The Messenger by GAT PR

The Messenger Hot Docs 2015 Canadian Premiere GAT PR Press Summary

Interviews Completed Monday, March 16

POV Magazine Su Rynard

Tuesday, March 17

Jazz FM Su Rynard

Space TV Su Rynard

CHCH TV -‐ The Watchlist Su Rynard

Rogers TV -‐ Your World This Week Su Rynard

Tuesday, April 7

Inside Toronto Su Rynard

Wednesday, April 15

Canadian Geographic Su Rynard

Thursday, April 16

Daytime: Rogers Community TV Su Rynard

Frameline Su Rynard

Wednesday, April 21

Animalhouse Calls -‐ CP24 Dr. Bridget Sturchbury

Monday, April 20

Toronto Film Scene Su Rynard

Saturday, April 25

Metro/Strictly Docs Su Rynard

Inner Space Su Rynard

CP24 Su Rynard

Monday, April 27 Thursday, April 30

CBC Radio -‐ The Current

Su Rynard

Hot Docs 2015: Eco Docs By: Jason Anderson | April 23, 2015 http://povmagazine.com/articles/view/hot-‐docs-‐2015-‐eco-‐docs

THE END IS NIGH but you probably knew that already. In the nine years since Al Gore and Davis Guggenheim’s An Inconvenient Truth sounded alarms about climate change and widened the potential audience for activist-‐minded documentaries, viewers have withstood a daunting torrent of urgent docs about the innumerable phenomena that foretell our species’ imminent doom. Whether the subject is collapsing bee colonies, shrinking icebergs or dying oceans, most of these films share a familiar formula: 90 minutes of very, very bad news followed by a concluding note of hopefulness as we learn how we too can effect the necessary change to avoid a fate that’s pretty much certain anyhow. (And no, signing yet another Facebook petition will not do the trick.) By now, viewers know full well that they should be worried about the state of the Earth. “They’re told it every day,” says Sasha Snow, a London-‐based filmmaker and cinematographer. Given that fact, Snow believes that filmmakers and writers have an important new responsibility. “That’s to keep people engaged with it and find fresh ways of helping them relate to it,” he says, “especially emotionally.” Snow’s film Hadwin’s Judgement is one of several environmentally themed new titles that make their world premieres at Hot Docs. Though these works’ subjects are as varied as their creative strategies, the best of them deviate from the eco-‐doc template in ways that are startling, moving and possibly far more effective than the means of more didactic counterparts. In the case of Snow’s film, those strategies include using dramatic reenactments and a vivid exploration of natural settings to recount the tragic story of Grant Hadwin, the B.C. forest engineer who felt so wracked by the devastation of the land he loved that he destroyed one of the world’s most sacred trees as a protest against the logging industry in 1997. Another new film that grounds its themes in the experiences of a compelling—though this time still living— protagonist, Fiona Rayher and Damien Gillis’ Fractured Land examines the internal conflicts and public challenges of Caleb Behn. With his signature uniform of Mohawk hairstyle and crisp suit and tie, the First Nations activist is presented as an eminently modern kind of indigenous warrior as he tries to halt the oil and gas industry’s new quest for shale-‐gas riches in the remaining wilds of Western Canada. Shifting the emphasis from the dramatic trajectories of individuals to the past, present and future of a community, Charles Wilkinson’s Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World invites viewers into one of Canada’s most beautiful yet fragile regions, as well as into the lives of the stubbornly self-‐sufficient and often eccentric people who populate it. More global in scope but just as rich in its portrayal of wildlife (including the human variety), Su Rynard’sThe Messenger looks at the myriad threats to the world’s population of songbirds and compels audiences to consider what life without their music will be like. As wildly different as the films may be, each is able to pursue its timely themes—and offer some even timelier warnings—in a manner that’s engaging, cinematic yet refreshingly unpolemical. That’s true even with the potentially incendiary story of Hadwin’s Judgement. After all, Snow says that his subject’s destruction of the Golden Spruce, a 1,000-‐year-‐old tree that had been revered by the Haida, continues to be a “raw wound” for many in the community and throughout B.C., even 18 years after the events depicted in the film. Snow himself spent nearly a decade trying to make Hadwin’s Judgement. He was introduced to the story in 2006 when Canadian journalist and author John Vaillant contacted him after seeing Snow’s film Conflict Tiger at a festival in Banff and told him he wanted to write a book about it. The journalist also sent him a copy of The Golden Spruce, his book about Hadwin’s saga. Like many readers, Snow was enthralled by Vaillant’s Governor General’s Award winner,

and the two men’s burgeoning mutual appreciation society would eventually yield Vaillant’s 2010 book, The Tiger, and now Snow’s film. Though the NFB was hugely supportive of the project from the beginning, the search for international producing partners was a long one. Even when the U.K.’s Passion Planet Pictures came on board, Snow could understand his new producers’ reservations. “They said, ‘You’ve got a dead man and a dead tree in a forest that doesn’t really move. How are you going to make that visceral? How are you going to make people feel it?’” Yet Hadwin’s Judgement achieves this by a variety of means, the strongest of which is its ability to situate viewers within both the environments that moved Hadwin so profoundly and the mental space that was rather more troubled. (The film takes its title from the manifesto that appeared around the time of his disappearance at sea while travelling to a court appearance.) Concerned that the film could become another kind of manifesto, Snow pruned away any moments that felt like “lecturing the audience.” But as he says, “Of all the ideas I wanted to get in there, it was that battle between the anthropocentric view of the world and the concentric view. There was a certain perversity in the fact that Grant came from the heart of the anthropocentric machine and yet, independently of any knowledge of indigenous culture, he shared their beliefs. Then he completely unwittingly wandered into their arena and attacked the being that most clearly represented his utopia.” One of the story’s biggest ironies is that Hadwin’s act had some of the desired effect by galvanizing efforts to protect B.C.’s old-‐growth forests. Yet the impact of resource exploitation on First Nations communities and the environment at large is a subject of the utmost urgency in Fractured Land. Co-‐director Fiona Rayher admits she didn’t know just how swiftly and dramatically the northern landscape is being transformed due to shale-‐gas extraction by hydraulic fracturing operations (fracking, for short) until her interest was spurred by an encounter with Gasland director Josh Fox at TEDxVancouver in 2010. Teaming with her friend Damien Gillis on what was initially planned as a short film on the topic, she first met Caleb Behn during a research trip to northern B.C. As the son of a chief who’s adamantly opposed to the oil and gas industry and a lawyer who works within it to protect Aboriginal rights, Behn knows all too well the divisions within his community and the precarious balance he must strike as an activist and an officer of the court trying to “speak truth to power.” The personal has rarely seemed more political. After meeting Behn, Rayher quickly recognized that his experience could be a framework for a wide range of topics. “It’s pretty hard to argue with someone’s personal story,” says Rayher. “Caleb not only has to navigate these fractures inside his community and the world around him, but [also] the ones inside himself. It’s also interesting to see how the fractures in the land mirror the fractures in the person. To see all this through his eyes became a much more compelling way of talking about the issues.” Behn’s travels and increasing prominence as a speaker also allowed the filmmakers to expand the front line, with Behn as a roving connection point between often disparate actions by First Nations groups. “I hope this film will serve as a unifying document or record of what is going on in Canada right now, particularly from the Aboriginal perspective,” says Gillis. “There are so many different pockets of resistance and conflict, but Caleb’s story weaves through all of these places, from the Mi’kmaq in Elsipogtog to protests of pipeline projects throughout B.C.” Yet Rayher hopes Fractured Land serves more as a personal portrait than a more conventional piece of agit-‐prop. “We didn’t want to put this film in an activist box and give people a call to action at the end,” she says. “It’s more about saying, ‘This is the story, this is what happened: it’s raw, it’s real.’ At our screenings so far, some people feel heartbroken, some feel empowered, some feel like they’ve learned a lot. Leaving it open-‐ended is important for this kind of story. The film becomes more of a tool to generate dialogue.” The same could be said of Peace Out and Oil Sands Karaoke, the first two parts in what filmmaker Charles Wilkinson describes as a trilogy of films about “the gold rush sweeping the top of our planet.” But whereas its predecessors presented an often troubling view on the impact of this gold rush on Canada’s northwest, Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the Worldis at least tentatively hopeful in its depiction of the community on a remote archipelago on B.C.’s northern coast and its efforts to create a more sustainable future. “When people talk about Haida Gwaii, they’ll often talk in superlatives, about how it’s this really pristine place and everything’s really perfect,” says Wilkinson. “Or else they’ll talk about this horrible history, about the logging extraction and mining, the small pox and the residential schools. The reality of the place is quite different. It’s not perfect at all and people struggle to make a living there, as I hope we showed in the film. Yet the thing that made it so attractive is that discussions are being had and people are concerned about sustainability. That’s because they have to be—they can’t turn to anywhere else.”

