“I think the key is to have a sense of humor about it,” Walker said. “You can’t take yourself too seriously.”
Lucy Walker is an award-winning director of Bring Your Own Brigade, a documentary about the Women’s March on Washington.
(CBS News) — Wildfires have been and continue to be one of the most serious problems confronting the United States of America and the rest of the globe. Thousands of people were forced to flee their homes earlier this month when a fast-moving fire swept across Sacramento and Northern California. Bring Your Own Brigade,” a new CBSN Films documentary by two-time Oscar nominee Lucy Walker, explores the history of wildfires and the issues they cause across the globe.
The film is a two-hour documentary that will debut in cinemas on Friday, August 6 for a limited run before being released on Paramount+ on August 20. DJ Sixsmith of CBS Local talked with Walker about covering the wildfires in California, what she learned from the experience, and the future of America’s woods.
READ MORE: Target Joins Walmart in Covering Employee College Costs
“Making this film was an amazing experience. I’ve produced a number of documentaries, but this one was about the place where I relocated. “When I came to California, the hillsides were on fire, and since I’m from England, I remembered how the last major fire we had was in 1666,” Walker recalled. “I believed we had solved fire, but when I arrived in California, I wondered why the hillside was on fire and what we were doing wrong. It was an incredible trip for me to follow individual firemen and people through these terrible events. It was frightening, moving, and absolutely awe-inspiring at times. The film contains several distinct storylines, and the characters are all very stunning.”
“Bring Your Own Brigade” had its global debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 2021, and it takes you inside a California fire season. It also depicts how these natural catastrophes affect people’s lives.
READ MORE: In California, a new order mandates COVID vaccinations for health-care workers.
Walker said, “I truly wanted to grasp the effect of losing your home.” “I couldn’t believe that individuals decided to remain and protect their houses. I’m a chicken, and I’m not proud of it. In the movie, you can hear me having a panic attack as a fire breaks out. Even when the fire was a long distance away, I was frightened. I was in awe of the firemen and first responders, as well as the people that decided to fight and stayed.”
The most difficult aspect of the film, according to Walker, was addressing all of the various levels of the fire issue in this nation and across the globe. The director believes that through seeing the video, audiences would get a better understanding of wildfires’ history, why they continue to be such a problem, and the physical and emotional toll they take on people all around the world.
MORE NEWS: Employees of the Los Angeles Superior Court will be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“I didn’t want to simply offer them a horror movie experience because it’s far worse than that because it’s the most terrible thing to be within these hellish experiences,” Walker said. I wanted people to have a clear understanding of what was happening in these situations. What is true and what is really occurring may be deduced by the audience. I believe we can and will improve our response to the reality of fire in our environment in the future.”
Related Tags
- how tall was lucy walker
- lucy walker