A film highlighting the plight of East Africa’s lesser flamingos that could help to save one of the world’s greatest wildlife spectacles is to open a series of environmental films hosted by The Dukes as part of Lancaster’s One Planet Festival in October.
Crimson Wing, which opens on 4th October at The Dukes, is the first film by Disney’s new natural history label, Disneynature, and is a documentary on the life and struggles of a million-strong colony of pink flamingos in Lake Natron, the largest soda lake in the Rift Valley, Tanzania.
An estimated 1.5m flamingos hatch on its mudflats each year, 75 per cent of the global population of the species. The birds are under threat from a new soda ash chemical factory planned for the area. Environmentalists believe the film will prove a powerful weapon in the fight to prevent a controversial soda ash mine being built at Lake Natron, which they claim will destroy the unique habitat vital to lesser flamingos throughout the region.
“We’re really pleased to be able to show Crimson Wing just two weeks into its general release, which is very early for a film of this kind to be shown in Lancaster,” commented Johnathan Ilott, the Dukes Film programme manager.
“The film is not only full of beautiful images but has an important environmental message and so is ideal to open the Green Screen season of environmental films The Dukes is hosting as part of Lancaster’s second One Planet Festival.”
Also scheduled for the season are Big River Man, an environmental documentary about larger-than-life Slovenian extreme swimmer Martin Strel’s insane attempt to be the first person to swim the Amazon; and A Time Comes, the story of the Kingsnorth Six, the activists who scaled the Kingsnorth power station chimney and the jury who supported their right to take direct action to protect the climate from the burning of coal.
The One Planet Festival, which runs from 2-12th October, aims to highlight issues surrounding climate change, inspire practical action to reduce our environmental footprint and to celebrate the diverse culture, produce and innovations of the Lancaster district.
• For other One Planet Festival events and more information visit www.oneplanetfestival.com.
• The full programme of Green Screen films and events at The Dukes as part of the One Planet Festival can be found at at www.oneplanetfestival.com/film.htm and www.dukes-lancaster.org/whats-on/film. To book tickets please call the box office on 01524 598500.