Black Summer documentary competing with David Attenborough in 'Oscars of nature films'

"After The Fires" is in distinguished company, named as a finalist alongside "David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet" in the Long Form Conservation category.

Editor of the film and former Bega Valley local, Toni Houston, was tickled pink with the recognition.

"I grew up watching David Attenborough films, he's always been an inspiration and he's still championing the cause to preserve wildlife and foster education and awareness about our natural systems," she said.

"We're all tickled to be up against David Attenborough in this category and to be competing against one of his films. I mean, I never thought that would be possible in my career."

This year there were more than 750 category entries from around 30 countries for the Jackson Wild Media Awards, with finalists being chosen by more than 150 judges.

"After the Fires" was created over a one-year period, filmed immediately after the fires on Kangaroo Island in January 2020.

The film maps the ecological recovery of Australia and the devastating impacts Black Summer had on the Australian wildlife.

Producer and writer of the film Karina Holden said the team felt honoured to be a finalist in one of the most prestigious wildlife festivals in the world.

Ms Houston also said that the biggest reason she was thrilled the film was getting worldwide attention, was that it helps, in it's own way, to shift the focus back on to the issue of climate change.

"The world has been fixated on COVID-19 for so long now, and attention to urgent conservation issues has fallen by the wayside, but all the while, those conservation crises continue," Ms Houston said.

"Another Australian summer is coming. If our film, and this nomination, can help rebalance focus then that's the best achievement, better than ultimately 'winning' the category or beating Attenborough."

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Ms Holden said that they had been listed as one of the top three finalists was testament to the importance of their film.

"The black summer that we went through in Australia was the worst wildlife extinction that has happened in modern history.

"The judges have looked at that in the context of how important what happened in Australia was and recognised the film because of that."

Ms Holden said in their film they outline the ongoing impacts for the Australian wildlife, which as a result of the bushfires, suffered from changes in their habitats.

"Three billion native vertebrates perished in that summer fire. If you think about that, that's almost equivalent to half of the human population on planet Earth."

Ms Holden went on to explain that the loss of life of our Australian wildlife was important to mankind as well, as it throws the eco-system out of balance, since "everything in nature is connected".

"When you've got a massive amount of heat in the system and smoke in the air, the air quality changes and that impacts the vertebrate life.

"So the question then becomes, who's going to pollinate the plants, if the plants aren't being pollinated, then that will impact the birds and on and on it goes.

"There's threads in nature and nature responds to all of these pressures around it," Ms Holden said.

"I think that's what we saw in 2019 and 2020, it was just a catastrophic unravelling of all of those fabrics of life, where there was nothing left for nature to hang on to."

"There are places where the soils were so heavily devastated by the amount of heat that went through, that they just became completely in-fertile."

Ms Holden added there were places where nutrients were starting to flow back through the soil and where there was some re-growth with life coming back.

"What we're seeing in Australia is that increased intensity and frequency of those intense fires," Ms Holden said.

"So where you may have had a fire, go through a particular forest every 20 or 30 years, we're seeing fires sweeping through three or four times a decade at high intensity instead."

READ ALSO: Bushfire devastation captured in wildlife documentary, wins Cannes film award

When asked what we can do to help this situation, Ms Holden said there were community groups along the South Coast that people can connect with, donate towards or volunteer some of their time in.

"There's so many great ways, that even if it's just once a year, you can give a little bit of time to put your hands in the earth and connect," Ms Holden said.

"So many people do such a beautiful job of that on the South Coast, it's a way of connecting to community, giving back and nurturing, I think, that's a really nourishing thing that you can do to feel some hope."

Ms Holden said that following the tragedy of the Black Summer fires, many people can feel stuck in feelings of hopelessness but that there are activities people can do that will bring them feelings of hope.

"The only way to get through that is to take action, by doing some really simple things like choosing a grevillea to put in your garden, so that you're providing some insects and birds with a little bit of nectar," she said.

"Just those small actions, they're going to just give you that sense of being a positive contributor to the planet's health, finding those things to do, I think, gets us out of this mindset of doom and gloom."

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After the Fire's producer, editor and director all hail from different parts of the South Coast, and each in different ways were impacted by the black summer fires.

Director of the film Cian O'Clery, whose mother lives in Tathra, was impacted by the Tathra fires of 2018 that burnt their home, and had to prepare when the fires travelled down the coast in 2020, potentially affecting Tathra a second time.

Producer of the film Karina Holden stayed with her family on Berry Mountain during the Black Summer fires, watching the fires burning over the ridges near her home, preparing and worrying for how close they would get.

Former Eden-based ACM journalist Toni Houston travelled to the Bega Valley with her daughters from her home at the time in Queensland, to celebrate Christmas with her family.

She ended up evacuating from her family home at the Bilyara Gallery on Wallagoot Lane, to a motel in Merimbula, during the worst period of the fires in January, 2020.

Ms Houston shares ongoing links to the Bega Valley outside of her family connections, having visited the area as a child and lived there for 10 years with her children.

"It's amazing to have a film recognised that I have such a personal connection with,

"From living on the South Coast, knowing of eco-systems and community members who are directly affected by the Black Summer fires and how devastating that was," Ms Houston said.

"Having family there and conservationists like Alexandra Seddon who were on the front line trying to preserve eco-systems and who also witnessed and experienced those holocaust-like fire conditions."

Ms Houston said the film being listed as a top finalist in the Jackson Wild Media Awards was a testimony to the strong, stellar filmmaking skills of Karina Holden and Cian O'Clery, who have "directed and produced this film expertly".

"I just feel really privileged to have been part of the team," Ms Houston said.

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