DAMNATION (2014), Ben Knight & Travis Rummel – IDFA 2014
Documentary – 87′ – Rating: 7
So Patagonia thought they should make a pretty good DAMN movie, and since Patagonia is a outdoor brand, often engaged in sustainability causes, Patagonia thought: “let’s make a documentary!”
But what kind of documentary Patagonia should do, without getting too much in political and social issues and getting targets angry?
Let’s talk about nature and animals, who doesn’t like animals? Cats are too mainstream and pandas too cute. Let’s talk about fish: fishes are always good and fishermen often wear Patagonia.
Let’s talk about salmons: they go upstream, they’re strong and mavericks…salmons are good. Salmons are Patagonia.
But what’s stopping salmons? DAMS! Over 80.000 dams in USA, and that’s a bad thing: for salmons, for the environment and for the population.
So Patagonia hires two directors and makes the most visually stunning documentary about dams in United States and gets it screened in every Patagonia store and in worldwide Netflix distribution.
Shot in various locations between Oregon, Colorado and California, the doc it’s one of the first experiments in “branded” documentaries, which can reach a wider audience thanks to marketing strategies (brands know their shit) but can also be tricky in terms of suspension of disbelief (which documentaries shouldn’t need) and objectiveness of information.
Has the experiment succeeded? Sure Patagonia has made a beautiful and impressive visualization of the subject, but where’s all the information?
Anyway, judge for yourself at the following screenings at IDFA:
Sunday Nov. 23rd 21:30 – Tuschinski 5
Thursday Nov. 27th 22:30 – Brakke Grond Expozaal
Saturday Nov. 29th 21:15 – Tuschinski 5
Sunday Nov. 30th 14:30 – 14:30 Pathé de Munt 9
Quirks & Twists: if you want to get involved, Damnation website has all the info!
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Patagonia has made a beautiful and impressive visualization of the subject, but where’s all the information?
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