MADISON – Judging from popular movies like "March of the Penguins" and "Happy Feet," penguins are caring partners, loving parents, and comic clowns - not to mention reigning kings of the box office in the animal world.
But New Zealand filmmaker and penguin biologist Lloyd Spencer Davis says the birds' personas on the big screen bear little resemblance to the real thing: Penguins are tough, not cute, and they are hardly paragons of virtue.
Nevertheless, they have special appeal, as Davis will explain in a film retrospective, "From Frozen Toes to Happy Feet: The Truth About Penguins," during a full day of movie screenings geared for families with young children on Sunday, Nov. 4, at the Orpheum Theatre, 216 State Street.
Davis' presentation, which begins at 11 a.m., is part of a three-day environmental film festival, Tales from Planet Earth, to be hosted by the Nelson Institute's new Center for Culture, History, and Environment.
Admission to all festival events is free, on a first-come- first-served basis. Donations are encouraged and will be accepted at the door.
The family-oriented program on Nov. 4 will present the Disney classic "Bambi" (1942); "Beaver Valley" (1950), an episode in Disney’s "True-Life Adventures" series; "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds" (1984), an animated Japanese feature about a princess growing up in the aftermath of a war that has devastated much of Earth's environment and technology; "High Over the Borders" (1942), which uses stunning aerial photography to document the international migration of thousands of wild birds of various species; and "The Three Caballeros" (1944), a tale of Donald Duck and two friends - the Brazilian parrot Joe Carioca and Panchito the Mexican rooster - who take him on a spectacular and outrageous tour of Latin America.
In all, Tales from Planet Earth will showcase more than 20 films from around the world and take place Nov. 2-4 in three downtown Madison venues: the Orpheum; the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State St.; and UW Cinematheque, 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave. Special guests will introduce each film, and many screenings will conclude with audience discussions.
More than a dozen co-sponsors at UW-Madison are supporting the festival, as are the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission, with additional funds from the Overture Foundation and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation; the Madison Arts Commission, with additional funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board; the Bradshaw-Knight Foundation; the Evjue Foundation; Arketype; Cascade Asset Management; Isthmus; and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.
For a complete list of films to be shown, all scheduled screenings, and other information, visit the Tales from Planet Earth Web site at www.nelson.wisc.edu/tales.