So as much as Wilkinson’s film inevitably revels in the supernatural-‐B.C. beauty of the place, it’s also remarkably astute about the various factors—economic, environmental, social and political—that make Haida Gwaii a potential model for communities that may soon be facing even graver challenges (in other words, all communities). “It’s not paradise by any means. There are tons of problems there,” says Wilkinson. “But I see the beginnings of a solution there.” First Nations self-‐determination is a big part of that, and Wilkinson hopes that viewers heed the example set by the Haida’s gruelling but ultimately successful efforts to “bring corporations and governments to heel.” “Here we’re the slaves and they’re the masters,” says Wilkinson, who made the film with his producer and partner Tina Schliessler. “But on Haida Gwaii, that’s not the case.”

A key theme in Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World, the interdependence of people and the natural world, is even more strongly conveyed in The Messenger. That was very much the hope for Toronto-‐based media artist and filmmaker Su Rynard, who was equally interested in the ways of humankind as she was in the worrisome conditions for the feathered creatures who were ostensibly her new movie’s subject. “I didn’t want to make a ‘nature film’ or a film about birds,” says Rynard, whose project spanned five years and three continents. “I really wanted to ground the film in human activity so that we see this world of birds, not as something that exists outside of ours, but as one world we all inhabit.” Despite the fears it raises about a world without birdsong, The Messenger hums with the kind of restless energy that’s all too rare for an eco-‐doc. That’s a testament to Rynard’s success at finding so many dynamic human subjects, all striving to save songbirds from threats that range from the effects of climate change to pesticides to hungry felines. It also benefits from an unconventional structure that more closely resembles the migratory patterns of songbirds (or even the music they make) than the more explicit through-‐lines of so many other message-‐minded docs. “We did have a rough cut early on that was like that,” Rynard says. “But as you shape the material, the material shapes you too, right? So early on in the editing, we thought, ‘No, that’s definitely not right—we just have to weave all these things in.’ We wanted to make it watchable in that way, so that you’re not making people feel guilty. Obviously it’s an emotional journey but you don’t want to just make someone feel bad, sad or overwhelmed. It’s definitely a challenge to find that tone. It’s even a hard tone to articulate because it’s so subtle.” Nevertheless, that tone is another means by which a filmmaker can create a world for audiences to enter rather than batter them with another barrage of very bad news. After all, if all these matters of doomsaying and world-‐fixing could be put in a pamphlet, then they might as well be. As Rynard jokes, “It would be a lot easier!”

‘The Messenger’: Hot Docs Review By: Sheri Linden | May 5, 2015 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/messenger-‐hot-‐docs-‐review-‐790888

Efforts around the globe to save endangered songbirds are the subject of a Canadian documentary Awe and hard science share center stage in The Messenger, a wide-‐ranging study of songbirds’ dwindling numbers and the people who are working to protect them. Traveling the world to spotlight challenges and solutions, filmmaker Su Rynard never loses sight of the winged tunesters’ sheer beauty, or their emotional and symbolic pull as perceived intermediaries between the earthly and spiritual. The Canadian doc, which screened at Hot Docs, is likely to travel the world too, alighting on the schedules of festivals and pedigreed TV outlets. Rynard’s film posits that songbirds, which account for half the planet’s birds, are, collectively, the canary in the coal mine of the planetary ecosystem: Their decline is a signal of conditions

that will affect us all. The director visits with ornithologists, biologists and ecologists who study migratory patterns, track populations and pinpoint growing threats: light and noise pollution, habitat destruction, climate change, the blanket use of insecticides, and — news that some cat people might not want to hear — species-‐devastating predation by outdoor domestic felines. Rynard makes a point, too, of showing how activism and increased awareness have led to policies and practices that benefit the delicate creatures. In Toronto, a relatively easy fix on high-‐rises and other buildings has significantly reduced casualties from window collisions. She’s in Manhattan on a night when powerful light beams memorialize the victims of 9/11, and follows avian experts as they restlessly monitor birds’ reaction, ordering the lights cut the moment confusion threatens to turn deadly. Addressing an issue that’s the focus of the recently released Emptying the Skies — which is based on a New Yorker article by Jonathan Franzen — The Messenger zeros in on the poaching in Southern Europe of migratory songbirds, specifically the ortolan bunting, for their gastronomic value. Rynard captures a confrontation between volunteer members of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter and one of the self-‐described “crazy peasants” who staunchly defend their right to hunt ortolans. One hunter speaks openly to the filmmaker about his passion for luring, snaring and dining on the birds. There are plenty of disquieting moments in the movie, but a vintage clip of a gourmand savoring one of the tiny ortolans — the tradition is to eat them whole — is its most shocking image. The topics Rynard covers are as far-‐ranging as Mao Tse-‐tung’s disastrous campaign against tree sparrows and a young German DJ’s incorporation of birdsong in his techno compositions. But their interconnectedness is never in doubt, and the transitions are seamless thanks to scene-‐ setting landscape footage, evocative sound design by Phil Strong, Jason Milligan and Dominique Kerboeuf, and the fluid editing of Eamonn O’Connor. Bolstering the doc’s central argument, that a world without songbirds would be a greatly diminished one, are the loving images of warblers, grosbeaks and their cousins. Cinematographers Daniel Grantand Amar Arhab showcase individuals at rest, in super-‐macro shots, as well as in flight. The doc’s stunning slo-‐mo footage of midair locomotion emphasizes these messengers’ grace and mystery. Production company: SongbirdSOS Prods. Director: Su Rynard Screenwriters: Su Rynard, Sally Blake Producers: Joanne Jackson, Sally Blake, Martin de la Fouchardière, Diane Woods, Su Rynard Directors of photography: Daniel Grant, Amar Arhab Editor: Eamonn O’Connor Composer: Phil Strong Sound: Phil Strong, Jason Milligan, Dominique Kerboeuf No rating, 90 minutes

