CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2010 ALUMNI!

Our 2010 Youth Camera Action! alumni should get their DVDs and certificates right…about…now!

Congrats to all of you for taking part in the program. We’re gearing up for our 2011 YCA video program in August and are looking forward to the 11th downtown program AS WELL as our 1st program up in the Jane-Finch community. More info and registration forms are on our website. Click right here to get taken to the page–>HERE.

Got thoughts on the program? Suggestions? Ideas? We appreciate them all so SEND ‘EM!

Questions about the YCA program? Contact us at  yca@planetinfocus.org. We hope to see you at the camps!

Check out our 2010 videos online

By Kathleen Mullen
Director of Programming
Planet in Focus

My father Richard Mullen died of Mesothelioma on September 29, 2003. Mesothelioma is a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos; it is terminal and has no known cure as of yet.  As my family came to terms with my father’s illness we began to learn a lot about asbestos and how it was used and how people can become exposed. We knew he had been exposed during his work as a project engineer for 40 years.

We soon discovered that even though for over fifty years companies have known that asbestos is carcinogenic for a long-time they did nothing to protect workers. In the present-day asbestos is still being mined in Canada the majority of which is shipped to developing nations. Only about 3 percent is actually used here in Canada.

With Breathtaking I wanted to tell my father’s story and that of so many others that I met along the way.

I am a filmmaker who is interested in telling stories. I was taking a lot of super 8 film and photographs of my family before my dad died so when he did die I decided that I would take those images and create more of a story about him. I wanted to tell his experience of getting mesothelioma and what that meant to me on a personal level and in addition find out as much as I possibly could about the use of asbestos today.  I didn’t want to stop at my families story I wanted to examine Canada’s role in still mining and exporting asbestos and the many workers and people still being exposed.

In short Breathtaking is a personal investigation into the landscape of asbestos use today, an autobiographical film, a testimonial of my family’s experience and a strategy for social awareness and change. Breathtaking is at its heart a documentary that searches for answers to both a personal and public question.

I live in Toronto so in order to make the film I would have to travel. I first went to my family’s home in British Columbia where my mother still lives and interviewed my mother and my three sisters.  From there I went to Quebec to find out what was happening; In Quebec the mines are still open. We went on a tour to the underground mine and the open-pit mine. It was fascinating and of course difficult as well. We walked around the town and met many people who spoke with us about the town and the work they did there. From Quebec I went to India where asbestos is now being exported. My sister Anne-Mary came along with me. She had moved home when my father got sick and helped my mother take care of him until he died.  She wanted to contribute to the making of the film.

In India we met many workers who had been exposed; Asbestos is used in drain-pipes and low-cost roofing. They told us their stories. We were able to attend an anti-asbestos press conference put on by Ban Asbestos India. Our time was spent travelling the country by train discovering the extent of exposure to asbestos. We came home from India more committed to the film than ever.

From India I came home and interviewed some experts about the use of asbestos in the past and today. Then I connected with Pat Martin, MP for Winnipeg Centre who told me about an asbestos awareness conference put on by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization Annual Conference (ADAO).  I went there for a few days and listened to the speakers, interviewed many of the people there and attended the memorial candle-lighting on the last day. It was very moving experience. I spoke with asbestos experts, family members who had lost someone to an asbestos-related disease and activists.  After Detroit I went back to my family’s home and spent more time interviewing my mother and my sister Anne-Mary.

The making of the movie took over five years. It was the most inspirational experience that I have had. I wish to share this film with a wider public. I hope to make some change on asbestos policy in Canada and globally.

Samaritan Magazine runs an In-depth interview with Breathtaking documentary director Kathleen Mullen, Director of Programming at Planet in Focus.

by Allan Tong, Industry Programmer, Planet in Focus

If you’re a filmmaker, film festivals are good for two things: seeing new movies and making contacts.  What follows is a checklist of things to do before and during a film festival when you’re schmoozing with industry types (i.e. distributors, funders, producers) whom we shall call Heavies in this post.  At Planet in Focus the Heavies, from Telefilm to Bravo, will be available to meet you on Friday, October 15. These tips are based on personal experience and direct feedback from Heavies themselves:

1) Research, research, research: Hands-down this is the number one complaint from Heavies.  Too often a filmmaker meets them and has no idea what the Heavy or his company does.  Ask yourself: Do they fund documentaries, dramas and/or shorts?   What projects have they recently supported?  What projects are they looking for — and not?  When is their next funding deadline? Don’t forget basics like the Heavy’s full name and job title.  And knowing something about their bio doesn’t hurt.

2) Summarize your film:  Aka: a Pitch.  Talk about your film in 2-3 sentences tops.  Don’t babble on about what inspired you to write your masterpiece or the feelings of your main character.  You have only a few minutes with a Heavy who is constantly bombarded with pitches like a hockey goalie in shooting practice.  Start with genre, your hero, what that hero does and what opposition the hero faces.  Don’t give away the ending, but end with a cliffhanger to hook the Heavy.  Practice your pitch with friends.  Be concise and passionate.  If you’re excited, the Heavy will be.

3) Be polite & presentable:  Sounds obvious, but a nervous filmmaker can act too casually (i.e. calling the Heavy by first name).  Address the Heavy with “Mr.” or “Ms.” unless they allow you to use their first name.  Shake hands and smile. You don’t need to wear a suit, but don’t wear a Rolling Stones tour t-shirt either.  Oh, and don’t eat garlic or curry right before a meeting.

