The silver screens at Gateway Film Center will be turning a little greener.
“Green Screen,” a series of environmental films, is coming to the Gateway Film Center tonight. The series, sponsored by the Ohio Environmental Council (OEC) and Gateway Film Center, will run the first Wednesday of every month.
Green Screen is “a chance to show more great films that might not play theatrically in Columbus and align with a really great cause and that just sits in with what the (South Campus Gateway) development is already doing,” said Melissa Starker, sales and marketing manager for Gateway Film Center.
Tonight’s film, “Flow,” is an award-winning documentary directed by Irena Salina that investigates the world water crisis — the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st century, according to an OEC press release.
“The film itself is really, really good,” said Allison Thomas, director of marketing and communications for OEC. “It’s been nominated at Sundance (Film Festival) and won a lot of different awards. It’s super topical.”
The water crisis is overtaking oil as the planet’s biggest resource crisis, Starker said.
“The people that are in the know already understand, ‘forget oil,'” she said. “The next major resource crisis on this planet is going to be clean drinking water.”
Each screening will consist of a pre- and post-show component. At 6:30 p.m., pre-show activities will take place, in which local businesses and organizations will speak. After the screening will be the post-show portion of the event with question-and-answer sessions with filmmakers, as well as giveaways and more.
“We really wanted this to be a community activity,” Thomas said. “We really want different community organizations to be there … and we want to have our own experts there to talk about the topics in the film.”
The Ohio Environmental Council teamed up with Gateway Film Center for the series because of South Campus Gateway’s commitment to being environmentally friendly, Starker said.
“The whole South Campus Gateway development is very forward-thinking in terms of environmental responsibility,” she said.
July’s screening will feature “The Garden,” a documentary about the plight of the largest community garden in the U.S.