New documentary highlights missing songbirds By: Calvin Dao | April 20, 2015 http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/blog/posting.asp?ID=1514

For the past five years, Su Rynard has been researching the decline of songbirds after she realized that she was not seeing or hearing many of the birds she used to. The work collected by her and her team have culminated in the feature-‐length documentary The Messenger. Beautifully shot along the migration routes of the animals around the world, such as Canada, France and the United States, the film attempts to explain the disappearance of the songbirds and the impact that it has on our ecosystem. Why is it called The Messenger? In the past, humans have looked to the flights and songs of birds to foretell the future. These days, we study birds because they’re so linked to the environment. We know that when we look to birds, they have something to tell us — [for example], when canaries were used in coal mines as an indicator for the health of the miners: if the canary fell off its perch and couldn’t sing anymore, it meant that the methane gas levels had risen to a toxic level and that the environment was no longer safe, that their lives were in danger. Birds are the environmental indicator now out there and in a way, it’s the world that’s the coalmine, so to speak. They are telling us something about the status of our environment. How did you and your team prepare to make the movie?

This entire process of the film took about five years. It was about two to two-‐and-‐a-‐half years in development and that includes raising the money to make the film, but also doing a lot of research. We wanted to get two spring migrations, so we shot it over 14 months because, one: we were travelling, and two: we wanted to catch some of the work that the researchers were doing at different phases and in different places. What was your personal experience while filming the movie? It’s a real privilege when you’re working on a documentary to be let into someone else’s world and to have that great access to these different places and people. I think my favourite part was always stepping into something completely extraordinary that I normally would never do, like being in very remote places in Turkey, where we had to sleep in village houses. It’s like you’re getting this special-‐guided tour into a world that just unfolds for you. What else will you be working on in the future? I don’t have another project lined up. This one has been so consuming and it will be for some time. It really took five years of my life and the work has been very intense. We’re actually teaming up with Bird Studies Canada as a social impact partner and will be taking the film on a North American tour, so I think it’s going to occupy me for some time. What bird would you vote for in Canadian Geographic’s National Bird Project? I would vote for the whip-‐poor-‐will because it’s the sound of the night. It’s just so extraordinary to hear that bird. It’s not a songbird, so it’s not in our film, but it’s one that’s really disappearing. I have heartache for that loss. I just remember as a kid falling asleep to the sound of a whip-‐poor-‐will. It’s a great, great sound. The Messenger will premiere at the Hot Docs International Film Festival on April 28 in Toronto. Learn more about the documentary on its production company website:http://songbirdsos.com.

Canadian Films at Hot Docs By: Ralph Lucas | April 20, 2015 http://www.northernstars.ca/News/01504201001_hotdocs.html

The Messenger is a "canary in the coal mine" environmental story from director Su Rynard. We previously covered this film in an online news story.

Parkdale filmmaker thrilled to premiere songbird documentary at Hot Docs By: Hilary Caton | April 27, 2015 http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-‐story/5588870-‐parkdale-‐filmmaker-‐thrilled-‐to-‐ premiere-‐songbird-‐documentary-‐at-‐hot-‐docs/

Migratory songbirds are the canaries in the coal mine for humans on earth. Lose the songbirds and the planet’s demise might not be that far behind, according to the film The Messenger. From the cities of Toronto and New York all the way to Costa Rica and the boreal forest of Canada, the population of migratory songbirds is plummeting. “When I finally clued into that, as a filmmaker I said I’m going to do something about this idea. It’s definitely a problem that’s happening on a global scale and we wanted to reflect that in the film,” said Su Rynard, a Parkdale resident and the director of the documentary. “This story demanded that we go to different places and we really tried to find people who were really engaged in researching and really trying to figure out why this is happening. I wanted to make it contemporary; it’s not a typical nature film.” Rynard’s documentary, which premieres at the 2015 Canadian International Documentary Festival Hot Docs, explores the human connection to birds and examines the variety of human-‐made perils that have devastated bird populations like Thrushes, Warblers, Orioles, Tanagers and Grosbeaks through hunting, light pollution, high rise collisions, pesticides, cats and of course the loss of habitat.

“Every species has a different story to tell with myriad of causes and in some cases it’s more than one cause,” the Queen and Dufferin dtreets resident explained. “One of the challenges, which were a huge challenge when making the film, was that there’s no single cause. There’s no smoking gun. Some say it’s the fastest rate of decline in human history.” This is Rynard’s first time showing at Hot Docs, although her films have shown at film festivals around the world including the Rotterdam and Shanghai film festivals. Hot Docs was a missing piece in her festival mosaic.

“It’s great to show something in your home town, the other work I’ve done does travel and it’s great to get the work out in the world,” she said. “But if you don’t have a hometown audience there’s a bit of a disconnection. It’s really, really nice to do something you can tell your neighbour about at a local level.” Her inspiration for the film comes from a combination of personal experience and through reading Bridget Stutchbery’s book Silence of the Songbirds. She said over the years she’s traveled north during the summers and realized she would hear them less and less each year. “I thought it was me, that I was just missing them. It wasn’t until I read the book and started analyzing the issue that I was like, ‘whoa, this is isn’t me, this thing I’m feeling is actually part of a huge problem’ and that is we are losing the birds,” she said. “It certainly has changed my experience of spring. I’m just way more conscious of the new sound out there. It has changed me. I will be much more vigilant and do what I can to further any conservation efforts because it’s important.” To help try and save the songbirds, Rynard’s film has teamed up with Bird Studies Canada to create a social impact campaign that will serve as a bridge to audience members who feel inspired to help in any way they can. It’s all she can hope for, she said. “I would really like people to say what can I do to help? And there are plenty of simple ways they can,” she said. Rynard hopes when people come out to see the documentary they clue in to what’s happening around them and realize there’s a connection between humans and birds. “The other message of The Messenger, is that we study birds because they’re so linked to the environment and they do tell us something about the environment. So what happens to birds happens to us and it’s a link people don’t make,” Rynard explained. “We really have to turn it back on ourselves because we live in that shared environment and if the environment doesn’t sustain them eventually, how will it sustain us? The answer is, it won’t. We really have to take it seriously not only for the birds’ sake, but also our own.” To find out more about the film and ways to help the songbirds, visit www.themessengerdoc.com. The Messenger premiers at Hot Doc on Tuesday, April 28; it screens again Friday, May 1 and Sunday, May 3. For tickets, visit http://goo.gl/PzaZGy

