The Green Chain

Green Chain Blog Gets a New Home for '09

2008-12-27T17:37:00.001-08:00

Merry Everything.
The Green Chain blog has moved to Word Press to accommodate our new hosts at thegreenpages.ca
To stay tuned to all things Green Chain, click here.

The Green Chain Wins Big in Spain

2008-06-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

Hola. And wow!
The headline: The Green Chain just won "El Prat De Llobregat Award" (the Award of the City El Prat de Llobregat") at the 15th Annual Festival Internacional de Cinema de Medi Ambient (FICMA 2008) in Barcelona.
This is me (Mark Leiren-Young) looking stunned next to the award's presenter, Lluís Tejedor, the Mayor of El Prat, the suburb of Barcelona that hosts FICMA.
I'm still waiting for the official translation for all the details of the award, but the explanation that I got after being handed the trophy is that the City of El Prat honours a film that deals with themes they feel are important and need to be discussed. The award is a very cool, very heavy metal sculpture that is going to cost a fortune to Fed Ex from Barcelona, but it'll be worth it...
The entire day of our premiere was a surreal one, which seems fitting since this is Salvador Dali's hometown and the signature buildings are by Antoni Gaudi.
The film screened at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning and the festival was thrilled with the turnout. The subtitles for the movie are in catalán. And I quickly discovered that the catalán translation of "I love trees" is "Jo estimo el arbres."
Following the screening there was a lengthy q&a session where the audience asked about the movie and about the Canadian environmental scene. My translator for the Q&A was Carmen Estevez, who told me at lunch that she got involved with the festival through her brother. I asked what her brother did with the festival. She said, "he's an actor." Then she told me that he's an actor who starred in one of my favourite TV series of all time, The West Wing, and a few little films like... ya know... Apocalypse Now... Yep, her brother is Martin Sheen.
Following the q&a the festival presented a mini-conference with four heavy hitters from the Spanish environmental scene, including Fundacion Mas Arboles -- which appears to be the group in the country for people who love trees and Maderas Nobles de la Sierra de Segura ("an agro-forestry company specializing in native tree plantation management with the aims of forest restoration and the ecological production of high-value timber.") The "administrador de Maderas Nobles" Juan Valero told me after the movie that he's hosting a conference next year about forestry issues and he'd like to arrange bring back the movie... and me... So just to cover all bases I'm planning to take a sip out of the Canaletes fountain which, according to legend, insures visitors will return to Barcelona.
A few hours later it was time for the awards ceremony. I didn't think we were eligible for anything, so I sat at the back. But just before the presentation started, one of the organizers suggested I sit up front with the other filmmakers since the director of the festival might want to introduce us.
After cheering for several other winners I heard the man at the microphone mention "The Green Chain" and I figured he was introducing the filmmakers. Then he said my name and I looked for someone who spoke english to tell me whether I was supposed to stand or... and that's when everyone started applauding and as I sat still in my seat the Argentinian filmmaker a few seats over began waving for me to move. Then the organizers started waving for me to move. I finally got the hint, ran to the stage and gave one of the shortest acceptance speeches on record...
I thanked FICMA for inviting our movie, said "muchos gracias" and hugged the Mayor of El Prat. After the ceremony was over I ran into another ceremony... The night before a woman gets married here she celebrates by dancing in the streets. As I was watching the dance, the bride to be waved for me to join her. So I celebrated the award by dancing something sort of Flamenco-like in the square just in front of the theatre. According to a friend from Buenos Aires whatever I was doing was as close to the Flamenco as whatever the bride-to-be was doing...
So that's the story from Barcelona...
And I guess this is the official victory dance!

Jillian Fargey Cleans up at Leo Awards

2008-06-03T00:02:00.000-07:00

And the Leo Award for "Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Feature Length Drama" goes to...
Jillian Fargey for her performance in The Green Chain.
Congratulations to Jillian and Green Chain co-star Babz Chula who won the Leo for "Best Guest Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series" for her role in jPod.
The Green Chain also received major kudos from Mockfest in Los Angeles where it was one of only three nominees for "Best Feature."

Leos Celebrate The Women of The Green Chain

2008-05-24T13:41:00.001-07:00

Tonight's a big night at the Leo Awards for The Green Chain's three leading ladies.

Jillian Fargey is nominated for "Best Supporting Performance by a Female
in a Feature Length Drama" for her amazing performance as Jenni Holm in The Green Chain. Jillian received an honourable mention from Women in Film & Television's for their Artistic Merit Award for her "riveting" performance as Jenni Holm in The Green Chain.

Tricia Helfer is nominated for her dominating "Lead Performance by a Female in a Feature Length Drama" for her role in "Walk All Over Me." Tricia was previously nominated for a Leo for her performance in an episode of "The Collector" written by The Green Chain's Mark Leiren-Young

And Babz Chula is nominated for "Best Guest Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series" for her work in the much mourned CBC series, J-Pod.

Let's hope for a hat trick!

The Green Chain Goes Beachcombing With Jackson Davies

2008-05-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

The Beachcombers is so iconic, that even if you never saw CBC’s long-running made-in-BC family drama you probably remember it anyway.

In 1990 I was lucky enough to interview actor Robert Clothier (aka the ever cranky Relic) about the final season of The Beachcombers – which wasn’t just Canada’s longest running series, but was challenging Bonanza for the title of longest running drama series ever. And even though I’d never been a fan of the show, his passion for it was so genuine that I found myself missing it desperately and furious at the Torontonians at CBC head office who’d taken a chainsaw to part of BC’s culture.

Jackson Davies (who played RCMP officer Constable Constable on The Beachcombers) has fought to revive the series ever since it left the airwaves and he helped produce two highly rated TV movies that reunited the surviving cast members – and introduced a new generation of stars, and viewers, to one of Canada's most mythic meeting places, Molly’s Reach and the not so mythical land of Gibsons, B.C.

When we launched The Green Chain podcast the idea was to get different perspectives on BC’s forests and it hit me that for a lot of people around the world, the image they have of our forests, our loggers and our trees comes from watching Nick, Relic, Jessie and Constable Constable fight their weekly battles over those drifting logs.

These days Jackson is teaching film at Capilano College and starring in The Producers at the Arts Club’s Stanley Theatre. I met Jackson at Listel O’Douls in downtown Vancouver to talk about the death of The Beachcombers, the death of real-life beachcombing and how the whole world came to Molly’s Reach.

Click here to check out the latest Green Chain podcast. Coming up on future episodes I'll be talking trees, faith and getting scared sacred with Velcrow Ripper.

- MLY

The Green Chain's LA Premiere! Sunday (May 18th)!

2008-05-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've avoided the word "mockumentary" in interviews about The Green Chain -- but please don't tell the lovely people at Mockfest in Los Angeles where the movie makes its LA premiere this Sunday at 3 pm at the Hollywood Vine Theatre -- 6321 Hollywood Blvd.

So why have I avoided the "m" word? Because The Green Chain is a lot of things, but This Ain't Spinal Tap... What's exciting about Mockfest is they get that doc style films don't have to be comedies to work.

If you're in Los Angeles be sure to check out our LA premiere.

And if you know someone in Los Angeles, be sure to send this their way!

Here's the scoop on Mockfest:

MOCKFEST 2008 FESTIVAL INFORMATION

MISSION & OBJECTIVE
Our mission is to showcase the best mockumentaries from around the world, gathering fans and filmmakers together to celebrate the beauty and brilliance of the mockumentary genre at the center of it all, Hollywood, California.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
MOCKFEST is the first film festival solely devoted to the mockumentary, a groundbreaking film style capable of bending reality and shaping human perceptions. MOCKFEST features mockumentaries of all types and lengths, comedic, dramatic, and experimental, and will showcase works from the past, present and future. The festival's most highly prized characteristic in filmmaking is innovation. All films that are selected to appear at the 2008 festival will have that in common.

Mahalo,

Mark

The bloom of the enviro film.

2008-05-11T01:01:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for an enviro-themed film, Katherine Monk at CanWest/Canada.com recommends The Green Chain -- along with eco-classics like An Inconvenient Truth, Who Killed the Electric Car?, The Lorax and Blockade (which features the same cinematographer (Kirk Tougas) and sound designer (Gael MacLean) as The Green Chain).

The story includes an interview with The Green Chain's Mark Leiren-Young.

``The idea isn't to lecture people, but to have people identify with the characters and . . . open their eyes to the larger issues,'' said Mark Leiren-Young, the director of The Green Chain, a 2007 movie about the many facets of the forestry industry.

``The whole point of this movie is to get people talking about the real issues from an educated position. The dialogue goes nowhere when it devolves into ignorant blanket statements about which side is right and which side is wrong,'' said Leiren-Young.

``The best way to effect change is to bring all areas of the debate to the stage, and let the audience make their own decision. That way it's real because the viewer has internalized the argument and made it his or her own.''

Here's the full list of recommended eco-films...

The Lorax (1972): There's no doubt Dr. Seuss moulded the minds of young people with his book, and later this TV adaptation, about a community that cut down all its valuable trees for profit, and later paid the environmental price.

If You Love This Planet (1982): Dr. Helen Caldicott's lecture to a group of college students about the dangers of nuclear war set the tone for most of the films that would follow by laying out in clinical terms our capacity for self- destruction. In this landmark award-winner from the NFB's Terre Nash, nuclear war is the trigger for environmental catastrophe, but its sheer sobriety in the face of a real threat seemed to permeate the popular psyche, and readjust our notions of public responsibility. A wave of anti-nuke sentiment followed.

