Film Screening, Big Cypress Swamp: The Western Everglades

January 14 - Jan 14, 2010  -  from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

The von Liebig Art Center • 585 Park Street • Naples, FL 34102 • 239.262.6517

Big Cypress Swamp: Western Everglades is a 56-minute documentary that shares the history of the Western Everglades preservation and showcases Big Cypress as an ever evolving, complex ecosystem. The film showcases the stunning beauty of sawgrass and sunsets in the swamp, it highlights the wide variety of plants and wildlife, and includes stories of tireless efforts to preserve and manage the Big Cypress Swamp region. Viewers will be treated to rare and primeval sights and sounds of swamp expeditions through cypress strands by foot, air boat, swamp buggy and helicopter. In the background is the “music” of Big Cypress: an ever present orchestra of croaking frogs, wading birds, flowing water, and approaching thunderstorms.

Producer Elam Stoltzfus is a nationally acclaimed and award winning filmmaker. He is a master cinematographer whose projects capture the essence and glory of nature. In Big Cypress Swamp: Western Everglades Elam invited fine art photographer Clyde Butcher to host the project and capture Big Cypress Swamp through his large format camera lens. Butcher is a nationally renowned nature photographer who specializes in black and white images. The final touch in this stunning documentary is the narration by the golden voice of Peter Thomas who resides in Naples.

This film screening is open to the public for $50 per person, which includes a full-length version of the documentary on DVD. Clyde Butcher and Elam Stoltzfus will be available to autograph DVD’s and other related merchandise, available in the art center's gift shop, during the event. The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with a 30-minute wine and cheese reception. The film and lecture will begin at 6 p.m. and feature a 20-minute version of the film plus a presentation and Q&A session by Butcher and Stoltzfus. A share of the proceeds from the film screening, as well as a percentage of DVD and gift shop related sales, will benefit the South Florida National Parks Trust’s campaign to purchase permanent exhibits for the Big Cypress Swamp Welcome Center being built on U.S. 41 near State Road 29.

Tens of thousands of visitors are expected to visit the new Big Cypress Swamp Welcome Center each year to learn about the Big Cypress, its wetlands and wildlife. The Big Cypress National Preserve is building the $2.2 million center on U.S. 41 (Tamiami Trail) in Collier County. Construction began in late 2008 and is now nearly complete, but the project itself won’t be finished until the center’s exhibits are installed. The South Florida National Parks Trust-- 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that supports South Florida’s four national parks--is seeking to raise $250,000 in matching funds to purchase 19 permanent exhibits that will explain the Big Cypress, its history, hydrology and habitats to visitors. All gifts will be matched dollar for dollar by the Big Cypress National Preserve. This event is sponsored by Fifth Third Bank, City Mattress, Gulfshore Life and Comcast.