Grab your camera or phone and help create a new film with Forestry England

Forestry England are inviting colleagues from across the forestry industry to help create Treeline – a new film by international artist Ruth Maclennan about forests and the climate emergency.

To create the film, artist Ruth Maclennan is asking people around the world to record video and sound in their own local forests or woodland where they live or work. You do not need to be a professional cinematographer to contribute and there are just a couple of simple rules to follow so the videos can be edited together.

Co-commissioned by Forestry England and Film and Video Umbrella, the UK’s leading moving image commissioner, Treeline will feature forests from across the world, from Australian native bush to subarctic boreal forests, temperate and tropical rainforests, ancient woodland and recently planted trees, urban woodland and rewilding projects. The film aims to depict the unique features, habitats and activities of different forests whilst highlighting the impact of the climate emergency on the world’s forests and their importance for mitigating global warming and supporting life.

Forestry England are commissioning and presenting this new artwork to coincide with COP 26, the UN’s climate change summit being held in November 2021 in Glasgow. This is when policy and decision makers from across the world will be discussing issues of environmental and ecological significance. This collectively sourced film – depicting our local and national forests alongside international forests – mirrors the collective efforts that are required when facing the phenomenon of climate change.

Mariam Zulfiqar, Forestry England Arts Manager says:

“During the COP 26 summit, the arts will have a vital role to play in bringing together what is at stake and imagining alternative futures. Treeline is a fantastic opportunity for us all to come together and make the impact of the climate on the world’s forests visible.

“To make this film possible, we would love all our colleagues across the forestry sector to contribute video footage of forests and recordings of sounds in forests that will be edited together into a film.

“There are some simple rules to follow, such as filming along a central horizontal line, but you don’t need to be a professional to take part.”

The submitted clips will be edited together into a continuous forest landscape encircling the planet, to allow audiences to experience the rhythms of forests – lines, shades, and patterns – and witness the lives of inhabitants, human and otherwise, who dwell near the ‘treelines’ of the film.

Footage is to be submitted by 10 September 2021 and for full details on what and how to film, and how to record sound visit forestryengland/treeline.