Filmaker coming to NZ for launch

FILMMAKER COMING TO NEW ZEALAND FOR THE LAUNCH OF THE AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY,

A WILL FOR THE WOODS

www.awillforthewoods.com

New Zealand screening of award winning 'A Will for the Woods' - 17 November 7pm Waikumete Cemetery, Auckland with Director Amy Browne discussing green burials (interviews available pre-screening), hosted by Sir Bob Harvey.

“Moving and inspiring…the film is about a life of purpose and a death with meaning.”

– Nell Minow, The Huffington Post

“A powerful, personal testament to the ‘green burial’ movement…with humor, eloquence, anguish and reflection.”

– Sylvia Pfeiffenberger, Indy Week

“Must-see … Has the potential to affect not just individual viewers but the American way of death.”

– Marianna Torgovnick, TED Blog

Logline: What if our last act could be a gift to the planet? Determined that his final resting place will benefit the earth, musician and psychiatrist Clark Wang prepares for his own green burial.

Australian filmmaker Amy Browne, who co-directed A WILL FOR THE WOODS with Jeremy Kaplan, Tony Hale, and Brian Wilson, while living in Brooklyn, NYC, is coming to New Zealand to release the award-winning documentary, following its major success in the US.

There are two New Zealand screenings:

Auckland

When: Tuesday, 17 November 2015, 6.30pm for 7pm

Where: Waikumete Cemetery, Chapel 1, Great North Rd, Glen Eden

Palmerston North

Reel Earth Film Festival

When: Sat, Nov 14th at 3pm

Where: Palmerston North, NZ

Globe Theatre, 312 Main Street

http://reelearth.org.nz

Following a successful theatrical release at New York City’s Village East Cinema in 2014 and screenings at over 40 leading film festivals where it picked up nine awards, including four audience awards, the film went on to screen at cinemas and community centres around North America and is scheduled to premiere on American public television via America ReFramed on Tuesday, February 24th.

Browne, producer and co-director who now resides in Melbourne, is thrilled to be able to present the film in her home country, with co-director and cinematographer Jeremy Kaplan joining her from the States between March 23rd - April 10th. Partnering with members of the natural burial movement here, the team are hoping that the film will resonate in the same way with an Australian audience and help to further advance this meaningful concept into mainstream consciousness.

The co-directors write in their filmmakers’ statement, “What drew the four of us to the topic was not a fascination with death, but an instinctual connection to this life-affirming, new/old idea that our bodies can remain within the cycle of life and death.”

Synopsis: What if our last act could be a gift to the planet? Musician, psychiatrist, and folk dancer Clark Wang prepares for his own green burial in this immersive documentary.

While battling lymphoma, Clark has discovered a burgeoning movement that uses burial to conserve and restore natural areas, forgoing contemporary funeral practices that operate at the ecosystem’s expense. Boldly facing his mortality, Clark and his partner Jane have become passionate about green burial, compelled by both the environmental benefits and the idea that one can remain within the cycle of life, rather than being cut off from it. The spirited pair have inspired a compassionate local cemeterian, and together they aim to use green burial to save a North Carolina woods from being clear-cut.

Making the most of the time that he has, Clark finds joy in his music and dance, connection with his friends and family, and great comfort in the knowledge that his death, whenever it happens, will be a force for regeneration. The film follows Clark’s dream of leaving a loving, permanent legacy, and environmentalism takes on a deeply human intimacy.

Documenting one community's role in the genesis of a revolutionary movement, A Will for the Woods draws the viewer into a life-affirming portrait of people embracing their connection to each other and to timeless natural cycles.

About green burial: Green burial is a simple and natural alternative to resource-intensive contemporary burial or cremation. The deceased is laid to rest in the earth using only biodegradable materials and without a vault or toxic embalming, in a woodland or other natural setting, often with a fieldstone or indigenous plant marking the grave. This practice can be used as a conservation tool, enabling the acquisition, restoration, and stewardship of natural areas. Simple natural burials were prevalent for thousands of years (and still are in many parts of the world, including in traditional Muslim and Jewish burials) before the contemporary funeral industry propagated the standard of expensive and elaborate funerals divorced from natural processes.

Awards:

AUDIENCE AWARD – Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD – Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

AUDIENCE AWARD – Rhode Island International Film Festival

"FORK IN THE ROAD" AWARD – Greentopia Film Festival

AUDIENCE AWARD – New Orleans Film Festival

PROGRAMMER'S AWARD – The Virginia Film Festival

AUDIENCE AWARD – San Francisco IndieFest

JURY AWARD – San Francisco IndieFest

JURY AWARD – Kansas City FilmFest

ENDS

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