Si La Isla Quiere (Island Willing) is a film that addresses a topic of great importance to Sierra Club members, our commitment to be good stewards of the world in which we live. This concept takes many forms, of course, and this film addresses this topic in a most interesting and inspirational way - by focusing on the relationship a small community of inhabitants enjoys with a small island off the coast of Chile and its many non-human species. The film will premiere in the Hudson Valley at the Woodstock Film Festival in October - please read about the film and find out how you can attend the screening at the Festival on October 16th.

directed by Cece King  Hudson Valley Premiere

Starring: Solange Goldswosthy González, Wilson González, Jaritza Rivadeneira Muena, Cristina Muena, Gloria Bermúdez Valdebenito, Germán Recabarren Green, Jaritza Rivadeneira Muena, Cristina Muena, Solange Goldswosthy, Wilson Gonzalez, Gloria Bermúdez Valdebenito, Germán Recabarren Green, Guillermo Martinez Green, Raimundo Bilbao, Karen Rojas Celedón, Génesis Astudillo, Sara de Rodt

On Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island – home to more endemic species per square kilometer than the Galápagos – the community defends its culture of stewardship against outside pressures, with the island itself emerging as both witness and guide.

“There is a saying, ‘God willing,’ but on the Island you say ‘Island willing,’ as if the Island was an entity.” With a higher percentage of endemic species than the Galápagos and once home to the real-life Robinson Crusoe, the Island is one of the most unique places on earth. Through its capricious climate, the Island controls the rhythms of daily life.

I learned this firsthand in the fall of 2023, when I took off my senior year at Dartmouth and kismet alone led me to the Island. If the sea is rough, boats can’t come or go. If the wind is too strong, people don’t leave home. No one can predict when the cargo ship—bringing groceries twice a month—will dock. Consequently, restaurants and markets that rely on fresh fish or mainland supplies open and close unpredictably.

Even before I arrived, the Island was teaching me surrender. My flight kept changing origin cities, weather delayed departure after departure, and when I finally landed in an ancient twinjet on a tiny airstrip wedged between cliffs, I was immediately struck by the species and the community.

Robinson Crusoe Island has never had an Indigenous population. Its earliest settlers were pirates, followed by sailors who—unlike their conquering contemporaries—chose to live with, rather than dominate, the landscape. Over generations, families began to identify as “endemic” themselves.

The town is nestled in 93 square kilometers of parkland. Building beyond the town is prohibited, so transport infrastructure is limited. With very few cars, trekking is the main way to get around. For me, that meant trading sneakers for hiking boots and getting comfortable in the mud. My days were spent freediving with endemic fur seals and watching Pink-footed Shearwaters swarm the lobster fishermen. I didn’t buy a SIM card because I felt so safe, present, and connected that a phone seemed superfluous.

I came to consider the Island a second home. When the furnace in my first house broke, I moved in with four generations of the Goldsworthy family. Later, I learned that Robinson Crusoe Island was once called Santa Cecilia. Knowing that we share both a name and namesake deepened my fated connection to the Island . But the culture of stewardship is under siege. In 1935, the archipelago became a Chilean national park; in 1977, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; and in 2018, a marine park. While these policies protect biodiversity, they also banned traditional farming and inadvertently introduced invasive species. Islanders now live with dependence on the mainland and the legacy of top-down conservation.

My film, Si La Isla Quiere (Island Willing), tells this story from 60 meters underwater to 3,000 feet above sea level. Grounded in both science and lived experience, Island Willing offers a radical yet deeply human perspective: that true climate resilience comes not from control, but from a deeply rooted sense of place and community-led stewardship.

I’m honored to share that Si La Isla Quiere (Island Willing) will screen this fall at the Woodstock Film Festival on Thursday, October 16 at 4:30 PM ET. I invite you to join us and imagine what it might mean to say, “Island willing.” 

Cece King

Cece King is a filmmaker from New York whose first film, executive produced by Oscar-nominated Tom Yellin and Regina K. Scully, will be showing at the Woodstock Film Festival in the Chef’s Choice Shorts Program on Thursday, October 16 at 4:30 PM ET. Cece is interested in what happens when international politics intersect with daily life. She was a 2025 Documentary Resident at the Woodstock Film Festival Filmmaker Residency/Incubator, where she began developing this first feature. Cece has creatively collaborated on projects with acclaimed filmmakers and journalists including Gurinder Chadha, Celine Rattray, Debi Wisch, and Liz Plank. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude at Dartmouth with a degree in Geography and Arabic.

Venue:
Woodstock Community Center
56 Rock City Rd Woodstock, NY 12498

To purchase tickets to the screening: 

Enjoy the trailer: