FURNACE

For three years I researched and filmed various locations in the interior of British Columbia, Canada in more or less a geographical triangle from Kamloops to the east, Ashcroft to the west, and Spences Bridge to the south. My main focus has been the semi-deserts, deep valleys, and plateaus to define how I see the interactions of the natural and manufactured worlds, worlds brought into my perspective by the ever changing presence of shadow and light. Since I began filming this movie in 2016 there has been a yearly increase in the widespread smoke and haze from each new record breaking forest fire season. The loss of forest habitat is having a profound effect on the plants, animals, and people living in the BC interior as some ecological zones shrink and others expand. After a mild, wet winter and spring another hot dry summer returned in 2018 with over 13,000 square kilometres of forest burned in British Columbia, a total that exceeded the forests burned in 2017. In spite of what seemed like endless smoke and haze at times, the occasional day of illuminating light would occur, reminders of a world I once knew, a world rapidly changing in the midst of the “Holocene.” Filmed by Kent Tate on location in the interior of British Columbia + an appearance by Jay Forrester & the voice of a friendly passerby who happened to be on the same trail as myself is heard twice.