The call for action on climate change has been answered – in 3D.
Documentary director Cathy Henkel describes her latest project, Project Borneo 3D: An Action Movie, as “Big Brother meets Survivor meets I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here meets Rainforest Makeover.”
Cinematographer Don McAlpine will collaborate on the project, and it will mark both artists’ first entry into 3D.
For five months, Borneo will play home to ten young people from across the globe as they cohabitate, rehabilitate rainforest and construct the largest orang-utan sanctuary in the world – all while starring as action heroes in Henkel’s 3D film.
Momentum is a word that is often repeated in conversation with the director.
With current talks of an additional television series, 28 million young people already contributing to the project and a confirmed sequel, the word seems apt.
“It’s the biggest project every conceived in the Southern Hemisphere,” she explains and she plans to “put it in the Multiplex”.
These are ambitions usually reserved for Hollywood blockbusters, but apparently there are more similarities between Project Borneo: 3D and Avatar than just specially devised technology.
In what she terms a “constructed documentary,” the “classic hero structure” will be followed. The loggers have been cast as villains, the orang-utans as the “damsel in distress” and the young people of the world have been invited to audition for the 3D action hero role.
If this all sounds like too much fun Cathy Henkel cannot help but agree: of her 20 years in the industry, Project Borneo 3D is the “most fun I’ve ever had,” she says.
However, there is a serious side. Henkel confesses that the destruction of the planet keeps her up at night and says, “this film makes me feel like I’m doing something.”
The idea for the project was born when a Microsoft online poll revealed deforestation and climate change as the number one concern amongst young people.
Henkel also confesses hope that the film will give young people a sense of their own power – it’s a “can do story”.
Shooting begins in Borneo in June, and applications for action heroes/group leaders will be open until March 18th.
For more details about the project visit the website at http://www.anactionmovie.com/ or Deforest Action at http://dfa.tigweb.org/.
Luna, one of the rescued Orangutans who will feature in the documentary