The movies will be shown at events in Ashland and Grants Pass, and viewers can stream them at home
By Haleigh Martin
How do we face the challenges of the world right now? The more time we spend saturating ourselves in the heavy news of the day, the more hopeless we may feel, and it can be tough to find the balance between overindulgence and complete ignorance. It is in these overwhelming times that it’s critical to give some attention to the good around us and the power we, the people, hold.
For this year’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival, KS Wild and Rogue Riverkeeper’s volunteers created a lineup of films that celebrate resilience, determination and problem solving among humans and wildlife to create a better world for ourselves.
We want this year’s festival to be a space to reconnect with what truly matters — community and the ability to create change through action — to bring light to your life in these darker times.
Engaging the inner activist
For the last 23 years, the Wild & Scenic Film Festival has acted as a cornerstone for members of the conservation and outdoor community to commune over their shared love of the wild. The festival is designed to inspire and engage your inner activist, to remind you that you hold power to create change and be a critical part of creating the world you wish to see.
This year, with political turmoil and rapidly changing news, many of us are feeling the need to connect with like-minded friends and neighbors to remind us that there is good in the world. This year’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival aims to be just that — a place where you can come as you are and be inspired to share your voice for the voiceless. The animals, plants and wild spaces need you.
The films for this year’s festival touch on themes such as navigating obstacles, building hope, learning from Indigenous relationships to nature, fire as a natural part of our ecosystem, finding examples of resilience in wildlife, and much more. See a full lineup of the films at siskiyoufilmfest.org/2025-films.
How to view the films
There are three ways to join the 2025 Wild & Scenic Film Festival:
- At the Historic Ashland Armory, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, April 12.
- At the Grants Pass Performing Arts Center, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, April 19.
- Watch online from the comfort of your own home from April 12 to 17.
Food and beverages
This year’s films will all be shown with closed captioning, and everyone who purchases a ticket will receive online access to the films between April 12 and 17. We will serve pizza and local beverages at the Ashland and Grants Pass showings. You can purchase your tickets for the in person or online showings at siskiyoufilmfest.org/tickets.
We hope you decide to join us for this community event. We are looking forward to sharing stories of hope, resilience, and empowerment with you.
We’d like to thank our community sponsors for their support of this event. Without their financial support, we would not be able to offer this essential community hub:
Paula Fong Illustrations, Herb Pharm, Southern Oregon PBS, Rogue Law Firm, Shop’n Kart, Four Way Community Foundation, Ann Golden Coaching and Consulting, AllCare Health, Siskiyou Salmon, Dan the Backhoe Man Excavation and Southern Oregon Mediation Center.
Please visit our website to see the list of our sponsors, and learn how you can support the businesses who support us.
KS Wild Side appears every month and features a staff member from KS Wild, a regional conservation organization based in Ashland. Haleigh Martin works as the communications manager for KS Wild. For more information go to kswild.org.
