The life drains out of the albatross, its graceful neck giving way, its eyes dulled. This astonishing scene from the trailer to Midway, a feature film currently in production, will move you to tears.
This dying albatross has likely consumed plastics that were tossed thousands of miles away from its home on Midway, a remote island located in the North Pacific Ocean. Documenting an environmental tragedy, the film follows the life cycle of the albatross―their suffering, struggle and rebirth―as a metaphor for the entire Earth.
HANS member and cinematographer Jan Vozenilek is part of the team of media artists that has been travelling to Midway since fall 2009, and, they were there again this spring 2011, their third trip.
Other team members this time included Ian Hinkle, Jim Hurst, Joe Schweers, Victoria Sloan Jordan and Kris Krug, as well as Emily Chartrand, a 17-year-old high school student, and Chris Jordan, a photographer who this spring won the international photography award, the Prix Pictet Commission, for his haunting images of the albatross. Also along on the trip was the personal camera jib arm of Louie Psihoyos, the Academy Award-winning director of The Cove.
This time the team witnessed hundreds of thousands of baby albatross nesting with their parents. But thousands of other baby albatross lie dead, their bodies filled with plastic from what's known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, plastic pollution from North America and Asia that ocean currents carry there.
After 14 days witnessing Midway's beauty and horror, Vozenilek reflects, "The message of the heroic, iconic albatross is much more than about plastic ... it really is about each of us and the daily choices we make in our lives. It is about all our collective consumption of not only single-use disposable plastics but about, really, everything."
"Do we really need to take those free candies in the restaurant or use three napkins during our meal? Paper or plastic at the grocery store? How about neither?"
For Jan, one of the trip's highlights was having young Emily Chartrand join the team. "She is the next generation of eco warriors!" writes Vozenilek.
The trip changed Chartrand's life "in so many ways."
"Before the trip I was sort of like an albatross with plastic in my stomach," she explains. "Mostly all that I cared about were my friends, the latest trends and how I looked that day. But after the trip some of those things got cleared out, like the plastic.
"I have a greater understanding of the consequences of our actions. Nothing really goes away, whether it's saying a rude comment to someone or [throwing away] a piece of plastic."
There will be two or three more trips to Midway. A new trailer is due out early June and the film is expected to release at the end of 2012.
"This mission is far from over," says Vozenilek. "Stay tuned and join us!"
Jan Vozenilek is a cinematographer and photographer and founder of Copper Sky Productions based in Kelowna, BC.
Watch the Midway trailer: http://www.midwayjourney.com and read Jan's blog: http://janvozenilek.wordpress.com/
View Chris Jordan's award-winning photo series, Midway: Message from the Gyre: http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/midway/
To view more incredible photos, search Midway Journey on Facebook.
Emily's Blog
Sunday, April 3, 2011
There is always a choice ...
I have fallen so in love with these albatross and they trust us more than I have ever seen another wild animal trust a human being ... They have no reason to trust us like that. We are killing so many of them.
I thought about all the plastic products I've used in my life time. I thought about the shampoo I've used ... the numerous toothbrushes I've gone through or water bottles I've drank from.
All of my plastic could be inside one of these birds. I imagined my toothbrush poking and stretching a baby albatross's stomach and I was brought to tears.
Excerpt reprinted with permission from Emily Chartrand's blog, http://emilysmidwayjourney.blogspot.com.