Private Project

Plants, Pollinators & Prayers

Inspired by the decline of monarch butterflies in the Midwestern prairie, a gardener, educator, and pastor transform a rural church’s backyard into a sanctuary for pollinating animals, an educational garden for the community, and a sacred space for spiritual contemplation.

  • Randy Caspersen
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    Nature, Social Justice, Community, Spiritual
  • Runtime:
    40 minutes
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Portland Ecofilm Festival
    Portland, Oregon
    September 24, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Social Justice Film Festival
    Seattle, Washington
    October 1, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Wildlife Conservation Film Festival

    October 9, 2020
    Official Selection
  • San Pedro International Film Festival
    San Pedro, California
    November 2020
    Official Selection
  • Colorado Environmental Film Festival

    February 4, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Cinema Verde International Environmental Film and Arts Festival

    Honorable Mention
  • North Dakota Environmental Rights Film Festival
    Fargo, ND
    April 11, 2021
    Official Selection
  • International Migration and Environmental Film Festival
    Toronto Canada
    October 9, 2021
    Canada Premiere
    Official Selection
  • InterFaith Film & Music Festival

    December 9, 2021
    Official Selection
  • 11th CMS VATAVARAN - Environment and Wildlife Film Festival and Forum

    Semi-Finalist
Director Biography - Randy Caspersen

Randy Caspersen is a filmmaker whose short films and videos, which often deal with themes of queerness and gender, have received international distribution and have played in over seventy-five film festivals on five different continents. His recently completed media projects include award-winning feature-length documentary, Go Penguins!, about a local theatre troupe that helps children and young adults with disabilities play the lead roles in a Broadway-style musical. In addition to recently completing documentary Plants, Pollinators & Prayers about the creation of a local butterfly habitat, he is working on an autobiographical film about his maternal grandmother and a narrative short charting a gay man’s evolution through the point-of-view of a beloved toy. 

Caspersen is an Associate Professor at Northern Illinois University in the Department of Communication where he teaches television & video production and narrative screenwriting. He has a BFA in Film & Video from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an MFA in Film & Video Production from Columbia College Chicago. Before his academic career, he worked in Los Angeles in television production for nine years.

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