The Friends of NCTC, the American Conservation Film Festival, and the Potomac Valley Audubon Society will hold a special screening of the award-winning film Backyard Wilderness, followed by a Skype discussion with the filmmakers.

The event is part of the National Conservation Training Center’s Lecture Series and will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, April 8, at the NCTC in Shepherdstown.

Backyard Wilderness will surprise and entertain viewers with the unexpected wonders of nature that are right under our noses – in our own backyards. Spanning a seasonal year around a suburban home, the film displays a stunning array of unique wildlife images and behavior – all captured by cameras mounted inside dens and nests, and moving along the forest floor and pond bottom, to reveal its inhabitants in rare and breathtaking intimacy.

We follow Katie, a young girl, and her modern family living next to the woods who are blind to the real-life spectacle around them, absorbed by an array of electronic devices in their busy lives. Katie gradually discovers the intricate secrets that nature has hidden so close to her front door and we experience the joy she finds in her interactions with this new world. The film reminds us that Wi-Fi is not the only connection that matters and that sometimes in ordinary places, you can uncover extraordinary things that can transform you forever – you just need to step outside.

The film runtime is 43 minutes and will be followed by a Q&A Skype interview with filmmakers Andrew Young and Susan Todd. Andrew and Susan are the Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winning co-founders of Archipelago Films, creating groundbreaking media about the most urgent social and environmental challenges of our time.

View the film trailer at conservationfilmfest.org/backyard-wilderness.

The National Conservation Training Center is located at 698 Conservation Way in Shepherdstown. No reservations or tickets are required.