PATH OF THE PANTHER

Name: PATH OF THE PANTHER
Start: 2022-10-06
End: 2022-10-15
Location: Rafael 1

California Premiere

GROW | ACTIVE CINEMA | DOCS

US 2022, 88 min, Director: Eric Bendick

In the southern Everglades, a wildlife photographer, veterinarians, ranchers, conservationists, and indigenous people join forces to track and protect the endangered Florida panther. In this moving documentary, stunning images of the big cats spur the movement to restore a majestic keystone species as well as dwindling wilderness. While National Geographic’s Carlton Ward, Jr. employs camera traps to capture thrilling video and still portraits of panthers and other marshland creatures, biologists track the elusive wild felines, vets rehabilitate them after car strikes, and ranchers preserve working land and prevent overdevelopment. Creating wildlife corridors through ranch lands and nature preserves is the long-term plan. Through Ward’s art, the Florida panther and the swampland itself speak eloquently of their right to continue. A gripping tale of survival, Path of the Panther offers hope that we can follow our love of beauty and nature toward better stewardship of the Earth. —Carol Harada

Guest expected: director Eric Bendick

Showtimes

Director

Eric is an Emmy-winning director, producer, and writer whose films explore connectivity, conflict, and ingenuity at the intersection of human and wild spaces. He’s led storytelling expeditions to the heart of many of the last intact and untamed landscapes on Earth as well as to the front lines of habitat destruction and fragmentation. His films for National Geographic, PBS, Smithsonian, History Channel, among others have garnered numerous awards from major film festivals around the world. Eric is a current grantee of the Redford Center and a graduate of Brown University and Montana State University.