A Williams Lake screening of the film Silvicola attracted more than 130 people Wednesday, April 3.
Directed by Jean-Phillippe Marquis, the film takes viewers to B.C. forests through the eyes of tree planters, loggers, sapling nursery workers, foresters and wood manufacturers.
After seeing the film, there are several images lingering in my mind. Not wanting to give too much away I will select four.
One is watching a tree planter as she maneuvers through a heli-logged site near Port Alberni where she can count on one hand how many times her feet touch the ground in a day.
Tiny but mighty, she rapidly climbs over large remnants of trees then digs into the earth to plant a seedling.
Another scene is watching ants move along an “ant road” in a thriving lush forest where only a few trees have been removed to allow for all the other trees to work together to nurture a healthy forest.
Having only visited Haida Gwaii once in my life, I also enjoyed being immersed in a large old growth forest as a Haida man explains how his people harvest bark from trees for various medicinal and cultural purposes.
Fourth and final would be watching a crew make cedar shakes from scraps salvaged from larger logging operations.
Our house had a shake roof which we replaced after the 2017 wildfires and they were already 37 years old at the time.
During the question and answer period, Jim Hilton, a retired forester who writes a column for Black Press Media, asked Marquis if he met anybody while making the film who told him there are many trees out there and asked what he was worried about.
Responding Marquis said he wanted to make a film about the internal dilemma of forestry workers and about roughly following the forestry cycle from a tree being cut down to reforestation.
A tree planter for many years, Marquis described planting in very steep areas and talking with loggers there.
“They would describe how they entered a cathedral, the trees being the pillars and they cut them. Some felt sad but some did not,” he said.
One forester in the crowd, said many scenes in the film were very familiar to her and probably many others.
While it was still shocking to see, she said she believed people seeing the film in big cities might react even more.
Marquis agreed saying people viewing the film in Quebec were not used to seeing the types of landscapes depicted.
“For them it’s all new - another dimension, another planet.”
Caroline Derksen, one of the Williams Lake Film Club organizers who brought the film in, said forests are such an integral part of the life and well-being of people in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, and she felt really gratified to see such a wonderful turnout.
“Jean-Philippe has created such a beautiful and quietly impactful film in “Silvicola” and it was such a joy that he was able to attend and share it with us,” she said “We have such an engaged audience, and I think this film really brought to light the power of art in furthering the discourse about the things that matter to us most.”
She thanked Sheila Wyse for bringing the film to the club’s attention.
Derksen also gave a “heartfelt” thanks to the Cariboo Conservation Society who helped promote the screening.
“Thanks as well to our local Mr. Mikes and Starbucks for chipping in some door prizes. And thanks always to the Paradise Cinemas, TIFF Film Circuit, and Williams Lake Film Club volunteers.”
Telling Marquis the film was wonderful, another woman asked if it could be shown in colleges and schools, to which Marquis nodded yes and added he was showing it at UNBC in Prince George April 4.
He also said the film will be available to every school and library across Canada through an educational license.
When I heard that I was reminded of when my sons, now 24, 27 and 30, were small. We had an old VHS tape titled Whistle punks and sliver pickers. It starred big rigs, fast machines andthe men and women who drove them. It was produced in Oregon.
The video was probably watched a 100 times by our sons while they were growing up in Prince Rupert.
As it was made in 1993, I searched the internet and found it on Youtube.
Perhaps in 30 years from now, someone will be writing an article talking about Silvicola and the impact it had on the minds of students and children.
Marquis really does take the viewer to places most people don’t get to and with drone footage gives that bird’s eye view that helps to put the beauty and value of forests into perspective.