If you read Milwaukee Record with any regularity, there’s a decent chance you’ve seen the name Kyle Lloyd Arpke on this here website. To date, we’ve posted just shy of 30 articles that chronicle his birding adventures and showcase his outstanding avian photography skills. We’ve also written about some of his work in the realm of local music videos, which he’s shot for the likes of Fight Dice and Julien Kozak.
In addition to those projects, Arpke has also directed a brand new documentary that will make its world premiere at the world’s largest documentary film festival this weekend. The trailer for The New Extinction dropped earlier this week. The doc—which was partially funded by Bader Rutter’s Lightbulb Grant and the Brico Forward Film Fund—examines the commercial fossil market and how private collectors impact the field of paleontology and the “crumbling world of academia.”
Beyond Arpke, The New Extinction has ample representation from the Milwaukee filmmaking community, including producers Jessica Knap (Give Me Liberty, Hundreds Of Beavers), Dan Didier, Timm Gable, Andy Gorzalski, Jessica Farrell, and Eric Arsnow. Milwaukee-based musician Peter Batchelder also composed an original score for the film, and local creatives also contributed in cinematography, editing, and VFX roles.
The New Extinction will debut at DOC NYC at the historic Village East by Angelika in Manhattan on Sunday, November 15, with a second screening scheduled to take place Tuesday, November 17. No Milwaukee screenings have been announced yet, but it’s only a matter of time before local audiences will get to see how “egos, money, and science intersect” in The New Extinction. In the meantime, check out the official trailer below.