An Inconvenient Truth (2006): Davis Guggenheim proved the power of a lecture captured on screen once more with this surprisingly dramatic examination of climate change via Al Gore. Thanks to Al Gore's recent Nobel Prize co-win, this Oscar-winning film will forever be seen as the tipping point in the environmental movement, as well as a genre hallmark.

Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006): Chris Paine's little movie is about the little car that could: the General Motors all-electric EV1, a zero-emissions vehicle that was introduced into California as an experiment in the late 1990s, and later destroyed by GM when it appeared the car - if mass-produced - had the potential of eliminating every service station in the state because it needed no gas or maintenance. The film is raw but it's personal, and proves what one person with an idea, some passion, and a camera can accomplish.

Manufactured Landscapes (2007): Jennifer Baichwal records Edward Burtynsky's photographic landscapes as they're being created, and shows us industrial ugliness in a different light. By revealing the poetry in the pictures, she proves how mankind has the capacity to redeem itself - even in the face of industrial horrors.

The Unforeseen (2007): Laura Dunn takes on a familiar story of developers vs. environmentalists and turns it into a meditative study on how we live, and how we choose to house ourselves.

Rivers and Tides (2001): Though not an environmental movie on its surface, this documentary about environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy redefines the way we perceive the natural world by making it into physical art objects.

Garbage Warrior

Blockade

Flow: For Love of Water

Fields of Fuel

The 11th Hour

Planet in Peril

The Future of Food

Everything's Cool

Idiocracy

The Simpsons Movie

Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea

Darwin's Nightmare

The Green Chain

The Green Chain "Heralded" for Earth Day

2008-04-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

You know Earth Day has gone mainstream when The Calgary Herald is covering it. Yes, that would the same Calgary where they keep all the oil money...

Sure, the headline is about "cashing in" on the environmental movement but still... The story's on the cover of today's entertainment section, complete with a photo of Alberta's own Tricia Helfer. Calgary Herald writer (and author of The White Guy) Stephen Hunt wrote an extensive Earth Day feature for today's paper that covers everything from a green-washing James Bond villain to ecorazzi.com, the Environmental Media Association and... The Green Chain.

Here's Hunt's take on The Green Chain and Local Anxiety...

For Vancouver-based writer and director and longtime environmentalist Mark Leiren-Young, whose film The Green Chain explores the issue of logging in B.C., the shift in the overall public attitude towards the environment has been pleasantly surprising: touring with his comedy group Local Anxiety across Canada in the early 1990s with a show that included political satire and environmentally-themed sketches, Leiren-Young discovered the rest of the country didn't share Local Anxiety's interest in the environment.

"As soon as we went out of Vancouver, we pretty much had to lose the environmental stuff," Leiren-Young says. "When we played Toronto, I remember our producer saying, 'Lose the stuff about the dolphins and the whales.' So we'd lose all the stuff about dolphins, whales and trees. It just didn't play there."

Leiren-Young and the rest of Local Anxiety taped a television special featuring their political satire in Toronto. Then they went back to B.C. and taped a TV special featuring their environmental material that they were (politely) asked not to perform in Toronto. The result was Greenpieces: An Eco-Comedy, which was broadcast on TV in parts of in Canada and a PBS station in San Diego, where it won an EarthVision award for excellence in environmental filmmaking.

Cut to 15 years later, and the stuff Leiren-Young and his merry band of B.C. satirists couldn't perform elsewhere has become part of the everyday lexicon of the nation.

"Literally, all the stuff we were doing in 1993 in Vancouver is suddenly relevant in 2008 in the rest of Canada," Leiren-Young says.

The greening of pop culture resulted in The Green Chain, (which features, among other's, Alberta's Tricia Helfer), receiving development funding from Telefilm. According to Telefilm's John Dippong, a film such as The Green Chain, which deals with logging by showing both sides of the debate in fictionalized monologues, demonstrates the sort of maturation in the approach filmmakers have made in films discussing environmental themes.

"It basically looks at the whole issue of logging from all sorts of different perspectives," says Dippong of the film, which reaped a best canadian screenwriting nomination from the Writers Guild of Canada for Leiren-Young. "It's really nicely done, because there's no obvious right, wrong or single point of view, which of course is the whole deal with environmental films: it's complicated. Which is interesting."

Dippong sees the increased interest in environmental themes as a logical extension of western Canadian-based filmmakers' sense of place.

"It's kind of dangerous to generalize, but I think western Canadian filmmakers have a pretty distinctive sense of place and environment," Dippong says. "Whether it's the vast open prairies, the mountains, (or) the West Coast here, I think we're starting to see that the environment we live in is starting to influence the stories we tell."

Mr. Leiren-Young Goes to Ottawa

2008-04-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

My Joust with Senators over Free Speech in Film

Leiren-Young: Message delivered.

Jitters, the F word, and what I told the Bill C-10 hearings.

By Mark Leiren-Young
Published: April 14, 2008

TheTyee.ca

[Editor's note: To read the full transcript of the Senate panel discussion during the session Mark Leiren-Young spoke in, click here. His comments begin about half way down.]

The nice people at the Book and Periodical Council wanted me to be as well behaved as possible. The nice woman from the CBC really wanted me to say "fuck" on TV. And what the f*** were the senators going to say?

For the rest of the story... visit The Tyee...

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Green Chain Filmmaker to Talk Censorship With The Senate

2008-04-09T00:40:00.000-07:00

Mark Leiren-Young is "briefing" the Senate today (Wednesday, April 9 at 5 pm Eastern Time) on a provision in Bill C-10 that could lead to the censorship of Canadian film and television.
Mark's speaking to the Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce on behalf of the Freedom of Expression Committee of the Book and Periodical Council of Canada.
This controversial clause in Bill C-10 won't affect The Green Chain, but it could affect the next movie or TV show that you try to make, so if you'd like to know what it's all about, here's the Facebook site Keep your censoring hands off of Canadian film and TV! No to Bill C-10! -- which now has over 38,000 members.
And if you're concerned about free speech in Canada, please join the Facebook group, send a letter to the Senate or call, write or email your MP.
Mark is presenting his brief between 5 and 6 pm (Eastern Time) and the Senate hearings are being streamed live on-line, so you can click here to watch. Other groups speaking today include REAL Women of Canada and Canadians Concerned about Violence in Entertainment (from 4-5 pm). The Canadian Conference of the Arts and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association will be speaking during the same session as the BPC, from 5-6.
Thursday's speakers include Sarah Polley and Wendy Crewson, who are speaking on behalf of ACTRA, and Rebecca Schechter and Maureen Parker from the Writer's Guild of Canada.
The Book and Periodical Council is the umbrella organization for Canadian associations involved in the writing, editing, publishing, manufacturing, distribution, selling and lending of books and periodicals in Canada. The members represent approximately 6,000 individuals and 5,500 firms and institutions. Associate members represent an additional several thousand individuals, firms and institutions.
The Freedom of Expression Committee monitors censorship issues in Canada, organizes Freedom to Read Week and produces an information kit each year on issues of intellectual freedom.
Mark first got involved with the FOE committee in 1992 when his comedy troupe, Local Anxiety, wrote the anthem for Freedom to Read Week, "Dirty Books."
He has represented the Playwrights Guild of Canada on FOE (and been part of their "issues" subcommittee) for so long that no one's quite sure when he officially joined.

Link to The Babz Chula Lifeline

2008-04-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

Babz Chula is a national treasure and right now she needs your help -- so please share this post (or at least these links) with everyone you know.
Babz is currently fighting two different types of cancer and she’s using alternative therapies that aren’t covered by the Canadian Health Care system. So the Babz Chula Lifeline for Artists Society is raising money to help cover her treatments.
The Green Chain was Babz’ first gig after recovering from her last bout with cancer and I know everyone on the movie was honoured that she was willing to play with us.
So now I’m going to drop the names of some of the stars who are donating their time and/or memorabilia to the cause because I want everyone to visit eBay to bid early, often and extravagantly... David Duchovny (The X-Files), Nick Lea (Men in Trees), Chris Carter (Harsh Realm – okay, The X-Files too, but Harsh Realm was amazing and you should check it out on DVD), Gabrielle Miller (Corner Gas), Callum Keith Rennie (almost every cool Canadian movie you've ever seen), Jewel Staite (Firefly & Stargate Atlantis), Kandyse McClure (Battlestar Galactica) and The Green Chain’s Tahmoh Penikett.
Babz is a joy to work with and to be with and I know she’s got hundreds of great roles left to play – both on and off stage.
So bid early, bid often and if you can’t find anything to buy, and even if you can, make a donation anyway for all the times you’ve seen her on stage or screen -- or off stage and screen -- and she’s made you laugh or cry or feel happy to be alive.

The Green Chain Podcast: Antony Marcil, Forest Stewardship Council of Canada

2008-03-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

The Forest Stewardship Council of Canada was an early supporter of The Green Chain. They helped with our research, wrote a letter to support us when we applied for a grant (which we didn't get, but still...) and former FSC Canada board member, John Wiggers, played a major supporting role in the making of the movie.