Repost: http://m.ourwindsor.ca/news-‐story/5588870-‐parkdale-‐filmmaker-‐thrilled-‐to-‐ premiere-‐songbird-‐documentary-‐at-‐hot-‐docs

TAKING FLIGHT: INTERVIEW WITH SU RYNARD, DIRECTOR OF THE MESSENGER By: BIRITHIVY YOGARATNAM | April 27, 2015 http://thetfs.ca/2015/04/27/taking-‐flight-‐interview-‐su-‐rynard-‐director-‐messenger/

As the Hot Docs festival begins, many amazing documentaries will be screened. Among them is the wonderful film The Messenger, directed by Su Rynard. The documentary takes a look at birds and the many incredible things that make them one of nature’s finest creatures. But The Messenger is really about our impact on these brilliant creatures, and how many people from around the world fight to help save and keep the birds from getting decreased in population. Toronto Film Scene was able to talk with Rynard about creating the documentary. Toronto Film Scene: What brought you the idea on making a documentary specifically on birds? Su Rynadr: My family has a humble cottage about three hours north east of Toronto, and I have spent time there each year since I was born. When we were growing up barn swallows swooped over the water, cedar wax-‐wings foraged in the choke cherry tree, grosbeaks visited the bird feeder, and I fell asleep to the call of the whip-‐poor-‐will. Note the past tense. If it weren’t for the scribbles my mom penciled in our field guide every year, we would have no evidence these birds ever lived in our corner of the world. For my part, as I grew up my life became busier and I rationalized their disappearance as my own problem – I was somehow missing them. Only recently I realized what I was experiencing was part of a much bigger problem. My fate is that I am a filmmaker. And so this journey began.

TFS: Some of the technology shown in the film dealing with the birds flight route is amazing. What was the most striking fact you learned from this? SR: It was just a few years ago that Bridget Stutchbury first used a geo-‐locator on a songbird (the Purple Martin) to track its migration to South American and back. For the first time ever they were able to get detailed information such as exactly where the bird travels, when it travels, and how long it takes. But, in order to get this information, the bird needs to be outfitted with a geo-‐ locator “backpack”, wear it for a year, fly to its winter home, then be re-‐captured by researchers who remove the backpack and download the data. So it’s very challenging. Martin Wikelski takes the tracking of birds to another level, as the ICARUSInitiative has the potential to track songbirds from outer space. They key question is, where do they die? When ICARUS is launched in 2016 this will mark a paradigm shift for animal tracking, as the new devices can constantly update researchers with live data telling them where on earth the bird is, how it is doing, and if it dies, where it dies. If we know where animals are dying, then conservation efforts can follow. TFS: Our impact on their lives is really significant and sadly a cause in the decrease in their population. In your view, what else could be done by us to help save the bird? SR: There are many ways to help songbirds. To connect people with ways they can help we are launching a social impact campaignwww.TheMessengerDoc.com. Easy things you can do are: keep your cat indoors, prevent birds from hitting your windows, buy organic food and drink bird friendly coffee, create backyard or garden habitat using native plants, and reduce your carbon footprint. Importantly, when you help birds, you are also helping everyone around you. We share the same eco-‐system with birds, and we all rely on a healthy functioning environment for our own lives. In this way, the fate of the songbird is inextricably linked to our own. TFS: Out of the interviewees in the film, which one was the most interesting and why? SR: It’s a real privilege when you’re working on a documentary to have access to someone’s world. My favourite part was stepping into something completely extraordinary that I normally would never do, like bird banding in the far east of Turkey, or documenting pipelines in the Boreal Forest, or listening to the sound of songbirds migrating overhead in upstate New York in the middle of the night. It’s like you’re getting this special-‐guided tour into a world that you would never otherwise see or experience. My job of course, is to translate this experience into the film for the viewers – and I think that comes across in The Messenger. TFS: Which of the birds is your personal favourite? SR: The song of the White-‐throated sparrow and the Veery remind me of being in the Ontario woods in the summer, and I love that. The Messenger screens at Hot Docs 2015. You can find more information at the Hot Docs website, as well as reading our review of the film.

HOT DOCS: DAY 6 – THE MESSENGER By: Steve Gow | April 28, 2015 http://www.strictlydocs.com/hdday6/

Sure, you may hear their carefree singing and think life is simple for songbirds. Think again.

Life is actually pretty hard on those migratory minstrels of the skies. As pointed out in filmmaker Su Rynard’s stirring film The Messenger, songbirds are depleting at an alarming rate. The Purple Martin alone is down 78% since 1970. In the doc (which makes its world premiere today at Hot Docs), Rynard travels from Turkey to Manhattan to follow the nocturnal migration of songbirds in order to uncover the devastating toll human interference and environmental changes have taken on the winged population. Here’s a short sample of my conversation with Rynard ahead of her film’s Hot Docs premiere. Messenger _ Rynard_Su Filmmaker Su Rynard Steve Gow: What is the biggest challenge between making a nature documentary versus any other type of doc? Su Rynard: I didn’t want to make a nature documentary. When people think of nature documentaries, they think of David Attenborough or somebody out in the woods. So I thought I want to make a contemporary film because humans, we have a complex relationship with the natural world now and it is contemporary – and there is an interesting intersection there and you can’t ever look at nature any more as something outside of us.

Gow: Right, its not Wild Kingdom anymore. Rynard: It’s not Wild Kingdom anymore. So its really interesting because I was saying that from the beginning. And then, how to do that is a totally different thing. So you can say ‘its not Wild Kingdom anymore, I’m going to make something that really acknowledges that intersection where we’re part of that same world’ – and there’s a challenge in that kind of filmmaking. Gow: Why do you think that animals or wildlife are good ways into looking at environmental issues? Su: I think people have a connection to birds. I mean, we live in cities and you can live in New York and be a birder…you can get a bird that just came out of the Amazon, sits by your house for two days and then it’s gone. So there’s always been a connection. And there’s also deep historical and cultural connections to birds. They’ve always been in mythology, they’re in our art, they’re in Shakespeare, they’ve been connected to gods. I mean, people have always looked to birds so there’s always been something in the cultural fabric as well that kind of interested me. Gow: What is the main message that people are taking away from the film? Rynard: It’s interesting because it’s kind of new for people – this particular aspect to it. I think people don’t know the magnitude of it and that it’s happening all around us kind of silently. So just eye-‐opening awareness for one. To watch the trailer for THE MESSENGER, view below:

'The Messenger': Death of songbirds is environmental warning By: Anne Maria Tremonti | May 1, 2015 http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-‐current-‐for-‐may-‐1-‐2015-‐1.3056951

You're not likely to see or hear the Jaeger seabird unless you're out at sea... say, off the coast of Newfoundland. The Jaeger spends most of its time far from shore.... or at least it usually does. But something's different with the Jaegers this year. Instead of fattening up over the sea as they usually do, many jaegers are showing up on land in a sickly, starved state. The Jaegers are hardly the only bird population that's imperilled right now and there's a sense among those who are watching these trends, that birds may just be the globe's canary in the coal mine.

