On Saturday, Marbles IMAX hosted a special showing of “Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest” in their downtown Raleigh theater. The 3D film narrated by Ryan Reynolds is a close-up look into the wildlife found on Canada’s remote Pacific coast, most notably the white spirit bear — the rarest bear on earth. 

“I didn’t know much about there being a rainforest in Canada, especially what a temperate rainforest was, but it was one of the first times that any IMAX cameras were able to get out into that area,” said David Gill, community engagement coordinator at Marbles Kids Museum. “So when we heard about it and had a chance to see it, we really enjoyed it.”

Saturday’s showing was a special screening of the film for Marbles members, media, and partners, including guests from the North Carolina Zoo, a leading black bear expert in the state, and members of the Canadian Network — a group of Canadian expats who now live in the United States and share in Canada-related social and networking activities.

“We thought that it would be a good fit for educational groups. It has a really strong conservation, environmental preservation message,” Gill said. “The cinematography is beautiful.”

“I liked that they could get the cameras so up close to [the bears],” said 10-year-old Kishan of the film’s camerawork.

Another moviegoer, 10-year-old William, noted that the film wasn’t only about the spirit bear.

“It also had a few other animals, like there were otters, fish, seals,” he said. “It was a good movie.”

Gill said he thinks that Marbles IMAX serves as a great place for the community to come together and learn something new.

“And they’re able to see it on North Carolina’s largest screen,” said Gill.

The film is running open to the public several times during the week and also on weekends throughout the summer. Learn more about showings for “Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest” here. 

More at Marbles

In case you missed it, Marbles Kids Museum opened a new exhibit at the end of March called River Playway. The exhibit, created in partnership with Duke Energy, invites visitors to pretend they’re on the Neuse River with activities like spotting native species of plants and animals, “splashing” with fish along an interactive floor, building a beaver dam, and checking out local wildlife habitats. The hands-on exhibit also includes a rippling slide and a canopy lookout tower.

Learn more about exhibits at Marbles Kids Museum here. 

Yasmin Bendaas

Follow Yasmin Bendaas on Twitter

Email Yasmin Bendaas

Yasmin Bendaas is a Science writer.  A North Carolina native, she received her master’s degree in Science & Medical Journalism at UNC Chapel Hill, where she was a Park Fellow. She received her Bachelor of Arts in anthropology in 2013 from Wake Forest University, where she double-minored in journalism and Middle East and South Asia studies. As an undergraduate student, Bendaas gained insight into public health when she interned at the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, a statewide grantmaker focused on rural health, including access to primary care, diabetes, community-centered prevention, and mental health and substance abuse. 

As a journalist, Bendaas has been funded twice by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for fieldwork in Algeria — first to cover a disappearing indigenous tattoo tradition, and again to look at how climate change affects rural sheepherding practices.