NFB FEATURE INCANDESCENCE NOW STREAMING

Exploring our relationship to fire in the context of increasing megafires due to climate change

In Incandescence, the filmmakers weave together immersive on-the-ground footage with first-person accounts from Indigenous Elders, first responders, and ordinary people forced to react to a rapidly evolving ecosystem.

“We conceived of the idea of Incandescence with the intention of exploring our relationship to fire in the context of increasing megafires due to climate change. As the process of making the film unfolded, our understanding of fire evolved, especially as we spent time learning from Indigenous fire keepers, whose ancestors had practised cultural burning for thousands of years. We knew that fire can be scary, fire can be dangerous and destructive. But fire is also good for the land, when we work with it.” -- Nova Ami & Velcrow Ripper

Earlier this week, the film received four Leo Award nominations: Best Direction & Screenwriting (Nova Ami & Velcrow Ripper), Cinematography (Vince Arvidson) and Sound (Velcrow Ripper, Dave Pullmer and Miguel Nunes).

The film takes shape from the ancient patterns embodied in fire: destruction, aftermath and rebirth. From the flightpath of bees to an osprey’s aerial perspective, floating over the landscape: the Earth comes back.

Filmed over several seasons in the Okanagan, Incandescence explores how megafires impact our ecosystem and how communities living on the interface between forest and civilization can better protect themselves.
 

“For Incandescence, we wanted to extend it beyond humans, as the story is bigger than us. The animals featured include beavers, who are known as ‘nature’s firefighters’ because the wetlands they create help to slow the spread of fire. Deer, coyotes, bears, bees, bighorn sheep and osprey all feature in the film, moving through the cycles of the seasons, including wildfire season, and are all impacted by fires that are burning hotter and longer than before,” Ripper says.

 Streaming is now free!