On the occasion of World Tree Day, celebrated on June 28, at 3Love Inc. we want to highlight six documentaries that raise awareness about the importance of caring for and protecting forests, which are the lungs of planet Earth.
- “Judi Dench: My Passion for Trees”
Year: 2017. Director: Harvey Lilley. Judi Dench is one of Britain’s best-loved actresses, but few people know that Judi holds another great passion, a deep love for trees. Filmed over the course of a year, this is a study of the changing seasons. Judi shared her passion with her late husband, and together they nurtured a collection of trees. For the past seven years, she has continued to care for this woodland with wildlife enthusiast David Mills. Throughout this time, Judi has continually planted trees for friends and family who have passed away. This film follows Judi’s experience through the seasons and her mission to understand the role of trees in history and the future. Judi joins tree scientists and historians to unlock the remarkable secret lives of trees and the stories that they cannot tell. With scientific techniques and equipment at her disposal, she is able to truly understand how trees work and gain an insight into their secrets.
- “Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees”
Year: 2016. Director: Jeffrey McKay. We follow visionary scientist, conservationist and author, Diana Beresford-Kroeger, on her journey to the most beautiful forests of the northern hemisphere. From the sacred sugi and cedar forests of Japan, the ancient Raheen Wood of Ireland, the walnut and redwood trees of America, to the great boreal forest of Canada, Beresford-Kroeger tells us the amazing stories behind the history and legacy of these ancient forests while also explaining the science of trees and the irreplaceable roles they play in protecting and feeding the planet.
- “Intelligent Trees”
Year: 2016. Directors: Julia Dordel y Guido Tölke. Trees talk, know family ties and care for their young? Is this too fantastic to be true? German forester Peter Wohlleben (author of “The Hidden Life of Trees”) and scientist Suzanne Simard (The University of British Columbia, Canada) have been observing and investigating the communication between trees over decades. And their findings are most astounding. “Intelligent Trees” features the main observations that are covered in Peter Wohlleben’s book such as the stump that has been kept alive by its neighboring trees, the old tree-couple that looks after each other, the Mother Trees that suckle their offspring, etc… Special about this film is, however, that it goes beyond observations and claims, but match them with the latest underlying Forest Science Research.
- “Trees and Other Entanglements”
Year: 2023. Director: Irene Taylor. People and the natural world intertwine in the stories of a boy hiding among the trees, an artist redefining American bonsai, a tree photographer, a mother protecting forests, and a man planting them steadfastly. Available on the Max streaming platform.
- “Forest for the Trees”
Year: 2021. Director: Rita Leistner. This documentary explores the physical and emotional aspects of a community of Canadian west coast tree planters. Deftly weaving together still photos and film footage, Rita Leistner, an award-winning photographer, photojournalist, filmmaker and erstwhile tree planter, depicts the contradictions in the experiences of the tree planters—the hardship and the healing; the solitude and the joy of belonging—creating an eloquent cinematic metaphor for the human condition. Finding common cause, self-knowledge and meaning in their formidable task, the tree planters restore themselves and each other in the process of restoring the environment.
- “Taming the Garden”
Year: 2021. Director: Salomé Jashi. A powerful man, who is also the former prime minister of Georgia, has developed an exquisite hobby. He collects century old trees along Georgia’s coastline. He commissions his men to uproot them and bring them to his private garden. Some of these trees are as tall as 15-floor-buildings. And in order to transplant a tree of such dimensions some other trees are chopped down, electric cables are shifted and new roads are paved through mandarin plantations.