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Ian Jones is an ornithologist at Memorial University. He's in St. John's.

The message that the birds might just have for us all is the subject of a new documentary film, screening at Toronto's Hot Docs festival. It's called The Messenger.

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It was directed by Su Rynard, and she was in Toronto.

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Christy Morrissey is an ecotoxicologist from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

Health Canada's Pesticide Management Regulatory Agency, which regulates these pesticides sent us this statement: "As we move through the re-‐evaluation of neonicotinoid pesticides, we will consider Dr. Morrissey's data along with all other relevant data that is available. An interim report is targeted for later this year." It's also worth mentioning that last fall, the province of Ontario announced it plans to reduce by 80 per cent the amount of crops planted with neonicotinoid-‐treated corn and soybean seed by 2017. Are you noticing a change in the number of songbirds? Let us know. Tweet us @TheCurrentCBC using #ByDesignCBC. Or email us through our website. This segment was produced by The Current's Sonya Buyting.

HOT DOCS 2015 REVIEW: THE MESSENGER

By: BIRITHIVY YOGARATNAM | April 27, 2015 http://thetfs.ca/2015/04/27/hot-‐docs-‐2015-‐review-‐messenger/

Birds have been an integral part of nature and have been looked at as amazing creatures from human’s perspective. With their long migration journeys and amazing singing like chirping, the birds have been animals to behold within the animal kingdom. However, in recent times, the species has been hit with many human caused obstacles that they have not been able to adjust to. The Messenger takes a look at how humans have affected the animals from various places around the world. and the various bird lovers and ecologists that fight to keep the animal from going extinct.

As far as documentaries go, The Messenger does a fairly excellent job in showing the subject of birds. They are amazing creatures with fairly herculean stamina. It is interesting to see sequences where the people working with the birds show the migrating route that the birds take. We also see our impact on their livelihoods as we see the people pick up dead birds that die from impacting into buildings. The documentary tells a lot about the amazing qualities that birds have. We get a in-‐depth look at how they are vital to nature, and how even though we cause a lot of disruption to their existence, we are still able to help them through it all. It shows that we should care more about the existence of animals because whether we like it or not, they are crucial to our ecosystem. IS THE MESSENGER ESSENTIAL FESTIVAL VIEWING? If you’re an animal and nature lover, this film is essential viewing. THE MESSENGER SCREENING TIMES

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Tuesday, April 28, 2015 – 9:00 pm Scotiabank Theatre

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Friday, May 1, 2015 – 1:30 pm – Scotiabank Theatre

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Sunday, May 3, 2015 – 6:30 pm – Innis Town Hall More About The Messenger THE MESSENGER TRAILER

Hot Docs Review: 'The Messenger' May 3, 2015 http://www.cinemablographer.com/2015/05/hot-‐docs-‐review-‐messenger.html The Messenger (Canada/France, 93 min.) Dir. Su Rynard Programme: Canadian Spectrum (World Premiere) -‐ See more at: http://www.cinemablographer.com/2015/05/h ot-‐docs-‐review-‐messenger.html#sthash.WdGwKs9t.dpuf

Birds of a feather flock together in Su Rynard’s flighty doc eco doc The Messenger. Fans of winged creatures will be a-‐ twitter with this affectionate look at songbirds and the harmony they create worldwide. The Messenger assembles a gaggle of bird lovers and ornithologists who explain the alarming rate at which songbirds are on the decline. A York University biology professor, for example, charts one songbird's migration to Brazil and back in one season, and explores how far a single bird travels while bringing its cheerful tune around the world. The Messenger looks beyond the birds and extends to a greater argument about climate change as the migration patterns of birds struggle to adapt to the fluctuating weather. Bird populations dwindle as birds arrive on their usual schedule to find unseasonably cool temperatures in which they freeze to death, or they come home at the usual time to find an early spring and depleted food supplies. The case study of the songbirds situates climate change within a complex and fragile ecosystem in which creatures great and small have both a role and a stake. The film also offers practical advice with which birdwatchers may assist their feathered friends. The Messenger shows the surprising amount of bird that crash into windows and die, but the advice to avoid excess lighting and to mount a few decals on window panes are fair solutions that anyone may put into practice when they leave the theatre. The Messenger leaves one wanting to do more for the songbirds since Rynard and company highlight the simple pleasure in spotting a dash of colour in the trees or hearing a soothing birdsong in the morning. The film’s a visual wonder, too, as Rynard presents isolated shots of birds in flight, flapping their wings in sumptuous slow motion cinematography. While the film makes a great case for birds, cat people (i.e. me) might take issue with one hilariously heavy-‐handed sequence that wags its finger at little kitties for hunting the songbirds that flutter into backyards across the county. The rhetoric used by the talking heads in this sequence is a little rich, since The Messenger ignores other predators in the food chain to shame cats and their owners. (The first time my cat brought a bird to the doorstep as a present remains a legitimately fond memory.) This episode of The Messenger feels strangely out of place as images of cats snatching birds and munching on them are treated like a gangland shooting presented on FOX news. Inconsistencies aside, The Messenger soars as a nature documentary as Rynard and her trio of cinematographers capture the airborne animals in all their beauty. This one's for the birds. Rating: ★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)

Hot Docs 2015: ‘The Circus Dynasty’ and ‘The Messenger’

By: Gregory Breen | April 20, 2015 The Messenger (DIR. Su Rynard)

By: Trevor Jeffery Starting off with crisp focused shots of singled-‐ out birds in flight, slowed down and illuminated over a black background, showcasing every little muscle movement and feather ruffle a bird makes to flap its wings, The Messenger lets you know right away that if you appreciate nature in the slightest, you will like what it has for you.

It can be summarized as “vignettes of birds”; the documentary covers migration paths from Pennsylvania to Brazil, to effects of pesticides on bird food sources in Saskatchewan, to the benefits of birds as natural predators for the coffee farms in Costa Rica. Through birds, the message is climate change; even the staunchest of climate change deniers will be forced to at least consider the implications of life without birds, if not for their being an essential part of nature, then at least for their beauty and elegance. As a documentary, The Messenger checks everything on the “objectively well made” list. It boasts a clear introduction and conclusion; seamless transitions from vignette to vignette; interesting and relevant interviews from multiple viewpoints that contribute to the story. For 90 minutes, the amount of content and information is astounding. Likely you’ll walk away having learned something new and relevant, unless you’re an ornithologist – or a bird. Catch The Messenger at Toronto’s Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on: Tuesday, April 28 at 9:00 p.m. @ Scotiabank Theatre Friday, May 1 at 1:30 p.m. @ Scotiabank Theatre Sunday, May 3 at 6:30 p.m. @ Innis Town Hall

Hot Docs – The Messenger – Su Rynard April 28, 2015 http://themindreels.com/2015/04/28/hot-‐docs-‐the-‐messenger-‐su-‐rynard/ The Messenger is a beautiful, thought-‐provoking film which takes a look at the rapidly-‐depleting global population of songbirds, and what that likely means not only to the planet, but to our survival as a species, as well. Director Su Rynard deftly takes us all over the world, speaking with various birders and ornithologists about bird populations in their regions of expertise, and no matter what the species, they all have one thing in common: there are far fewer of them now than there were 50-‐70 years ago, and at this rate, many species could well be extinct within the next 30 years.

