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The Pine Barrens: Screening and Director Q&A

  • The Newtown Theatre 120 North State Street Newtown, PA 18940 (map)

Join the Newtown Theatre and Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve for a one-night-only screening of “The Pine Barrens” documentary on June 21 at 7:30 PM.

Following the screening, director David Scott Kessler will participate in a live Q&A session with the audience. He will be joined by Allen Crawford, a Pine Barrens naturalist who appears in the film.  

Tickets are $15 for general admission and $12 for Newtown Theatre and Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve members. Any remaining tickets will be sold for $20 at the door on the day of the event (if available).

About the Film

Filmed over an eight-year period, this award-winning documentary explores the symbiotic yet sometimes destructive relationship between man and nature while weaving the naturally surreal and supernatural wonder of the Pine Barrens with depictions of daily life. Through moments with various individuals, the film reveals the influence of place on identity during a period of gradual loss of both a way of life and the environment that gave birth to it.

Just a short drive from New York and Philadelphia, the Pine Barrens encompasses 1.1 million acres of forested national reserve within the most densely populated state in the nation. The region is home to plants and animals found nowhere else and to stories of pirates, runaway enslaved people, fearsome Pineys, and the Jersey Devil. It has also been a place where people sought refuge and a simpler life.

Once deemed inhospitable and worthless, the Pine Barrens were nearly wiped off the map by developers in the 1960s. A work of creative nonfiction by John McPhee helped to change perception of the land and people, inspiring the Pinelands Protection Act and the nation’s first National Preserve.

Director David Scott Kessler is a visual artist living in Philadelphia. His work, often set in small villages around the globe, explores an elusive sense of place and our contemporary relationship to landscape. In 2015 he was awarded the prestigious Pew Center for Arts and Heritage Fellowship and was named a Flaherty Film Seminar Fellow with a Philadelphia Grant.

DETAILS

  • Doors open at 6:30 PM and the event starts at 7:30 PM.

  • Beer and wine will be available for purchase before the movie.

  • All tickets are general admission.

  • All ticket sales are final. Refunds will not be offered for any reason. If you can't attend, you're welcome to give your tickets to someone else. The name on the ticket does not have to match the person using it.

  • Need help finding your tickets? First, check your junk or spam folder in your inbox. If you don't see your tickets there, try to retrieve them here. If you have tried both of these things and you still don't see your tickets, please contact us for help.

  • Please bring your tickets! Electronic or hard copy is fine. We recommend printing them out (or saving them to your phone) as soon as soon as you buy them.

  • Members, please be prepared to present your membership card at the door. 

Earlier Event: June 17
Steel Magnolias
Later Event: July 6
Free Kids' Movie: Madagascar