Year: 1995
Language: English
Format: 16mm Colour
Runtime: 80 min
Director: Heather Frise, Velcrow Ripper
Producer: Velcrow Ripper
Cinematographer: Heather Frise, Velcrow Ripper
Editor: Heather Frise, Velcrow Ripper
Sound: Daniel Pellerin
Music: Einsturzende Neubauten, Jean-Luc Perron
Production Company: Transparent Film

Bones of the Forest is a lyrical, ironic and refreshingly lively documentary about the environmental devastation caused by clear-cutting in British Columbia. This theme is fortified with coverage of the protests against the five hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the Americas by Europeans.

Presented as a series of vignettes and reminiscences involving B.C. Native and non-Native elders, retired loggers and environmentalists, the film documents the social and environmental consequences of short-sighted logging practices and years of colonialism. Utilizing a host of evocative cinematic techniques from time-lapse photography to animation and an atmospheric soundscape inspired by the haunting sounds and silences of the forest, Bones of the Forest builds a case for the significance of the land to First Nations people and provides a platform for all involved to have their say. The film won a Genie Award for Feature Length Documentary.