So when I started The Green Chain podcast series, I knew I had to interview the head of the FSC, Antony Marcil. I met him when I was in Toronto interviewing movie stars for The Georgia Straight at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. And this was definitely one of my favourites interviews during the festival. Okay, Sir Richard Attenborough, Paul Schrader, Kevin Bacon, Gabriel Byrne, Ewan McGregor, Jude Law, Michael Caine, Marjane Satrapi and Sidney Lumet weren't too dull either, but they didn't talk trees.

Here's the link to listen on iTunes.

Here's the intro from The Tyee podcast and the link to the story and audio options posted there.

One of Harry Potter's biggest magic tricks was letting the world know about the Forest Stewardship Council. When J.K. Rowling announced that the final installment of her beyond bestselling saga was going to be released on FSC certified paper, it was hard to miss the existence of an international organization that was founded in Toronto back in 1993 to look for better ways to manage the world's forests.

And when Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty made switching government papers to FSC certified paper part of his recent reelection campaign, it was a major triumph for Antony Marcil, president and CEO of FSC Canada since 2005.

Before taking over FSC Canada, Marcil spent 10 years as president and CEO of the World Environment Center. In 1997, he was included in the first worldwide listing of "The Top 100 Figures in Environment, Sustainable Development and Social Issues" by The Earth Times. He did a two year stint as "planner-in-residence" at the School of Planning, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo after devoting five years of his life to an unexpected way to save the planet: tax reform.

I met Marcil at the FSC office in downtown Toronto to talk about the history and future of the FSC, how tax reform could save the world and why he'd trash Canada's Ministry of the Environment.

And when I checked in just before posting this he was thrilled to tell me that there's so much demand for FSC-certified paper that FSC certified mills can't produce it fast enough. Fortunately, we don't need to worry about that since you're reading this online. . .

The Green Chain Script Scores a Canadian Screenwriting Award Nomination

2008-03-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

Tony Wosk here with a special guest blog for The Green Chain. Usually I prefer to let Mark handle the blogging, but today is really a special circumstance. On behalf of the producers of the film, I wanted to congratulate our esteemed (and way too busy) writer/director Mark Leiren-Young on being named a finalist for the Writer's Guild of Canada’s 2008 Canadian Screenwriting Awards. Knowing all the wonderful films produced in Canada this past year, I find this peer voted award pretty darn cool.

From my first reading of The Green Chain, I always thought it was wonderfully written; and the script is actually why I got involved in the film in the first place, so it’s great to see that Mark’s being recognized for it and that others found the screenplay as compelling as I did.

Last year Sarah Polley won the award with her screenplay for Away From Her, which went on to garner an Oscar nomination.

This year the competition is just as fierce with screenwriters including Travis Macdonald (Normal), Clement Virgo & Chaz Thorne (Poor Boy’s Game) and Kari Skogland (The Stone Angel). Congrats to all of them as well.

Looking forward to the awards ceremony on April 14th, and not just because of the open bar.

(photo of Mark Leiren-Young by Tim Safranek, courtesy of The 2008 Cleveland International Film Festival.)

T

The Green Chain Storms Cleveland

2008-03-09T17:27:00.000-07:00

The airport just reopened after a blizzard and the city's still cold, but the audience at The Green Chain's American premiere couldn't have been warmer.

Writer/director Mark Leiren-Young and producer, Tony Wosk, both flew to Cleveland for the premiere and the response was fantastic.

Mark (that'd be me) joked before the movie about Ohio being a big forestry state. And that kicked the night off with a big laugh. The thrill for Mark and Tony was how many laughs there were - and how lovely the response was - from an audience that isn't necessarily raised on the politics of trees.

The movie was followed by a half hour "Question and Answer" session covering everything from the movie's shooting location, to Tricia Helfer's fearless performance as Leila Cole. And some members of the audience were surprised when the final credits started to roll and they realized our actors were actors and that this isn't a documentary -- a comment the movie has received after almost every screening we've done so far.

The Q&A continued at The Hard Rock Cafe when several audience members visited Mark and Tony with more questions and comments.

The Green Chain is part of the Cleveland International Film Festival's special "It's Easy Being Green" environmental program and is also featured as part of the festival's spotlight on new Canadian films. The movie was invited to Cleveland after festival director, Bill Guentzler, screened it at the Vancouver International Film Festival and decided to bring it home.

Mark's looking forward to meeting the audience at The Green Chain's second and final screening at the Festival, this Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. Okay, he's not looking forward to being awake at 9:30 a.m. but... he is looking forward to meeting anyone passionate enough about their movies to see them so early!

The Big Ohio Primary News -- The Green Chain is Elected to Play Cleveland

2008-02-22T02:47:00.000-08:00

The Green Chain's American premiere is set to rock the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The 32nd Cleveland International Film Festival is featuring The Green Chain in their newly launched "It's Not Easy Being Green" section and also in their special slate of Canadian films, "Oh Canada."
The American premiere is Tuesday, March 11 at 7:00 pm, with a second showing Thursday, March 13 at 9:30 am. Currently only Festival members can purchase tickets, but general admission tickets will be on sale soon.
Founded in 1977, the Cleveland Film Society has presented the Cleveland International Film Festival every spring for over three decades. Ohio’s premier film event features over 240 films originating from close to 60 countries.
To buy tickets click here.
Here's the official synopsis from their program.
Who doesn’t love trees? Surely the logger loves trees, even the firefighter, and especially the environmentalist protester. But so does the movie star, the logging executive, the tree-sitter living 100 feet high, and the waitress in a small British Columbian town. This film is compromised of a series of monologues by all of the above and more. What these interlocking stories tell us is that there are multiple sides to the environmentalist issue. Each of these individuals has different reasons to love trees. To some, trees are their livelihood; to others, trees are a reason to fight. What’s more is that all of these reasons to love trees inadvertently affect other people’s lives. In exposing the different viewpoints of the logging industry, which is currently dividing and destroying communities in Canada and the Pacific Northwest, Mark Leiren-Young creates a film-- a sort of staged documentary-- based on true tales. While not as laugh-out-loud funny as Christopher Guest, but much more biting and hard hitting, this film will make everyone question where their tree devotion falls along THE GREEN CHAIN.

Kingston Checks out The Green Chain March 1 & 2nd

2008-02-17T21:23:00.000-08:00

The Green Chain's Ontario premiere at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival is set. The movie debuts Saturday, March 1st @ 9:30 PM. The second showing is Sunday, March 2nd @ 3:40 PM.

Kingston is the world's largest all-Canadian Film Festival, so start humming "O Canada" and tell all your friends in Ontario to check out the show.

For ticket information click here.

And here's the official program synopsis by Elan Mastai...

The battle between loggers and environmentalists is defining and dividing communities across Canada, and this thought-provoking, unexpectedly funny, and wonderfully acted film explores both sides of an issue that’s never clear cut. Writer-director Mark Leiren-Young tackles a challenging subject with an innovative approach — seven characters deliver seven monologues arguing their perspectives and quietly revealing their intriguing personal connections. The film’s strong environmental core is elevated by incredible performances; many delivered in a single stunning take, from a knock-out ensemble cast including Battlestar Galactica’s Tricia Helfer and Tahmoh Penikett, and multiple Genie and Gemini winners Babz Chula, Brendan Fletcher, and August Schellenberg.

Stay tuned for news about The Green Chain's American premiere!

The Green Chain Crowned by Kingston

2008-01-29T16:50:00.000-08:00

Some groovy green news...

The Green Chain is one of the six initial selections for the world's largest all-Canadian film festival -- The Kingston Canadian Film Festival.

The other five early selections are some of this year's most acclaimed Canadian features -- Up the Yangtze, Breakfast with Scot, The Tracey Fragments (featuring Oscar nominee, Ellen Page), Shake Hands with the Devil and Green Chain star, Tricia Helfer's "other movie" the S&M comedy, Walk All Over Me.

The Kingston Canadian Film Festival is held February 27 to March 2, 2008.

We'll share our dates as soon as we know them...

The Green Chain Podcast: Tzeporah Berman Part 2

2008-01-24T01:13:00.000-08:00

Powersuit Power, Eco-Politics

Berman: ForestEthics crusader.

Tzeporah Berman: Part two of a 'Trees & Us' podcast.

"Green is the new black," says ForestEthics founder, Tzeporah Berman, with a laugh as she tells The Tyee about the rest of the world finally starting to catch up to British Columbians on environmental issues.

In 2007, the former Greenpeace organizer talked politics in Hollywood with Paris Hilton and played politics in Bali with Canada's environment minister, John Baird.

Last week's interview covered Berman's role in Leonardo DiCaprio's cinematic plea to save the planet, The 11th Hour, the upcoming battle of Athabasca and her life under the media microscope.

This week, in the conclusion of our special two-part podcast, Berman deals with the founding of ForestEthics and catalogues some of their major victories . . . including their war against environmentally dirty underwear.

The uncompromising activist also talks about with the challenges of making compromises, the power of powersuits, staying hopeful and discussing lingerie with Gloria Steinem.

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Mark Leiren-Young talks to Tzeporah Berman (part two). (mp3 file)

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The Green Chain Podcast: Tzeporah Berman

2008-01-19T02:33:00.000-08:00

From starring in The 11th Hour for Leonardo DiCaprio to fighting to survive the 11th hour in Bali, last year Tzeporah Berman was everywhere.

