October 02, 2010
David Suzuki is A
By
Katherine Dodds
Force of Nature opened theatrically last Friday in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal and it opens in select theatres in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Halifax and Vancouver on Oct 15th. Click here for showtimes, locations & dates.
While I was hanging out at the CFC January 2009 -- I also met director Sturla Gunnarsson who was working on a film that is now launching across Canada. I had the pleasure of working on an early marketing strategy with Janice Tufford, and am thrilled that now I can go see the film on the big screen at VIFF. I'm also excited to see how the Suzuki Foundation will use the film as part of their 20th Anniversary year.
Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie
Directed By: Sturla Gunnarsson
EXEC PROD: Laszlo Barna, Steven Silver, Tracey Friesen
PROD: Janice Tufford, Sturla Gunnarsson, Yves J. Ma
CAM: Tony Westman
ED: Nick Hector
PROD DES: Dany Lyne
This detailed and rewarding documentary follows scientist, broadcaster and environmentalist David Suzuki as he approaches his 75th year. The centrepiece of the film is a recording of his legacy lecture at Vancouver's University of British Columbia, in which he sums up a message of ecology and responsibility that, thanks to pioneers like himself, is now a powerful international discourse. The lecture is intercut with footage following Suzuki across Canada and the world as he reminisces about his life - its triumphs, humiliations and joys.
This is a deeply political and deeply personal film, both intimate biography and stirring polemic. As our subject tells it, his Rosebud was the trauma of internment and stigmatization that he and his family faced during World War II. As he speaks of his father's "resignation" in the face of injustice, one sees that it provided a powerful counter-example for Suzuki: he would go on to spend his life opposing submission. The film is an explanation of this struggle, a record of its success and a plea for its continuance. At the start of the movie, Suzuki sits backstage in Vancouver's Chan Centre, saying that he feels complete near the end of his life. It's a testament to his great achievement that with so much still to do for Earth he can feel such satisfaction. Force of Nature is a record of personal and collective commitment; it's both a valediction and a call for a new beginning.
Tag(s):
Film Launch
Recent Blogs by Katherine Dodds:
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Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.
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