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First Ever Planet In Focus Press Conference

It was standing room only at the first ever Planet in Focus Press Conference, held yesterday in the spectacular Schad Gallery of Biodiversity at the Royal Ontario Museum.

We couldn’t have asked for a more appropriate venue to announce the schedule for the 11th annual edition of the Festival.

But first: why environmental film?  For a moment, think back to your earliest film memory. For many of us, there are images that are indelibly imprinted on our minds.

Mine is of Bambi prancing through the softly falling rain, deep in the heart of the wood. Perhaps the empathy I felt as a child for that little deer helped feed my interest in the wilderness, and the film’s beauty forage a lifelong love of film.

As I walked into the Museum, past the birds and the animals in the spectacular Schad Gallery of Biodiversity, I recalled Bambi, perhaps the best-known environmental film ever – with a reach even greater than An Inconvenient Truth.

This year, Planet in Focus brings you more unforgettable stories and experiences as we launch the 11th annual edition of our festival, with over 100 environmental feature films, documentaries, shorts and animation over 5 full days in October.

We even have a Silent Auction with retailers in the Bloor-Yorkville area, whose Business Improvement Association has made a bold commitment to environmental sustainability, as well as a stunning photographic exhibition of large format photography of species at risk at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre.

I am also very proud to announce that our Opening Night will be held at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, a beautiful venue and important centre for film not only in Toronto but around the world.

And with plenty of filmmakers, film discussions, receptions and workshops, your Festival experience is sure to live with you well beyond the theatre.

This year, we champion an unprecedented number of films – over 100 in total – that promise to change the dialogue around the most pressing issues of our time.

Why environmental film? Perhaps we should say what is environmental film.

I believe that environmental film is about engagement.  What happens after you watch the film is as important as what happens on-screen.

Anything can happen when environmental interest meets artistry, and it does.

We can even change the world.

We invite you to join us this October. Have fun. Be inspired. Get engaged.

Tickets on Sale Now: Order Online! – Call 416-968-3456 or view our film schedule online at planetinfocus.org.

PIF Environmental “All Time Favourite” Films – Marie Wilson – Chinatown

Posted  by Marie Wilson

Chinatown is a film about greed, and how that greed destroys the land and the people who live on it. At the heart of this evocative neo-noir is water. Noah Cross is a man bent on making a fortune from his illegally-gotten land in the San Fernando Valley. It’s 1937 and murder and intrigue abound as the water flows, floods and dries up. Reservoirs are drained and water tanks poisoned.

Written by Robert Towne and directed by Roman Polanski in 1974, Chinatown is shot in colour but otherwise remains true to film noir conventions while slyly playing with them. It occasionally teeters on the brink of noir parody but steers clear with some brilliantly droll touches, like the bandage that sprawls across Jack Nicholson’s nose for half the film. John Huston (a former noir director himself) is suberb as Noah Cross, and Nicholson is his match as Jake Gittes, the hardboiled detective with a code of ethics.

Inspired by the heated clashes over land and water rights that erupted in Southern California in the early 20th century, Chinatown never shirks from showing where greed leads. With its impeccable story structure and moody visuals, it deserves its status as a classic. If it had been made in the 30s (and it looks like it could’ve been) the Hayes Office would’ve put the kibosh on Polanski’s ending, one of the best endings in Hollywood history. As it is, Chinatown tells a story of rapacious self-indulgence and twisted ambition that pulls no punches.

Marie Wilson is an actor/writer/artist based in Toronto. Find her at mariewilson.ca

PIF Environmental “All Time Favourite” Films – Sujata Berry – Koyaanisquatsi

Posted by Sujata Berry

My favourite environmental film is Koyaanisquatsi.   The title is a Hopi Indian word that means “life out of balance.”  The film was innovative and became a cult classic.  It eschewed dialogue instead making its point using powerful images set to a musical score by Philip Glass.  The images juxtaposed nature versus human landscapes making a point for how out of balance we really are.  I clearly remember images from the film.  The opening sequence of the Saturn rocket blasting off in slow motion, fading to skimming just above pristine lakes and then halting at a chemical factory on the edge of wilderness.  The effect was lyrical, extreme and significant.

The film had a huge impact on me as a young person.  It forced me to rethink how I view the world we have created.  As a documentary maker, I was deeply influenced by the techniques used in the film and have to confess I shamelessly referenced the film in at least one documentary I produced over the years.  I think the film should be a must see for everyone because the themes it explored as relevant today if not more so than when the film was made nearly 30 years ago!

Sujata Berry is a member of the Planet in Focus Board of Directors.

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