New Film Club: “Wilding”
SOLD OUT
Welcome to Wild About Film! our film club that sparks conversation and inspires action through the power of cinema.
Our first film is ‘Wilding’
Based on Isabella Tree’s best-selling book, Wilding tells the story of a couple facing a failing future for their four-hundred-year-old estate. They set to work with a groundbreaking vision, battling entrenched traditions and practices along the way, placing the fate of their farm in the hands of nature. Ripping down fences, they return the land back to the wild and entrust its recovery to a mix of livestock. It is the beginning of a grand experiment that will become one of the most significant rewilding experiments in Europe and beyond.
Post film Discussion
Join Rob Parry and Laurence Whitaker from Initiative for Nature Conservation Cymru and Tash Reilly, Carmarthenshire farmer and Chair of Tir Natur to talk about issues raised by tonight’s film and hear about inspiring projects that are working to support the wellbeing of the land and people of Wales.
Rob Parry is CEO of the Initiative for Nature Conservation Cymru (INCC). He has worked in the nature conservation sector in Wales for over 20 years, first at the Wildlife Trust before moving to set up INCC in 2017. Whilst at INCC Rob has successfully helped reintroduce the rare Water Vole and Marsh Fritillary butterfly to South Wales, and he is currently heading up the team involved in saving upland Water Voles across Wales. As part of INCC’s landscape scale conservation work, Rob currently manages 3 farm restoration projects across South and West Wales, helping to restore natural habitats and populations of rare species, such as Brown Hare, Beaver and Willow Tit. Rob lives in the beautiful Amman Valley, which is INCC’s first and largest landscape scale conservation project, created by different landowners and communities coming together for the benefit of the valley’s wonderful wildlife.
Tash Reilly is the Chair of Tir Natur, a Welsh charity set up for rewilding in Wales. Tir Natur has just purchased a 1200-acre site which isn’t suitable for farming, to rewild in mid Wales. A farmer managing 120-acres in Carmarthenshire to support and increasing biodiversity, Tash wholeheartedly supports rewilding in Wales and working with other farmers and landowners to increase our natural capital. Tash’s career started as a plant scientist at Kew Gardens; her interest in rewilding started at a workshop in Glen Affric in 2018 and she is still learning.
Laurence Whitaker has worked as a wildlife film maker for over a decade, and has worked at some of the biggest production companies in the world including the BBC Natural History Unit, Bad Wolf Studios and Silverback Films. He has worked on a range of projects from BBC Springwatch, to landmark natural history films such as David Attenborough’s The Mating Game and Netflix’s Life on Our Planet with Morgan Freeman. Most recently, he produced and directed the BBC One Series Hamza’s Hidden Wild Isles’ of which a lot was filmed in Wales. He has now moved into conservation working with INCC and lives in The Amman Valley with his family.
Director: David Allen
Writer: Isabella Tree
Featuring: Matthew Collyer, Rhiannon Neads, Isabella Tree
Documentary, UK, 2023, 75 mins
“a heartwarming speck of biodiversity good news among the depressing headlines” Cath Clarke, Guardian
“In this new film, based on Isabella’s bestselling book of the same name, she details their story from its very beginnings, recounting how the decision to end farming was a tough and emotional one. But, having come to a realisation about the damage being done to their land, it seemed the only course to take. With contemporary interviews and clever recreations of the past, Wilding… is a hugely hopeful story, one in which even the depression left by a cow’s hoofprint can give way to a profusion of life.” Geographical
Film: 6.30 pm
Interval: 7.45 pm – order your drinks / food from the cafe as you arrive ready for the interval
Discussion: 8.10 pm
For more details on Wild about Film see our Film Club Page
