SUCCESS! 

THANK YOU to everyone who helped us reach our goal of 200 citizen producers!

Your suppport means practical action - thanks to you, we can begin to make this important film and get more people appreciating trees, and show producers that URBAN FOREST has an audience. 

I'm so grateful for this community and look forward to sharing updates with you as the project gathers speed.

Clare xxx

Everybody knows about the regular forests. Precious, wild places; biodiversity hotspots, in need of our protection. Forests are the lungs of the planet! They play critical role in carbon storage. They also make rain, bind soils and filter our drinking water. And they're under increasing pressure from land-clearers and Big Ag, climate change, fires, unsustainable logging ... it's a hot button issue that's often in the news.

But the urban forest ... What even is that? 

It's the magic next door. 

If you live in a city, town or a suburb, it's the trees, shrubs and supporting groundcover that grow all around you. The canopy outside your window. Street trees. The nature reserve. Your local park. Your backyard.  

By 2030, up to 70% of the world’s population will live in urban areas. As well as oxygen and wildlife habitat, trees provide vital shade and cool our streets. They also make us happier. Being in green spaces can reduce our stress levels. Nature, of course, has always known. Trees are life. 

Yet old habits die hard. We’ve long been proud of chopping them down. 

Sometimes, for good reason. Others, not so much. 

Last year, more than 1700 trees were illegally vandalised in the city where I live. 

Read that again. It's not a typo: 1700 TREES! 

Poisoned. Hacked down in the dead of night. Broken, snapped, chainsawed, cleared without permission.

Each one of those trees has a story. 

In Sydney, Australia, from Darling Point and Double Bay, the Inner West to the Sutherland Shire to the North Shore, trees of many different species have been vandalised. Beloved ghost gums in people's backyards. Beautiful Banksia on the shoreline. In Balmoral, nine iconic Port Jackson figs on the beachfront were targetted. In Castle Cove, an unfathomable 265 trees, including 80-year-old Sydney red gums, were attacked on one waterfront reserve alone. 

What leads us to discount these wonderful beings that provide so many benefits? Is it really just for the views? Is it about disconnection? Entitlement? Cold hard cash? After all, the higher the house prices climb, the higher the stakes. What part does fear play? What about the cultural stories we tell ourselves? Does it go all the way back to the patriarchy and colonialism? What if we recognised trees as beings that can communicate, strategise, feel pain? Would that change things?

Poisonings are on the rise. But so too is creative activism and a new consciousness. Will this be the moment that we turn our relationship with the trees in our midst, around?

Pictured: Made you look - artists from the Tree Veneration Society.

WHAT SORT OF FILM? 

Urban Forest is a feature documentary film project, written and directed by Clare Press. 

It follows the interconnected stories of Sydneysiders speaking for the trees in their 'hoods, and encouraging us to see trees' positive contribution to our communities. 

We have a host of remarkable artists, activists, experts and community leaders lined up to participate in our storytelling. We've got the Dirt Witches and the Tree Veneration Society on board. The trees are also our stars, not a mere backdrop. We'll be making a film that is as visually sumptuous, charismatic and beautiful as the trees themselves. 

This video above is a teaser (while we've filmed a couple of interviews - like the one pictured below with Anna and Natanya "This is all that's left of our neighbour" - shooting has yet to commence).  

Music by Damian Press. 

The poetic tree photography seen at 1.30 and 2.48 is re-produced by kind permission of artist Louise Fowler-Smith. 

Your contribution to our crowdfunder will enable us to start filming in Sydney this winter, and complete the project this year.

Pictured: The aftermath of the Erskineville tree poisoning.

WHY CROWDFUND? 

I could raise the money in various ways, but the power of this platform is proving interest in the project. 

I'm making this film on a low budget, back to front - on purpose! By which I mean, we'll complete it, then seek distribution. Think tree roots, up. Not funding body, down. That way we can be nimble and get on with it, shooting as the story unfolds, starting with Lane Cove independent councillor Bridget Kennedy and her quest to increase the penalties for urban forest vandalism and recognise trees as natual assets. 

Sign her petition here. 

I know from experience that our community can make things happen when a project is designed to foster action in the sustainability space. We're not here to make money - we are here to make change. 

This story about trees is very close to my heart, but it's way bigger than me. It was inspired by the spate of tree poisonings in the city I call home - but as made clear in the teaser: this film is not a who dunnit. This is the story of why our urban canopy matters. It's uplifting and inspiring designed to spur practical action. I believe URBAN FOREST will change hearts and minds. 

Our mission: to educate, inspire and encourage as many people as possible to recognise the value and beauty of the trees next door.

#earthdayeveryday #urbanforestfilm

I've done the maths. I can make this film on 40K. 

That's bare-bones production, to pay a DOP and editor, get set up and to hire equipment.

Filmmaking is expensive -even buying the portable drives to back up the footage costs more than a grand.

Let's just say this is a bring your-own-lunch-vibe.

It requires favours from friends and hustling for free locations, donations of time, energy and advice etc. And I'm here for that. As writer/director, I am donating my time for free.

I've also planned to put up to 20K of my own money into the pot.

This crowdfunder seeks to raie initial 15K that we need to commence shooting.

The best news? We're part-way there before we begin!

ENORMOUS THANK YOU TO OUR FRIENDS at the pioneering carbon neutral menswear brand and Australian B Corp M.J. BALE . They understand the importance of forests, and have generously agreed to dollar-for-dollar donation match up to 5K.  We could not be more grateful. It takes a village. 

The $10,000 you donate, coupled with M.J. Bale's donation-matching, will pay for 4 days shooting in Sydney.