“All this is healing. All this is medicine. All this changes who you are.”

One of very few Black Master Falconers in the U.S., Rodney Stotts never planned to be an environmentalist. Growing up in marginalized Southeast Washington, D.C., he seemed destined for a life of drugs and street violence but left that behind as he developed a passion for the art and sport of falconry.

This intimate portrait film follows Rodney as he strives to provide his community’s underserved youth and endangered raptors with a safe haven for mutual healing and growth. Acting as his own narrator, Stotts discusses his work as a licensed Master Falconer amd environmental educator. His goals are to protect raptors, heal and release them, take care of the birds that are non-releasable, teach young people about caring for the birds and their natural environment, and for a few, how to become falconers.

The Falconer is a story of second chances: for injured birds of prey, for an abandoned plot of land, for young people who bear the brunt of social and environmental injustice, and for Rodney Stotts himself. Please visit www.thefalconerfilm.com for more information.

Watch our March 2021 conversation featuring:

• • Annie Kaempfer (Director)
  • Rodney Stotts (Film Subject)
  • Corina Newsome (Community Engagement Manager, Georgia Audubon)
  • Akiima Price (Environmental Engagement Specialist)
  • Gregory McGruder (Curator, Global Events, National Geographic)