Sedona News – The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present the Northern Arizona premiere of “Journey to the South Pacific” and “Hurricane on the Bayou” showing Jan. 19-25 at the Mary D. Fisher and Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatres. The two award-winning films will show in one package.
JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH PACIFIC
Get ready to sail away to one of the most mesmerizing and irreplaceable environments on earth in “Journey to the South Pacific” — the color-and-music-fueled story of an island boy’s adventure to learn all he can about protecting his spectacular oceanic home. Featuring narration from Academy Award-winner Cate Blanchett, the film transports moviegoers of all ages to the remote island chain of West Papua, Indonesia, where an uplifting tale of hope is unfolding amidst breathtaking turquoise waters teeming with marine life both strange and beautiful.
This is the home of Jawi, an enthusiastic, fun-loving 13-year-old who sets out on the Kalabia, a pioneering “floating classroom”, on an inter-island journey throughout the West Papuan archipelago. He discovers a water world alive with more than 500 species of coral and 2,000 species of marine life, more marine diversity than anywhere else on earth. Audiences will experience the journey as if they are there with Jawi as he encounters gigantic leatherback turtles, witnesses cruising manta rays, and confronts a 40-foot, spotted whale shark that helps him to overcome his fears in a heart-stirring human-animal encounter of epic proportions. The more Jawi is awed by all that goes on just under the surface of his coastal realm, the more he starts to ponder what he and others can do to assure its future. As he circles back to his island village, “Journey to the South Pacific” becomes not just about a boy who boldly conquers his fears but about living in balance with the ocean planet all of us share.
HURRICANE ON THE BAYOU
“Hurricane on the Bayou” takes viewers on a breathtaking tour of one of the most vibrant places in America, the Louisiana bayou and the city of New Orleans, a place overflowing with life, love, music and heartbreaking natural beauty. Here, in the region’s bountiful coastal wetlands, alligators, humans and other wildlife have lived in harmony for centuries. Tragically, these wetlands are eroding into the sea at the speed of one acre every thirty minutes, leaving the entire region more vulnerable to major hurricanes. “Hurricane on the Bayou” offers an emotional portrayal of this environmental calamity and the staggering effects of one of the most devastating natural disasters in American history, Hurricane Katrina.
Narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep and featuring a moving soundtrack that includes the best of New Orleans blues and gospel spirituals, “Hurricane on the Bayou” is both a festive, blues-infused celebration and a somber environmental warning, a poetic tribute to America’s most unique city and an emotional call to action, and it presents a deeply moving case as to why we must save our country’s environmental and cultural treasures.
“Journey to the South Pacific” and “Hurricane on the Bayou” will show together at the Mary D. Fisher and Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatres Jan. 19-25. Showtimes will be Friday, Saturday and Wednesday, Jan. 19, 20 and 24 at 7:00 p.m.; Sunday, Jan. 21 at 12:30 p.m.; and Monday and Thursday, Jan. 22 and 25 at 4:00 p.m.
Tickets are $12, or $9 for Film Festival members. For tickets and more information, please call 928-282-1177. Both the theatre and film festival office are located at 2030 W. Hwy. 89A, in West Sedona. For more information, visit: www.SedonaFilmFestival.org.