Monthly screenings to spark conversation and inspire action through the power of cinema
A new “big screen” film night is coming to Hwb y Gors
Wild About Film / Gwyllt Am Ffilm launches on Wednesday 25th February and continues on the last Wednesday of each month. Through the power of cinema, Wild About Film will offer a chance to explore the challenges and opportunities shaping our world, from food and fashion to travel, nature, and animal welfare. Each screening is followed by an open discussion with guest speakers to consider issues raised by the film and hear about inspiring projects that are working to support the wellbeing of the land and people locally and across Wales. Refreshments will be available from the cafe.
Emily Hinshelwood, Creative Director at Hwb y Gors said:
“Community engagement is at the heart of everything we do at Hwb y Gors. Over 1,500 people have been involved in the planning and development of the centre, ensuring that it meets the needs and aspirations of local people while complementing the work of other community organisations in the area.
Film is such a powerful medium and we are excited to bring its focus to our community in the Amman Valley. We hope that Wild About Film will start conversations, inspire action, spark wonder and give hope. Our aim is to create a time and space for fresh perspectives and practical ideas.
We are very grateful to Film Cymru Wales for funding our inaugural season and to Film Hub Wales for supporting the gift of professional screening equipment from the former Monico Movies at Rhiwbina Community Cinema, Cardiff.”
Wild About Film opens at 6.30pm on 25th February with the documentary ‘Wilding’, based on Isabella Tree’s best-selling book of the same title. It tells the inspirational story of a couple facing a failing future for their four-hundred-year-old estate. They decide to tear down the fences and entrust the land to nature. It is the beginning of a grand experiment that will become one of the most significant rewilding schemes in Europe and beyond. The post-screening conversation will be led by Rob Parry, Chief Executive of the Initiative for Nature Conservation Cymru, Laurence Whitaker, former wildlife filmmaker, and Tash Reilly, farmer and Chair of Tir Natur.
Future film screenings include ‘Rave On For The Avon’, a magical film about people fighting to preserve life in and on their river in inventive ways, including a wedding; ‘Power Station’, a quirky new documentary about two artists who set out to install solar panels on every house in their street; and Mothers of the Revolution, a gripping documentary about the Welsh women who marched to. Greenham Common to protest against American nuclear missiles.
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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.
