Silvicola

by Jean-Philippe Marquis
Product Availability
Institutional, Home-Use, Community Screenings, Broadcast, Theatrical, Educational, Festivals, VOD
About the Film

Set amongst the rugged forests and shorelines of the British Columbia, Silvicola is a tableau of the complex web of cultural and economic forces which compel and constrain modern forestry practices. A story told through the eyes of an eclectic mix of characters whose lives and livelihoods are intimately entangled with the forest, Silvicola employs sinuating vignettes and industrial soundscapes to explore the tensions and dilemmas between commodification and conservation. Contemplative and sensorially immense, Silvicola embeds the viewer within remote spaces and worksites normally hidden from view, from the verdure of old growth canopies to the destructive gigantism of mechanical harvesting to the numbing rhythm of sapling nurseries. A study of both our connection and disconnection with the forest, Silvicola is a film which demands a rethink of the divisions between natural and industrial worlds by spotlighting the hidden labour and logics of modern forestry.

2023  ·  1h20m  ·  Canada
English
English subs
Festivals and Awards
2025
World Community Film Festival, Official Selection
2024
Banff Mountain Film & Book Festival, Official Selection
2024
Festival du Film de Knowlton, Official Selection
2024
Maine Outdoor Film Festival, Official Selection
2024
Cinéma sous les étoiles, Official Selection
2024
Ecofalante Environmental Film Festival, Official Selection | South American Premiere
2024
Cambodia International Film Festival, Official Selection | Cambodian Premiere
2024
International Wildlife Film Festival, Official Selection | US Premiere
2024
Junction North International Documentary Film Festival, Official Selection, Northern Ontario Premiere
2024
Docville International Documentary Film Festival, Official Selection, International Competition | International Premiere
2024
Belleville Downtown DocFest, Official Selection
2024
Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival , Official Selection, Best Environmental Film
2024
Available Light Film Festival, Official Selection
2024
Victoria Film Festival, Official Selection
2023
Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM), Official Selection, New Visions Competition | Quebec Premiere
2023
Guelph Film Festival, Official Selection
2023
Planet In Focus International Environmental Film Festival, Official Selection, Best Canadian Feature Film
2023
DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Official Selection | BC Premiere
2023
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Official Selection, John Kastner Award | World Premiere
Screenings
November 3, 2024
Banff Mountain Film & Book Film Festival (Banff, AB, Canada)
October 11, 2024
BC Forests & Forestry at the Crossroads (Victoria, BC, Canada)
October 10, 2024
BC Forests & Forestry at the Crossroads (Port Alberni, BC, Canada)
October 9, 2024
BC Forests & Forestry at the Crossroads (Campbell River, BC, Canada)
October 8, 2024
BC Forests & Forestry at the Crossroads (Cumberland, BC, Canada)
October 7, 2024
BC Forests & Forestry at the Crossroads (Tofino, BC, Canada)
October 6, 2024
BC Forests & Forestry at the Crossroads (Nanaimo, BC, Canada)
October 5, 2024
BC Forests & Forestry at the Crossroads (Duncan, BC, Canada)
August, 2024
Ecofalante Environmental Film Festival (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
May 4, 2024
Bella Colla Arts Council (Bella Coola, Canada)
April 25, 2024
Kootenay Centre Cinemas (Castlegar, Canada)
April 24, 2024
Patricia Theatre (qathet region (Powell River), Canada)
April 22 - 29, 2024
VIFF Centre (Vancouver, Canada)
April 22, 2024
Cinema Paraloeil (Rimouski, Canada)
April 19, 2024
Junction North International Documentary Film Festival (Sudbury, Canada)
April 18, 2024
Junction North International Documentary Film Festival (Sudbury, Canada)
April 3, 2024
Paradise Cinemas (Williams Lake Film Club) (Williams Lake, Canada)
April 1, 2024
Cinéma Princesse (Rivière-du-Loup, Canada)
March 26, 2024
Docville International Documentary Film Festival (Leuven, Belgium)
March 26, 2024
Hay River Film Society (Hay River, Canada)
March 24 - 27, 2024
The Westdale (Hamilton, Canada)
March 23, 2024
Docville International Documentary Film Festival (Leuven, Belgium)
March 22 - April 2, 2024
Cinémathèque québécoise (Montreal, Canada)
March 22 - April 12, 2024
Cinema Public (Montreal, Canada)
March 21, 2024
University of Victoria (Victoria, Canada)
February 25 - 28, 2024
Bellevile Downtown DocFest (Belleville, Canada)
February 28, 2024
Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (Vancouver, Canada)
February 9, 2024
Available Light Film Festival (Whitehorse, Canada)
February 4, 2024
Victoria Film Festival (Victoria, Canada)
January 4, 2024
Cine-Cool-Club-Med-St-Casmir (Saint-Casimir, Canada)
November 20, 2023
Rencontres Internationales du documentaire de Montréal (Montreal, Canada)
November 19, 2023
Rencontres Internationales du documentaire de Montréal (Montreal, Canada)
November 5, 2023
Guelph Film Festival (Guelph, Canada)
October 21, 2023
Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival (Toronto, Canada)
May 7, 2023
BC Premiere at DOXA Documentary Film Festival (Vancouver, Canada)
April 28, 2023
World Premiere at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival (Toronto, Canada)
Credits
Director
Jean-Philippe Marquis
Producer
Jean-Philippe Marquis
Editor
Jean-Philippe Marquis, Emmet Walsh
Cinematography/Dop
Jean-Philippe Marquis
Sound
Oscar Vargas
Music/Composer
Samuel Laflamme
Credits (Other)
Drone operator: Scott Bell
Color
JF Robichaud

Silvicola stretches viewers’ capacity to see beauty and destruction layered in sometimes unexpected ways.

Dans cette fresque gracieuse et intime, Jean-Philippe Marquis transmet les histoires de celles et ceux qui, à différentes échelles, participent à l’exploitation ou à la sauvegarde des forêts de l’Ouest canadien.

[A] masterwork of patience and complexity that doesn’t seek easy answers

The growing desire to preserve the last of these elder giants in the face of mounting machines is the beating heart of the film.

About the Director

Jean-Philippe Marquis

Jean-Philippe Marquis is a documentary filmmaker and director of photography based in British Columbia. He has ten years of cinematography experience on documentaries and television series. As a director, his documentary work is often non-linear, and dwells on themes of contested geographies and resource extraction. He has made short films in Palestine, Congo-Kinshasa, and Cameroon, and has filmed extensively throughout Yukon and Western Canada. Jean-Philippe’s most recent work is Silvicola (Hot Docs, DOXA 2023), a feature-length documentary offering an unusually intimate glimpse into the people, processes, and paradoxes of modern forestry practices. Silvicola was produced with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council, and the NFB. An alumnus of the Hot Docs Accelerator program (2018), Jean-Philippe is the recipient of a Leo Award for Best Cinematography on a Documentary Series (2018) as well as an IDRC Award for International Development Journalism (2012). He holds degrees in journalism from Concordia University and anthropology from Université de Montréal.

 

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