselves as part of the solution to the current environmental and social issues that we face.
The festival is largely organised by volunteers, and provides an opportunity for people to develop skills in event organisation and management, as well as networking with other groups and organizations with similar values.
Wild Spaces Film Festival 2005 is presented and organised by co-ordinators in Brisbane as a FoEA projuect. Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA) is a not for profit federation of local groups working towards positive social change through community participation.
about