Francis Wishart

'The Shadow of the Sun' draws upon Derek Jarman’s interest with alchemical processes as a metaphor for reprocessing Super-8 film. Jarman once described film’s union of light and matter as “an alchemical conjunction” and experimented throughout his career with creating dream symbolism through the superimposition of image and action. Originally called English Apocalypse, the film’s final title is derived from a 17th Century alchemical text that used the phrase as a synonym for the philosopher’s stone – the highly sought substance that turns base metals into gold and silver. The film was intended as a step toward the idea of an ambient video, that like its musical counterpart, was designed to enhance an environment.

This feature-length documentary tells the story of two very different men brought together by New Brunswick's decision to hand the management of millions of acres of Crown land to six multinationals. One man is an Acadian woodlot owner retired after nearly 40 years in a pulp mill; the other is a painter and winemaker with homes in France and New Brunswick. The activitists travel to Finland, home of UPM-Kymmene, one of the largest licence holders of New Brunswick Crown lands, to urge company officials to practise responsible forestry. They also go head-to-head with the provincial government to secure a new community-based forestry policy that is environmentally sustainable and produces more jobs than the highly mechanized techniques used today.