Newtown Earth Day Committee’s second installment of its documentary film series will continue Thursday, October 19, at 7 pm, in the Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street.

Attendance is free. Donations are appreciated, but not required. Any donations will help fund an annual “green” scholarship through Newtown Scholarship Association for Newtown High School graduates interested in environmental/ecological studies.

Reflecting on the purpose and impact of an ongoing Earth Day Film Festival, Newtown Earth Day Committee Chairman Dan Holmes said he and fellow organizers “envisioned this film series as an opportunity for ongoing engagement with like-minded folks in our community who appreciate our local natural surroundings.

“This series features documentary films that matter to us all, with a focus on celebrating New England’s forests, waterways, and habitats,” he added. “Our first film event, held back in April, was an overwhelming success. The Alexandria Room was filled with 75-80 people and the Q&A session with the documentary’s producer, Ray Asselin, kept an engrossed audience with us for nearly an hour after the films finished.”

The film festival, staged throughout the year, allows the Earth Day message to reach beyond just a single day in April, and for the Newtown Earth Day Committee’s work to effectively expand its scholarship awareness and help to educate and promote the protection of the environment.

“Based on the success of our first installment, this series is helping to do just that,” Holmes said.

The October screenings will feature two documentary films that matter to everyone, beginning with Reading the Forested Landscape.

The 75-minute film begins by exploring the origins of the nearly 100,000 miles of stone walls crisscrossing New England’s forests, and goes on to uncover the signature characteristics of abandoned 19th Century farms, as well as other forest events such as windstorms and forest fires — each one leaving its own peculiar traces in forests.

The evening’s second film will be My Forest Has Worms. The eight-minute short explores the detrimental impact nonnative invasive earthworms are having on New England forest floors.

Where glaciers had once buried much of New England under thousands of feet of ice, no earthworms survived, and none were present until relatively recently. New research suggests they are seriously damaging the forest floor’s duff layer, which is the primary rooting zone for most plants and trees.

The festival is being co-sponsored by Newtown Forest Association.

A Q&A with filmmaker and naturalist Ray Asselin will again follow the screenings.

The festival is being co-sponsored by Newtown Forest Association. Light snacks and drinks will be served.

Anyone interested in joining the Earth Day Committee to help with future film events and/or the 2024 Earth Day Celebration is invited to send an e-mail to info@newtownearthday.org. The opportunity to learn more and sign up for future events will also be available on October 19.