New documentary focusing on drying forests in South West

A new documentary focusing on the drying forests in Australia’s South West is in the works from award-winning director Jane Hammond.
This will be the third in a trilogy of documentaries by Hammond, coming after her award-winning documentaries Cry of the Forest and Black Cockatoo Crisis.
Hammond said the new film Browned Off would be an “emotional roller-coaster” showcasing the beauty of the environment to remind people what is at stake.

“It’s telling the story of the forest and the beauty, wonder and joy we have got, but we might lose,” she said.
Hammond said she was first made aware of these ecological collapses in 2011 when filming the first documentary in the series when an area of northern jarrah forest collapsed.
She said at the time, though scientists were concerned about the collapse, the response was fairly quiet and the event was mostly forgotten.
But now, with vast swathes of the South West turning brown, Hammond said it was something that “needed to be highlighted”.
“When I heard browning off was happening, essentially another catastrophic ecological collapse only bigger than the last one, I found that really alarming,” she said.
“The warnings are there, but our governments just aren’t listening.
“It’s no longer something we can bury our heads in the sand and say, ‘it’s happening somewhere else and we can’t do much about it’ — we can and it’s happening here.”
Hammond said this third film would dovetail with the original films focusing on the impact the climate crisis was having on native ecosystems.
She said while Black Cockatoo Crisis resonated with everyone, she expected the reception towards this film to be different.
“People don’t always want to know about doing something about climate change,” she said.
“Most of us now agree this is happening, but do we want to make a stand? Do we want to stop this crazy march to continue using fossil fuels and gas?
“I want to debunk the stupid myth that gas is a transition fuel, because I don’t believe it is.”
Hammond said she did not want to leave audiences feeling helpless, instead she wanted her film to act as a road map.
She said she aimed to do as much as she could by herself but would be fundraising for the film throughout its production.
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