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GBGW 2024 – Wilding
Wilding: Special preview screening + panel discussion+ Q&A
Regal Picturehouse – 8-10pm
Wednesday 12th June
We are very excited to present a special preview screening of Wilding for Great Big Green Week, with a live panel discussion plus Q&A at the Regal Cinema on Wednesday 12 June @ 8pm
Based on Isabella Tree’s best-selling book by the same title, Wilding tells the story of a young couple, Isabella and Charlie Tree, who in the 1980s inherit Knepp, a failing, four-hundred-year-old farmed estate. By the end of the 1990s, facts must be faced: the farm isn’t working, and they are £1.5m in debt. The land is dying, the soil reduced to sterile dirt, with plummeting biodiversity levels. Battling entrenched tradition, the couple dares to place the fate of their farm in the hands of nature, with an ambitious rewilding project inspired by the thinking of European ecologists like Frans Vera.
Ripping down the fences, and hoping to renew the growth of mycorrhizal fungi deep in the soil, they set the land back to the wild and entrust its recovery to a motley mix of animals both tame and wild. It is the beginning of a grand experiment that will become one of the most significant rewilding experiments in Europe.
Over time, the soil replenishes itself – with a little help from some charming pigs – and the miraculous return of rare species like the purple emperor butterfly, white stork and turtle doves, who make their homes at Knepp.
It is a transformation far in excess of anything anyone could have dreamed of, captured in intimate detail by five time Emmy Award-winning documentarian David Allen and multi- BAFTA & Emmy Award winning cinematographers Tim Cragg and Simon de Glanville.
Watch the trailer here
There will be a live panel discussion after the film with time for Q&A.
- Natasha (Tash) Somers, co-founder of Pocket Wilding, a new charity that helps more urban communities appropriately regenerate pockets of land – no matter how small or big. Professionally Tash works with people on their land, encouraging them to find a place of peace and connection with it and to help move them into a role of custodian by improving the land’s health and biodiversity.
- Sally Rankin, leader of Greener Henley’s Wildlife Group, has dedicated over 30 years to protecting and restoring nature in and around Henley. The group focuses on creating a mosaic of habitats for wildlife at various locations, including Mill and Marsh Meadows, Valley Road Chalk Bank, Gillotts Field, and the Greys Road Embankment.
- Stephen Doble, fourth generation farmer at Shiplake Farm and is passionate about farming in a way that balances food production with caring for the environment. Over 25 acres of the farm is dedicated to encouraging biodiversity, particularly farmland birds and pollinating insects.
- Hilary Glew, volunteer with the Upper Thames branch of Butterfly Conservation and member of the of the local Wildlife Trust BBOWT and the RSPB. Hilary leads guided walks around local nature reserves and woods to spot butterflies and birds. Hilarys aim is to see all 62 Butterfly species in the UK and has a few still to see.
Standard ticket prices apply.
There will be an introduction to the film at 8.00pm, with the film itself running 8.10pm – 9.25pm, followed by a 45min Q&A.
This event promises to be an inspiring screening and conversation on finding a deeper respect for nature and ecosystems and the approaches we can take to change traditional farming practices and reduce pesticide use, rethinking our interactions with the world around us. Come join the discussion!