Pocatello Wildlife Film Festival set Sept. 8, 10, 11 at ISU

Imagine that right here in Pocatello, Idaho, you can view wildlife and beautiful outdoor scenery featuring up close encounters with amazing wildlife from all over the world. It’s possible if you attend the third annual Pocatello Wildlife Film Festival, formerly the Sagebrush Wildlife Film Festival, on Sept. 8, 10 and 11.

The event will showcase award-winning films featured at the International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, Mont.

The festival begins on Saturday, Sept. 8, at Idaho State University’s L. E. and Thelma E. Stephens Performing Arts Center. Saturday’s event will start at 6 p.m. with a no host bar, followed by dinner at 7 p.m.

After dinner, the following films will be shown:

• “My Halcyon River,” an idyllic British river story told through the eyes of a man who has loved the river since he was a boy;

• the short film “A Bib for a Bell,” about how you can keep an outdoor cat happy and ensure the safety of visiting wild birds; and

 • the short film “Ruin Your Day,”  which features two public service announcements that respond to global warming, produced by Oregon high school students.

For tickets to Saturday night’s event, please call ISU’s Stephen Center Box Office at 282-3595 during weekdays.  Tickets are also available from committee members Karrie Schmidt at 232-9306, Alicia Tauscher at 282-4579, and Scott Ransom at the Pocatello Zoo, 234-6264. Tickets are $20 per person and include dinner and the films. Attendance to the Sept. 8 event is by advanced reservation only.

The festival will continue with Family Night at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 10, at the ISU Bengal Theater in the Pond Student Union Building. The evening’s feature will be “Seasons of the Otter: A Yellowstone Lake Story” and three short films, “Bears of the Rattlesnake,” “A Bib for a Bell” and “Ruin Your Day.”

Beginning at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, at the ISU Bengal Theater, two feature-length and two short films will be shown. The features are “Thunderbeast,” about American bison in Yellowstone National Park, and “Tropic Gothic,” the story of a wet season, a house and a gentle old woman in Australia’s rainforest. The two shorts, “A Bib for a Bell” and “Ruin Your Day,” will be shown beginning at 7 p.m. for general audiences.

Tickets for the films on Sept 10 and 11 can be purchased at the door for only $2 for patrons 12 and over, $1 for children under 12 and $1 for ISU faculty, staff and students.

The Pocatello Wildlife Film Festival is being sponsored by numerous local wildlife enthusiasts, sportsmen’s groups, conservation organizations and state and federal agencies.

For more information about the festival, contact Karrie Schmidt at 232-9306 or Alicia Tauscher at 282-4579 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.