The Ocean Plant hosts event in support of the feature-length documentary “The
Invisible Mammal” with live music on Aug. 28

On Aug. 28, at 6:30 p.m., Ocean Plant located at 800 Great Highway in San Francisco’s Outer
Richmond neighborhood will host an event in support of “The Invisible Mammal,” a new feature
documentary produced and directed by filmmaker Kristin Tièche, a Richmond District resident.
Attendees will have the opportunity to see exclusive sneak preview clips from the film and engage in Q&A with the filmmaking team. Attendees will also enjoy live music played by house band “The Ocean Plants.” All band members are Richmond residents.

Attendance at the event is sliding scale/donation-based and guests can register through Eventbrite here: https://tinyurl.com/batmoviebenefitAug28

“The Invisible Mammal” tells the captivating story of a dedicated team of women scientists as they strive to protect North America’s bats from a deadly disease spreading across the continent. The film, directed by San Francisco based filmmaker Kristin Tièche, produced by Matthew Podolsky (“Sea of Shadows”) and Holly Mosher (“Vanishing of the Bees”), and edited by Heidi Zimmerman (“Black Barbie”) follows leading bat researchers into underground habitats as they work to save rapidly disappearing species.

The film’s cast of women scientists, including UC Santa Cruz researcher Dr. Winifred Frick, create pioneering solutions on the frontlines of a crucial race against time to save North American bats from extinction. Bat populations in North America are threatened by white-nose syndrome, a fungal pathogen that has caused catastrophic declines of bats over the past two decades, and continues to spread.

Tièche emphasizes the importance of education and awareness.

“Bats are an important keystone species,” she said. “If we lose bats, our whole ecosystem will be knocked out of balance. Once people see how amazing bats are, they lose any fear they once had and want to know how to help.”

The filmmaking team behind “The Invisible Mammal” set out to document efforts to prevent the extinction of bat species in North America, but when the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world in 2020, a shift in strategy was required. The scope of the film’s story was expanded to include the connection between bats and COVID, and how research on bats’ super-immunity could help prevent the next pandemic.

“The Invisible Mammal” team is working with Bat Conservation International to develop a political action plan encouraging viewers to contact their congressional representatives in support of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, legislation that would give states and territories up to $1.4 billion a year to implement Wildlife Action Plans to protect at-risk wildlife. This legislation would provide critical funding that conservation organizations need to prevent the extinctions of countless at-risk wildlife species.

Production on “The Invisible Mammal” began in 2019. Earlier this year, the team received a matching $25,000 donation, allowing post-production to continue, and launching a series of fundraising eventsaround the Bay Area. Attendees to the events will be among the first people outside of the team to view work-in-progress scenes from the film. All donations made at the time of registration and at the event are tax-deductible.