The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is welcoming creature features.
For the 12th year in a row, the Wild & Scenic Film Festival makes the museum one of its stops Feb. 3 on a more than 20 city national tour.
The festival, which explores the most pressing environmental issues of our time such as energy sources, food systems, biodiversity and climate change, will screen 10 film selections in Cleveland.
“The films are usually environmental, inspirational and issue-based,” says Ashley Hall, the museum’s adult programs coordinator.
Each year, Hall is tasked with combing through 50 to 100 films to narrow down her top selections from filmmakers zooming in for a close-up on all things paws and fur, beaks and wings, scales and gills.
Pangolin, for example, follows a poacher who harvests the titular armored mammals to sell their keratin-filled scales. Another film, A Ghost in the Making, confronts the struggles facing the endangered rusty patched bumblebee, a species found in the northeastern part of North America.
“I chose wildlife-focused films, because our museum and our scientists at the museum do a lot of research on mammals and birds and insects,” says Hall.
Between screenings, a fair connects attendees with local organizations such as the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and Sustainable Cleveland that offer ways to affect change in the issues highlighted by these films.
“People will be ready to see how they can help after seeing these films,” Hall says. “So having these resources here lets Clevelanders know that they can make a difference.”
