Igniting a Love of Nature Through the Art of Film 

Two days of short and feature-length films celebrating nature, ecology, and stewardship of Earth’s wild places are coming to Goleta for the 2023 NatureTrack film festival. NatureTrack is a local nonprofit that provides free outdoor field-trip experiences for young students throughout Santa Barbara County, getting kids off screens and into local habitats. “We view the film festival as an extension of that mission to connect people with nature and the outdoors,” says festival director Mitchka Saberi. “NatureTrack founder and director Sue Eisaguirre’s philosophy is once you have a relationship with the outdoors and the area around you, you’re going to be more likely to fight to protect it.” The festival, with the tagline “Igniting Passion for Nature Through Film,” runs October 6-8 at various locations in Goleta.

This year’s film lineup champions conservation. Filmmaker Michael Love, who enjoys spending time at his Los Padres cabin, focuses on ecosystems in our own backyard. His short films Learning to Condor and The Little Fox of Limuw track local native species recovery efforts. “The California condor and Channel Island fox are both species that were brought back from the brink of extinction by humans, the same species whose impact caused their near-extinction,” says Love. “As the dominant species on this planet, we need to make it a priority to take care of the biodiversity we have left.”

Other ecology-related films include Yann Sochaczewski’s Cactus Hotel, which chronicles the life cycle (and many animal tenants!) of a mighty saguaro cactus in the Sonoran Desert, and John Dutton’s Hudson River Wild, which introduces audiences to the Hudson River watershed in the Adirondack mountains.

Another emphasis of the festival is outdoor adventuring on a scale of easygoing to extreme. The opening film is David Arnaud’s Wild Waters, about a globe-trotting kayaker. “It’s not specifically calling out to protect nature … watching it just really made us want to go kayak!” says Saberi. “We hope people walk away with a newfound inspiration of why it’s so fulfilling to spend time outdoors and why it’s important to protect those places.”

Brendan Hall’s film, Out There: A National Parks Story, explores the importance of the American National Park system. “The national park system and protected lands have a dual mission: to preserve nature and to benefit the enjoyment of people,” he says. In Out There, Hall and a childhood friend road-trip from national park to national park, interfacing with guests about the impulse to sojourn into wild spaces. “I think as a species our healing, our recovery, our spirituality, and so much of our mental and physical health can be tied into protecting land for our enjoyment and our use,” he says.

Further enriching the festival experience, NatureTrack offers interactive events such as discussion panels, Q&A sessions with the filmmakers, an opening-night bash at the Bacara, and a mixer for pass-holders and filmmakers. The festival will also host a Best of the Fest presentation in Los Olivos on October 14, featuring a selection of the year’s favorite films.

The aim of NatureTrack and the film festival is to engender a sense of love and respect for the environment through exposure to nature’s wonders. For those who want to get involved in local ecology, Sochaczewski suggests exploring nonprofit organizations dedicated to nature conservation — investigate their programs and consider becoming a volunteer. NatureTrack, for example, accepts volunteers in a variety of capacities. These films may also inspire viewers to go play outside. “I’d love for people to think about their next adventure in nature,” says Hall, who would probably rather be hiking than sitting in his New York City flat. “That outdoor experience that seems out of reach is a lot closer than people realize.”

For more information and a complete schedule, see naturetrackfilmfestival.org.