At a party in Vancouver a few months ago celebrating ForestEthics' astonishing victory in convincing the BC government to preserve 2.2 million hectares of habitat for the world’s only mountain caribou the key players in the group were introduced to the audience and applauded. Everyone else in the organization was identified by their official title. Berman was introduced as, “our rock star.”
A former star with Greenpeace and one of the founders of ForestEthics, the woman BC Premier Glen Clark once called an enemy of the state has been on the frontlines of the Canadian environmental movement for over a decade. But in 2007 she became… a rock star… achieving Suzukisque status when she was chosen as one of the featured players (along with Dr. David) in Hollywood’s cinematic plea to save the planet, The 11th Hour and scored an official audience with the media icon of our age, Paris Hilton.
She ended her amazing year facing off against Canada’s Minister of the Environment, John Baird at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali-- a story she chronicled for The Tyee .
I met Berman at the Forest Ethics office in downtown Vancouver not long before she left to Bali. Here's part one of a special two part podcast about spinning celebrity, Berman's biggest battles, sticky fights in the tar sands and how we’ll always have Paris.
- MLY

The Williams Lake Podcast

2007-12-09T23:15:00.000-08:00

One of the most rewarding moments in making The Green Chain came just after we'd wrapped post-production and I interviewed Wade Fisher for The Tyee podcast series.

Every scene in the movie kicks off with a response to the question, "how do you feel about trees." And every character starts their story with the same three words: "I love trees."

Wade Fisher spent more than two decades representing BC forest workers. When I was visiting friends in Williams Lake I met Wade to do my first interview for the podcast series and at the end of our conversation I decided I'd try out the question from the film and ask him, "how do you feel about trees?"

There was a pause and then he gave an answer that took my breath away. "I think I love trees."

As he continued to answer the question he echoed so many of the sentiments from our logger, Ben Holm, that I think... Wade is entirely based on our logger... So if I sound a little stunned at the end of this interview it's only because I was a little stunned.

One reason this interview is so free flowing is that I was meeting Wade to talk about his role with the Cariboo-Chilcotin Beetle Action Coaltion, but as soon as we started talking he told me he'd just left the group. So I wasn't sure where the interview was going to go -- or if I was going to use it for the series -- until we'd already been talking for a few minutes.

I think Wade offers a glimpse into a world that most people seldom see. It's the world we visit in The Green Chain. And I hope you'll visit it now. And when the movie opens at a theatre near you...

Here's the podcast.

News on when we'll be where next coming soon.

Happy Chanukah,

Mark

Tricia Helfer Whips Up Excitement and The Green Chain Storms the Weather Network

2007-11-29T23:13:00.000-08:00

Tricia Helfer's (other) new movie Walk All Over Me hits (and whips) Vancouver theatres next week and it's the cover story of this week's Georgia Straight.
The Green Chain is also creating a storm on Canada's Weather Network in a new story about the west coast enviro scene featuring Mark Leiren-Young and The 11th Hour's Canadian eco-idol, Tzeporah Berman.
Also... be sure to pick up the latest issue of The Vancouver Review for a fascinating, in-depth review of The Green Chain (which we'll be posting here soon).
And now here's a bit about Tricia and The Green Chain from this week's Straight story by Mike Usinger...
With major roles in two feature films this year, Helfer has given every indication that she isn't going to be another Cindy Crawford when it comes to leaving the catwalk for the screen. Georgia Straight contributor and Vancouver native Mark Leiren-Young directed Helfer in his 2007 movie, The Green Chain, which looks at the issue of logging old-growth forests from various sides. Helfer, who plays a celebrity jumping on the green bandwagon, blew his mind when she showed up for filming and proceeded to rattle off a 13-minute monologue in one perfect take.
"I kept asking her, 'So, no theatre experience at all?' 'No,'" Leiren-Young tells the Straight by phone. "I had trouble believing she wasn't a theatre-trained actor. She was just astonishing."

The Green Chain Meets Garbage Warrior!

2007-11-09T01:34:00.000-08:00

Here's the scoop on the latest Green Chain podcast on The Tyee.

Building Treeless Houses

Doc director OIiver Hodge

A Trees and Us podcast with 'Garbage Warriors' director Oliver Hodge.

By Mark Leiren-Young
Published: November 2, 2007

TheTyee.ca

Imagine building your house out of garbage.

American architect Michael Reynolds turns old tires, beer cans and plastic bottles into "earthships."

Oliver Hodge was a movie props maker who helped design and create the stuff you find on spaceships -- including the light sabers for The Phantom Menace. But Hodge left the Oompa Loompas at Charlie's Chocolate Factory and suspended his license to create killer weapons for James Bond to chronicle Reynold's adventures for his first feature film, Garbage Warrior.

Hodge spent three years following Reynolds as he fought to change the laws in New Mexico to create a self-sustaining community and flew into disaster areas to build -- and teach locals to build -- homes that require no heating, no outside sewage or water systems and redefine the meaning and possibilities of "living off the grid."

Garbage Warrior just finished a run at the 2007 Vancouver International Film Festival where it won the inaugural People's Choice Award for the Most Popular International Nonfiction Film. Last week Hodge won the award for Best Debut Director at the British Independent Film Awards. And Dorothy Woodend at The Tyee wrote, "This is perhaps my favorite film in the entire festival, simply because it says, "You want to do something? Okay, do this!""

In the latest "Trees and Us" podcast, Mark Leiren-Young talks trash with Hodge as he explains how to build houses without trees.

Click Mark Leiren-Young talks with Oliver Hodge to hear Oliver Hodge talk about recycled houses, the stories the movie doesn't tell about visiting the Andaman Islands after a tsunami and making the ultimate light sabre.

Or listen and subscribe to Tyee podcasts on iTunes.

The Green Chain featured at Citizenshift

2007-11-01T03:36:00.000-07:00

The Green Chain now has a featured blog at -- The National Film Board of Canada's social networking site, Citizenshift. And we're the only fictional film that's part of the NFB site.

Other featured Rebels With a Cause include Nettie Wilde -- whose movie Blockade was helped inspire me in making this film. Both our cinematographer Kirk Tougas (seen above) and our sound designer, Gael MacLean, worked with Nettie to bring Blockade to life and were able to share their knowledge of that experience to create the world of The Green Chain.
Another featured filmmaker is Velcrow Ripper who offered to loan us footage when we were searching for transition images. We didn't end up needing the footage, but the offer was most appreciated and I'll be interviewing Velcrow for one of my upcoming podcasts. Velcrow took his own non-fiction look at trees with his film, Bones of the Forest.
The Citizenshift site also features filmmakers Mark Achbar, Avi Lewis and Alanis Obomsawin and the leader of Canada's Green Party, Elizabeth May.

George Bowering Talks Trees on the Latest Green Chain Podcast

2007-10-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Tree Love and Murder

Bowering: Haunting stories and poems about trees.

A Trees and Us podcast with George Bowering.

By Mark Leiren-Young
Published: October 19, 2007

TheTyee.ca

Novelist, poet, editor, professor and the first Poet Laureate of Canada, George Bowering is famous for his words. But he first started working in the woods, and his family works in the forest industry.

So while those words have an international profile, they are inescapably rooted in B.C.'s trees, with stories of growing up in the Okanagan, haunting poems of urban Vancouver, and his innovative treatment of historical B.C. events.

LISTEN TO THIS!

Mark Leiren-Young talks to George Bowering.

In today's podcast, internationally-renowned poet George Bowering talks about those forests and sings about chainsaws.

Click the Listen to This! link to hear Mark Leiren-Young talk to him about risking his life on logging roads, "tree murder" and cruising for the B.C. government.

Or listen and subscribe to Tyee podcasts on iTunes.

WIFT says Jillian Fargey "riveting" in The Green Chain

2007-10-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

Women in Film & Television's Artistic Merit Award for the Vancouver International Film Festival went to "She's a Boy I Knew" -- but before the winner was announced at VIFF's closing gala, WIFT president Danika Dinsmore praised one performance that stood out for the judges. "Honourable mention goes to Jillian Fargey for her riveting and moving performance delivering a monologue as a logger’s wife in the film The Green Chain."
Jillian was the only actor singled out during the VIFF awards presentation.
At VIFF's closing party, Danika told me that Jillian's performance made all the judges cry.
Jillan and I first worked together in a Jessie-Award winning production of my stage play, Basically Good Kids - a drama about teen violence that toured BC with Carousel Theatre.
When I wrote a series of episodes for CBC's hit radio drama , Hartfeldt Saskatchewan, I was asked for casting suggestions. I wanted Jillian to play the key guest star role -- a radical environmental activist. My episodes were about - what else -- trees. I received a Writers' Guild of Canada Top Ten Award nomination for the script.
When we started casting The Green Chain, Jillian was our first phone call. She makes writers look good.
Jillian couldn't attend the Closing Gala (or The Green Chain's Vancouver premiere) because she's starring in the world premiere of Joan MacLeod's new play, Homechild at the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, BC (which runs until Oct. 21st).

