The Burning Season

Lively debate at Tribeca Q&A

Following a screening of The Burning Season on Tuesday 28 April at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, a question and answer session was hosted by Ira Flatow, author and host of NPR’s Science Friday. Producer/director/writer Cathy Henkel was joined on the panel by Dorjee Sun and New York Times environmental correspondent Elisabeth Rosenthal.

More than 400 people attended the very lively, passionate, at times, quite heated conversation with the audience. 

'There was one young man who got really angry about the concept of carbon trading, but wasn't able to clearly articulate why,' says Cathy Henkel. 'The audience got very impatient with him, but Dorjee handled the situation superbly. When the young man ran out of argument, he started to walk out and Dorjee followed him up the aisle and ended the altercation with a hug. It was a beautiful and theatrical moment, and my admiration for Dorjee went up another notch.' 

Also in the audience were Fabien Cousteau (son of Jean Michel Cousteau and grandson of Jacques Yves Cousteau, the legendary environmentalist), Richard Zimmerman from Orangutan Outreach (www.redapes.org) and Willie Smits, as well as numerous journalists and television reporters. The Sydney Morning Herald and Financial Times were there to report on the event. 

'Overall the reaction to the film, and to what Dorjee is doing, was positive and enthusiastic,' adds Cathy. 'The fact that it also generates controversy and heated debate is for me, as a filmmaker, an indication that the film is working. The young man's outburst and the emotion and passion expressed by others in the audience made the event more memorable and hopefully the issues more present in the minds of every member of the audience as they left the cinema last night. Let's see how many log on to our web site and join on the "ten things" web site.' 

Shortly after the Q&A, one participant said: 'I attended the showing last night of The Burning Season at the Tribeca Film Festival. Brilliant film! Thank you for making it Cathy. Having grown up in Indonesia I thought you created vivid depiction of the realities of deforestation and its impact. I look forward to seeing more of your films.

 

'And thank you Dorjee for determination, speaking about synchronicity in your own life and being genuine! It’s not every day that you encounter someone so impressive on-screen and off. When you hugged the pessimist in the auditorium, it was a true example of hope. It was quite incredible to witness.'

See photos from the Q&A here.

Opening night of THE BURNING SEASON at Tribeca Film Festival

No-one has been to bed before 3am since we arrived in New York, so we were pretty much running on empty by the time the big day arrived.

Susan Boehm put on drinks for us at her apartment before the screening, and chilled everyone with a glass of champagne and much appreciated food.

We walked from there to the cinema and found a line of people waiting for rush tickets to our screening, which had been 'sold out' a week before. 

As it turned out, there were still empty seats after all. We could have filled them several times over with the people we'd had to turn away. 

Willy Smits, the renown scientist who founded BOS (Borneo Orangutan Society) and has devoted much of his life to saving the orangutan and forests, flew all the way over from The Netherlands for our screening. He was the guest of Richard Zimmerman (pictured below) from Orangutan Outreach who co-presented our world premiere screening. 

Richard has also organised a brunch meeting with our team, Dorjee and Willie Smits today, Sunday at a penthouse apartment in uptown New York - more about that later.

Back to the screening. We had a dramatic start. The film began with no sound. Trish Lake (executive producer) and I raced to the back of the theatre to find out what was happening. 

They stopped the film, and we waited. Morgan Spurlock (Oscar nominated documentary filmmaker, Supersize Me) was at the screening - he's one of the judges - and he said this would only make the audience want to see the film even more. He was right. The sense of anticipation had definitely increased and when the film was re-started, with sound, the audience applauded. 

Finally the film had started, and there was nothing more I could do. It was a wonderful experience to just sit there and watch this film that I have worked on now for over two years, and appreciate the results of everyone's efforts. 

I could really feel the audience were with us all the way, and the responses during the film and the exuberant applause at the closing titles brought tears to my eyes.

Dorjee and I did the Q & A together and it felt very intimate. They loved Dorjee of course, and I felt there was a lot of positive energy in the room.

