Screening of documentary film Ghost Bird set for tomorrow

Ghost Bird, a documentary by award-winning filmmaker Scott Crocker which looks at the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker, will be shown tomorrow.

A Faculty of Environmental Studies Sustainable Writing Lab event, the screening of Ghost Bird will take place Thursday, Nov. 12, from 2:30 to 4:30pm, in the Price Family Cinema, 102 Accolade East Building, Keele campus. A discussion with the filmmaker will follow the screening.

Right: A shot from the documentary film Ghost Bird

The ivory-billed woodpecker has long been considered the Holy Grail by diehard birders who refuse to believe it went extinct over 60 years ago. So when scientists announced that the bird had been found in the swamps of eastern Arkansas, it was celebrated around the world as the rediscovery of a lifetime.

Following the largest re­covery effort ever undertaken for a lost species, and despite millions of dollars in fund­ing, ivory-bills remain as elusive as ever. What can explain the mysterious absence of evidence while sightings by expert birders persist? Ghost Bird brings the ivory-bill’s blurry rediscovery into focus, revealing the uneasy relationship between humans and nature and the increasing uncertainty of our place within it.

Crocker is a feature and documentary film director and producer whose award-winning films have screened at film festivals and exhibitions both nationally and internationally. His documentary Boneshop of the Heart, on outsider artists from the American South, received honours from both the American Anthropological Association and the Ameri­can Folklore Society.

Housed in York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, the Sustainable Writing Lab (SWL) is a computer and information resource centre for those engaged with environmental literature, eco-criticism and other topics related to writing and the environment.

For more information, contact the SWL at sustainablewritinglab@gmail.com.