The Idaho Chapter Sierra Club will host the fifth annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival to spread awareness and gain support for global and local environmental issues at 7 p.m. Jan. 19 in the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre in Moscow, Idaho.

Doors open at 6 p.m., and attendees will have the opportunity to bid on items for a silent auction and enter for drawing prizes. The drawings include baskets of items and the auction has items such as snow shoes and a bicycle. 

The films start showing at 7 p.m. The film festival will feature eight to 10 films that will be 10 minutes or less. The films highlight activists and their accomplishments in terms of environmental work and protecting species.

“It’s a really uplifting look to see what these people have managed to do out there,” said Al Poplowsky, Palouse group of the Sierra Club vice chair. 

He said that the purpose of the films was to motivate people to take action for environmental problems.

Julian Matthews, Idaho Chapter event leader, said the club’s goal was “trying to get in tune with other cultures.” 

The Sierra Club is a group of environmentally conscious people who gain support and set up events to spread awareness of individuals’ responsibility to the environment. The group also either shows support or protests attempts by the government when it comes to conservation, and policies that make changes to nature.

The proceeds of the event will be split between the Palouse group and the Idaho chapter as a whole, Poplowsky said. Some of it will go to nature outings that the club takes people on. Matthews said he hoped the proceeds of the festival would go toward recruiting more youth to join the Palouse club.

The group has about 250–300 members that mostly consist of older people, but lately has seen a rise in involvement of college and high school students, Poplowsky said. The festival is expected to have a high turnout from the community, and after events like this, there is a rise of involvement in the club.