Please email laura.hillman@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk to reserve seats.

Grow Wilder in collaboration with the Cube Microplex are delighted to be hosting an Autumnal outdoor cinema in Bristol this October.

Lately, we’ve all missed watching a film on the big screen with our communities.

This is why we’re so excited to be able to renew the cinematic world amid the beautiful surroundings of our human-inclusive nature reserve where people, wildlife and stories all thrive together. We’ve all heard about the benefits of spending time in wild and natural places. Now we can get clued up with the Cube’s diverse programme of filmic facts and fantasies while we unwind in this regenerative setting.

Find us at...

Grow Wilder
181 Frenchay Park Road
Bristol
BS16 1HB

The films range from poetic documentaries to classic comedies so we’re sure to have something for everyone. Tours of the site will also be available from 18:00.

There will be snacks, teas, coffees and beer. And cake.

FILMS

Acts of Quiet Resistance (1hr 10mins) + Q&A with director Ian Nesbitt after the film

Thursday 22nd October - 19:00

Michael lives and travels in a horsedrawn wagon. Following a whim to swim his horse in the Mediterranean, then turning back six months later to buy a pair of boots at a horse fair in the Cotswolds, as Michael himself says, he spends his entire life travelling, without ever leaving home.

Filmmaker Ian Nesbitt spends a calendar year visiting him periodically on his version of pilgrimage. The result is a sparing road movie tracing Michael's transient and timeless existence on the peripheries of modern life.

Acts Of Quiet Resistance is a documentary steeped in the slow cinema tradition. Five years in the making, it continues a thread in Ian's work of collaboratively made films, blurring the line between subject and filmmaker.

 

Cool Runnings (1hr 38mins)

Friday 23rd October - 19:00

Four Jamaicans form their country's first ever bobsled team to compete in the upcoming 1988 Winter Olympics. They enlist the help of a disgraced former Olympic gold winner to reluctantly coach them. However, when they reach Canada they're treated as outsiders by the other teams, who fear they'll only succeed in embarrassing the sport.

Where else in cinema could you find such unwavering resilience against fatalism in the face of unprecedented climate change?

"Make no mistake, Cool Runnings is not the true story of the Jamaican Bobsled team. It is inspired by it, but this is not a documentary. Still, despite that, it does capture the spirit of the team and the derision they faced. In a fun and entertaining way, the filmmakers displayed the true lesson of the team: if you have a dream, go after it, no matter what anyone else says."
  - grendelkhan on IMDb

 

Embrace of the Serpent (1hr 59mins) + Music from Malgrado Urbano (from 18:30)

Saturday 24th October - 19:30

Karamakate, a warrior shaman and last of his tribe, transcends the worlds of men and seeks truth through their dreams. He alone knows how to find the mysterious and psychedelic Yakruna plant; for some it has life-saving properties, for others it is a commodity waiting to be exploited. Two scientists, in two different times with very different agendas enlist Karamakate on their individual quests in an epic adventure into the heart of the Colombian Amazon to find this mythical plant.

This Oscar nominated film is seen through Karamakate’s eyes and bears witness to the effects of colonialism, religion and the exploitation of rubber, that affect indigenous traditions and the environment to which they are inextricably linked.

Malgrado Urbano fuses soulful acoustic melodies with dissonant, explorative beats.

Luca Macchi began to make music as the easiest way to express his internal world. His adventure started in Milan in 2003 by accessing the Singing Jazz course at the prestigious “Scuola Civica di Jazz di
Milano” (Italy). He had numerous gigs as a songwriter and as a tenor in the choir of the “Scuola Civica di Jazz” and he dedicated himself to teach singing and obtained the MLT diploma to be able to teach children (0-5 years old).

He has spent 5 years in Bristol having a great time with the music project “Hallelugenia”. Now he travels the world, whenever Covid allows.

 

Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness (1hr 15mins) + Q&A on the principles and practices of Natural Agriculture after the film

Sunday 25th October - 19:00

Solutions for our most pressing social and ecological issues come from unexpected places on a meditative and artfully-executed journey through Japan, Korea, and the United States. Armed with a camera and determination, the film's directors turn our perceptions of food and life upside down in an amazingly simple and poetic way.

 

We're very pleased to be joined by some experienced growers and researchers on Sunday evening for the screening of Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness for a panel discussion on the principles and practices of Natural Agriculture (as presented in the film).

Our chair Dr. Jasmine Black is a Research Assistant at the Countryside and Community Research Institute and works with Farmers, Growers, Researchers and Policy Makers to create more sustainable ways of producing food and enhancing above and below ground biodiversity. Circumstances allowing, she will be going to Japan in the New Year for a two year UN fellowship supporting alternative food networks.

Shinya Imahashi has been practising Shumei Natural Agriculture farming since 2002, and has managed Yatesbury Natural Agriculture Farm since 2010. His farming routines include continuous cropping, saving seeds for next year's planting, encouragement of wildlife including birds and butterflies, minimum human intervention and absolutely no chemicals or animal products (including manure). He now advises farmers across Europe on the philosophy of Mokichi Okada, an early pioneer of the principles and practices of Natural Agriculture.

Chris, the Hedgeroe Apothecary, is creating a drop in herbal clinic using herbal medicines from plants propagated, cultivated and manufactured at Grow Wilder. The project aims to become a hub for research and education into the cultivation and use of medicinal plants. Ask him about his upcoming workshop if you'd like to learn more on this!

---

Doors open at 18:00 each night.