‘Hadwin’s Judgement’ is a spellbinding and visually stunning account of environmentalism, obsession and myth set in Canada's Pacific Northwest.
TRAILER
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SYNOPSIS
The film chronicles the tormented transformation of Grant Hadwin from expert logger to environmental terrorist, a man who dared to challenge the destruction of the world's last great temperate rainforest.
Hadwin’s one-man crusade culminated in a perverse and outrageous act of protest that was, in itself, a crime against nature.
BACKGROUND
Grant Hadwin was a logging engineer and formidable survivalist who lived and worked in British Columbia’s remote and ancient forests. His job was to find and then remove the largest, oldest and most valuable trees.
But the consequences of his expertise were becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Unable to reconcile his love for the forest with the highly skilled part that he was playing in destroying it, he was driven to commit a strange and unprecedented crime, one that ran contrary to all he had come to hold sacred.
The film interweaves speculation, myth and reality to explore the motives behind Hadwin’s tragic protest, and the consequences of his actions. It charts his descent into torment and self-destruction, a journey that ended with a mysterious discovery that made him not just 'a madman', but also a visionary.
On the banks of the sacred Yakoun River
A TREE OF LEGEND
‘Hadwin's Judgement’ is inspired by the award winning book, ‘The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed’. It is the culmination of a 7 year collaboration between its American writer, John Vaillant, and the British filmmaker, Sasha Snow.
In 2007 the two authors traded two incredible stories about man’s conflict with nature. John Vaillant’s second book, ‘The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival’, published in 2010, was based on Snow’s multi-award winning film 'Conflict Tiger'.
Filmaker’s notes on Myths & Madness ⬇️
How Stories Work Part 5: Notes on Domicide and ‘madmen’ bearing chainsaws’
Spirit Mask of Kiidk'yaas | The Golden Spruce
PRODUCTION STILLS
PRODUCTION TEAM
An international co-production between
PASSION PICTURES + TRUE WEST FILMS
in association with
THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA
FILM FOUR
Written and Directed by
SASHA SNOW
Produced by
DAVE ALLEN, DAVID CHRISTENSEN, YVES MA & ELIZABETH YAKE
Executive Producers
DAVID CHRISTENSEN, TRACEY FRIESEN & ANDREW RUHEMANN
Film Editors
GARETH SCALES & BEN STARK
Special Consultants
HERB HAMMOND & JOHN VAILLANT
Director of Photography
SIMON SCHNEIDER (Documentary)
SASHA SNOW (Drama)
Original Score
ADEM ILYAN
THE JUDGEMENT
“I ask you, if you had the power to create all matter, including life, and you could synchronise those creations perfectly, what would you do if one life form was apparently abusing all other life, including themselves?”
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AUDIENCE
"‘Hadwin’s Judgment’ will not leave anybody indifferent. This story touches all the people of the mountains. There is nothing closer to our hearts than the beauty of primordial nature, so painfully exposed to technology, people and greed. The director visualises through artistic means the hero and his extraordinary transformation and determination in defense of the beauty of nature. Through simple and delicate means of expression, like a sophisticated creator of crime novels, we are brought to an unexpected and mysterious ending. The story is through beautiful cinematography of places where the action unfolds. The whole piece is unique of its kind."
— Grand Prize, 13th Mountain Film Meeting, Zakopane, Poland, Jury Statement
“This film is no polemic. By framing Hadwin’s eventual disappearance with the Haida legend of a man who emerges from the sea ‘with a warning’, Snow taps into an ancient current where the liminal human experience has a powerful logic of its own. The so-called rational world reared back in horror at Hadwin’s desperate, megalomaniacal, soulful act. But his basic question, why weep for one spruce while slaughtering all the others, is a challenge that exposes ‘rationality’ as yet another form of delusion.”
— The Georgia Straight
“A magisterial environmental indictment as well as being a cinematic work of pure beauty.”
— Sequences, La Revue De Cinem
“The heart fluctuates from wonder to anger, a magnificent, intriguing and painful film.”
— Seoul Green Film Festival Jury
“Offers a timely warning that is engaging, cinematic and yet refreshingly unpolemical. The film manages to situate the viewer both within the environment that moved Hadwin so profoundly and in his very troubled mental space.”
— PoV Magazine
“One compelling film with a beauty that becomes ever more precious as we bear witness to it’s destruction. Hadwin’s act was a supreme statement of self-sacrifice, akin to God watching the crucifixion of Christ.”
— The Windsor Square
“A visual wonder, creating a mythic power for the forest and the man alike, a film that scratches the surface of its fascinating subject but with one firm and provocative stroke.”
— On Line FIlm Critics Society
“A gorgeously photographed, compulsively watchable and deeply sympathetic film that avoids dates, maps and biography in favour of myth and mystery.”
— Globe & Mail
“A haunting, thought-provoking and beautifully filmed legend.”
— One Movie Film Reviews