To the Orcas, with Love

What we do to nature, we do to ourselves.

A filmmaker’s relationship with orcas inspires her to restore a loving relationship with herself and this remarkable planet.

Stories of personal connections with orcas, beautiful cinematography featuring B.C’s resident orcas, and an evocative soundscape composed by Jeff Rona and Ben MacDougall provide an uplifting contrast to the environmental challenges we face. Inspired by elders including environmentalist and CBC Broadcaster, David Suzuki, whale researchers Alexandra Morton and Paul Spong, totem carver Wayne Alfred, and lifelong resident of the Broughton archipelago Billy Proctor, this film is anchored by Rob Stewart’s invitation to rise up and create the world we dream for ourselves.

Viewers will come to understand the importance of the personal choices we make; it becomes clear that what we do to nature, we do to ourselves.

 

See a Trailer for the film here:

 

Who’s in the film?

David Suzuki

A very well known Canadian environmentalist, geneticist and scientist, David Suzuki is the founder of The David Suzuki Foundation. He is best known, perhaps, for his time as a CBC broadcaster and his program on the CBC, The Nature of Things.

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/david/

 

Rob Stewart

Rob Stewart

Rob was an amazing mentor and friend. He inspired me to become a documentary filmmaker and make this film.

Rob’s film Sharkwater changed people’s perception of sharks and showed us not to fear them and revealed the reality of the shark fin industry.

Rob’s second documentary, Revolution, identified the biggest environmental issues our world faces this generation.

http://www.sharkwater.com/

http://therevolutionmovie.com/

 

Alexandra Morton

 

A biologist and orca researcher, Alexandra Morton is an author and founder of Salmon Coast Research Station. She works to protect the wild salmon on BC’s coast, the northern and southern resident orca’s main food source.  She is a eloquent spokesperson for ocean ecosystems.

http://www.alexandramorton.ca/

 

Paul Spong

Paul Spong has been studying orca whales for 50 years since he began his career at Vancouver Aquarium in 1967. After studying the whales in captivity, he recognized how intelligent they were and felt that it was not right to keep orcas in captivity.  He founded Orcalab in 1970 to study the whales in the wild in their natural habitat.  Orcalab attracts biology students, orca enthusiasts and photographers & videographers from around the world who volunteer and study orcas in the wild every summer.

http://orcalab.org/

Scott Rogers

Local resident and researcher at Salmon Coast Field Station. She has helped with the study of the impact sea lice on the wild salmon fry. She calls the Broughton archipelago her home.

http://www.salmoncoast.org/

 

Wayne Alfred

Wayne is from Alert Bay, British Columbia. He is Kwakwaka’wakw (Namgis) First Nations. He is a totem carver and also specializes in making masks and ceremonial pieces. He shares legends passed down from his ancestors about the killer whales.

http://www.spiritwrestler.com/catalog/index.php?artists_id=285

Billy Proctor

Billy Proctor

An author and local resident of Echo Bay, Billy has re-stocked and rehabilitated streams where wild salmon have all but disappeared. As an advocate for wild salmon he understands how forests and fish are related; how poor logging practices, or unrestrained development of salmon farms can destroy salmon habitat, and why watershed management and conservation matter. Billy knows the salmon need the forests that line and shade the rivers in which they spawn, but the forests also need the salmon, which feed bears and eagles and people and wolves and many other creatures, and then, as decaying corpses and waste matter, fertilize those forests full of enormous trees. No forests, no salmon; and no salmon, no more gigantic trees.

Billy’s Museum

 

 

 

Natalie Lucier biography

More about the girl behind the lens

Natalie Lucier, the director of ” To the Orcas with Love” is a graduate of Advanced TV and Film program (2011), majoring in producing and documentary filmmaking at Sheridan college in Ontario. Natalie has a deep love of nature and the outdoors and hopes to inspire others to see the beauty in our natural world.

Natalie is also an honours graduate of the 2 year Radio broadcasting program at Canadore College ( 2007).  She has also attended the intensive eight day Adventure Filmmaker’s workshop at the Banff Centre ( 2011) in Alberta and a Documentary storytelling and film structure workshop with Tom Schlesinger – Toronto, Canada.

To the Orcas with Love is her first feature film.

In October 2013, she directed and produced a 3 minute short documentary film “One with the Horse” – “An inspiring story of connection.” This short documentary showcased her use of natural light and raw voice to create a compelling story of the relationship between a horse owner and her horse.

In 2011-2012 Natalie worked with Rob Stewart and his team in Toronto assisting with projects including setting up a new editing suite, researching and coordinating interviews in Washington, D.C. and obtaining media rights for photography for website accompanying Rob’s film – “Revolution’ in 2012.  She also assisted in the development of Rob’s NGO United Conservationists.

Natalie is passionate about supporting the growth in filmmaking in Northern Ontario and served on the Board of Directors for Near North Mobile Media Lab in North Bay Ontario. The Near North Mobile Media Lab provides tools for media artists, students, filmmakers and audiences in Northern Ontario to produce, present and enjoy contemporary media arts in all its forms.

Blog

Celebrating the launch of To The Orcas, with Love into the Ontario education system with film showing and educator workshops at the Bring IT, Together Conference from ECOO/OASBO-ICT here are a few top of mind projects we have learned about: ihub, a technological research and innovation academy located in St Catharines;  a collaboration between Brock University, …