The Burning Season was voted the most popular documentary by audiences in the Showtime Top 10 at the Brisbane International Film Festival, held from 31 July to 10 August 2008.
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The Burning Season wins acclaim
‘The Burning Season’, the new documentary by award-winning filmmakers Cathy Henkel and Jeff Canin from Hatchling Productions, has been nominated for two 2008 ATOM Awards: Best Documentary Social & Political Issues and Best Documentary Science, Technology and The Environment.
The ATOM Awards are run by the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) and take place in Melbourne on 24 October.
The world premiere of ‘The Burning Season’ took place only last Saturday, on 2 August, at the Brisbane International Film Festival. After a second screening on Monday 4 August, Cathy Henkel said she was delighted to learn that the documentary was leading the race for the most popular film at the festival, as voted by audiences.
After each session, audience members at the Brisbane International Film Festival are encouraged to rate the film they have just seen using Showtime voting slips. 'The Burning Season’ was ranked number one as at Tuesday 5 August, ahead of 'Rain of the Children’ and 'The English Surgeon’. The overall audience vote winner will be announced at the end of the festival.
‘The Burning Season’ focuses on the land-clearing fires lit annually in Indonesia and explores their catastrophic impact: as well as destroying the habitat of critically-endangered orangutan, they contribute 20% of global carbon emissions.
The documentary follows a 29-year-old Australian environmental entrepreneur, Dorjee Sun, who sets out to find a solution. His idea involves selling the carbon credits represented by large forest areas in three Indonesian provinces to big polluters in the West. Despite the scepticism surrounding carbon trading, Dorjee’s quest for a ‘big deal’ takes him from Sydney to New York, Washington DC, San Francisco and London.
In the United States, PBS broadcast the documentary to widespread acclaim last month (see www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/burning-season/introduction/1627/) and it airs on BBC Four at 10pm tonight in the United Kingdom. Read the review in The Times.
‘The Burning Season’ will appear on the ABC (Australia) on 14 October 2008. It is narrated by popular Australian actor Hugh Jackman (‘X-Men’, ‘Australia’, ‘The Prestige’).
Pictured below:
1. Cathy Henkel and Dorjee Sun at the world premiere
2. (From left to right) SamLara Canin-Henkel, Sandra Cook, Dorjee Sun and Felicity Blake
3. (From left to right) 'The Burning Season' web team Nathan Betts, Yari McGauley, Kerry Sunderland
