Corning Community College’s Man and Nature Film Series to Feature March of the Penguins

As part of Corning Community College’s Green Year celebration, the Man and Nature Film Series explores mankind’s complicated relationship with the natural world from broad perspectives of personal quests and struggles, our relationship with other creatures on the planet, our “rights” to natural resources, and political/social struggles. March of the Penguins will be held on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at Palace Theatre, 17 West Market Street, Corning. Dinner will be available from 6 – 6:45 p.m. with a 15-minute welcome from Mike Powers, Cornell University Lab of Ornithology. The movie will begin at 7 p.m. Film Series events require a $10 ticket admission fee.

March of the Penguins chronicles a remarkable journey that takes place each winter in the ice deserts of Antarctica, deep in the most inhospitable terrain on Earth. Thousands of Emperor Penguins abandon the security of their ocean home, clamber onto the frozen ice, and begin their long journey into a region so bleak and extreme it supports no other wildlife at this time of year. The Emperors head unerringly for their traditional breeding ground where, after a ritual courtship of intricate dances and delicate maneuvering, they will pair off to mate. For the next nine months the parents will endure the darkness of the Antarctic winter, below-freezing temperatures, hurricane-force winds, menacing predators, and months of fasting, all to ensure the survival of their single offspring. As the weather grows warmer and the sea-ice finally begins to crack and melt, the adults will repeat their arduous journey countless times, marching many hundreds of miles over some of the most treacherous territory on Earth, until the chicks are ready to take their first faltering dive into the deep blue waters of the Antarctic.

Additional events will be held on:
November 18, 2008 – Chinatown
February 17, 2009 – A Civil Action
March 24, 2009 – Gorillas in the Mist
April 21, 2009 – Ferngully

A complete listing of dates and movies can be found at http://www.corning-cc.edu/alumni/alumni/upcomingevents.php.

The series is part of the College’s “A Green Year = A Sustainable Tomorrow” initiative and is supported by the Ti-Ger Foundation, Palace Theatre, CCC’s Activities Programming Committee, and the CCC Alumni Association.

Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 607-962-9002.