Dear list,
You may be aware of the discovery of a variety of peacock spiders in the ACT in recent years? These colourful creatures mainly inhabit the lovely leaf litter we crunch through on our birding adventures. Both Michaela Purcell and Stuart Harris have been
credited with new species discovery since 2011. The story around Stuart Harris' discovery (of
Maratus harrisi) has been well publicised and Stuart has given a couple of talks to COG on this quest. A talented young Canberra film maker, Simon Cunich, read this story at ABC online and approached Stuart about making a short film on the subject.
The film is now complete and will be shown at the 'Stronger than Fiction' documentary film festival at midday, Sunday, 2AUG15, at the Palace cinema in New Acton.
Screening with 'Maratus' (30 mins) is another enviro film called 'Sticky' (20 mins) about the Lord Howe Is stick insect and its rescue from near extinction. The common link between these two short films is the composer & cellist Kristin Rule. A Q&A (sorry
Tony) will follow with the film maker, composer and Stuart.
Apologies as birds have not been mentioned to this point though they are integral in 'Maratus'. Most scenes were recreated and filmed at the exact locations where the discovery unfolded, though some were not. To add authenticity, the film maker asked Stuart
for a few birds that would normally be encountered in the Namadgi wilderness. Five bird calls were carefully inserted into the soundtrack!
The 2AUG showing of 'Maratus' is its world premiere as it is hoped that it will make a journey through the documentary and short film circuits both here and overseas. It is hoped the Canberra screening will be a sell out (capacity 190). Tix can be purchased
online at the Palace cinema website:
or at the cinema in person.
Permission was sought by and granted from this COG chat lists moderator to promote this locally made environmental film. 'Maratus' also aims to show the important relationships that can be fostered between science and citizen scientists.
Hope to see a few of you there !?
Regards
Stuart Harris
