When you think IMAX, chances are your mind goes to those immersive documentaries that take you inside volcanoes, deep under oceans, atop mountains or to distant planets. Or to those widescreen films that bathe you in backstage experiences with iconic rockstars or Hollywood special effects. But, this year, the state of Ohio is using the technology to tell an environmental comeback story closer to home. "Ohio: Wild at Heart" features the state's top-ranked park system to highlight wildlife conservation efforts and the restorative power of outdoor recreation. Filmed over more than a year, the $2.5 million project — paid for with information and education funds — is drawing large crowds at science museums around the state and heads next year into classrooms. Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director Mary Mertz calls it "a love letter to the mission of protecting our natural resources and expanding opportunities to explore." Ricky Jackson, a conservationist and taxidermist from Gallipolis, Ohio, in the state's Appalachian region, said he wasn't expecting to leave the theater feeling as if he'd seen a documentary filmed all across North America. "It was just really, really unexpected to see so much diversity all filmed in Ohio," Jackson said. After viewing the film at its premier at COSI, Columbus' science center, last fall, Jackson said he thought the film was "very cool, very well done," and he learned a lot. "It was very motivating," he said. "It made you want to see parts of the state you've never seen, or experience nature in Ohio in a way that you just didn't know was available." Narrated by Ohio State football great Archie Griffin, the documentary depicts the state's landscapes at a sweeping scale — from the lighthouse-dotted shores... Read More