Submitted by the Friday Harbor Film Festival

Ignite your curiosity and reimagine wildfire resilience in Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire, a captivating documentary screening at Friday Harbor Film Festival’s free Best of the Fest series at the San Juan Island Grange on Friday, May 10 at 7 p.m. It will be followed by a livestream Q&A about the film with Director Trip Jennings. Details are available at fhff.org. This event is free and open to the public. No tickets or reservations are needed.

Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire

Can homes, communities, healthy forests, and fire coexist? In the wake of destructive fires across the nation, Elemental takes an important look at discovering how we can all reimagine our relationship with wildfire and keep our homes and communities safe.

Filmed across the West the documentary takes viewers on a journey with the top experts in the nation to better understand fire. The film follows the harrowing escape from Paradise, California as the town ignited from wind-driven embers and burned within a few hours of the fire’s start. In the wake of destructive fires across the nation, the film focuses on how we can all reimagine our relationship with wildfire and keep our homes and communities safe. The solutions are now timelier and more urgent than ever.

We learn how Native Americans employ fire, benefitting nature and increasing community safety, as they have for thousands of years. We follow researchers studying the effects of climate on forests and the role forests play in storing vast amounts of carbon. We listen to survivors of deadly fires, underscoring the importance of this quest.

A growing number of scientists, safety experts and firefighters see a way forward for us to live and thrive with fire. Their work has never been more urgent. The costs of wildfires on people are growing, our warlike stance is no longer working, and the decisions that our leaders are making about how we prepare for more fire have dire consequences.

The Best of the Fest Series

Each month through September Best of the Fest will offer award-winning documentaries along with livestream Q&As. Programs will begin at 7 pm. Some are in collaboration with the San Juan Island Library; others are at the San Juan Island Grange. Since they’re on Fridays, they are a great “date night” activity.

Here’s the schedule:

Mama Bears – June 14 at the Library

Patrick and the Whale – July 12 at the Library

Covenant of the Salmon People and Our Sacred Obligation – August 9 at the Library

Common Ground – September 13 at the Grange

Details about the films in the series are available on the fhff.org website. Mark your calendar and plan to view the exceptional Best of the Fest documentaries.

Thank you to our 2024 Best of the Fest Sponsors! Presenting Sponsor: SaviBank Media Sponsor: Cascade Public Media | KCTS9