4) Know what you want: Before meeting a Heavy, ask yourself: What do I want to get out of this meeting? Don’t expect cash and a contract at your very first meeting, but do you want to gauge the Heavy’s interest in your idea?  Do you want them to see a script or treatment?  Or are you looking for career advice?  What exactly?  Know what you want, or you’ll be wasting your time — and theirs.

5) Have a business card: After your meeting how will the Heavy get in touch with you?  Remember, they don’t need to give out their card, but you should give them yours.  After a film festival I have dozen of cards stacked on my desk.  If I met you and you didn’t give me your card, how can I follow-up?  A one-sheet of your project is also good.

Good luck!

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 11^th 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 11^th 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.

Posted by Andrew Stevenson

For me, the film that radically redefined my sense of what an environmental film could be was Mark Lewis’ 1988 documentary Cane Toads: An Unnatural History.   While countless nature films that came before it relied on imperious narration, sombre talking heads and an unremittingly gloomy tone to hammer home their message, Cane Toads deployed unrestrained humour, quirky, memorable characters and a playful use of fictional movie-making conventions: subjective camera angles (ie., a toad’s POV), suspenseful editing and horror film music.  By focusing on invasive toads as its unlikely subject (as opposed to cuddly polar bears, penguins or dolphins), the film manages to turn yet another cliche of the environmental documentary on its head: that of nature as the perpetually passive victim of human encroachment.

In Cane Toads, the tables are turned; nature (in the form of oversized and oversexed amphibians running rampant across vast stretches of Australia) is shown as a disruptive force impacting both human lives and the human environment.  Nature is not romanticized or eulogized in a simplistic fashion, but depicted as a multi-faceted and unpredictable force provoking a variety of human responses.  At the same time, the film very effectively makes a vital point about the unintended and potentially disastrous consequences of human interaction with the environment.

Regards,
Andrew

Andrew Stevenson is a member of the Planet in Focus Board

Posted by Allan Tong

Huh?  You’re wondering what is Ridley Scott’s 1982 dystopian masterpiece doing on a list of the greatest environmental films?  It’s a sci-fi film about robots who want to live longer in futuristic L.A.

I argue that Blade Runner is a green film, because it forces its audience to consider a world without natural landscapes or animals.  Forests of blinking skyscrapers have replaced trees and hills.  All the animals, down to Joanna Cassidy’s snake in her exotic dance routine, are man-made.  Organic is an historic notion.  Nature is a quaint memory.  There’s no green at all in this film, just darkness, smoke and shiny metal.

Blade Runner warns us of human development run rampant.  Just look at the supercities of today’s China and our own downtowns in Canada, and Blade Runner’s Los Angeles will start to look familiar.  Of course, this is a terrifying trend, but one of the key roles of film, especially science-fiction, is to dream nightmares so we can avoid them in reality.

AT

Allan Tong is the 2010 Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival Industry Programmer

1) Know your story. Know your focus. If you can’t communicate what the doc is about in two minutes or less, you’re still in development.

2) Remember you’re selling yourself as much as the doc idea.

3) Tell us why we should care about this story. Keep it simple. Don’t over-intellectualize.

4) Don’t say anything just to secure a licence. It will come back to bite you, and burn a bridge in the process.

Jane Jankovic is Commissioning Editor of Canadian POV documentaries for TVO.  She is one of the three jurors of Planet in Focus’  Green Pitch, taking place on Friday, October 15.  Prize is worth $5,000 in cash and services.

Submission deadline for the Green Pitch:  Monday, September 20 (new deadline)
Guidelines and application form: www.planetinfocus.org

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

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.

Posted by Candida Paltiel

When one has had the privilege of viewing thousands of remarkable environmental films over the years, ranging from documentaries, dramas, animations and experimental works, short and long from all over the world, it’s a challenge to narrow the field and come up with one that stands out above the others. So many are truly unique and worth a second, third and fourth look. It’s much easier to remember some salient features: an unforgettable character, a remarkable story of near loss and redemption, a rich aesthetic vision incorporating the medium in a textured and layered manner.

What comes to mind is the story of John Peterson in The Real Dirt on Farmer John (2005) directed by Taggart Siegel. Playwright and farmer, John Peterson, lover of glitz and glamour, is followed through Siegel’s compassionate lens as he nearly loses and resurrects the family farm that sustained three generations over 70 years. Now after a series of failures he has transformed it into a model for community-based agriculture (CSA). John’s epic journey includes the taunts of suspicious neighbours, arson, slander, cross-dressing and the interweaving of extraordinary archival footage into an intimate cinematic tapestry depicting the tragic demise of the North American family farm and its salvation through the shaping of a new community that seeks a deeper understanding of our relationship to the earth, knowledge of where our food comes from and pleasure from the fruits of our labour…

On the other hand, how can I forget Sergei Loznitsa’s monumental Blockade (2005) formed into a meticulously compiled black and white tableau of archival footage and sound design reconstructing the 900 day siege of Leningrad during the Second World War. In a terrifying moment in time, the built environment, its interlocking parts, depicted in a haunting montage, is brought back to life. Here, the city is character, individual tragedies and triumphs enfolded into the sum of its parts, the film’s narrative arc simply resting on desperate acts of survival in damnable wartime. As the tale of a city, this is a film like no other.

But then I could go on, how can I forget Sounds of Sand? Obviously it’s time to revisit the PIF archives…

Candida Paltiel
September 7, 2010

To screen any of the films above for your organization, please contact sarah@planetinfocus.org