Elemental

Please join Rebuild North Bay Foundation on September 21st at 7 pm for a private screening of the critically acclaimed documentary ELEMENTAL followed by Q&A with filmmaker Ralph Bloemers, indigenous fire practitioner Margo Robbins and wildlife biologist Maya Khosla. Proceeds to benefit After the Fire USA’s work to assist fire impacted communities. Narrated by David Oyelowo, ELEMENTAL takes viewers on a journey with the top experts in the nation to better understand fire. We follow the harrowing escape from Paradise as the town ignited from wind-driven embers and burned within a few hours of the fire’s start. We visit fire labs where researchers torch entire houses to learn why some homes burn and others survive. We learn from Native Americans as they employ fire to benefit nature and increase community safety as they have for thousands of years. We follow researchers who work to understand the effects of climate on forests and the crucial role that natural forests play in storing vast amounts of carbon. Along the way we listen to people who have survived the deadliest fires to underscore the importance of this quest.

RALPH BLOEMERS, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

For nearly two decades, Ralph has advised community-based conservation groups, recreation clubs and citizens throughout the Pacific Northwest on the conservation of our forests, including burned landscapes. Over the past two years he has investigated the causes of fires, documented wildlife in burned landscapes, volunteered his time to rebuild trails in fire burned areas and spent time in these forests with firefighters, expert scientists and ecologists. Ralph has helped the public, decision makers and students confront the dominant cultural beliefs about fire, and understand the paradoxes that mark our relationship with it.

MARGO ROBBINS, YUROK CULTURAL FIRE EXPERT

Margo merges thousands of years of indigenous knowledge with the current need to restore fire back to the land. As a Yurok tribal member and the Director of the Cultural Fire Management Council and advisor to the Indigenous People’s Burn Network, she brings ancient wisdom to bear as a modern actor in a complex world. 
Margo returns fire to the land,  gathers and prepares traditional food and medicine, and is a basket weaver and regalia maker. She has a love for fire and the many benefits it has for maintaining healthy forests and ensuring the safety of nearby communities.

MAYA KHOSLA, WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST, POET LAUREATE SONOMA COUNTY

Maya Khosla is a biologist, writer and filmmaker. She directed Searching for the Gold Spot: The Wild After Wildfire with grant-awards from Patagonia, Fund for Wild Nature, Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, and other organizations. Teaming with Dusty Foot Productions, Maya embarked on The Turtle Diaries Project, based in coastal India, with support from Save Our Seas Foundation. She has written for award-winning films including Village of Dust, City of Water (2007 Lion Award; Wildlife Asia Film Festival; 2006 Panda/Green Oscar Award nomination, Wildscreen Film Festival) and for the Shifting Undercurrents (2014 Vatavaran Film Festival Livelihoods Award). She served as the 2018-2020 Poet Laureate of Sonoma County. Her books include All the Fires of Wind and Light (2020 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award), Keel Bone (Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize), and Web of Water: Life in Redwood Creek, a celebration of salmonid life cycles.