EcoFocus Film Festival will present a special preview of the new documentary film Blackfish on Thursday, September 12 at Ciné in downtown Athens, the first in a series of films presented this fall.

Blackfish offers a critical look at the consequences of keeping killer whales in captivity.

The event will start with a reception catered by The National at 6:30 p.m. followed by the film at 7:30 p.m. Dr. Lori Marino, a neuroscientist at Emory University, will lead an audience discussion after the screening. Marino, who is also the Executive Director of The Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy, an independent non-profit organization dedicated to using science and knowledge to promote animal advocacy causes, is featured in the film.

Tickets, which include entrance to the film and reception, are $9.75 for general admission and $7.50 for seniors. University of Georgia students with a valid UGACard are admitted free.

This special screening is presented by EcoFocus Film Festival, Ciné, and the UGA student organization Speak Out for Species. It is a UGA Blue Card Event and a First Year Odyssey Event.

Upcoming EcoFocus films this fall include Pandora’s Promise on October 17 and Trashed on November 12.

For more information, visit www.ecofocusfilmfest.org or the EcoFocus Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ecofocusfilmfest.

EcoFocus was initiated by UGA’s Odum School of Ecology in 2007 and is co-sponsored by the Odum School, the UGA Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, the UGA Office of Sustainability, and Georgia Sea Grant.