Festival Winners

Thursday, 01 December 2011 15:48

GREEN is the story of an Orang-utan, alone in a world that doesn’t belong to her. She is the victim of deforestation and resource exploitation. Festival Director and Jury Chair Carrie Hunter said the jury called this film life-changing. “It is a one-of-a-kind cinematic poem. No narration, no voice-over preaching and yet - anyone who sees it will likely never buy another thing without thinking twice about where it came from, how it got to market, and who paid the real price for its manufacture. It appeals to the emotions, but it also commands the intellect.”

GREEN will be screened Saturday, November 5 with a host of other exceptional films at the Kay Meek Theatre in West Vancouver. The festival runs from November 1, 2, 3 and 5.

Producer/writer/director/cinematographer Patrick Rouxel of France created the film with very few resources. In thanking the organizers, he said, GREEN “is a very humble film shot by a one man crew on a tourist visit in Indonesia and edited at home. I do my films out of love for the forest, to help protect all the life it holds. It is my way of giving, my small contribution to curbing down the massive wave of destruction for which we are responsible. "I’m sorry I am not able to be here among you this evening. I am presently in Indonesia making another film.”

Rouxel is intriguing and no one can doubt that filmmaking is his passion. “Today I do not have a job in France and am registered as a jobless. I get unemployment allowance from the government and I use this money to make films. I do not care about luxury. I have minimized my living requirements. I do not have a car, do not have children, I am not divorced and do not pay alimony and I do not lay high claims on food. I am satisfied with the delight I get from my job. I just need to know that I have enough money on my account for a travel ticket, and that’s it – the next day I am off to my shootings. I do not like paperwork and never have official scripts. I just go and shoot. The future will show what comes out of it”.

Best Documentary Short, under 30 minutes, went to Hope In a Changing Climate, produced by John Liu, China , and directed by Jeremy Bristow. “Hope demonstrates that it is possible to rehabilitate large-scale damaged ecosystems, to restore ecosystem functions in areas where they have been lost,” Hunter said. “ It demonstrates how lives improve for people who have been trapped in poverty for generations . It is an inspiration – and it shows us there is reason to have hope for the future when we are prepared to take action.”

Hunter said this was a developing theme in the new festival. She was expecting to receive a lot of “doom and gloom” films but she and other jury members were actually awed by the messages of hope that were recorded on film. “In some cases, a film shows how just one person, during the course of his life, completely changes a climate.”

The Man Who Stopped the Desert is an example of this. It picked up a Special Jury Award last night.

Three other special jury awards were presented:

Africa’s Lost Eden – a National Geographic production on Mozambique; Voices of the Forest, Sulawesi, an entry from Thailand that was produced by the Centre for People and Forests in that country; and Walking on Country with Spirits, Wugal, Wugal; a production of the United Nations University in Tokyo. It follows an Australian aboriginal woman over her land as she relates the deep respect her people have for their land – and the fear that it will be totally devastated.

U.S. producer Ali Grossman, whose film Bark Beetle Blues is in competition, said, “This does not look like a first festival. The level of organization and the quality of the entries are what one typically finds at a very well established festival. I am truly impressed.”

Hunter was reunited with her long-time colleague Jerry Ezekiel on the jury this year. The pair worked in tandem on the Banff Television Festival for many years. Hunter was the founding director and Ezekiel worked for Alberta Culture at the time and was loaned to the festival to do programming. He subsequently left his government post to work full-time with Hunter of the Banff festival which received world-wide acclaim during their tenure. Vancouver artist and filmmaker, Ron den Daas, and Bo Myers, another Vancouver filmmaker, were other members of the jury.

Aboriginal Actress Tantoo Cardinal was presented with an Outstanding Achievement Award for a body of work that totals more than 80 titles in film and television – and also because of her environmental and social activism. Her film, Ancestor Eyes, was screened opening night at the festival.

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Media Contact: Carrie Hunter (604) 379-5749 or karey @shaw.ca

Or Helen Yagi (604) 736-5517, or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it