The Green Chain in The Williams Lake Tribune

2007-10-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Film Fest entry inspired by Cariboo Chilcotin
Gaeil Farrar
Tribune Staff Writer

Former Tribune reporter Mark Leiren-Young is making a big splash at the Vancouver Film Festival this week with his Cariboo inspired film called The Green Chain. Leiren-Young wrote and directed the film.
So far he has been interviewed by the Province, Vancouver Sun, CanWest newswire, and Global TV about the film which filled the house for its first showing Monday.
The Green Chain combines seven stories about people willing to risk their lives to save the forests and the people who survive by cutting them down. The film is playing at the Vancouver International Film Festival September 27 to October 12.
Among other things Leiren-Young covered the police beat and forestry beats for the Tribune in the 1980s. “I’d been in Williams Lake for however many minutes it takes to drive from the ‘Welcome to Williams Lake’ sign to the Mohawk Station on Highway 97 when I had my first story. The gas station had been robbed. After I finished interviewing the cashier, she smiled at me and said: “Welcome to Williams Lake.”
Several aspects of the forestry beat inspired him to write The Green Chain. “I think my first assignment for Casual Country was doing profiles of all the local mills. And some of the people I interviewed -- and the stories I heard -- very much inspired this movie.” The mountain pine beetle was just showing up in the region. “I wrote a few pine beetle stories for The Trib. I remember the first day that I experienced 30 below weather -- and I couldn’t believe human beings could survive at 30 below -- and someone in the Forest Ministry told me they were hoping the cold would stay long enough to kill the beetles.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t. It was the coldest winter I’d ever experienced in my life, but I think it was one of the earliest of the warming winters that allowed the beetle problem to turn into an epidemic. So the movie definitely mentions the beetles, but it doesn’t focus on them.”
Leiren-Young says he was also struck by the irony of one interview he did with a logger who was excited about getting his new machine which he described as “a mill on wheels” and at the same time complained about the damn environmentalists from the cities who were taking away all the jobs. He says the interview always stuck with him and created the first link in The Green Chain.
One of the biggest challenges in the film was finding a feller-buncher or a danglehead processor for the film’s logger that was accessible and safe. Driving along real logging roads, looking for such equipment, he says it became very clear to him how so many loggers die in the woods each year.
He says he wanted the film to feel like a documentary and it was fun hearing after the first screening at the Montreal World Film festival that The Green Chain captured the voices of rural Ontario, and after the second screening that it captured the voices of rural Quebec.
Leiren-Young says it is important for him to show The Green Chain in Williams Lake and Prince George as it is to show it in Vancouver and Toronto. “And it’s just as important to me to see this play in Oregon and Washington as it is to see it in LA or New York. The idea behind the movie is to get people listening to all sorts of different points of view.
The goal is also to use the movie to start a dialogue on the various issues effecting the forests -- and forest communities -- like the beetles.”
To facilitate this dialogue, Leiren-Young says he’s connected with the publication, The Tyee (www.thetyee.ca), and set up a podcast series where he interviews a wide variety of people -- including William’s Lake’s Wade Fisher -- about forestry and environmental issues.
“The series is set up to encourage comments and get people talking. I’d love to start reading postings on the site from Cariboo country.”
This is Leiren-Young’s first film, although he has had a lot of festival experiences in theatre, comedy and music festivals. He has written for several television series and written and acted in stage shows over the years including Local Anxiety and Escape from Fantasy Gardens.
Tuesday, Leiren-Young says he was rehearsing for his first Local Anxiety gig in nine years. “We’re playing at a special (Vancouver) Film Fest event. Big fun, but seriously nerve-wracking!”
His most recent writing has been for the television series Blood Ties, about a vampire with a conscience. “Now I’m working on developing Moon Knight, which was/is a Marvel Comic. It’s a pretty amazing gig because I loved the character as a kid and had every issue of the first three series Moon Knight appeared in.”

Local Anxiety live -- tonight in Vancouver and Mark Leiren-Young gets SIRIUS tomorrow morning

2007-10-11T15:43:00.001-07:00

If you've got satellite radio, tune in to Sirius Channel 114 tomorrow morning when The Lazy Environmentalist interviews The Green Chain's Mark Leiren-Young at 11 a.m. eastern time. Mark may stay up all night to do the interview because not only is it 8 a.m. Pacific time, but he'll just be coming back from...
The first live Local Anxiety appearance since headlining at the Vancouver Folk Festival in 1998. Local Anxiety (alias Green Chain writer-director Mark Leiren-Young & actor/musician Kevin Crofton) wrote and perform the closing song, Tree Farm, in The Green Chain.
And they're among the special guests at a party to celebrate the Vancouver International Film Festival starring the critically acclaimed band of Vancouver critics, Twisted Siskel (alias Ken Eisner, Glen Schaefer, Ron Yamauchi, Keith Kennedy and David Welsford) at the Vancouver Media Club (695 Cambie St.)
"The stupidly versatile 5-piece band will be joined by smokey vocalists Nick Lea and Cecile Larochelle, crooner Clive Goodinson hitting us with some good-time swing tunes, and there will be original numbers from up-and-coming recording artist Jennifer Hershman, plus cellist Lisa Nazarenko. Look for some musical humour from Local Anxiety, having a one-time reunion, more fun from Canadian Images programmer Terry McEvoy, plus a few choice words—and possibly some interpretive dance—from Wendel Meldrum, here with her hot new film, Cruel But Necessary, screening that very night."
Tickets will be eight dollars at the door, but VIFF guests will enter free with their passes.
LA is set to hit the stage around midnight...

A Capsule Review of The Green Chain from Today's Vancouver Sun

2007-10-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

The Green Chain: Everything you wanted to know about the B.C. logging industry but were afraid to ask, emerges -- in one way or another -- over the course of Mark Leiren-Young's new film. It has the guts to explore the issue in emotional terms without getting bogged down in the endless rhetoric -- or the facile argument of people versus nature. A smart and well-researched film that successfully sees the trees through the forest.
Screens today, 12:30 p.m., Granville 2.
- Katherine Monk

The Green Chain Review from The Vancouver Courier

2007-10-09T20:13:00.001-07:00

From a review of The Green Chain in The Vancouver Courier from our western Canadian premiere at The Vancouver International Film Festival.

All seven characters in this docu-drama by Vancouverite Mark Leiren-Young claim to love trees—and surely they all do. But their perspectives on BC’s forestry industry vary as much as their positions in life. A second-generation logger, granny protester, underemployed firefighter, cause-championing star, naïve tree-sitter, First Nations forestry executive and long-suffering diner waitress deliver engaging monologues that lay out their views, movingly and convincingly. The technique pulls viewers into their emotional spheres, leading us to abandon presumptions or at least recognize the complexity of the situation. Standout performances include Scott McNeil as a baffled logger facing the realities of less work and fewer trees, and noted stage actress Jillian Fargey as his burdened wife, whose diner job and reflections on family and community reveal the human cost of changing times. Local up-and-coming actor Brendan Fletcher is also delightful as tree-occupying Dylan, babbling to his handicam 100 feet up a cedar. Leiren-Young’s strong and nuanced writing pinpoints these varied personalities, and his background in comedy injects levity (where appropriate) into a generally sombre subject. There may be no easy outs, the film implies, but a good debate can’t be off the mark.
-Gudrun Will

B.C. filmmaker explores the big tree picture

2007-10-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

B.C. filmmaker explores the big tree picture
Katherine Monk

VANCOUVER - He's been thinking and writing about the multi-faceted relationship between people and trees since 1985, when a stint at the Williams Lake Tribune introduced him to logging communities and their unique place in the B.C. economy.
But ask playwright, filmmaker and all-purpose scribe Mark Leiren-Young what trees mean to him, personally, and he looks at the square wooden coffee table in front of him with a seeking expression.
"I'll have to think about that one for a bit," he says. "It's not a simple question... everything about trees can be read in so many different ways, and raise different questions. It can get emotional very fast."
For a dramatist, any issue that can raise emotions and political fervor in the same breath is a boon, which is why Leiren-Young first contemplated the idea for The Green Chain - his new feature film which screens at the Vancouver International Film Festival this week - more than 20 years ago in the womb of a resource-based economy.
"As a person who'd been living in Vancouver, I sort of felt like Greenpeace was in my blood," says Leiren-Young, longtime creative collaborator with the late Vancouver theatre luminary, John Juliani.
"When I first arrived in Williams Lake, my first assignment was talking to people who cut down trees. It was the first time I actually heard the logger's perspective and it became very clear to me at that point that no one in the whole forestry debate was listening to each other."
Leiren-Young says a chance meeting with John Wiggers, the former chair of the Forest Stewardship Council of Canada, confirmed his interpretation of the big tree picture and that's when everything came together.
"It was so weird, because here I'd been looking for this guy - and I ended up sitting next to him on a plane. I never talk to people on the plane, and for some reason, I started talking to the man next to me - and it was the man I'd been looking for."
Realizing fate was cooperating with the creative venture, which was originally conceived as a radio or TV script that Leiren-Young and Juliani could produce on a limited budget, the next step was finding the right structure and approach.
"It was important for me that we explored the issue in as many dimensions as possible," he says. "There were so many voices that needed to be heard, and so that's where I started: I wanted to let those voices speak for themselves, so originally, I had six characters who all spoke about how much they love trees."
The six characters eventually grew into seven, once Leiren-Young realized he had no First Nations voice, and The Green Chain moved ever closer to camera.
"When I worked on Articles of Faith (a play about the Anglican Church's blessing of same sex unions) with John (Juliani) he stopped a performance of the play half way through and asked the audience if they thought the play was skewed in a particular direction. Only two people - one from each side - felt the play was biased. Everyone else in the audience thought it was fair," he says.
"I wanted to find the same balance for Green Chain... and that all came down to the voices. I figured if I got the voices right, I'd be able to explore the issue in a way that felt honest. I felt everyone deserved to be represented."
The result is a movie that features seven monologues from a variety of tree-loving types - including a logger and an environmental activist.
Leiren-Young says he's happy with the finished product - not just because it brings a fresh perspective to a rather stale and monotonous debate about the pros and cons of the forestry industry, and not just because it gives equal time to all sides.
"The one thing working with John (Juliani) taught me was to face fear. He always said do something you are afraid of and I think that's what Green Chain means to me now," he says, sitting back, staring at that four-legged wood product laden with magazines before him.
"You know, I used to be afraid of heights and when we shot this movie, one scene involved being high in a cedar... and so I decided I should get up there. The tree was on a cliff, so on one side, if you looked down, it was like a 150-foot drop," he says, with a hint of giddy laughter.
"But I did it, and now I'm nowhere near as afraid of heights as I used to be."
With any luck, Leiren-Young says Green Chain could have a similar effect on the logging debate.
"I think we need to listen to each other if we're going to find a solution, and maybe this movie can defuse the fear and paranoia surrounding the business of trees. There's something mystical about them, something magical.
They define us as British Columbians and if we can get a handle on what they mean to each of us, I think we stand a good chance of finding solutions to the problems in a way that respects everyone."
© CanWest News Service

