On Feb. 29, the award-winning documentary “The River and the Wall” by conservation filmmaker Ben Masters will be screening in the Culp Auditorium. The event is sponsored by American Variety Radio Host Court Lewis and ETSU’s Department of Sustainability, in partnership with Fin and Fur Films.
“I got involved because a few years back [when] I had the director of the documentary on my radio show,” Lewis said. “He was a young guy then, but we stayed in touch here and there, so I knew they had another project that they started a couple of years back, so I said ETSU would be a good place to screen the film.”
The film focuses on Masters, National Geographic explorer Filipe DeAndrade, ornithologist Heather Mackey, river guide Austin Alvarado and conversationalist Jay Kleberg as they travel along the 1,200 mile U.S.-Mexico border across two and a half month.
“There are so many news reports about immigration and the border wall and how it affects people and their communities,” ETSU Director of Sustainability Kathleen Moore said. “I really hadn’t seen too much about how a permanent border wall would affect wildlife and the environment and thought this movie would show the natural beauty of this area of the country and the habitats that would be affected.”
The premise of the film sets out to document the state of the area surrounding the border and the impact that the border wall would have on the environment, while highlighting the debate about immigration policy.
“We also have a very large outdoor community in the Tri-Cities,” Moore said. “I thought this film would be an attraction for those who like to bike, hike, kayak, horse ride, etc. because it really is a beautiful film with a lot of action, even though its main purpose is to show how a wall will affect everything. Our borders are recognized only by humans – not by the environment.”
The film will be free to the public, students, faculty and staff.
