Ornithologist Heather Mackey, who was featured in the documentary “The River and the Wall”, will lead the discussion following a free CineCulture screening at 5:30 p.m., Oct. 4 in the Peters Education Center Auditorium (next to the Save-Mart Center in the Student Recreation Center Building). Parking is free after 4 p.m. on Fridays with no permit necessary in lots P3 or P2.
Directed by conservation filmmaker Ben Masters, the film follows five friends on an immersive adventure through the unknown wilds of the Texas borderlands, traveling 1,200 miles from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico on horses, mountain bikes, and canoes. The film emphasizes the urgency of documenting the last remaining wilderness in Texas as the threat of new border wall construction looms ahead.
Masters recruited National Geographic explorer Filipe DeAndrade, ornithologist Heather Mackey, river guide Austin Alvarado, and conservationist Jay Kleberg to join him on the three month journey. Together, they explore the borderlands and the potential impacts of a wall on the natural environment. As the wilderness gives way to the more populated lower Rio Grande Valley, they come face-to-face with the human side of immigration.
The screening is sponsored by Arte Américas and the Department of Political Science.
The College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State 