The COMM Department is happy to announce that Professor Julia Haslett’s new documentary Pushed up the Mountain premieres this week in the US at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival, a festival known for its commitment to art and activism. The film began with a trip to Haslett’s godfather’s rhododendron garden in the Scottish Highlands and grew to encompass plants and nature conservationists in China and the UK. With a poetic and emotionally intimate approach, the film reveals the existential threats faced by all living organisms as human activity endangers the natural world.
Like with her last film, An Encounter with Simone Weil, this new one encourages the viewer to pay attention to those who are struggling, although this time it’s the plants as much as the people that Haslett wants folks to develop empathy for. This documentary is worth the watch!