After seeing The Cove at Cinemapolis this weekend -- another gem from the good folks at IC's very own Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) -- I was stunned. The thing was, I was not stunned in the way I expected to be stunned. Coming into the documentary of Taijian dolphin slaughter in a specific cove, I had expected to be upset. I had expected to be somewhat revolted. I had not expected to be quite so motivated towards change as I was.

The movie was beautiful, in a terrible way. It showed the secrecy of the slaughter, and let us follow the filmmakers through the espionage that brought the terrible practice to light. The real gem of the experience though was the discussion that took place after the screening with Christopher Clark and Todd Schack, professors at Cornell and IC, respectively.

Between Clark's knowledge of dolphins and bioacoustics and Schack's experience in investigative journalism, they offered an insight into the experience of The Cove that would have been almost impossible to glean otherwise. Through all their academic knowledge, though, the most important thing that they emphasized was that horrible practices such as these are not at all beyond our control. With the proper motivation and exposure, things can and will change.

Want to know what you can do to help?

Be one of the first 50 people to bring your student ID to Cinemapolis for The Cove screening this Friday, and you can be one of the chosen few to receive a free ticket to the documentary that the New York Times called  "one of the most audacious and perilous operations in the history of the conservation movement."

The Cove, easily one of the most revolutionary documentary films made recently, follows Ric O'Barry on an expose of the heinous activities going on in an otherwise scenic cove in Taiji, Japan. Protected by barbed wire fences and armed guards, a six month-long slaughter of thousands of dolphins takes place every year. Dolphins are herded into the cove by local fishermen; for them, it's the killing of competition, as the dolphins represent a rival for daily fish consumption.

O'Barry and his crew infiltrated the operation using divers and high-definition cameras camouflaged as rocks, as the local police and fisherman provided tight security at the site of the brutal slaughter. An espionage film as well as an environmental documentary, it's not a screening to miss. The Cove has already won many awards, including the Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance, and the Best Feature Film at the 2009 Nantucket Film Festival.

See the sidebar for deets on screening times and prices.

Valentine's Day is upon us once again (like a biblical plague, the lovelorn might suggest). To celebrate this holiest of Hallmark holidays, I heartily recommend you spend tomorrow evening (7:00 p.m. - ?) snuggled up with your sugarpie at Cinemapolis watching a movie about sectarian hatred and slaughter.

No, not the film version of my ex-wife's diary -- last I heard that was still in post-production.

The flick in question is Ari Folman's surrealist documentary Waltz with Bashir, an account of his time in the Israeli army during the Lebanon war in the early eighties (historical spoiler: it was bloodier than a Cosa Nostra dinner theater production of MacBeth). Reunited with images of a horror he had tried to forget, Folman animates his tale -- one assumes because the stark reality is a little too, well, real.

Does it work? Hell if I know, I'm just the guy with the blog. I do know it's up for an Oscar, and the distributor is sufficiently psyched that they're allowing FLEFF just the one sneak peak before hustling off to butter up the Academy (or whatever it is distributors do -- they're so mysterious).

Until Oscar night this is a one-off, so go check it out for yourself. Get there early -- the place will be nuts -- and stick around after for the panel discussion. Just a guess, but I reckon you'll be able to roast marshmallows on the opinions in that room. So play nice and, to paraphrase Pumpkin and Honey Bunny, everybody be cool.

Oh, and be on the lookout for the FLEFF staff. They'll be blogging about this event and all things Finger Lakes, environmental, film, and festival related right up through the big event itself (March 30-April 5, if you're booking ahead). They'll also embrace Twitter like the forward-thinking brilliant minds of the new generation that they are. Ain't it tweet? (Oy.)