The Forest for the Trees: The Tree Planters

This visually and artistically unique documentary explores the physical and emotional aspects of a community of Canadian west coast tree planters who overcome grueling conditions and emotional difficulties to bring back the forest one tree at a time. Deftly weaving together still photos and film footage, Rita Leistner, an award-winning photographer, photojournalist, filmmaker and erstwhile tree planter, depicts the contradictions in the experiences of the tree planters the hardship and the healing; the solitude and the joy of belonging, the combination of high-intensity sport and industrial labor creating an eloquent cinematic metaphor for the human condition. Finding common cause, self-knowledge and meaning in their formidable task, the tree planters restore themselves and each other in the process of restoring the environment.

• documentary