Shirari Industries :: Blog :: My Article About Planet Green's New Reel Impact Documentary Series

Planet Green is launching a new Saturday evening documentary series and I wrote an article about it for the International Documentary Associations' website. I got to interview Laura Michalchyshyn of Planet Green, Laura Gabbert, co-director/co-producer of No Impact Man, and Debra Anderson, director of Split Estate.

Read the full article:
Striving to Make a 'Reel Impact': Planet Green Launches New Environmental Documentary Series

Here's an excerpt:

No Impact Man seems to be the right fit with the Reel Impact series, which highlights stories of individuals who are compelled to take action when they realize what's at stake for current and future generations. Gabbert and her filmmaking team, including co-producer Eden Wurmfeld and co-director Justin Schein, were themselves inspired to rethink not only their personal daily habits, but also the way they make films. They minimized air travel, employed only practical lighting and used four rechargeable nine-volt batteries for the entire year and half of shooting, as opposed to the hundreds thrown in the garbage over the course of the making of most doc features. They even felt compelled by the Beavans to go car-free, capturing tracking shots from the seat of a rickshaw attached to the back of a bicycle.

"It felt kind of wrong to be documenting Colin and following him around in an SUV," Gabbert maintains. "But I also think it lent the film an intimacy and it makes you feel like part of the family."

While some dismiss the efforts of the Beavans to eliminate their impact, including getting around exclusively through biking and walking and not buying anything other than food (local, of course), as too radical for most Americans, the point is to invite viewers to consider making changes that feel right for them.

"The tagline for Reel Impact is ‘Watch at eight, talk at ten,'" says Michalchyshyn. "The idea, really, is that these films will engage and provoke. We're not taking a position. There is no right answer in this movement and there is no right answer in these films."