TerraForma - film screening + conversation

About

Join us at Exeter Custom House for a screening of the artist documentary TerraForma. Directed and produced by Kevin Brennan & Laurence Durkin.

Academia Film Olomuc 2024 Nominee Best World Science Documentary & Docville National Lottery Prize Nominee Best Scientific Documentary.

TerraForma is the story of the remote volcanic island of Ascension, which sat smouldering for a million years largely devoid of life, until its radical transformation by process of 'terraforming' into a tropical paradise.

But there is more to this island than meets the eye. The Victorian naturalists who transformed this island reshaped the ecology to fit the political and economic demands of their society - but only at the expense of what existed before it. The new environment, seemingly a paradise, was in fact a mirage. A mirror image of their ambition, their empire, and their understanding of the world. And as such it was doomed to fail. Many believe that future plans to geo-engineer our planet, or terraform others, would simply follow the same pattern.

With the help of experts in the fields of geo-engineering, ecology, politics, and design, TerraForma explores the lessons we could learn from Ascension Island. And what its story may mean for our planet, in a future where terraformed landscapes and human-engineered environments may come to warp our understanding of 'nature' itself.

Director biogs: Kevin Brennan and Laurence Durkin are close friends and a longtime filmmaking duo. Kevin is an artist and filmmaker from Galway, Ireland. Laurence is a documentary filmmaker from London. Their work together explores themes of identity, landscape, and human relationships with the natural world. They completed their first feature together in 2023 - TerraForma - which looks at the devastating but revolutionary 19th century geo-engineering project that radically altered the climate and ecology of Ascension Island.

The runtime of the film is 61 mins 36 secs. The screening will be followed by a conversation on the themes raise. There will be a paid bar at this event.