Wild & Scenic Film Festival 2019 - Pursuing the Monarchs
This succinct yet poignant documentary examines the social and biological factors causing a rapidly waning monarch butterfly population across North America. Pursuing the Monarchs traverses viewers across the American heartland from the vast plains of Iowa to the jungles of Michoacán. It is an intrepid journey across the front lines of one of Earth’s most treasured species’ battle for survival against rampant deforestation and the devastating practices of industrialized agriculture.
Interview with Writer/Director Anna Chahuneau
Watch Pursuing the Monarchs here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you! I am delighted the film will be screening at the Wild and Scenic Film festival, it really is a dream come true for a 22 year-old director. I got involved in insect conservation early on my undergraduate career. At the beginning of my sophomore year, I joined a botany laboratory under the supervision of Doctor Harmony Dalgleish. Her research focused on understanding the relationship between insects and plants, and more specifically the monarch butterflies and the milkweed. Prior to that involvement, I had never heard of monarch butterflies; yet, as soon as I discovered how dire the current status of the migrating population was – we are talking about an 80% decline in the migrating population in just under two decades – I started working on a documentary project. I wanted to find out what had happened to the monarchs, and I wanted to share my findings with as many people as possible. A documentary seemed like the best approach. With our world’s growing environmental pressures, effective science communication is essential, and this film seeks to contribute to that effort.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Everyone should watch Pursuing the Monarchs. Of course insect conservationists and butterflies enthusiasts are most likely the first ones to be drawn to the film, but Pursuing the Monarchs is about much more than butterflies. It contains a universal message that is applicable to so many fields of the environmental movement. We are losing countless pieces of our biological heritage, and the monarch butterflies are just one example of such loss, but the issues discussed at large in this film are pertinent to numerous contemporary scenarios. Extinction, deforestation, and the environmental impacts of factory farming are such global themes that this film becomes valuable not only as a sound alarm for the monarchs, but also as a case study of the effects of these multifaceted problems.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
I have always had a pronounced interest for the natural world, but having grown up in Paris, my opportunities to interact with nature were limited. Everything changed when I moved to the United States at the age of fifteen. For the first time in my life, I was living in a place surrounded by green hills, woods and lakes. Since then, nature, and most importantly, the preservation of nature, has become an obsession. My interest in film stems, on the other hand, from my parents. My father was a cameraman and my mother is a producer; it runs in my family. We are visual people. In my opinion, film is a beautiful and accessible form of expression and I believe documentaries are one of the best tool to educate and convey important messages to audiences from all walks of life. Film is universal and mostly non-discriminative language, and I think that is why it has become my preferred way of communicating science.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
At first this project was meant to be a short and simple endeavor. I had planned for a 20-minute format with no more than two or three interviews. This was meant to be a thesis film after all, not a full blown production. At the time I had two jobs, I was studying full time at the College of William and Mary pursuing two majors – Biology and Chinese – and I had been studying abroad in China for a few months, my schedule was full. Nonetheless, the more involved I became in the monarchs’ plight, the more important giving the full story became, and as a result, the production grew bigger and bigger. I went from planning a local short film to coordinating an international feature with a two-week trip to Mexico with full equipment and a team of four. I have no regrets, it would have felt like a betrayal to ignore some of the facets of this story.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The feedback I have received so far has been mostly positive. The people I worked with are all very happy with the result, and also very impressed with the large and inclusive scope the project achieved. This production was a big endeavor for a first film, and having it selected to eight international film festivals has confirmed the praise. Of course the film is not perfect, and I am very demanding with myself, so if I could go back there is a lot I would change based on my audience’s comments, but in the end, what matters most to me is that the people that helped me make this film are happy with the result: scientists, friends, guides, environmentalists, and technicians alike.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
All the feedback I received so far has been constructive, which is wonderful, it has given me a lot of insight on the different perspectives an audience can have, and I have been very careful to record everything in order to learn from it. In ways it has challenged my own perspectives of the issues at play, but challenges are always interesting; I think they are at the basis of creation and I am better director thanks to the obstacles I have encountered and resolved on the road.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
By being featured in We Are Moving Stories I am hoping to bring more attention to the monarch butterflies’ plight, but I am also looking to make new connections with potential future collaborators, both financial and artistic. There is very little we can do alone, especially when it comes to conservation, so I am always looking to have meaningful interactions with likeminded filmmakers, environmentalists and artists.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
At this stage in point, I am looking for distributors and buyers mostly. I want the film to get as much attention as it deserves.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Hopefully positive! I want people to become more aware of the complicated issues at play in the demise of pollinators worldwide, but I also want people to feel inspired by the journey of these insects and the work of the conservationists surrounding them. If I can spark some change in people’s everyday habits and viewpoints, I have achieved what all environmentalists desire. It is going to take a lot of passionate people to reverse the clock and we all need to join souls and minds!
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Here are two: How can we reconcile the preservation of our natural resources with the livelihoods of the local populations in the Michoacan region? Which direction must we take in terms of industrial farming and the rise in use of agrochemicals?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am working as a media and communications intern of the Center for Tropical Island Biodiversity Studies in Bocas del Toro, Panama. This internship is also enabling me to take some time and think about my next big documentary project. Environmental refugees, alongside freshwater access in developing countries, are two of the subjects I have started investigating.
Interview: January 2019
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Pursuing the Monarchs
This succinct yet poignant documentary examines the social and biological factors causing a rapidly waning monarch butterfly population across North America. Pursuing the Monarchs traverses viewers across the American heartland from the vast plains of Iowa to the jungles of Michoacán. It is an intrepid journey across the front lines of one of Earth’s most treasured species’ battle for survival against rampant deforestation and the devastating practices of industrialized agriculture.
Length: 52 minutes
About the writer, director and producer:
ANNA CHAHUNEAU (director and writer) is a 21 year-old Biologist and filmmaker. Writer, director and narrator of the documentary Pursuing the Monarchs, Anna’s interest for conservation and environmental activism has motivated her to investigate subjects ranging from the monarch butterflies’ population decline in Mexico to highlanders’ indigenous land rights in Cambodia. Pursuing the Monarchs is her first feature film.
Key cast: Doctor Lincoln Brower, Doctor Harmony Dalgleish, Guadalupe Garduño Velazquez, Doctor Pablo Jaramillo-López, Doctor Karen Oberhauser, Doctor John Pleasants, Joel Salatin, Lauryn Salatin, Anastacio Sarmient Sánchez, Joel Moreno, Ellen Sharp and Kevin Westrum
Looking for: distributors, buyers, journalists and film festival directors
Social media handles: Instagram, Facebook and the director’s website
Facebook: Pursuing the Monarchs
Instagram: @annalechah
Official Website: https://annachah.com/pursuing-the-monarchs
Funders: The College of William and Mary and FortLee
Made in association with: FortLee and Garance Pictures
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? The film is still in the festival circuit and is not yet available for public online viewing. Please contact the director directly at anna.chahuneau@gmail.com, for special requests.