Submitted by The Friday Harbor Film Festival.
The Friday Harbor Film Festival proudly presents a special Best of the Fest screening of “WILDING” on Friday, May 16 at 7 p.m. at the San Juan Island Grange and the Lopez Library. Based on Isabella Tree’s best-selling book, this powerful documentary captures the awe-inspiring journey of a young couple who gamble on nature to restore their struggling, 400-year-old estate. What follows is a stunning experiment in ecological revival that welcomes life back to the land in ways they never anticipated. Following the screening, enjoy an exclusive pre-recorded interview with director David Allen, offering further insights into the making of the film and the ongoing impact of the project. Details are available at fhff.org.
Based on Isabella Tree’s best-selling book by the same title, “Wilding” tells the story of a young couple, Isabella and Charlie Tree, who in the 1980s inherit Knepp, a failing, four-hundred-year-old estate. By the end of the 1990s, facts must be faced: the farm isn’t working, and they are £1.5M in debt. The land is dying, the soil reduced to sterile dirt, with plummeting biodiversity levels. Battling entrenched tradition, the couple dares to place the fate of their farm in the hands of nature, with an ambitious rewilding project inspired by the thinking of European ecologists like Frans Vera.
Ripping down the fences and hoping to renew the growth of mycorrhizal fungi deep in the soil, they set the land back to the wild and entrust its recovery to a motley mix of animals both tame and wild. It is the beginning of a grand experiment that will become one of the most significant rewilding experiments in Europe. Over time, the soil replenishes itself – with a little help from some charming pigs – and the miraculous return of rare species like the purple emperor butterfly, white stork and turtle doves, who make their homes at Knepp. It is a transformation far in excess of anything anyone could have dreamed of, captured in intimate detail by five-time Emmy Award-winning documentarian David Allen and multi-BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning cinematographers Tim Cragg and Simon de Glanville.
Details about all of the Best of the Fest films are available at fhff.org. FHFF appreciates the sponsorship of The Journal of the San Juan Islands! Mark your calendar and plan to view the exceptional Best of the Fest documentaries on either San Juan or Lopez islands!
