Earth Flix Screening: Franklin

Earth Flix: Cinema 4 Change, screening our second film: Franklin. 

Synopsis: 2023 marked the 40^th anniversary of one of the most significant wins for the conservation movement in Australia’s history: the conclusion of the 8 year-long campaign to save the Franklin River.

Franklin tells the story of Eighth-generation Tasmanian and environmentalist Oliver Cassidy as he embarks on a life-changing rafting trip down the beautiful yet remote Franklin River. His goal is to retrace his late father’s 14-day expedition to attend the blockade that helped save the World-Heritage listed national park from being destroyed by a huge hydroelectric dam project in the early 1980s.

Released in 2022, the film combines Oliver’s story with never-before-seen archival footage from the famous 1980s “No Dams” campaign which drew environmental protesters from all over Australia to converge on a remote part of Tasmania and ultimately resulted in a constitutional challenge in the High Court. The High Court’s decision prevented the Franklin Dam from being built and saved one of the world’s last remaining great wild rivers.

The inspiring events of the Franklin movie reminds us how grass roots environmental movements can still succeed against overwhelming odds through people power and dedication to the cause.

Have a look at the trailer below.

In addition to screening Franklin, immediately following we will screen a short film called Rivercare which explores the work along our local rivers. Rivercare, now part of Council's Bushcare program have a regular meet up at Berrima River to help maintain the plants in the riparian zone. The work along all of our rivers requires that many organisations get involved, as such Landcare also works locally with their river care program alongside Council helping to maintain private and public land. 

Discussion: Following the screenings we would like to invite the audience to ask questions of our guest speakers. Ian Royds from Southern Highland Landcare Network and Belinda Booth, Council's Environment Officer, Bushcare and Citizen Science will talk about our local programs designed to manage our waterways and surrounding bushland, ensuring the health of our systems is improved and managed appropriately. Additionally, the wonderful Suzannah Cowley of Nviro Media will be present, Suzannah is a former journalist, now documentary producer and the producer of Rivercare, Suzannah is a passionate local and is looking forward to answering any questions the audience may have for her.  

We hope to see you at our screening on Wednesday 21 February at 6.00 pm. Click here to book! 

When

Location

Empire Cinema, Bowral main street.

Empire cinema, 327 Bong Bong Street, Bowral, 2576, View Map