That is a horrifying statistic on its own, and while it’s sad that we’d need more incentive than that to do something about it, the simple fact is that our fate is intrinsically tied with that of songbirds, in every country, territory and region of the globe. Every ecosystem exists in a delicate harmonious balance. Insecticides kill a major food source for many birds. And without the birds to help keep the insect population under control, famine exists just over the horizon for us. The number of birds who are killed by light sources left on all over the city of Toronto is staggering, to the point where it is now law for buildings to incorporate some sort of anti-‐glare protection into their window designs, thus making it it easier for birds to navigate at night. Or, you know, we could just try turning off the lights and conserving energy in one simple flick of a switch, but one step at a time, I guess. Cats are a huge predator for birds. The number of bird deaths annually at the paws of cats is almost unfathomable. The footage shown through this segment of the film was kind of terrifying, actually, even to someone who has three cats (who all remain indoors, however), but it’s important to keep these things in mind. This is why spaying and neutering is so important, though one could argue that it’s becoming just as important to control the rapid growth of the human population around the world, as well as cats’. However, the contrast between the stunning, slow-‐motion full colour shots of birds in flight shown throughout the film is perfectly contrasted with the night-‐vision, glowing-‐ eyed terrors of cats on the prowl. In the end, what The Messenger successfully demonstrates is how inter-‐connected we all are, and how our actions need to change soon and in drastic ways, because we are now careening toward our own end. Measures are being taken all around the world to not only bring this information to light, but also to learn what we can about trying to change our course. From tracking the migratory habits of birds, to creating laws that protect them (the French hunters were the most disturbing portion of this film for me to watch, personally), to recording various calls and deciphering not only their meanings, but using them to keep track of numbers, experts across the globe are doing their best to listen to the message the songbirds are speaking to us. As when a canary’s death in the mines told

miners when their own lives were in danger, it is in all of our best interests to listen to what the birds are telling us now. Before it really is too late. The Messenger screens tonight at the Scotiabank Theatre at 9:00pm, and twice more throughout the festival – Friday May 1, 2015 at 1:30pm (also at Scotiabank), and Sunday May 3, 2015 at 6:30pm at Innis Town Hall. In addition, the film’s official website can be found here.

Hot Docs 2015: Jihadists, Drones and Nina Simone By: Scott Alic | May 5, 2015 http://samepageteam.com/2015/05/05/hot-‐docs-‐2015-‐jihadists-‐drones-‐and-‐nina-‐ simone/ The large screening list and wide range of subjects of the films screened at Hot Docs makes it possible that no two attendees would select the same slate of films. (Let’s just say that by the end of the day that the HD schedule is released, I’ve created a serious one-‐page schematic akin to John Cusack’s mixtape playlist in High Fidelity, mapping out permutations of screenings of my long-‐list titles.) This year, there were screenings of docs on: the group of young friends who formed Greenpeace. How the sugar industry has taken a page from the Big Tobacco playbook to sow confusion and doubt, and maximize profit. Rehtaeh Parsons. Being a marijuana reviewer for the Denver Times. The UN’s response scenario in the event of extraterrestrial contact. The government case against the alleged founder of online black market Silk Road. The global disappearance of populations of songbirds. (These titles: How to Change the World, Sugar Coated, No Place to Hide: The Rehtaeh Parsons Story, Rolling Papers, The Visit, Deep Web, The Messenger.)

Silent Spring, Take 2 By: Staff | April 13, 2015 http://www.northernstars.ca/News/01504140710_rynard.html

It's been 53 years since the publication of Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring. It was supposed to be a wake up call to the world about how our footprint was causing severe damage to the environment due largely to the chemical industry and more specifically the use and over-‐use of pesticides. Now there is a new call and this time it's a documentary and it is titled, The Messenger. It gets its title from that oft used metaphor about the canary in a coal mine and in Su Rynard’s film we are asked to contemplate our deep-‐seated connection to birds while it warns us that the uncertain fate of songbirds might mirror our own. The Messenger will have it's World Premiere at Hot Docs. The Messenger, which screens three times at this year's Hot Docs, brings us face-‐to-‐face with the beauty of Thrushes, Warblers, Orioles, Tanagers, Grosbeaks and many other airborne music-‐makers – and with the existential threats they face from sharing the planet with us. These include hunting, light pollution, high-‐rise impacts, pipelines, pesticides and loss of migratory habitats. On one level, The Messenger is eco-‐alert as art – a skillfully told character first-‐person p.o.v. about the mass depletion of songbirds on multiple continents, and about the compassionate people who are working to turn the tide. According to international expert Dr. Bridget Stutchbury, who is featured in the documentary, we may have lost almost half the songbirds that filled the skies fifty years ago. On another level, The Messenger is an engaging, three-‐act emotional journey, one that mixes its elegiac message with hopeful notes and unique glances into the influence of songbirds on our own expressions of the soul. For example, a German composer, DJ and bird-‐watching enthusiast, Dominik Eulberg, incorporates bird-‐soundsseamlessly into techno music and introduces us to the use of birdsongs in Wagnerian opera.

The Messenger also extends our "birds’ eye view," with a fresh glimpse into their migratory life -‐ courtesy of new technology that tracks individuals and species over thousands of miles, offering up intimate information about the hazards they encounter on their journeys. We meet passionate and motivated people like Michael Mesure, the founder of the Fatal Light Awareness Program, who has spearheaded the treating of skyscraper glass with markers, resulting in a 70% decline of bird deaths. As he says of the movement to switch off lights in empty buildings, "How often can you say, you flick a switch and a problem disappears?" We see culture clashes, as in France, where activists run up against hunters of the Ortolan Bunting, an endangered bird that is considered a culinary delicacy. And in the vast prairie lands of Saskatchewan, Dr. Christy Morrissey unravels the mystery behind the sharp drop in the numbers of insect eating birds. She discovers that the smoking gun is likely the same pesticide that is killing honeybees and states, "We are changing the environment faster than birds can cope with." But there is an ultimate wild card for songbirds. A Turkish ecologist brings us to a crucial songbird site where the distant Mount Ararat looms large as a sentinel for climate change, where its disappearing glacier could spell tragedy for the wetlands at its base. There's a glimpse of hope for a sustainable future, as Costa Rican coffee farmers learn from ornithologist Alejandra Martinez-‐Salinas about the benefits of pesticide-‐free shade-‐ grown coffee. The diversity of shade trees provide a natural habitat for migratory songbirds and the birds’ appetite for the destructive coffee berry borer, provides an alternative to agro-‐chemicals. Ultimately, The Messenger is about what the birds have to tell us about the state of our planet and of ourselves. In the words of Peter Marra, of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center in Washington, D.C., "When the bird population starts to decline it’s a cold, it’s a flu that the Earth has. Birds provide an estimate of the integrity of the environment itself. We are part of that environment. We depend on it for our own lives." Co-‐written and directed by Su Rynard, The Messenger will have its World Premiere at Hot Docs on April 28 at Toronto's Scotiabank Theatre. It will play again there on May 1 and on May 3 at the Innis Town Hall Theatre.

