Director of Photography
Ay Mariposa tells a story of three characters in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas whose lives are upended by plans to build a US-Mexico border wall. As the director of the National Butterfly Center, Marianna Trevino Wright has become a leader of wall resistance in the Valley, a position that has resulted in violent threats from pro-wall factions and an emotional odyssey as she tries to navigate the ever-shifting sands of border policy. Zulema Hernandez, a life-long migrant worker, immigrant and great grandmother, has been a dedicated advocate for all migrants, both wild and human-kind. Meanwhile the butterfly, la mariposa, fights its own daily battle for survival in a landscape where more than 95 percent of its habitat is long gone and much of what remains lies directly in the path of the wall. Ay Mariposa documents each characters' fierce commitment to home, justice, wild beauty and the future of the US-Mexico borderlands.
Director
Everyone has heard about bee declines, but with so much attention focused on domesticated honeybees, someone has to speak up for the 4,000 species of native bees in North America. Natural history photographer Clay Bolt is on a multi-year quest to tell the stories of our native bees, and one elusive species – the Rusty-patched Bumble Bee – has become his white whale. Traveling from state to state in search of the Rusty-patched, he meets the scientists and conservationists working tirelessly to preserve it. Clay’s journey finally brings him to Wisconsin, where he comes face to face with his quarry and discovers an answer to the question that has been nagging him: why save a species?
Narrator
For 40 years, billy barr has lived alone in small cabin in one of the coldest places in the United States – the ghost town of Gothic, CO. With no goals of proving anything, or even knowledge that the climate was changing, billy started collecting data about snowpack to pass the time in his isolated part of the world. When climate researchers at the Gothic-based Rocky Mountain Biological Lab discovered billy’s decades of detailed records, they uncovered clear and compelling evidence of climate change. As someone who has had to learn to survive in such a harsh environment, billy shares some advice about how to move forward on our changing planet.
Director
For 40 years, billy barr has lived alone in small cabin in one of the coldest places in the United States – the ghost town of Gothic, CO. With no goals of proving anything, or even knowledge that the climate was changing, billy started collecting data about snowpack to pass the time in his isolated part of the world. When climate researchers at the Gothic-based Rocky Mountain Biological Lab discovered billy’s decades of detailed records, they uncovered clear and compelling evidence of climate change. As someone who has had to learn to survive in such a harsh environment, billy shares some advice about how to move forward on our changing planet.
