One of the stunning artworks featured in the film, created by the artist Jean-Paul Bourdier.
Updated: 7:18 AM, June 23, 2018
Vancouver, B.C.
Metamorphosis comes to Vancouver June 26-July 1st
By Ted Alcuitas
How would “experiencing a climate event of that magnitude change a person, a community, a species.,” wondered filmmaker Nova Ami when the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, killing more than 6,000 people.
That question sparked the birth of Metamorphosis – a moving, searing documentary that explores the transformation that takes place.
“Forest fires consume communities, species vanish, and entire ecosystems collapse. Economic growth, tied to increased speed of resource extraction, has created a machine with the capacity to destroy all life,” says Ami who is half-Filipina.
Like the monarch butterfly, Metamorphosis takes us to a journey of rebirth – losing part of our world and witnessing another world being born.
While it takes one to witness an ‘inconvenient truth’, it is non-judgmental in its narrative – “not about blame or denial, but about resilience, transformation and action.”
Instead of succumbing to “psychic numbing,” as Robert Jay Lifton describes in the film―the urge to turn away from the immensity of this crisis, filmmakers Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper explore solutions.
Decentralization, repurposing existing materials, freeing the planet from cycles of endless growth, breaking away from carbon-intensive design, and finding ways to draw carbon out of the atmosphere, are some of the key principles.
One person featured in the film is Filipina American Anna Bautista.
She is Vice President of Construction and Workforce Development for GRID Alternatives, a non-profit solar installer based in Oakland, California.
“I discovered her through my research on alternative solutions. I thought hers is an amazing project,” Ami told phiippinecanadiannews.com (PCN.com) in an interview.
While doing the interview, their son Phoenix came in with her ‘Lola’ – Nova’s mother who I was told, travels with them to help take care of Phoenix.
Phoenix was conceived around the same time that the film was conceived and Nova jokingly says “it was like having a twin.”
“He is one of the reason why we did this film,” says Velcrow. “What kind of future are we leaving him?”
Metamorphosis comes to Vancouver on June 26 – July 1st after being doing the circuit in Toronto, Quebec City, Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton.
Where: Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour St., Vancouver
When: Tuesday, June 26, 6:30 p.m.; Wednesday, June 27, 8:30 p.m.; Thursday, June 28, 5:45 p.m.; Sunday, July 1, 3 p.m.
Tickets and information: www.viff.org
The filmmakers will be in attendance June 26 for a Q&A at the 6:30 p.m. showing.
Filmmakers Velcrow Ripper (with hat) and Nova Ami with ‘Lola’ Ammamy Vill, brother Dio Ami and sister Jennifer Ami with other relations enjoy Mother’s Day in Vancouver while Phoenix sleeps in stroller. (FB- Velcrow Ripper).