Hot Docs 2015: What films you should see at this year's festival By: Jim Slotek | April 18, 2015 http://www.torontosun.com/2015/04/18/hot-‐docs-‐2015-‐what-‐films-‐you-‐should-‐see-‐at-‐ this-‐years-‐festival We look at 13 films ahead of Canada's premiere documentary film festival

Okay, so the red carpet scene isn’t as much of a “thing.” But Toronto’s annual Hot Docs Film Festival carries arguably as much impact in the documentary world as TIFF does on the wider cinema scene. Hot Docs is a leading-‐edge intro into the non-‐fiction films people will be talking about through 2015, and is a pretty good predictor of the docs that will be getting Oscar attention. Examples: this year’s nom Virunga and recent-‐vintage Oscar winners like The Cove and Man on Wire. Some 210 documentaries from 44 countries are programmed at 12 different venues, starting with the April 23 opening night premiere of TIG, a profile of the Grammy-‐winning comedian Tig Notaro, whose battle with cancer informed the most inspired comedy of her career. Herewith: a sampling of 13 Hot Docs films we previewed. THE MESSENGER: Part mournful elegy for disappearing songbirds and part call-‐to-‐action. This movie covers just about everything bad that is killing birds by the billions (buildings, cats, light pollution, chemical-‐pollution, etc.) and a handful of good things that are being done to try to stem what seems like a race to extinction for scores of species (from marked windows for increased visibility to shade-‐grown coffee growing).

Re-‐post: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2015/04/18/hot-‐docs-‐2015-‐what-‐films-‐you-‐should-‐ see-‐at-‐this-‐years-‐festival

Hot Docs 2015: What films you should see at this year's festival By: Jim Slotek | April 22, 2015 http://jam.canoe.com/Movies/2015/04/17/22349956.html

We look at 13 films ahead of Canada's premiere documentary film festival Okay, so the red carpet scene isn’t as much of a “thing.” But Toronto’s annual Hot Docs Film Festival carries arguably as much impact in the documentary world as TIFF does on the wider cinema scene. Hot Docs is a leading-‐edge intro into the non-‐fiction films people will be talking about through 2015, and is a pretty good predictor of the docs that will be getting Oscar attention. Examples: this year’s nom Virunga and recent-‐vintage Oscar winners like The Cove and Man on Wire. Some 210 documentaries from 44 countries are programmed at 12 different venues, starting with the April 23 opening night premiere of TIG, a profile of the Grammy-‐ winning comedian Tig Notaro, whose battle with cancer informed the most inspired comedy of her career. Also heavily anticipated: Documentaries on Mavis Staples (Mavis!) and Nina Simone (What Happened Miss Simone?) Herewith: a sampling of 13 Hot Docs films we previewed.

THE MESSENGER: Part mournful elegy for disappearing songbirds and part call-‐to-‐action. This movie covers just about everything bad that is killing birds by the billions (buildings, cats, light pollution, chemical-‐pollution, etc.) and a handful of good things that are being done to try to stem what seems like a race to extinction for scores of species (from marked windows for increased visibility to shade-‐grown coffee growing).

HOTDOCS 2015: LA FORCE DU DOCUMENTAIRE By: Janine Messadie | April 21, 2015 http://www.lexpress.to/archives/15234/ Depuis 1993, le festival Hotdocs de Toronto présente une sélection des meilleurs documentaires d’ici et d’ailleurs, comprenant des œuvres récemment primées, des premières torontoises, canadiennes, internationales et mondiales. Cette année, 210 films issus de 45 pays, abordent des thématiques sociales et identitaires; environnementales et politiques; sportives, musicales et humoristiques. En plus des projections cinématographiques dans douze différents programmes, le festival offre plusieurs activités parallèles, en présence de 186 cinéastes et invités de marque, venus des quatre coins du monde pour partager leur amour du documentaire, à travers des tables rondes, des discussions thématiques, des présentations spéciales et des projections interactives qui feront le bonheur des festivaliers. Aperçu de cette 22e édition qui se tient du 23 avril au 3 mai 2015. Peut-‐on imaginer un monde sans oiseaux, questionne cette fois, The Messenger de Su Rynard. Ce film contemplatif explore le déclin des oiseaux chanteurs, dévastés par les périls imposés par l’homme. De la forêt boréale, à la base du Mont Ararat, en passant par les rues de New York, le film se veut un miroir de notre propre déclin.

Hot Docs lineup unveiled

By: Liz Braun | March 17, 2015 http://www.torontosun.com/2015/03/17/hot-‐docs-‐lineup-‐unveiled

North America's most important documentary film festival is back for its 22nd year in Toronto. The Hot Docs lineup was announced Tuesday, offering details on the 210 titles (from 45 countries) that will be featured in the 2015 film festival. It runs April 23 -‐ May 3. The opening night film in the festival is the international premiere of Tig (from directors Kristina Goolsby and Ashley York), a movie about comic Tig Notaro's spirit and humour in the aftermath of breast cancer. In the competitive Canadian Spectrum program, highlights include Charles Wilkinson's Haida Gwaii: On The Edge Of The World, a look at a community at risk from a proposed oil tanker route; Shelly Saywell's Lowdown Tracks, which tells the story of 5 musicians working on the streets of Toronto; Su Rynard's The Messenger, a film about the environment and the alarming disappearance of songbirds; Rama Rau's No Place To Hide: The Rehtaeh Parsons Story, a film about the tragic effects of cyberbullying; and Andre-‐Line Beauparlant's Pinocchio, a movie about wanting to trust someone who has an iffy relationship with the truth.

'Raiders!' and 'Mavis!' Highlight Hot Docs 2015 Lineup By: David Canfield | March 17, 2015 http://www.indiewire.com/article/raiders-‐and-‐mavis-‐highlight-‐hot-‐docs-‐2015-‐lineup-‐ 20150317

The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, the largest festival for documentaries in North America, has unveiled its 2015 lineup. Featuring 210 documentaries from around the world, this year's slate boasts impressive variety. "This year’s festival takes us around the world, showcasing stories from 45 different countries and the best in Canadian filmmaking," said Hot Docs director of programming Charlotte Cook. "Through even more live and interactive experiences we have more ways than ever for the audience to be a part of the festival. Bringing this exceptional work to Toronto is a huge honor and we can’t wait to join the filmmakers in sharing their work with our incredible audience." Canadian Spectrum (Competitive) "The Messenger," directed by Su Rynard. Highlights ever-‐worsening environmental devastation through the alarming disappearance of songbirds.

