MONKEY TRIAL

JULY 7, 7PM

Film Showing

Monkey Trial follows one of the most famous legal battles of the 20th century - the trial of John Scopes for violating a Tennessee law forbidding the teaching of evolution in public schools. It is a film that pits scientific discovery against religious fervor. It's about a moment in history when two men faced each other across a courtroom, each trembling with rage, each attacking the faith of the other. The clash symbolized a new fault line in American culture - a time when scientific advances began to challenge the bedrock of truth that the Bible represented to so many people. Directed and produced by Christine Lesiak and Co-Producer and Director, Anne Mumgaard for American Experience, PBS, 2002, 90 mins.

SWIM FOR THE RIVER

July 21, 7PM

FILM SHOWING

Christopher Swain braved whitewater, sewage, snapping turtles, hydroelectric dams, homeland security patrols, factory outfalls, and PCB contamination to become the first person to swim the entire length of the Hudson River from the Adirondack Mountains to New York City. Swain's remarkable feat links together stories of the river and the people who are fighting to protect it. Directed by Tom Weidlinger, 2006, 56 mins

AMERICA’S VICTORIA

July 28, 7PM

FILM SHOWING

This film is a chronicle of the life of one of the most important and unrecognized women in US history, the first woman to run for President in the U.S. Woodhull was born in 1838 and lived long enough to see the passage of the 19th amendment. Although she was a radical suffragist, she refused to restrict her Presidential campaign to the issue of women’s suffrage. Instead, she advocated a single sexual standard for men and women, legalization of prostitution, and reform of marriage. Directed by Victoria Lynn Weston, written by Victoria Lynn Weston and Michael Williams, 1998, 57 mins.

Emma Goldman

August 11, 7PM

Film Showing

This documentary traces the life of Russian emigrant Emma Goldman, who for nearly half a century, was the most controversial woman in America. To the tabloids, she was "Red Emma, queen of the anarchists," but many admired Goldman for her defense of labor rights, women's emancipation, birth control, and free speech. Written, Produced, and Directed by Mel Bucklin, 2004, 60 mins

Adirondack Fire Towers: Their History and Lore

August 18, 7PM

Marty Podschotch

New York State lost tens of thousands of acres of woodland to devastating forest fires in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In response, the state placed fire observers on prominent peaks. The first stations were crudely-built log platforms, but these were eventually replaced by high steel towers. Podscotch highlights the history and stories of the towers, as well as the observers who supervised them.

The Big Burn

August 25, 7PM

Film Showing

In the summer of 1910, the largest wildfire in American history devoured more than three million acres across the Northern Rockies and took the lives of 78 firefighters. The fledgling U.S. Forest Service was confronted with a catastrophe that would define the agency and the nation’s fire policy for the rest of the 20th century and beyond. Directed by Stephen Ives and narrated by Oliver Platt, 2014, 54 mins.

Forest Fires of the Adirondacks

September 1, 7PM

Sharp Swan

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fires raged out of control in many of New York State’s vast wooded areas. Two "great fires" in 1903 and 1908 charred almost 1 million acres of Adirondack forest, and because of public outcry for protection from the devastation, measures were established to prevent and detect fires, eliminating the scale of destruction that occurred in the Adirondacks a hundred years ago.