What's with All the Q's?

IOS member Bruce Bacon attended the 1994 Conference & the 2016 Oak Film showing (click on images to enlarge)

"What's with all the Q's?" is the opening question in Dan Keiser's documentary film, Quercophiles Abroad, which was shown again last August at the Trylon Micro Cinema in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The non-profit theater is run by volunteers & is supported in part by art grants. It has a 20-foot screen, air-conditioning (August was hot & muggy), 50 comfy rocker seats, & popcorn & soda pop in the lobby. Rsvp's were taken weeks before the show, & the house was filled to capacity w/ friends who hadn't seen the film yet. Who'd of thought there'd be such an interest in seeing a film about oaks? In 67 minutes, the audience was shown an entertaining & educational documentary covering 20 years of Dan's travels w/ the IOS, presented as a series of short film clips edited from 22 hours of collected video tapes, & enhanced with species names & botanical terms. The audience was attentive & laughed out loud at the funny bits & applauded after the credits. Hugs, high-fives, & congratulations followed, & comments like "that was amazing," "fascinating stuff," & "I never knew" were heard. What a rush! Thanks, acorns & oak leaves!

The next showing was on March 3, 2017, at a Senior Living apartment complex in St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis, at the invitation of a 99-year old resident there. We had a good crowd of 35 elderly people, most of them evidently interested & appreciative of films about nature and of other folks who cherish many of the

Volunteer staff at the Trylon theater in Minneapolis, MN

same things. Some got to page through & look at the photos in the giant 2-volume book on display, Guide Illustre des Chênes, while some shared stories of oak trees that they planted decades ago & were now of impressive sizes.

If any other IOS members are interested in gathering an audience of their own & showing Quercophiles Abroad, shoot Dan the Oakman your postal address, and he'll send you a DVD copy of it (look up his email in the Membership Directory or post a comment below). You can then either return it when you're done, or keep it & make a donation to the IOS, which funded a large part of the production. Go Quercus!    

Fauna of Mexico: the hummingbird moth hornworm caterpillar	The Oak Man presents his film to an attentive audience of Seniors