#101 Burning

On the new film, with Academy & Emmy Award winning filmmaker Eva Orner

Eva Orner is an Academy and Emmy award winning filmmaker. While she lives in the US these days, she’s from Australia, and was here when this country burned so horrifically in the bushfires of 2019 and 2020. Like a lot of us, Eva was struck not just by the fires, but by the defensive political intransigence that persists to this day. So she joined forces with a team that includes the production company of fellow countrywoman Cate Blanchett, to produce and direct the new documentary film Burning. It recently premiered in Toronto, Europe, COP26 and Sydney, where it picked up the Sustainable Future Award.

“You can make anything interesting, if you’ve got a good story and good characters. So when people say to you, I mean I get this all the time, nobody wants to watch a film about refugees, nobody wants to watch a film about climate change. And it’s like, I remember lots of friends over the years were pitching scripted projects about the advertising industry, and everyone was like nobody wants to [watch] a film about advertising. And then Mad Men came out. I think we have to get past those sorts of blanket statements. ”

— Eva Orner

The Guardian describes it as: ‘one of those rare documentaries that boils your blood and rattles your bones, leaving viewers longing for and (hopefully) demanding political change…. it is the documentary Australia and – I think it is fair to say – the entire world deserves…’

To tell you the truth, I’m often wary of watching films like this. I partly feel like I don’t need to rub my nose in the disasters, given I spend my days immersed in all this. But I found it a brilliant film. Unsurprisingly, I guess. Eva is a master of her craft. But especially for how it emerges from the stories of those involved, to a deepening sense of the humanity and care most people share for each other and their places, and the sheer guts and courage that can inspire us to change our hopelessly detached political culture and related trajectory.

I found where we end up here to be particularly powerful and instructive, courtesy of Bruce Pascoe’s place in the film, and its multiple connections to the previous episode with Chris Henggeler. On how we’re all challenged to learn anew now, in a time of degraded landscape and climate, including how to holistically manage burning.

The film blurb reads: Burning takes an unflinching look at Australia’s catastrophic ‘Black Summer’ bushfires, as well as government inaction on climate change and media perceptions, posing questions about how we move forward as a nation to ensure this piece of history is never repeated.

This episode was recorded at the Derby Media Aboriginal Corporation, with Eva in South Dakota shooting her next film, on 3 November 2021 (Australian time).

Click on the photos below for full view, and hover over the image for descriptions where they’ve been added (all pics supplied).