Filmmaker Leanne Allison, together with a fantastic production team and the support of the National Film Board of Canada, brought her vision of telling one bear’s story to the big screen. Bear 71 is a documentary that beautifully integrates storytelling, film, music, digital arts, and a conservation theme. It’s already won an award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and has even caught the attention of actor/director Robert Redford.
We sat down with Leanne to talk with her in more detail about the life and death of Bear 71 in Banff National Park and the story behind this remarkable interactive documentary. Please take a moment to watch, interact, and play with the film, Bear 71.
A story in the making
“It all started with thousands of motion-triggered trail camera photos of wildlife that have been gathered in Banff National Park (BNP) and the Bow Valley over the last 15 years for research. I’ve always been fascinated by them and often wondered about the lives of the individual animals in the photographs. I love the fact that no one is behind the lens when they’re taken. They reveal a secret world of animals right in my own backyard.
My husband, Karsten Heuer, is a warden at BNP and so I often hear about research projects in the park. He spends six weeks of the summer in the backcountry and he’s often stopping and scanning slopes for wildlife. At the end of the year he downloads the cameras and is always astounded by all the animals he’s missed. We feel very lucky to live near Banff National Park. The downside is that it’s very busy with five million tourists a year, the Trans-Canada Highway that cuts through the park, and the working railway. This all leads to a lot of human/wildlife conflict.”
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Bear 71
“Bear 71 is an interactive documentary and can be viewed on the National Film Board of Canada website. It’s unlike any wildlife documentary you’ve ever encountered because you become part of the story. I had known about Bear 71 for years because she was such a star Bow Valley grizzly bear. She had figured out how to navigate a space where human and grizzly bears can still co-exist. She was hardly ever seen and was very productive, producing three sets of cubs over a six-year period. Grizzly bears around Banff tend to get known over time if they live long enough. She managed to live nine years before a train tragically killed her and one of her cubs.
Bear 71′s orphaned cub survived the following winter. But when she emerged the next spring she was getting too close to developed areas and had to be moved. She turned up a few weeks later and was trapped and moved again – this time much further away where she would have no hope of finding her way back to her home range. She was never seen again. It’s very unlikely she survived as a young bear in an unknown area.”
Making the cinematic connection
“Bear 71 was a collaboration between people and nature. Jeremy Mendes really brought Bear 71 out of the Bow Valley and found an urban audience through the surveillance theme. He also dreamed up THE GRID where Bear 71 lives – it’s basically a technological interpretation of Bear 71′s world. The documentary walks you through the terrain and allows you to explore it yourself while learning more about the life of Bear 71 and her cubs.
I’m sure many people in the MEC community are familiar with J.B. MacKinnon and the book he wrote with Alisa Smith, “The 100 Mile Diet.” He was keen to take on his first screenwriting project and he was totally up for writing from the perspective of a female grizzly bear. The documentary begins with live footage of Bear 71. The first voice you hear is Bear 71′s inner-monologue.
Our designer, Pablo Vio and his team, recently won the Gold Cyber Lion Award for his design at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Loc Dao, from the National Film Board and our executive producer, really helped get this project on its feet. This was a major collaboration and I think everyone was really dedicated to the story.”
You can watch the complete documentary on the National Film Board of Canada’s website. Congratulations to Leanne and her team for pulling off such an incredible feat in storytelling!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Filed under: Activities, Community, Partnerships, Sustainability Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