Red Carpetting for The Green Chain

2007-10-04T02:41:00.000-07:00

Tricia Helfer and Mark Leiren-Young did the red carpet for The Green Chain at the Vancouver International Film Festival. The photo is by efilmcritic.com's Jason Whyte, who interviewed Mark for the movie's premiere.
Here's the start of the interview. For the full interview, click here.
Is this your first film in the VIFF? (Or the first film you have) Do you have any other festival experience? If you’re a festival veteran, let us know your favourite and least-favourite parts of the festival experience.
Yes. It’s my first film at VIFF and my first film. I’ve had a lot of amazing festival experiences, but in theatre, comedy and music festivals. Film festivals are a whole new ride that I’m thrilled to be taking.
Could you give me a little look into your background (your own personal biography, if you will), and what led you to the desire to want to make film?
When I was a reporter at The Williams Lake Tribune I interviewed a logger about his brand new machine that he described as, “a mill on wheels.” While he boasted about his beautiful machine, he was complaining about the damn environmentalists from the cities who were taking away all the jobs. As one of those damn environmentalists, the interview always stuck with me and created the first link in The Green Chain.
Growing up, you were no doubt asked the eternal question “When I grow up I want to be a …” Finish this sentence, please!
“Writer.” I started giving that answer when I was in elementary school. In high school I told people I was a writer.
While you were making the movie, were you thinking about the future release of the film, be it film festivals, paying customers, critical response, and so forth?
Yes and no. A big part of making a movie is funding it, so I think you have to consider those questions unless you want to pay all the bills yourself. In terms of response, what mattered most to me was getting the stories right.

The Green Chain Competes for major Green Award

2007-09-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

The Green Chain has been selected to compete for the Vancouver International Film Festival's new $25,000 Climate for Change Award -- one of the largest cash awards at any film festival in North America.

The series includes dramatic features and documentaries and The Green Chain is the only Canadian film in competition and one of only two dramatic entries.

The new annual award is and is sponsored by Kyoto Planet, "a new eco-conscious company with three distinct but interrelated parts: a financial vehicle to support and facilitate investment in, and management of, business opportunities in the green sector, a foundation to award grants and manage the non-profit portion of the company's business, and a consumer company grounded by a broad portal to serve as the preeminent marketplace for knowledge, ideas, discussion and goods and services in the environmental space."

VIFF Director Alan Franey says, "This is a major and very important development for our festival. Although it is true that we have featured many films on environmental issues over the years, the generous and enlightened support of Kyoto Planet encourages us to put environmentally themed films front and centre in our program."

Mark Leiren-Young on VIFF Panel

2007-09-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

Here's the scoop on a panel Mark's joining at the Vancouver International Film Festival hosted by Cineworks. 2:30PM Saturday October 6th 2:30pm – 3:30pm

Cineworks Studio 1131 Howe Street
FILMMAKING FOR AND ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT

Panelists: Laura Dunn (The Unforeseen), Oliver Hodge (Garbage Warrior), Mark Leiren-Young (The Green Chain) Moderator: Maia Iozova
Join these environmental filmmakers for a dynamic discussion on the challenges of making films with our precious planet in mind -- from leaving a smaller footprint during production, to creating films with integrity that break down boundaries or decide to stay purposefully within them. Learn about the approaches of these three diverse filmmakers as they discuss their experience from pre-production to the release of their films.
Presented by: Documentary Organisation of Canada - BC Chapter

Sprucing up the Green Chain podcast

2007-09-13T19:49:00.001-07:00

When I first read John Vaillant’s story about “The Golden Spruce” in The New Yorker I had two simultaneous thoughts… what an incredible story and... who the heck is John Vaillant?
I definitely don’t know the work of every writer in Vancouver, but I couldn’t believe there was someone in my city who wrote this wonderfully, who I’d never heard of. The article is one of the best I’ve ever read. It’s an amazing story, beautifully told.
But the book rocked my world.
It wasn’t just the rich history of the Spruce or the drama and mystery of renegade logger, Grant Hadwin, that impressed me, it was the way John wove in the history of logging and the BC forests.
When The Tyee agreed to let me do a podcast, John was the first person I contacted. He not only agreed to be interviewed, he provided me with a list of other potential interview subjects -- many of whom you’ll hear me talk with soon.
Most interviews with John focus on the man who killed the Golden Spruce, but I wasn’t interested in Grant Hadwin’s story for this. I wanted to know what a writer from the U.S. saw in Haida Gwaii that all the writers in BC had missed. I also wanted his thoughts on our forests, the way they’re run, and the new story he’s doing for National Geographic -- both because it sounds like a fascinating model for land management and because I’m really looking forward to reading it when he’s done.
John and I talked at his kitchen table in his home in Vancouver, BC. So if you hear any squeaks, that would be the sound of wooden chairs shifting on a hardwood floor. And in a podcast about trees, I kind of like the idea of punctuating it with the music of creaking wood.
Here's John...

The Green Chain in Vancouver

2007-09-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

Tickets on sale now!
The Green Chain has two shows at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Our Western Canadian premiere is Monday, October 8 at 7 pm at the Empire Granville 7.
Our second show is Wed. Oct. 10th at 12:30 pm at the Empire Granville 7.
The Green Chain is featured in VIFF's new "Climate for Change" series -- "an annual environmental film series and a $25,000 juried environmental award, one of the largest cash prizes at any film festival in North America... sponsored by new festival partner Kyoto Planet."
The Green Chain's Vancouver adventures officially kicked off September 5th when Babz Chula (the protester) and Mark Leiren-Young (writer/director) represented the movie at VIFF's official media launch.
Babz is currently at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as one of the stars of Future Projections -- a new program combining film and visual art.

Our first review... from the Montreal World Film Festival

2007-08-31T17:40:00.000-07:00

Finally, an enviro-film premiere I could attend!

by Lise Treutler

The Montreal World Film Festival sees many a film, but this year’s edition was, for me, all about The Green Chain — a new mockumentary making its world premiere here in my fair city. While I would surely have gone to see the film regardless, a few factors made the screening all the more exciting and important for me:

despite convincing arguments that it could technically be considered a business trip, my boss wouldn’t give me the money to attend the private advance screening of The 11th Hour in Vancouver;
The Green Chain is entirely Canadian and takes place in an unnamed British Columbia town (and I am perpetually in a love affair with the province); and
my boss and I were invited to the third of three screenings by the filmmaker himself, Mark Leiren-Young.

Leiren-Young is certainly a busy guy, having written in just about every genre one can… journalism, blogs, screenwriting, stage plays, etc. The Green Chain, however, marks his feature film début. Like its creator, the film is a genre-bending journey that can in all truth fit into any of the following categories: character piece, documentary, dramedy, dark comedy, indie, artsy… Oh, forget it! The list is too long! Let me just state for the record that this film is one worth seeing, unless you don’t like examining your own thoughts or being compelled to recognize your personal (inherited?) bias.

The film takes you deep into the longstanding (so much that it’s almost stereotypical) conflict between loggers and environmentalists and sits you face-to-face with opinions from connected individuals you might not have even thought of. The cast includes some of Canada’s most talented actors, most notably August Schellenberg and “Queen of the Indies” Babz Chula (okay, so she was born in New York).

By now you’re probably wondering where my proclamation of “this film will convert you to environmentalism” is, because that’s what we’ve come to expect from similar films. We expect films with an agenda. We rent Michael Moore documentaries not for anticipated surprises on film, but because we want to learn more about his take on, say, health care or gun control in the States, and we know — unless we’re been living under rocks since the mid-’90s — that the films aim to debunk government statements, greenwashing, or (if we’re particularly angry sorts) the right-wing agenda. I fell for such expectations myself before seeing The Green Chain, sat down for a pro-activist film, and left the theatre after the credits surprised and duly impressed!

The Green Chain is not pro-environmentalist, nor is it pro-industry. It wasn’t until Leiren-Young asked me point-blank after the screening which side I thought the film rooted for that I fully realized what, and how much, I took away. As I described how the film’s narrative put me face-to-face (and even behind the eyes) of all sides of the battle, I realized how just how valuable this is. Yes, the film is about the forests, and like the Lorax, it speaks for the trees. But it speaks through seven distinct voices, some of which I’d been unaware of!

