FILM
PASSING THE BATON Local doc closes out environmental film fest with an urgent message BY MICHAEL J. CASEY
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story in Chasing Time, it made perfect sense to pay forward a small portion of the opportunity James had given me. That’s why I chose to share this directing opportunity with a talented young first-time director, Sarah Keo.” “The state of mentorship ripples through all aspects of Chasing Time,” Keo says. And that includes mentorships in front of the camera between Balog, Orlowski-Yang and Iceland-based photographer Svavar Jónatansson to behind the camera, where the Chasing Time team used several key positions to open doors for others. “Once the mentorship theme became apparent, it was something we really wanted to focus on and make sure this would be a learning opportunity on multiple levels,” Keo says.
the project isn’t passed on to ow in its sixth year, the one other person. It’s to the Boulder Environmental / public. It’s to this idea of citizen Nature / Outdoors Film science: getting everyone to Festival (Boulder ENOFF) has become see what is happening. a summer staple. Hopefully, that will inspire Screening July 11-14 at the Dairy action and mobilize more peoArts Center, Boulder ENOFF rolls out ple to get involved however the green carpet for four days of narraway they feel is best, whether tives, documentaries, features and it’s through art, science or joinshorts, all tackling how we interact — ing a community garden.” or, in some cases, don’t — with our natural habitats. Some are uplifting, like Boulder MEET SARAH KEO ENOFF’s opening night selection Hard Now a resident of Denver, the Miles. Others, like Climate Crisis: Cambodian American Keo Drought (July 12), are alarming. Some studied marketing at the Chasing Time closes out the 2024 Boulder Environmental / NaFOR THE FUTURE explore the issues of the present, University of Washington but ture / Outdoors Film Festival on July 14. Courtesy: Exposure Labs Chasing Ice was the first chance Fracking the System (July 12), while fell for film once she started audiences got to glimpse Balog’s others excavate a history of destruction: working festivals. One thing led to “Jeff was very kind and made this an Extreme Ice Survey, which documents A Buffalo Story (July 13). opportunity for me to learn what it takes melting glaciers in Iceland and around another, and Keo landed a job as proMany explore the beauty and wonder duction coordinator on 2020’s The to be a director under his guidance and the world. Fifteen years later, Chasing of nature, but one doc in particular mentorship,” Keo says. “As co-direcSocial Dilemma, directed by BoulderTime closes Balog’s project with mixed explores a little bit of everything. Yes, tors, we really were working together based filmmaker Jeff Orlowski-Yang. emotions of satisfaction and futility. As it’s about mortality and a physthrough every stage of the you can probably guess, the glaciers ical loss that can never be process.” haven’t come back. replaced, but it manages to In addition to The Social But Chasing Time is no downer. end on a high note with the Dilemma and Chasing Time, Instead, Orlowski-Yang and Keo find promise that the fight against Orlowski-Yang has also direct- hope by focusing on the idea that menthe climate crisis continues. ed 2017’s Chasing Coral and torship will keep this work moving forThat film is Boulder ENOFF’s 2012’s Chasing Ice, which ward. closing night offering: Chasing documents the beginning of “One of the last lines in the film spoTime. Balog’s Extreme Ice Survey. ken by Jeff is this idea that this work, “We need everyone to get That project comes full circle especially the climate work, isn’t a involved, not just one person,” in Chasing Time, with sprint or a marathon but a relay race,” Sarah Keo, co-director of Orlowski-Yang not just followshe says. “And everyone runs their leg Chasing Time, told Boulder ing up on Balog’s project but or does their part and contributes what Weekly ahead of the July 14 also the impact Balog’s menthey can, and then they pass the baton. screening. torship has had on Orlowski“This work is going to be ongoing,” Chasing Time, the Yang’s life. Keo continues. “It’s not going to be 15-years-in-the-making sequel “My relationship with James solved overnight.” to Chasing Ice, follows famed Balog as a mentor and a climate photographer James friend totally changed the traBalog as he battles cancer jectory of my career, chalON SCREEN: Boulder while bringing his Extreme Ice lenged me in unique ways Environmental / Nature / Survey to a close. and ultimately helped me Outdoors Film Festival. July “This was a huge, emotionhone my worldview as an art11-14, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 al, physical, mental burden on ist,” Orlowski-Yang wrote in an Walnut St., Boulder. Schedule Sarah Keo co-directs Chasing Time, a resonant climate documenJames,” Keo says. “And that’s email to Boulder Weekly. and tickets: boulderenoff.org tary she hopes will “inspire action and mobilize more people to get why, at the end of the project, “When it came time to tell the involved.” Courtesy: Sarah Keo
BOULDER WEEKLY
JULY 4, 2024
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