Film Screening: The Road Ahead: The First Green Long March

"The Road Ahead: The First Green Long March" HD Trailer from Michael Raisler on Vimeo.

In the year leading up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Beijing Forestry University and international NGO Future Generations teamed up to organize the first Green Long March for Chinese students. The goal: empowering young people to become advocates for the environment. Two thousand college students from across the nation mobilized to answer this call to action. Forming ten survey teams, they traveled by train, car and foot to see China's environmental challenges up close and spread their passion for conservation. Notebooks in hand, the teams made their respective treks, from the great deserts of the northwest to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. The Road Ahead: The First Green Long March focuses on a few compelling students and captures the experience through their eyes. To meditative and moving effect, the film immerses audiences in the vast and diverse landscapes the students visit. We witness their growing wonder as they encounter the natural world as never before. We also share their devastation as they talk to locals and start to understand the human impact of environmental destruction. Directed by Ryan Wong and produced by Michael Raisler.

A member of the NGO Future Generations will be taking questions after the film.

The Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital runs from March 16 to 28 and you can see the whole program here: http://www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org/