Film screening and discussion : Le vivant qui se défend (Life Defends Itself)
The film traces his journey between activism and naturalism, his search for a balance between struggle and contemplation. Starting from a personal and sensitive narrative, the film makes the connection between wild animals and the struggles being waged throughout France against the destruction of their habitats. ‘Le VIVANT qui se défend’ (The Living Defends Itself) charts a path to living with dignity and facing what lies ahead.
The screening will be followed by a debate on the links between militant engagement and naturalism: how can ecological struggles and attention to living things strengthen each other and inspire us to take action in our own communities?
It will be moderated by Émeline Férard, science journalist, with :
- Cristiana Modica, activist farmer in Villiers-le-Bâcle on the Saclay plateau;
- Julie Sicault Maillé and Anaïs Tondeur, from the collective ‘2km4, pour une écologie joyeuse’ (2km4, for a joyful ecology).
Statement by Vincent Verzat :
"For 10 years, I have been investigating major ecological, economic and social issues, filming environmental protests and witnessing habitat destruction and climate change on the ground.
Four years ago, I experienced personal distress and eco-anxiety in the face of climate change. At the same time, I realised how little I knew about the living world, like many environmental activists: we defend “nature” but we know little or nothing about it.
But our disconnection from the living world comes at a price: it is by being blind to other species, to ecological dynamics, to environments, that we are creating a world where nothing else can live.
So I turned my attention to the wild world, taught myself and took lessons from naturalists. I investigated French forest management, tracked and filmed animals that live in the interstices of our world, even becoming attached to the fate of a fox, a young deer and a badger. I did this in the hope of finding a second wind for the fight. To give it new meaning and vigour.
With one foot in each of these worlds that never meet, I became a bridge between them. I present to you a film that is part investigative journalism based on encounters in the field, part personal and intimate quest, and part naturalist's wonder at the observation of wild animals.
From the forest struggles of the Millevaches plateau to the den of a family of badgers, via the mega basins of Poitou, the deer of Vercors and the A69 motorway, this film is as much a journey as it is an outstretched hand between worlds that rarely, if ever, meet.”
The film traces his journey between activism and naturalism, his search for a balance between struggle and contemplation. Starting from a personal and sensitive narrative, the film makes the connection between wild animals and the struggles being waged throughout France against the destruction of their habitats. ‘Le VIVANT qui se défend’ (The Living Defends Itself) charts a path to living with dignity and facing what lies ahead.
The screening will be followed by a debate on the links between militant engagement and naturalism: how can ecological struggles and attention to living things strengthen each other and inspire us to take action in our own communities?
It will be moderated by Émeline Férard, science journalist, with :
- Cristiana Modica, activist farmer in Villiers-le-Bâcle on the Saclay plateau;
- Julie Sicault Maillé and Anaïs Tondeur, from the collective ‘2km4, pour une écologie joyeuse’ (2km4, for a joyful ecology).
Statement by Vincent Verzat :
"For 10 years, I have been investigating major ecological, economic and social issues, filming environmental protests and witnessing habitat destruction and climate change on the ground.
Four years ago, I experienced personal distress and eco-anxiety in the face of climate change. At the same time, I realised how little I knew about the living world, like many environmental activists: we defend “nature” but we know little or nothing about it.
But our disconnection from the living world comes at a price: it is by being blind to other species, to ecological dynamics, to environments, that we are creating a world where nothing else can live.
So I turned my attention to the wild world, taught myself and took lessons from naturalists. I investigated French forest management, tracked and filmed animals that live in the interstices of our world, even becoming attached to the fate of a fox, a young deer and a badger. I did this in the hope of finding a second wind for the fight. To give it new meaning and vigour.
With one foot in each of these worlds that never meet, I became a bridge between them. I present to you a film that is part investigative journalism based on encounters in the field, part personal and intimate quest, and part naturalist's wonder at the observation of wild animals.
From the forest struggles of the Millevaches plateau to the den of a family of badgers, via the mega basins of Poitou, the deer of Vercors and the A69 motorway, this film is as much a journey as it is an outstretched hand between worlds that rarely, if ever, meet.”