Filmmaker to screen documentary 'Stories of Wolves' on Sunday

Filmmaker Elke Duerr will screen her feature-length documentary, “Stories of Wolves: The Lobo Returns” at 6 p.m. Sunday in the Light Hall Theater on the WNMU campus. A question-and-answer session with Duerr will follow the screening and she will tell stories from her field work with the wolves. Suggested donation at the door is $10. The event is open to the public. Duerr visited Aldo Leopold Charter School Wednesday morning and screened a shorter version of the film for students. “The 12-minute version is more conducive for the school setting,” Duerr said. “The students were very interested in the story of the wolves and their struggles.” Duerr said her film is a balanced presentation of the struggle of the wolf, and covers the perspectives of both the rancher and the conservationist. Duerr, who resides in Whitefish, Montana, is also a writer and photographer, and used to be a speech language pathologist in Albuquerque. “For thousands of years we have heard how bad wolves are,” Duerr said. “I am telling the story of co-existence, the story of how people have learned to survive with wolves. I believe the eco-system works when it is complete, with wolves and cattle, ranchers and conservationists.” She calls this holistic approach to ecology “the web of life.” Duerr says her interest in wolves began when she was a child in Germany. “I grew up on organic farm, and my grandfather once showed me piece of land he called ‘the wolf trap,’ and he said that was where the farmers had killed last of the wolves. He said it like he was proud of it, but I wasn’t,” Duerr said...more