As an ardent environmentalist, I clearly see through a certain pair of eyes more often than not. But I’ve always tried to see everyone in the forest sector, for example, as individual human beings, and look for their needs and motives from that point of view… but a distinct lack of logger friends does make this difficult! Leiren-Young has created seven characters so firmly rooted in their beliefs and so willing to fight for what they hold to be truth that one can’t help but really feel for each one and empathize with their situation. When the credits roll, it’s not a question of who’s right — they all are for their different situations.

When The Green Chain becomes available to you, what will you sit down expecting? Do you recognize your bias now, or are you unsure? If you feel you don’t know enough about the forest industry or the environmentalist/logger battle, where do you think you stand?

If you were lucky enough to attend one of the three screenings at the festival, what did you leave the theatre thinking about?

Technorati Profile

Le Premiere

2007-08-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

And the theme of the day from The Green Chain's World Premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival (Festival des Filmes du Monde)... technical difficulties!

Okay... so the Metro line to our location isn't working... the internet at our hotel wasn't working (which is why this is so late)... my beautiful new cell phone wasn't working... our projector at the theatre wasn't working, but the movie...

Worked beautifully...

...as soon as the projector came to life!

The audience response was wonderful. People were silent where I hoped they'd be quiet, they laughed where I hoped they'd chuckle and, best of all, everyone wanted to talk when the movie was over.

The audience included our producer team... Tony Wosk (producer), James DesRoches (co-producer) and Donna Wong-Juliani (executive producer)... Darron Leiren-Young (production coordinator and so much more) got to take time off from her gig at J-Pod to make the trip to Quebec.

And a few of our family members flew out, including seven year-old Emma Jordan Leiren Young (Darron's and my niece) -- who has a special cameo appearance. I was so impressed that Emma didn't scream when she saw herself on-screen, but she couldn't resist saying, "that's me!" when she saw her name in the credits! I felt like cheering when I finally saw the credits too...

John Wiggers (who inspired August Schellenberg's character, The Executive) was there and was delighted by the movie, as was Donna Bisschop, the artist who created the haunting painting in that sequence -- and who told us she hadn't been to a movie theatre in about 15 years!

I got the chance to thank everyone in front of the opening night crowd, but thanks again to everyone who made this happen. Un grand merci beaucoup!

Mark

The Green Chain Podcast: Severn Cullis-Suzuki

2007-08-22T00:45:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not... more big Green news. It's the official launch of The Green Chain podcast hosted by The Tyee.

This isn't traditional hype, this is what our movie's all about -- getting people to talk, think and feel something about the issues facing the forests... Yep, I'm interviewing all sorts of people about trees.

First off I talk with Severn Cullis-Suzuki (editor of Notes From Canada's Young Activists: A Generation Stands Up for Change). This is my first time on the other side of a mic for an audio interview in years, my first time trying out my new podcasting gear, and figuring out how to edit in GarageBand was an adventure -- but Severn was an amazing and inspiring interview.

The plan is to post a new podcast every two weeks and I've got some incredible guests lined up to talk trees. Coming up... John Vaillant, author of The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed.

This should be on iTunes soon -- and hopefully other places too -- but home base is The Tyee. The Tyee was the launching pad for the "Hundred Mile Diet," so it has global reach and the chance to make our movie part of a global dialogue on environmental issues. And how cool is that?

The Tyee took a real leap of faith in hosting our podcast -- it's their first ever podcast series -- and it'll definitely make them happy if it gets downloaded, linked to, blogged about, commented on, tagged, digged etc. Subscribing to The Tyee's email headlines or rss feed would also make em happy and it'll be a treat for your inbox. The Tyee features a terrific mix of stories -- one of which was just picked up by my heroes at The Colbert Report.

And for me... Any and all words of wisdom about future podcasts would be most appreciated. Any people you'd love me to talk to? Questions you'd like me to ask? Thoughts on how & where to share the podcast?

Oh, the recording of The Green Chain Song that kicks this off is a new one. It's the first song recorded by Local Anxiety in, um, a very very very long time. And yeah, I'm half of Local Anxiety, so that's me singing the harmony line...

Link to The Green Chain in Montreal

2007-08-21T13:49:00.001-07:00

A quick but important post -- here's the official program listing for The Green Chain for The Montreal World Film Festival. I think these are the official links for buying tickets...
Sunday, August 26, 2007 • 7:30 pm (L10.26.6)
Monday, August 27, 2007 • 12:00 pm (L10.27.2)
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 • 5:30 pm (L10.28.5)

See you in Montreal!

The Green Chain's going to Montreal!

2007-08-16T17:57:00.000-07:00

The Green Chain's World Premiere is set for Aug. 26th (aka 26 août) at 7:30 pm as part of the Montreal World Film Festival's Focus On World Cinema program, so I guess that means we're officially taking on the world. We're also playing the 27th and 28th. If you can be there, please be there! If you have friends in Quebec, please send them. If you don't have friends in Quebec -- please make friends in Quebec!

The last time our executive producer, Donna Wong-Juliani, and I were in Montreal was October, 27, 1995 and we were waving Canadian flags.
Now it's time to wave The Green Chain flag.
John Wiggers -- billed as our "tree guru" in the movie -- is planning to make the trek from Ontario, which is a big thrill for me because John was the inspiration (on so many levels) for the character of John Clements (The Executive) played by August Schellenberg. That character would not exist if not for John.
This is a big year for the Montreal World Film Festival -- and it's a thrill -- je suis ravi -- to be part of it.
Stay tuned. More info as it happens!
And more is happening very soon...

Mark Leiren-Young on Sci-Fi Talk

2007-08-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

This interview with Mark was just posted on Sci-fi Talk It's also available on iTunes.

Last week they had to settle for Johnny Depp... The week before they were stuck with Guillermo Del Toro... Before that it was the cast of some little movie about a boy wizard...

Standing ovation for Sitting Bull!

2007-07-19T23:43:00.000-07:00

Hot news from Hollywood...

August Schellenberg-- "The Executive" in The Green Chain -- was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie" for his performance as Sitting Bull in the HBO hit, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
Wounded Knee received 17 nominations -- wow -- and the Emmys are awarded in September, so we're hoping that's a great month for August.
Congratulations from the Green team!

Tree Guru

2007-06-28T16:48:00.000-07:00

One of the heroes on The Green Chain has been John Wiggers (aka The Hermit).
He's been an inspiration, a karmic connection and a true friend. We've billed him in the movie as "Tree Guru."
Here's his memory of how we met.
I swear I said "somebody" and not "some big guy," but I'll share my version of this story another time...
MLY
PS I just returned form the Banff TV Festival. Here's my take on the world of TV 2.0.

Green News

2007-06-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

Check out the latest story on The Green Chain and... if you're hooked into Digg... Be sure to Digg It!

What's a green chain?

2007-05-21T00:07:00.001-07:00

I hate coming up with titles.
But I love finding the right one. And this title hasn't changed since we first started talking about making this movie in 2004.
I hope this title works on all sorts of levels. But if you're not from a lumber town, you may not know there's a literal definition.

Here's a nice definition from Wikipedia (of course, being Wikipedia, it may change by the time you look).

Green chain is a type of lumber delivery system that can be used in a sawmill. The green chain's purpose is to collect the final product of the mill and move it at a controlled rate. In the 19th and early to late 20th century, the green chain was used by people. Men would stand alongside and pull lumber that matches the required dimensions and place it in piles. In short, the workers sorted the lumber. Modern sawmills use automatic systems, such as the lumber dropping through the chain into large slings, where it can be picked up and moved to a staging area to dry. Most likely called the green chain because the lumber is green and has not been seasoned.

And this is from a site on the history of the Columbia River.

Timber-related work attracted all kinds of people to the area. The jobs paid well but they required skill and were quite dangerous. Young men often started mill work on the "green chain" where they would sort outgoing lumber according to quality and size. Better jobs and, for decades, job security awaited them in the booming mills and surrounding forests.
I was working on, they call it the green chain now but didn't call it the green chain then. They just had some rollers there that push the lumber down. We'd slip it over there and put it out on the pile and then a guy would come around and straighten it up a little bit so they could haul it. . . The green chain is a flat table with a whole bunch of chains on it that they put all the lumber on as they cut it and it comes down on there and they sort it for size. . . They had two trucks hauling it away faster than we could stack it up.
--Charles Plummer, logger and mill worker, 1999.

If you've got any other on-line definitions -- or want to add one -- please add a comment or zap us an email.

Green Team Roars at Leos

2007-05-13T02:41:00.000-07:00

The 2007 Leo Award nominations (celebrating excellence in BC Film and Television) were just announced and it was a golden day for the Green Team.

One of our stars, Jillian Fargey, scored a nomination for Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Short Drama for her work in Nostalgia Boy. This is Jillian's third Leo nomination. She's a previous nominee for Protection and Hotel. Jillian plays Jenni Holm, the waitress in The Green Chain -- the character who keeps the chain together.

Our cinematographer, Kirk Tougas, was nominated for Best Cinematography in a
Documentary Program or Series for Shameless. A shameless plug for Kirk. He has received two previous Leo Awards for Best Cinematography, most recently for Obachan’s Garden.

And Michael George -- one of the unsung heroes of The Green Chain, the guy responsible for way too much work in the editing suite... scored a nomination for The Sparkle Lite Motel. It's a contender for Best Short Drama that Michael produced with Cory Kinney, Peter Dashkewytch and Mel Weisbaum).

