Travis Kidd/2012/11 min/FAMILY
A Forest in Flux explains the impacts of a recent mountain pine beetle outbreak in the Rocky Mountains. The film takes a narrative approach to explain the ecology of the mountain pine beetle to kids aged 8-12. We follow a young boy on his quest to discover what is killing all the pine trees in his back yard. He uses a smart phone to do take photos of what he sees and does research about the clues he is finding.
This is a fine cut of the Travis Wade Kidd's second year film for the MFA program in Montana State University's Master of Fine Arts program in "Science and Natural History Filmmaking" in Bozeman, Montana.
Filmmaker Bio
Born and raised in Northeast/Lower Michigan, Kidd had a strong connection to the natural landscapes surrounding him. He studied Ecology and Anthropology at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, a mid-sized adventure town in Michigan's rustic Upper Peninsula. Kidd is an avid bird enthusiast and an amateur naturalist who had "always carried (with me) the goal of one day becoming a documentary filmmaker."
Kidd has produced several short student documentary projects on topics ranging from raptor migration studies, to research in cultural heritage, to forest ecology and, in Forest in Flux, the Mountain Pine Beetle outbreaks of the Rocky Mountain West.
AWARDS: Official Selection, Element Film Festival 2012