Documenting Our Common Humanity: Climate, Community, Resilience
Saturday, February 22, 2025, from 7:30-8:45 p.m. (Doors open at 7:00 p.m.)
Appalachian Theatre of the High Country (559 West King Street)
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BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University's High Country Humanities is pleased to present “Documenting Our Common Humanity: Climate, Community, Resilience” on Saturday, February 22, 2025, from 7:30-8:45 p.m. at the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country, located at 559 West King Street in Boone. The event is free and open to the public, and doors will open at 7:00 p.m.
This coda to the Boone Docs Film Festival will feature the work of local filmmakers. Inspired by the unity and resourcefulness of Western North Carolinians, which Hurricane Helene recently highlighted, the films to be screened will showcase resilience and people working together to respond to environmental and agricultural challenges.
One of the short documentaries to be shown on the theatre’s large screen is Dr. Beth Davison’s “We Begin Again at 9:30” (10 minutes), which shows the Todd community’s response to Hurricane Helene. Dr. Davison is a professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Appalachian State and the co-director of AppDocs. Some of her award-winning documentary projects have been screened in film festivals, museums and on PBS stations.
Davison's “Above the Mountain Majesties” (10 minutes) will also be shown. In the documentary, an experienced paraglider guides a determined newcomer toward flight in the North Carolina High Country.
Another documentary featured in this screening is “Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture: Farm, Food & Community” (22 minutes), a documentary by Anne Ward and Chip Williams that explores the twenty-year development of Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and their work to develop local food pathways in Watauga, Ashe and Avery counties. Ward, an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Appalachian State, and Williams, an associate professor in the Commercial Photography program within the Department of Art at App State, have collaborated on many documentary projects over the years, and their films have been screened in international, national and regional film festivals.
The full program will be announced in January. The event will include panel discussions with filmmakers and community members whose stories are told in the documentaries.
For more information, visit hchumanities.appstate.edu or contact Dr. Darci Gardner, director of High Country Humanities, by email at gardnerdl1@appstate.edu or by phone at (828) 262-2928.
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About High Country Humanities
High Country Humanities at Appalachian State University aims to foster a greater understanding and appreciation of the humanities across the High Country region of North Carolina. The program supports faculty in their scholarly activities, promotes their collaborations with community partners and organizes events that help their expertise reach the wider public. High Country Humanities is an initiative of App State’s College of Arts and Sciences, with support from the Division of Academic Affairs. Learn more at hchumanities.appstate.edu.
About Boone Docs Film Festival
The Boone Docs Film Festival is a juried film festival that screens short-format documentaries celebrating life in the Appalachian region, providing a platform for stories about the people who call the Appalachian Mountains their home. The films presented at Boone Docs celebrate the diversity of life and cultures in one of the world’s oldest mountain chains.
About the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country
The Appalachian Theatre of the High Country is a historic Art Deco theatre built in 1938, renovated, and restored to a 629-seat state-of-the-art performance venue which reopened to audiences in October 2019 to serve the North Carolina High Country region as a non-profit performing arts center. Programming includes a diverse array of live performances, concerts, films, community arts and civic events. More information about the Appalachian Theatre, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, is available by calling (828) 865-3000 or by visiting apptheatre.org.
Appalachian State University's High Country Humanities is pleased to present “Documenting Our Common Humanity: Climate, Community, Resilience” on Saturday, February 22, 2025, from 7:30-8:45 p.m. at the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country, located at 559 West King Street in Boone.
Appalachian State University's High Country Humanities is pleased to present “Documenting Our Common Humanity: Climate, Community, Resilience” on Saturday, February 22, 2025, from 7:30-8:45 p.m. at the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country, located at 559 West King Street in Boone.