Here’s a pro tip from a pair of local filmmakers: When making a movie about the threat of climate change, have a baby. It puts things in a new light.
Nova Ami and her partner in film and parenthood, Velcrow Ripper, were well into the production of their most recent film, Metamorphosis, when along came their first child, Phoenix.
“There’s definitely a [climate change] choice that we can make, and that’s something we’re trying to communicate,” Ami said in a recent interview near the couple’s Gibsons home. “Having a child was a constant reminder for us in terms of what are we going to leave for him and what are we preparing him for. We do believe there’s a future for him.”
Adding to the optimism – and the local population – was fellow Gibsons-based filmmaker Lauren Grant, a producer on Metamorphosis.
“When Phoenix was four months old, we went into the field with him to start shooting the film,” said Ami. “Then three months later, Lauren had her baby.”
Metamorphosis, which is screening at the Heritage Playhouse Friday, Jan. 18, is a visually stunning film that skillfully follows a fine line, not flinching from the threat of the global environmental crisis, but also offering visions of potential transformation that artists and activists around the world are exploring.
“We’ve heard people say that we kept beauty close throughout the film,” said the Gibsons born-and-raised Ripper. “And that actually allowed them to process and get into the issues more closely without shutting down. I think that’s one of the messages of the film, is to keep in touch with that which we love and why we need to save it. It allows people not to get overwhelmed and yet actually create a space and not shy away from the gravity of the situation.”
Ripper and Ami are bringing added value to this first local screening of the film since its release in February, 2018. They also will do a question and answer session after, and the couple is also hosting an afternoon workshop called Metamorphosis Journey: Transforming the Climate Crisis on Sunday, Jan. 20 at the oceanfront Chaster House near Gibsons.
“It’s a way for people to explore how the crisis is affecting them personally, but also how to move through those feelings into visioning how they can make an impact and take steps in their community,” Ami said.
Added Ripper: “The workshop allows people to go deeper into that catharsis and release and really experience what they’re feeling and talk about it and move through to that sense of possibilities.”
So, after delving into the climate threat for four years, do the filmmakers believe that humanity still has time to turn things around?
“We’re not saying that it’s easy or that it’s even going to happen, but we’re saying it’s possible, and technically, it is. There are a lot of variables and unknowns. We’re not past the tipping point of runaway climate change. We’re close to it, but even when we’ve passed the point, we still have to keep doing everything we can. It’s an ethical imperative. It’s on us, this generation.”
Tickets for the screening and the workshop are available through share-there.com.
