The Spring Farm CARES animal sanctuary and animal communication center, located just outside Clinton, is the focus of Animal Attraction, the critically acclaimed video documentary created by Kathy High. Animal Attraction will be presented on Sunday, Nov. 13, at 2 p.m., in the college's Kirner Johnson auditorium. The screening is part of the Hamilton College film and lecture series, F.I.L.M (Forum for Images and Languages in Motion). The series continues through December. All events are free and open to the public.
In Animal Attraction, the documentary's creator becomes frustrated by the obnoxious behavior of her cat, Ernie, and seeks the guidance of Spring Farm's Dawn Hayman. The resulting exploration of interspecies telepathic communication reveals insights about the complex relationship between people and animals.
Kathy High is a video artist and chair of the art department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Prior to joining RPI's faculty in 2002, she taught video production at several universities, including Princeton and Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Her work has been shown in festivals, galleries and museums, including the Berlin Film Festival, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum and on PBS. High also is founder and editor of FELIX: A Journal of Media Arts and Communication, for alternative film and video makers.
Spring Farm CARES, the world's first public center for animal communication, is located on Route 12 in Clinton, N.Y. Dawn Hayman, vice president and co-founder of Spring Farm, is recognized as one of the foremost animal communicators in the world. The "farm" is an animal sanctuary for nearly 300 animals. They, along with the directors, are considered teachers of interspecies communication. Spring Farm is now in its 14th year as a not-for-profit corporation.
"When you walk out of one of our events, you should know something--specifically something about media history--that you were not aware of when you walked in," says F.I.L.M. organizer and Hamilton Visiting Professor of Art History Scott MacDonald. "My hope is that our programs will bridge this gap, offering regular, entertaining education in film history and current practice to the campus and to central New York." MacDonald programmed film series for 20 years in the '80s and '90s in Utica. He taught at Utica College for many years and has been a visiting professor of film at Bard College and the University of Arizona. MacDonald has edited and written many books and essays related to film.
