It could be argued many documentaries about the environment make viewers feel bad about their lifestyle or lack of action.
But a new documentary by two Squamish men — and produced by Vancouver's Momme Halbe — bucks that trend and instead tries to leave viewers feeling inspired and empowered.
Filmed by Warwick Patterson and directed, written and starring Stuart Gillies, both of Squamish, the one-hour documentary Creatures of Convenience is slated to air on CBC on Nov. 14.
The visually stunning doc — with plenty of scenic shots of the district — explores the role convenience culture plays on the environment by following Gillies' journey as a new father trying to explore what is being done to save the planet and what part his family plays in it all.
"It is supposed to be eye-opening with some solutions or actionable items that people can go and do," Patterson told The Chief.
Filled with various in-person interviews, the filmmakers visit the Brackendale landfill, among other locations, and talk to experts about fast fashion, single-use plastics, microfibres, and how we can take responsibility in our own lives.
Gillies said the biggest surprise for him in making the documentary involved learning about the realities of local recycling.
"Living in Squamish, I thought this was a very evolved, thinking, aware community... but to find the amount of recyclable material that was still getting put in our landfill was incredible, and that is on us. That is not something we can blame other people for not doing. That is on us as a community for not putting what we need to into the recycling," he said.
Gillies also watches trash being delivered to the landfill and recognizes that his garbage must be in the mix.
For Patterson, he said he realized through the process of filming the piece that being inconvenienced is an act of love.
"If we care a little bit more about our planet and what we are leaving for our children, we will accept some inconvenience to do the right thing," he said.
The film was shot from May to July and was one of the first documentary production crews back to work after the shutdown in March due to the pandemic. It was somewhat unnavigated territory at the time.
Like for most jobs these days, overall, shooting during a pandemic was stressful and didn't proceed the way the pair would have planned, pre-COVID.
"It was a very small crew," Patterson said, adding with interviews, they had to make it look like Gillies was closer to the interviewees than they were, to make it more intimate.
"A lot of sit down interviews," said Gillies, adding that isn't always his style.
The end of the film was meant to be Gillies' parents arriving from overseas to meet his newborn child, but given COVID, they had to settle for video conferencing with the new grandparents instead.
Throughout the film, it is repeated that the powers that be in government and industry are ultimately responsible for the lack of regulations and reduction of waste, respectively, but the production does not include confrontational interviews with those leaders, and that is by design, the men said.
"We really had to keep coming back to the original idea that it is a personal journey. We could have gotten deep into the who is responsible for this and what we can do better, but then it becomes a little more in your face and not as accessible," Patterson said.
Already relatively self-aware of their footprint prior to making the film, both men say they have made personal changes in their own lives, due to what they learned during the shoot.
Gillies and his partner make granola-type bars at home, for example, to avoid the packaging of store-bought bars that he learned is not recyclable.
"We are definitely not there to critique people's way of life. There's no judgment from our perspective from the documentary.... We weren't intending to make anyone feel bad or feel guilty about the way they live," Gillies said.
Creatures of Convenience airs on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 8 p.m., on GEM.
**Please note, this story has been modified since it was first posted to include mention that the film was produced by Vancouver's Momme Halbe.
