Akin Free Library Hosts Amateur Naturalist Film Series
Local Talent Screens Science Films to Pique the Curious Minds of Pawling.
The Akin Free Library kicks off the spring events season on March 4 with “The Amateur Naturalist Film Series,” featuring films by Erin Chapman and Tom McNamara. Erin Chapman is a Senior New Media Specialist at The American Museum of Natural History and producer of Shelf Life, a behind-the-scenes look at the museum’s collections. Tom McNamara is a senior multimedia producer for Popular Science.
The film series is curated by Nicole Antebi, a New York-based filmmaker living in Pawling who works in non-fiction animation, motion graphics, and installation. She has taught film and media courses throughout the United States at institutions such as CUNY Staten Island, Parsons, and Cal State Monterey Bay. Antebi was inspired to launch the film series after first encountering The Gunnison Museum of Natural History located on the lower level of the Akin Free Library. In 1960, Olive Gunnison donated her collection of natural artifacts gathered from around the world for public display at the Akin Free Library. Visitors can visit the gallery and find an array of fossils, rocks, eggshells, and other objects that certain to pique one’s curiosity about natural wonders. The collection is a celebration of one curious citizen’s contribution to science.
The showing will be held Sunday, March 4, starting at 5:00 p.m.
The Shelf Life episodes to be presented by Erin Chapman include:
Nabokov’s Butterflies
Into the Island of Bats
Kinsey’s Wasps
The short films to be presented by Tom McNamara include:
Diary of a Snake Bite Death
Sputnik-2 or: Laika, Our Hero
An upcoming Pop Science episode on hibernation
Admission is free; but donations are encouraged.
Location: The Akin Free Library, 378 Old Quaker Hill Road, Pawling.
To learn more about this event or to register, please contact Matthew Hogan at director@akinfreelibrary.org or call (845) 855-5099.