MOVIE SCREENING OF THE FIRE INSIDE WITH PHIL WALKER & REBECCA KNEALE GOULD--CO-SPONSORED BY NORTH CASCADES INSTITUTE

Village Books and North Cascades Institute present a movie screening of The Fire Inside, followed by a discussion led by co-producers Phil Walker and Becky Gould, and Saul Weisberg, Executive Director of North Cascades Institute. The Fire Inside is a documentary that asks provocative questions and offers thoughtful perspectives on our relationship to the natural world and the ecological crises we face today. What is nature? And what is the human experience of that world? In the everyday push of our modern lives what connections have been lost and what remain? This film follows a small, diverse group on a contemplative retreat as they explore the wildness about them and the passion for place within. Some of the featured people include Kurt Hoelting, wilderness guide and author of Circumference of Home; Stella Chao, environmental and social justice activist; Victoria Santos, community organizer and activist; Barak Gale, Jewish environmental activist; Emily Gunn, wilderness guide; and David Gunderson, Episcopal priest.

This 30-minute documentary will be presented in its entirety in the Readings Gallery at Village Books.  DVDs will be available for purchase soon. This event is co-sponsored by North Cascades Institute.

Phil Walker is the owner and creative director of Jump\Cut Productions. His work has focused primarily on education, history, community, and the environment. During an 8-year tenure at the Georgia Tech, Phil worked on a variety projects including  a series of global media campaigns for United Nations featuring world leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Jimmy Carter, Vice President Al Gore, Jacques Cousteau and Prime Minister Gro Brundtland from Norway. He co-produced the documentary, D-Day: Down to Earth, which debuted on PBS in June of 2004 for the 60th anniversary of D-Day. He also worked as producer and editor on the critically acclaimed art documentary, General Orders No. 9, which screened at numerous festivals in the US, Canada and Europe and was honored with the Kodak Vision Award at Slamdance in 2010.

Rebecca Kneale Gould is Associate Professor of Religion and Affiliate in Environmental Studies where she teaches courses in American Religious History, Religion and Nature, Religion and Social Change in America, and Simplicity in American culture. Her book, At Home in Nature: Modern Homesteading and Spiritual Practice in America, was published by The University of California Press (2005) and is an ethnographic and historical study of back-to-the-land experiments based on research she conducted while living and working at the homestead of Helen and Scott Nearing. She is currently engaged in a research project entitled "Religion on the Ground: The New Environmentalism of Religious Institutions," funded by the Louisville Institute. She is a fellow in the Young Scholars Program of the Center for American Religion at IU-IUPUI. She is a Board Member of two national non-profit initiatives: The Simplicity Forum and Take Back Your Time.