Reel Talk: Must See Films at HotDocs 2015

By: Sonya Davidson | April 16, 2015 http://www.torontoisawesome.com/the-‐arts/film/reel-‐talk-‐must-‐see-‐films-‐at-‐hotdocs-‐ 2015/

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is North America’s largest documentary film festival and conference returns for its 22nd edition here in Toronto. From April 23 to May 3, 2015 the Festival will screen 210 docs from 45 countries. Screenings will take place in various theatres across the city. For complete list of screenings and tickets go to www.hotdocs.ca Here are a few films that we’ve added to our screening schedule… The Messenger: Directed by Su Rynard. Canada. World Premiere A visually thrilling ode to the beauty and importance of the imperilled songbird, and what it will mean to all of us on both a global and human level if we lose them. For thousands of years these incredible creatures have shared their songs with us, and inspired our music and our art. But in our rapidly changing world, they are disappearing.

HOT DOCS UNVEILS STELLAR 2015 LINE UP By: Courtney Small | March 17, 2015 http://cinemaaxis.com/2015/03/17/hot-‐docs-‐unveils-‐stellar-‐2015-‐line-‐up/

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival announced its full film line-‐up for the upcoming 22nd edition, April 23–May 3, at a press conference this morning at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto. From 2,724 film submissions, this year’s slate will present 210 titles from 45 countries in 12 screening programs. “This year’s Festival takes us around the world, showcasing stories from 45 different countries and the best in Canadian filmmaking,” says Hot Docs director of programming Charlotte Cook. “Through even more live and interactive experiences we have more ways than ever for the audience to be a part of the Festival. Bringing this exceptional work to Toronto is a huge honour and we can’t wait to join the filmmakers in sharing their work with our incredible audience.” In the competitive Canadian Spectrum program, notable films include: Charles Wilkinson’s HAIDA GWAII: ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, a look at a sustainable and healing community at risk from a proposed oil tanker route; Shelly Saywell’s LOWDOWN TRACKS, which tells the stories of five transient musicians on Toronto’s streets; Su Rynard’s THE MESSENGER, which highlights ever-‐worsening environmental devastation through the alarming disappearance of songbirds; Rama Rau’s NO PLACE TO HIDE: THE REHTAEH PARSONS STORY, an alarming account of the effects of cyber-‐bullying; and André-‐Line Beauparlant’s PINOCCHIO, a deeply personal portrait of the struggle to trust someone who feels no obligation to the truth.

Hot Docs unveils Canadian Spectrum, opening night titles By: Etan Vlessing | March 17, 2015 http://playbackonline.ca/2015/03/17/hot-‐docs-‐unveils-‐canadian-‐spectrum-‐opening-‐ night-‐titles/ The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on Tuesday unveiled the latest films by Charles Wilkinson, Shelley Saywell and Su Rynard as part of its Canadian Spectrum program. Wilkinson (Peace Out, Oil Sands Karaoke) will bring to Toronto Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World, a look at an aboriginal community at risk from a proposed oil tanker route. Hot Docs also booked Saywell’s Lowdown Tracks, about five transient musicians on Toronto streets, and Rynard’s The Messenger, which looks at how the disappearance of songbirds might explain environmental devastation.

Hot Docs ’15: “Unbranded” wins audience award By: Manori Ravindran | May 6, 2015 http://realscreen.com/2015/05/05/hot-‐docs-‐15-‐unbranded-‐wins-‐audience-‐award/ Coming in second place in the audience poll is Shelley Saywell’s Lowdown Tracks, which follows five transient musicians who busk for change in Toronto, while Su Rynard’s The Messenger, which examines the declining population of songbirds, placed third. The top 20 audience favorites are below:

1.Unbranded (Phillip Baribeau, U.S.) 2. Lowdown Tracks (Shelley Saywell, Canada) 3. The Messenger (Su Rynard; Canada, France) 4. My Love, Don’t Cross That River (Moyoung Jin, South Korea) 5. Radical Grace (Rebecca Parrish, U.S.) 6. How to Change the World (Jerry Rothwell; UK, Canada)

U.S. documentary Unbranded wins audience award at Hot Docs By: Linda Barnard | May 4, 2015 http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2015/05/04/us-‐documentary-‐ unbranded-‐wins-‐audience-‐award-‐at-‐hot-‐docs.html

Coming third was The Messenger. Canadian director Su Rynard sounds a warming with her doc exploring the shocking decline in the global songbird population — and what that heralds for humans. Hot Docs Top 20 audience picks 1. Unbranded 2. Lowdown Tracks 3. The Messenger 4. My Love, Don’t Cross That River 5. Radical Grace 6. How to Change the World

Hot Docs 2015: Wrap-‐up and Picks for 'Best of the Fest' By: Pat Mullen | May 4, 2015 http://www.cinemablographer.com/2015/05/hot-‐docs-‐2015-‐wrap-‐up-‐and-‐picks-‐ for.html

That’s a wrap for Hot Docs 2015! It was a busy festival, although I fell much shorter in my coverage than I usually do! I barely hit 30 films this year, although that number is too bad since I had virtually no time for pre-‐screenings this year and missed three days due to other work commitments. (And did pre-‐screening/programming for two other film festivals in the meantime!) Less is sometimes more, though, since the thirty films gave lots to savour. The Audience Award Before heading into my own picks for the best of the fest, Hot Docs announced today the results in a close race for the Vimeo on Demand Audience Award. The Audience Award winner isUnbranded by Philip Baribeau, which tells the story of four men riding from Canada to Mexico on Mustangs. The film edged out Shelley Saywell’s Low Down Tracks, one of the Canadian films that didn’t fit my schedule, which was up and down between first and second place since its premiere. Su Rynard’s songbird doc The Messenger gets third place.

Hot Docs Announces 2015 Line-‐Up By: NEWS DIVISION IN CINEMAVOX | March 18, 2015 http://www.alternavox.net/22129/hot-‐docs-‐announces-‐2015-‐line-‐up/

2015 Hot Docs Schedule Announced By: Shael Stolberg | April 27, 2015 http://filmbutton.com/mainpage/?p=16319

HOT DOCS ANNOUNCES 2015 LINE UP – 210 DOCUMENTARIES FROM 45 COUNTRIES TO SCREEN AT NORTH AMERICA’S LARGEST DOC FEST In the competitive Canadian Spectrum program, notable films include: Charles Wilkinson’s HAIDA GWAII: ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, a look at a sustainable and healing community at risk from a proposed oil tanker route; Shelly Saywell’s LOWDOWN TRACKS,which tells the stories of five transient musicians on Toronto’s streets; Su Rynard’s THE MESSENGER, which highlights ever-‐worsening environmental devastation through the alarming disappearance of songbirds; Rama Rau’s NO PLACE TO HIDE: THE REHTAEH PARSONS STORY, an alarming account of the effects of cyber-‐bullying; and André-‐Line Beauparlant’s PINOCCHIO, a deeply personal portrait of the struggle to trust someone who feels no obligation to the truth.

All pictures taken by GAT during the festival are available here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/97627695@N03/sets/721576522 44341302

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