Monday, September 30, 2013

Watermark reunites Manufactured Landscapes team


How does water shape us, and how do we shape water? It's a question that inspired the award-winning team behind Manufactured Landscapes -- filmmakerJennifer Baichwal and photographer Edward Burtynsky -- to visit ten countries and weave together 20 stories. 

Watermark is an exploration of water as an essential but compromised natural resource. The documentary, which screened at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, has been described as being "a film of astonishing beauty and perspective" that is both poetic and thought-provoking.

From human-engineered dams and canals to mass bathing and pollution, Baichwal and Burtynsky explore the beauty and brutality of our interactions with water. 


Baichwal noted that the pair sought to address the issues of our time without hitting people over the head with an argument. 

"The idea was to try to create a situation in which, after you see the film, you might not turn on the tap with the same nonchalance that you did before." 

The pair also touched on themes like humanity's apparent longing to be around water, the fact that there are "winners and losers" whenever water is moved, and how they cope with the scale of destruction they see. 

"It's hard not to feel grief," said Burtynsky, "We need to start playing attention to this place called nature ... we are part of it I believe, and we're not understanding the effect we're having on it." 

If you're not familiar with Burtynsky's work, you can see his stunning water photography at the Nicholas Metivier Gallery website. 



http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/tiff/2013/09/25/watermark-reunites-manufactured-landscapes-team/


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