And the winners are... announced June 1st and 2nd.

Last year Tricia Helfer was nominated for two Leos -- one for her role as Number Six in Battlestar Galactica (which she won) and another for her guest-starring performance in an episode of The Collector written by Mark Leiren-Young.

Meanwhile... one of our other Green team stars just finished a super guest-starring role. Tahmoh Penikett played a super-powered soldier - and Lois Lane's ex -- in Smallville. But even Lex Luthor couldn't turn Tahmoh into a true villain. Tahmoh switches from fighting Superman to fighting fires in The Green Chain.

Happy Earth Day

2007-04-21T03:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day to us...
Happy Earth Day to us...
The Green Chain has linked up with a distributor for Canada -- Christal Films.
Christal just announced that they've picked up three new environmentally themed projects -- Alastair Fothergill's documentary Earth, Velcrow Ripper's FierceLight: When Spirit Meets Action, the follow-up to his Genie Award winner Scared Sacred and... drum roll please... The Green Chain...
I met Velcrow at the Genies in Toronto last year, just after he picked up his trophy.
A few minutes later I ran into my old friend, Babz Chula, who was also nominated for an award that night. When I told Babz about The Green Chain, she said it was a shame that I didn't have a part for her. "I'm an old hippie logging protester," said Babz.
I almost cast her on the spot.
Months later Velcrow kindly offered to provide some of his footage for us to use as transitions for the movie. We didn't end up needing his work but... I guess we're finally working together. Sort of.

Mix Masters

2007-04-08T22:56:00.000-07:00

We have audio!
The Green Chain moved into Post Modern Sound this week and our post team -- Jana Fritsch (editor), Darron Leiren-Young (coordinator) and I -- moved in with our mix masters. So we got to watch, listen and work with Gael MacLean (sound designer), Mark Hensley (head mixer) and Don Mann (effects/foley/ambience mixer).
It was wild seeing the movie on a big screen, hearing it on a half dozen speakers and layering in the dialogue, foley and effects.
And it was even wilder to realize we're almost done...
Mixing was a new adventure for me. I've been involved in producing three albums and I've done a fair bit of radio work where I’ve seen foley artists in action, but this was the first time I've had the chance to play with the sound on screen. It was amazing working with audio to find new ways to tell our story and capture the worlds of each scene.
On our first day of shooting, Brendan Fletcher was fifty feet up a tree. During the night shoot, coyotes started howling at him. Brendan howled back. After I said "clear-cut" our sound man tried to capture the coyote howls -- but I guess they'd recognized Brendan as the alpha dog and run off. Now the coyotes are back, sounding exactly like they did that night.
But the mosquito that decided to take up residence in front of our boom microphone for a large portion of my favourite take of Scott McNeil's performance has finally been swatted.
And I've been introduced to a dozen subtle variations in the sounds of silence.
Magic.

Battlestars go Green

2007-03-31T00:03:00.001-07:00

If you look at the credits for The Green Chain it kind of feels like we should be cutting down trees with laser beams or starting a replanting project on New Caprica...
Two of the stars of The Green Chain are also stars of Battlestar Galactica.
Tricia Helfer (our "superstar" who comes to logging country to speak out against clearcuts) plays a Cylon. Actually, she plays a lot of Cylons and what may or may not be an imaginary character in ex-President Baltar's head.
And our firefighter, Tahmoh Penikett, plays Lt. Helo Agathon, the heart and conscience of Battlestar.
Tricia and Tahmoh are the two Canadian actors that Battlestar's Executive Producer David Eick recently raved about as the show's breakout discoveries in a recent interview in Reel West Magazine (that'd be the same mag that featured Tricia and me on the cover).
Eick noted that Tricia had to "carry the miniseries" and describes her as, "a tremendous talent and someone who has been extremely important to the show."
And Tahmoh? "Tahmoh is quite a success story because he was a day player for the miniseries and he was so compelling in the role and such a natural star we recreated the role when we were trying to convince the network to give us a series order."
The Green Chain's executive producer, Donna Wong-Juliani, has her own Battlestar connection. Her son, Alessandro, plays Lt. Felix Gaeta -- one of the show's most idealistic characters (even if he did perjure himself in the season finale). When we were casting and wanted to find out whether Tricia and Tahmoh were good to work with, it was Alessandro who assured us they were amazing.
For those of you who don't watch Battlestar Galactica... go get some DVDS and catch up... It's consistently the most powerful -- and most political -- series on TV.
And since our logger, Scott McNeil, is one of the biggest stars in the worlds of anime and animation and I spend most of my time these days working in fantasy TV (my first episode of Blood Ties -- the detective/vampire series just aired on Lifetime) and animation (Pucca and Class of the Titans coming soon) I keep thinking... maybe we can be the first non- genre film ever to play the San Diego Comic Con...

Green post post

2007-03-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

I just saw The Green Chain on the big screen for the first time and it looks like...
A movie.
Wow.
Okay, so it was only 80 seconds and there was no sound, but still...
We got a chance to see all our actors on the big screen and everyone looked amazing.
The Green Chain post team was at the shiny, new Vancity Theatre. The 80 seconds on film were to see how the colour correct -- and the movie -- translated to film. It turned out we had one segment that needed tweaking because it was too orange (a few weeks ago I wouldn't have known things could be too orange, or that you could change them). I think seeing the movie looking like a movie... in a theatre... was one of the highlights of this ride so far
Colour correct was a major education.
We did stuff in the computer that I would have thought qualified as special effects work. I knew that you could adjust colours and tones, but I had no idea that you could subtly shift things inside the frame.
So... the editing is done... and now it's all there except for the audio mix, which is happening in early April.
And then it's time to send this out to festivals and start linking this chain to the rest of the world.
Coming soon to a theatre near you...
Mark

The Green Chain

Green Chain Blog Gets a New Home for '09

The Green Chain Wins Big in Spain

Jillian Fargey Cleans up at Leo Awards

Leos Celebrate The Women of The Green Chain

The Green Chain Goes Beachcombing With Jackson Davies

The Green Chain's LA Premiere! Sunday (May 18th)!

MOCKFEST 2008 FESTIVAL INFORMATION

The bloom of the enviro film.

The Green Chain "Heralded" for Earth Day

Mr. Leiren-Young Goes to Ottawa

Jitters, the F word, and what I told the Bill C-10 hearings.

By Mark Leiren-Young Published: April 14, 2008

TheTyee.ca

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Green Chain Filmmaker to Talk Censorship With The Senate

Link to The Babz Chula Lifeline

The Green Chain Podcast: Antony Marcil, Forest Stewardship Council of Canada

The Green Chain Script Scores a Canadian Screenwriting Award Nomination

The Green Chain Storms Cleveland

The Big Ohio Primary News -- The Green Chain is Elected to Play Cleveland

Kingston Checks out The Green Chain March 1 & 2nd

The Green Chain Crowned by Kingston

Some groovy green news...

The Green Chain Podcast: Tzeporah Berman Part 2

Powersuit Power, Eco-Politics

Tzeporah Berman: Part two of a 'Trees & Us' podcast.

printemail share diggdel.ico.usfacebookstumbleuponreddit Mark Leiren-Young talks to Tzeporah Berman (part two). (mp3 file)

subscribe: iTunes | Odeo | More Tyee podcasts

The Green Chain Podcast: Tzeporah Berman

The Williams Lake Podcast

Tricia Helfer Whips Up Excitement and The Green Chain Storms the Weather Network

The Green Chain Meets Garbage Warrior!

Here's the scoop on the latest Green Chain podcast on The Tyee.

Building Treeless Houses

A Trees and Us podcast with 'Garbage Warriors' director Oliver Hodge.

By Mark Leiren-Young Published: November 2, 2007

TheTyee.ca

The Green Chain featured at Citizenshift

George Bowering Talks Trees on the Latest Green Chain Podcast

Tree Love and Murder

A Trees and Us podcast with George Bowering.

By Mark Leiren-Young Published: October 19, 2007

TheTyee.ca

LISTEN TO THIS!

WIFT says Jillian Fargey "riveting" in The Green Chain

The Green Chain in The Williams Lake Tribune

Local Anxiety live -- tonight in Vancouver and Mark Leiren-Young gets SIRIUS tomorrow morning

A Capsule Review of The Green Chain from Today's Vancouver Sun

The Green Chain Review from The Vancouver Courier

B.C. filmmaker explores the big tree picture

Red Carpetting for The Green Chain

The Green Chain Competes for major Green Award

Mark Leiren-Young on VIFF Panel

Sprucing up the Green Chain podcast

The Green Chain in Vancouver

Our first review... from the Montreal World Film Festival

Finally, an enviro-film premiere I could attend!

Le Premiere

The Green Chain Podcast: Severn Cullis-Suzuki

Link to The Green Chain in Montreal

The Green Chain's going to Montreal!

Mark Leiren-Young on Sci-Fi Talk

Standing ovation for Sitting Bull!

Tree Guru

Green News

What's a green chain?

Green Team Roars at Leos

Happy Earth Day

Mix Masters

Battlestars go Green

Green post post

By Mark Leiren-Young
Published: April 14, 2008

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Mark Leiren-Young talks to Tzeporah Berman (part two). (mp3 file)

By Mark Leiren-Young
Published: November 2, 2007

By Mark Leiren-Young
Published: October 19, 2007