

Announcing the 18th annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festivasl,   April 6-12, 2015


Environments inhabited by animals, plants, organisms, minerals, fungi, bacteria.   Terrains, waters, atmospheres defined by layers, relationships, and complexities surrounding the human and the nonhuman. Ecological systems offering sustenance and life. Territories sculpted by the small and the local: havens, dwellings, abodes, sites.

Habitus extends habitats: cultures anchored in bodies, groups, nations, habits, skills, styles, tastes. Through everyday life and historical memory, habitus spawns values and expectations.  Habitats and Habitus: generative havens, dynamic environments, sustaining locales.

But while habitat often implies stability, sustenance, and a natural order, conflicts and contradictions pervade actual habitats.  As competing organisms and species vie for niches, a habitat’s appearance of coherence can be illusory, disguising violence.

As habitats evolve from internal dynamics and external challenges, boundaries unhinge in constant flux. And how do we mark the borders of a habitat or habitus?  Are cities habitats? Parks?  Farms? Neighborhoods?  Skyscrapers? Museums?  Universities? Shopping malls?  War zones?  Prisons? Databases? Server farms?  Phone apps? Concert halls? Film festivals?

Funding for the 2015 Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival is provided by Ithaca College, the major presenting sponsor,  and the generosity of other outside funders.