Three Film Festivals

In September and October of this year, my short film “Upsetting the Apple Cart: Building the Weaving Wagon” screened at three festivals stateside, all of which I was lucky enough to attend.

The first was the long running Portland Eco Film Festival (September 27-30 2018), which takes place each year at the beautiful Hollywood Theatre in Portland. Organized by the wonderful Dawn Smallman, it hosts four days of though-provoking films and related events in one of my favourite cities, bringing together filmmakers and environmentalists both local and from around the world.

After the festival, I had several days to visit various parts of Oregon, including Astoria, Seaside, Cannon Beach, Salem, and Crater Lake before arriving in Eugene.

Oregon Coast

Crater Lake, Oregon

The first annual Eugene Environmental Film Festival took place in several venues in the downtown area (October 5-7, 2018). Co-directors Michele Eggers Barison and Ana McAbee did a terrific job in welcoming filmmakers and putting together a varied and compelling lineup of films.

The last festival was the fantastic Friday Harbor Film Festival. Held in the town of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island in Washington State (October 26-28, 2018), it is lovingly organized by residents Karen Palmer and Lynn Danaher, together with a host of local volunteers. Screenings over three days are held in five venues, with the entire community participating. Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was presented with the Andrew V. McLaglen Lifetime Achievement Award.

Friday Harbor

At screening with Katharina Stieffenhofer, director of From Seed To Seed

 

Elements Film Festival

My short film, Upsetting the Apple Cart: Building the Weaving Wagon, will be screening as part of Elements Film Festival in Vancouver British Columbia on April 15, 2018.

“The Elements Film Festival features dozens of nature, wildlife and conservation themed films by filmmakers all over the world. April 14-15, 2018 at The TELUS World of Science on beautiful False Creek, Vancouver. All daytime programming is INCLUDED with Science World admission. TICKETS ON SALE MARCH 15 for evening programs and Festival Launch Party.”

https://www.elementsfilmfest.org

Upsetting the Apple Cart: Building the Weaving Wagon

Here is my latest collaboration with Sharon Kallis, Rebecca Graham, and EartHand Gleaners Society. This short film documents the planning, construction, and use of the Weaving Wagon, a bicycle powered cart that allows these two environmental artist to take their show on the road, without need of a car or truck.  Along the way, they work with bike engineer and Shift Delivery co-owner Geoff Hibbard and Alastair Heseltine, an expert willow weaver at his studio on Hornby Island. Part of a wave of local businesses that are employing pedal power, the Weaving Wagon also harkens back to an earlier time before the internal combustion engine, when a wide variety of hand made vehicles carried our goods and services.

Sharon surveys the nearly completed wagon.

Filming Rebecca during the weaving process. (Sharon Kallis photo)

Shooting an interview with Alastair Hesletine. (Sharon Kallis photo)

Soil to Sky

This is a short film I just completed for EartHand Gleaner’s Society.

Planet in Focus 17th Annual Environmental Film Festival

My Short film “The Urban Cloth Project” will be screening at the Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival in Toronto on October 22nd, 2016 at Innis Town Hall at the University of Toronto. It will precede the feature “Frightened – The Real Price of Shipping” by Denis Delestrac. I’m very happy to be attending the festival, which runs from October 18th to 23rd.

New Urbanism Film Festival

My short film “The Urban Cloth Project” will be screening at the New Urbanism Film Festival in Los Angeles on Saturday October 8th at 2:00pm in a program of shorts called “Growing Community”  at the ACME Theatre.

Stanley Park Ecology Society: Creative Upcycling Project

This film was commissioned by The Stanley Park Ecology Society to document the first part of their Creative Upcycling Project in Stanley Park, in Vancouver, Canada. Biologist Erica Forssman, shows volunteers how to remove invasive plants, such as Himalayan Blackberry and English Ivy from Blowdown sites, where sunlight has given these plants an advantage over native species. Environmental Artist, Sharon Kallis then helps to repurpose the removed material, that would otherwise be considered waste. With help from SPES Stewardship Coordinator, Sam Cousins, volunteers weave blackberry wattle fences and install ivy Bio-netting  to restore the eroded banks of North Creek, an environmentally sensitive site in the park.

Buzzscaping

Here is a new short film I made about a community bee project.

BUZZSCAPING: BUILDING A POLLINATOR HOUSE IN STRATHCONA is a collaboration between eartHand Gleaners Society and The Environmental Youth Alliance. Funded by Artstarts in Schools and Vancouver Park Board’s Neighbourhood Matching Fund, the project brought together artists, bee experts, local volunteers, and students from Lord Strathcona School to creat a Pollinator House for local bees.

Joined By Thread

Here is the trailer for my short film “Joined By Thread”

Produced, shot, directed and edited by Martin Borden

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Participants: Sharon Kallis, Ashleigh Wallace, Lynda Wallace, Rose Burden, Willow Spindler

Greentopia

My short film “Joined by Thread” will play at GREENTOPIA, a film festival in Rochester New York, on March 20, 2015.

“Greentopia | FILM is a collection of films that inspires and transforms, and ultimately empowers the audience to create sustainable changes in their own lives and communities. Local and global, online and in communities around the world, Greentopia | FILM represents the work of a diverse group of independent filmmakers that will initiate conversation on the most important topics of the day. The 2015 edition of the festival will feature five days (March 17-21)  of primarily non-fiction films – each film kicked off by lively buskers and other artistic performances and followed by engaging, challenging, and stimulating panel discussions.”

 

This short film follows a group of women who work together to create a wedding dress from two older dresses. Ashleigh, the bride to be, her mother Lynda and her future mother-in-law Rose, meet with environmental artist Sharon Kallis, who helps them to see the beauty in reclaimed fabric, the history imbedded in our clothing, and to avoid the crass and wasteful “Wedding Industry” that promotes an unsustainable, consumer lifestyle.

I was fortunate to have another opportunity to work with my friend and frequent collaborator Sharon Kallis, in a realm I had little knowledge of: weddings, and in particular, the wedding dress. In much of contemporary western culture, the wedding ritual has become commercialized to the point that meaning has been stripped away from many of the most beautiful moments and replaced with a pumped-up orgy of expense, competition, and waste. In this case, the humble act of sewing, and the sharing of family history through fabric, reveals a richness that has no price tag.

It was a challenge and an invaluable learning experience to shoot solo in a very confined space where events unfolded quickly and unexpectedly. I am in debt to all of the participants who were so generous and open in sharing a very intimate and emotional moment on camera.