Artist releases film on demise of the Acadian forest

Mark Brennan

Nova Scotia based landscape painter Mark Brennan is passionate about wilderness and its preservation.
Known on the East Coast for his textured landscape paintings, he has now expanded his craft to include film.
Brennan was prompted to make his first short film, The Acadian Forest, The Story So far, in response to the loss of an area of hardwood forest to industrial forestry, a place he had painted in for over 20 years.
Brennan said, “When you spend so much time immersed in your subject, in my case nature, you come to form a bond with it, I knew every part of this wooded area, almost every tree, it had given me endless insight into an intricate web of life, few of us get to experience today.”
The area was clear cut in the fall of 2010 and it was this loss that began a year long journey into the forests of the Maritimes, but this time with a new medium, the film camera.
“The forests have given me so much, certainly with my art but also, personal growth and an understanding of my own place in the world. With the film I wanted to draw attention to the slow demise of the Acadian Forest to industry, to help the public understand what an amazing eco-system we have in our own backyards, but also bring attention to the way we commoditise Nature with little regard for its own intrinsic value.”
The film, which was officially released online in November, takes the viewer through the seasons in the Acadian Forest. It then goes on to look at the industrial forestry model of growing trees and how this impacts the indigenous hardwood forest eco-systems of the region.
Brennan went on to say, “I have a good eye for film, being a painter, but one of the biggest challenges was capturing the sound, it was by far the most work. I wanted the sound to be enriching, capturing the true essence of the wetlands, lakes and forests. I don’t know how many times I was up at 3 a.m. to record the morning chorus in some remote location! I do feel the sound really brought the visual side of the film alive in a way that we become drawn in and really get to experience the different dimensions of each eco-system.”
The Acadian Forest, The Story So Far, is currently available for viewing online at http://vimeo.com/32691843. There are plans to enter the film into Environmental Film Festivals, including local viewing.
Brennan added, “Truly living for all of us, is about awareness, if the film can help get us into the woods, the hiking trails, the lakes and rivers, to experience it for ourselves, for us to bond with Nature, then there is hope we can begin to stem the loss of the Great North Woods of Maritime Canada and New England, we really all need to become a much louder voice for the forests, not just here in Atlantic Canada, but everywhere, we also need to re-examine the way we measure progress, growth and wellness within our society.”
The Acadian Forest eco-system is currently listed as endangered by the World Wildlife Fund.