ye Ashley fae\ Whillans =. & entertainment = ee we Soadl ea Saat ‘ha bees Gant Se Sen [eum t the heart of British Columbia A« our trees. Worldwide, BC is known for its spectacular forests and generations of British Columbians have lived, breathed and died for our trees. Heck, as British Columbians, we are born loving trees instinctively. But trees don’t only provide money, jobs and scenery, they are also the subject of a deeply rooted and devastating conflict between loggers and environmentalists. So what happens when loggers and protesters collide and where is the line between right and wrong in the battle between them? These are the questions Mark Leiren-Young addresses in his film The Green Chain, which opened at Fifth Avenue Cinemas on March 6", 2009. The making of this movie, unbeknownst to Leiren-Young, began over 20 years ago, while he was a young journalist working at the Williams Lake Tribune. On his first assignment, which was to talk to people who cut down trees, Leiren-Young was exposed to the disconnect between foresters and environmentalists. “Tt all started when I interviewed a logger in Williams Lake,” explains Leiren-Young. “He was showing off his beautiful machine that could do the work of five men which he called ‘meals on wheels’ and in the same breath complained that all those “damn environmentalists’ were taking away all his work.” Fascinated by the disconnect the worker had between himself and the problem, and the blame he placed on “those damn environmentalists,” Leiren-Young realized that no one on either side of the issue was listening to each other, and was inspired to make a change. Shortly afterwards, Leiren-Young met local dramaturge John Juliani and began discussing writing about trees. However, it wasn’t until years later, upon the death of Juliani— who became his long-time friend and colleague—that Leiren-Young finally wrote the movie they had always dreamed of: a movie about trees and the people who love them. The Green Chain, consequently, is an amalgamation of all sorts of different people, stories and protests that have happened within BC between environmentalists and loggers and is told through the perspectives of seven very different people: the logger, the protestor, the firefighter, the celebrity activist, the executive, the tree sitter and the waitress—all who have at least one thing in common: their love of trees. Leiren-Young is proud of his home-grown film and so he should be; The Green Chain has grown into a movie that not only encompasses the broad scope of issues-and problems that plague our forest industries like unemployment, disease, an unsteady market and environmental concerns, but more importantly it captures a universal story and one that goes above and beyond our local forest communities. What Leiren-Young has realized from taking this movie on the road is the universal appeal of the film, even to places where there aren’t trees. “This place in Cleveland, this audience had a visceral connection to the film, and this is a place without trees. But to them it’s just about a dying community. It was about the conflicts of a dying community. I used to say this was a film about a dying forest town, and this is was a film about forestry trees, but what I realized about the film in Cleveland was that this film was about a dying community because it was,” explains Leiren- Young. Leiren-Young’s journey from tree lover and journalist to internationally renowned film-maker and writer has taken him deep into the heart of forestry conflict and given him the perspective necessary to convey all aspects of the debate. From humble beginnings at a newspaper in Williams Lake to award-winning filmmaker, Leiren-Young hopes to continue to inspire dialogue between tree lovers of all types: be they activists or loggers and to encourage conversation between the groups. As for the side he takes in the debate between environmentalist and loggers, Leiren-Young says he identifies with the celebrity activist in The Green Chain played by Tricia Helfer: “I don’t know how to fix it, I just know we have to,” he says. The film is playing at the Fifth Avenue Cinemas March 6 through 12" and features speakers from Greenpeace, the David Suzuki Foundation and more. For more information, as well as to check out Leiren-Young’s podcasts, visit www. thegreenchain.com.