I challenged the audience to go to our website - www.tenthingsyoucando.com - and they assured me they would. Sam, Dan and Liz gave out the flyers at the door, and over the course of the next week we will see how many New Yorkers follow up and actually visit the site. 

After the screening, there is that usually haze of talking to people you don't know and enjoying the look of appreciation and hope on people's faces.

Sam organised a limousine to take us to our after party where Richard and Orangutan Outreach had provided the wine with orangutan labels ("Grapes for Apes").

By this time, the exhaustion had finally caught up with me, and all I needed to do was crawl into bed. But I was so happy to be in a very friendly wine bar with so many of the people who share a passion for protecting the world's forests and saving the orangutans and raising awareness about this around the planet.

The long and urgent journey of this film has begun...who knows where it will take us next.

Cathy Henkel

Producer/director/writer

Pictured below: Cathy Henkel and daughter Sam were presented with orangutan pals at the screening.

Cathy Henkel at TFF press conference

The Burning Season's producer/director/writer Cathy Henkel was one of a hand picked selection of filmmakers to participate in the opening press conference for the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. Here she is (second from left) pictured on stage with some of the festival's heavy weights, including Robert De Niro and Uma Thurman.

Cinema trailer launched online

Ahead of the world premiere of the feature-length cinema version of The Burning Season this Saturday night at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, the new cinema trailer has just been released online.

The first two screenings at Tribeca - at 6.15pm on Saturday 25 April and at 3pm on Sunday 26 April - have already sold out. 

Producer/director/writer Cathy Henkel is in New York where, a few hours ago, she participated in a news conference with Robert de Niro to launch the festival.

Cathy's daughter SamLara twittered recently, saying she and Cathy had met de Niro, along with Uma Thurman, in the green room at the Tribeca Film Festival.

You can keep up with more news from Tribeca by following The Burning Season Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/burningseason

The Burning Season invited to Tribeca Film Festival

THE BURNING SEASON has been invited to compete in the ‘World Documentary Feature Competition’ at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival in New York in April. 

THE BURNING SEASON is the only Australian documentary that will screen in competition at Tribeca. This is second time in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival for director Henkel – she won the coveted award for ‘Best Documentary’ with her very personal film, THE MAN WHO STOLE MY MOTHER’S FACE in 2004.

Despite the serious nature of the subject matter, THE BURNING SEASON is both positive and inspiring and has already been garnering local awards. The film won the Audience Choice Award at the Brisbane International Film Festival 2008 and the IF Award for Best Documentary (an award voted by audiences). 

Subsequently, independent distributor Gil Scrine approached the producers with the offer of a cinema release. The editing of the new cinema version received support from the Queensland Government’s Pacific Film and Television Commission. Other investors in the film are Screen Australia and the NSW Film and TV Office.

THE BURNING SEASON is co-produced by Cathy Henkel (Virgo Productions) Jeff Canin (Hatchling Productions) and Trish Lake (Freshwater Pictures) and narrated by Hugh Jackman. The film will be released in cinemas across Australia in June and July with an innovative distribution plan to be managed  by a partnership between Virgo Productions, Freshwater Pictures and Gil Scrine Films. 

“For me, the widest possible audience for this film is a matter of urgency. My hope is that it will help people understand why forests and the orangutans need to be saved, and remind us that we mustn’t give up. This film is an anthem to optimism and a call to action. It reflects my profound belief in the mantra of “Yes We Can”, says Director Cathy Henkel. 

The scheduled screening times for The Burning Season at Tribeca are:

Saturday, April 25, 6:15 pm, AV7-07

Sunday, April 26, 3:00 pm, AV7-04

Tuesday, April 28, 10:15 pm, AV7-07

Thursday, April 30, 12:30 pm, AV7-03

All screenings take place at:

 

AMC Village VII (AV7)

66 Third Avenue (at 11th Street)

New York, NY 10003

Download our official media release here.