Princeton Environmental Film Festival Held at Princeton Public Library

According to a news release, the 2012 Princeton Environmental Film Festival opens Thursday, Jan. 26, at Princeton Public Library and runs through Sunday, Feb. 12. Now in its sixth year, the award-winning festival features a line-up of acclaimed films and speakers presented over three consecutive four-day weekends.

Under the direction of founder and coordinator Susan Conlon, the festival has grown over the years but remains true to its original focus on films with local as well as regional and international relevance.

Opening the festival at 7 p.m. on Jan. 26 will be “Connected: An Autoblogography of Love, Death and Technology” by Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain. Equal parts documentary and memoir, the film, an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival last year, unfolds during a year in which technology and science became a matter of life and death for the director who will be present for a Q&A following the film.

The festival will also feature the premiere screening of the film “Shellshocked: Saving Oysters to Save Ourselves” with director Emily Driscoll on Saturday Jan.  28.  Also on Jan. 28, a panel featuring local documentary filmmakers will talk about the business and craft of producing a documentary film. A screening of  “Revenge of the Electric Car” will take place that evening at 7.

Two documentaries that are short-listed for the Academy Awards are also included in the festival line-up: “Buck” on Feb. 3 and “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” on Feb. 10 with co-director Sam Cullman speaking after the film.

Director IanCheney will appear in person for two films on Feb. 11: “Truck Farm” and “The City Dark.”

The closing film for the festival is “The Whale” on Sunday Feb. 12.

For a complete list of festival films, go to www.princetonlibary.org/peff.