Advertisement for Cave Film Premiere. - courtesy graphic

Cavebiota.com Logo. - courtesy graphic

Biologist Tom Simon speaks with children visiting the Service' booth during the cave film premiere. - FWS photo by Andrew King.

Many children enjoyed coloring bats at the Service's booth during the Cave Film Premiere in Bloomington, Indiana, on March 23. - FWS photo by Andrew King

Amanda King colors a bat face mask during the Cave Film Premiere. - FWS photo by Andy King

Biologist Andy King speaks to a visitor at the Service's educational booth during the Cave Film Premiere. - FWS photo courtesy of Mary Beth King.

History was made the evening of March 23, at the historic Buskirk-Chumley Theater in downtown Bloomington, Indiana. 

For the first time, the Hoosier National Forest (HNF) hosted a Hollywood-style premiere for the showing of the documentary film, Caves: Life Beneath the Forest, which it co-produced in collaboration with the Indiana Karst Conservancy and the National Speleological Society.

The 30-minute movie was filmed and produced by Chicago-based filmmaker, Dave McGowan (ravenswoodmedia.com) and featured amazing footage of the Federally endangered Indiana bat, salamanders, blind cave fish, cave crayfish, pseudoscorpions, millipedes and other unique species that inhabit some of southern Indiana’s numerous caves. 

The film also featured interviews with some of the world’s most acclaimed cave biologists.  Biologists in the Service’s Bloomington Field Office played a supporting role as biological consultants for the film project and by helping Mr. McGowan gain access to caves and arrange meetings with others working with cave-dependent species in Indiana. 

The premiere was a free, family-friendly event and provided an opportunity for adults and children to learn about the fragile and intriguing web of life that exists in caves.  The evening began with dozens of educational displays and hands-on children’s activities followed by a brief awards ceremony, viewing of the movie, meeting the film producer, and an interactive question-and-answer session with the scientists, who appeared in the film. 

Biologists, Andy King and Tom Simon, represented the Service at the film premiere by interacting with the public at their display booth and distributing posters, educational materials, and small prizes for all the kids, who took time to color a bat coloring page or successfully folded a challenging origami bat! 

To their surprise, King and Simon were called on stage during the premiere and each received a “Forest Supervisor’s Honor Award” by HNF Forest Supervisor, Kenneth Day, for their “role in the education and outreach for the Cave Biota Project, and developing ownership with partners and collaborators to facilitate cave conservation education.”  The highly successful event concluded with a reception.  Over 350 people attended the film premiere. 

The Caves: Life Beneath the Forests documentary film may eventually be in the running for an Academy Award, but in the mean time, the HNF plans to include it on a DVD as part of a new educational outreach kit for science teachers. 

It is the hope that the film/DVD will help educate and generate a stronger sense of stewardship for the cave systems in southern Indiana and the interesting species that depend on them for their survival.  To view clips from the film, visit the cave biota “webumentary” at www.cavebiota.com.