A National Film Board of Canada Production

Incandescence is an immersive cinematic experience that weaves together on-the-ground footage with extraordinary stories of survival and adaptation that transform our understanding of wildfire.

Wildfires are burning with increasing intensity around the world. Following the rhythms of the seasons, Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper’s Incandescence is an immersive cinematic experience, weaving on-the-ground footage with extraordinary stories of survival and adaptation that transform our understanding of wildfire. The film takes shape from the ancient patterns embodied in fire: destruction, aftermath and rebirth. From the flightpath of bees to an osprey’s aerial perspective, floating over the landscape: the Earth comes back.

Every summer, wildfires increasingly ravage places around the globe, darkening the skies with thick smoke and reducing communities to little more than ash and debris.

Award-winning directors Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper (Metamorphosis) weave together immersive on-the-ground footage with first-person accounts from Indigenous Elders, first responders, and ordinary people forced to react to a rapidly evolving ecosystem in the feature documentary Incandescence.

As climate change continues to escalate, full suppression measures have largely failed, leading to bigger, more intense mega-fires. But there is another way. Indigenous knowledge keepers explain that the First Nations people traditionally used controlled burns to regenerate the land. As one woman explains, fire is like a grizzly bear running to stay alive. But instead of fighting this insatiably hungry beast, working with nature transforms fire’s capacity to destroy into a powerful force for growth and renewal.

Following the rhythms of the seasons, Incandescence takes shape from the ancient patterns embodied in fire: destruction, aftermath, rebirth. Many plants and animals have adapted to use fire in their life cycle. Some trees species require heat to release their seeds, while other fire-activated plants make use of the nutrients released in the soil bank to bloom. Honouring the experience of both human and non-human inhabitants, the film documents extraordinary stories of survival and adaptation in the forest mosaic. From the flightpath of bees to an osprey’s aerial perspective, floating over the landscape: the Earth comes back.

Inside this intense and lushly realized cinematic experience, something else begins to emerge. A febrile spirit rising from the ashes with a collective and resilient approach to our mutable future, Incandescence transforms our understanding of fire from destruction and disaster into a kind of profound illumination, lighting the way towards new life and hope.   

1. Although we tend to think of fire as a force of destruction and chaos, Incandescence makes the point that fire is a necessary part of a forest’s lifecycle. How has your own understanding of the role that fire plays in the larger scope of environmental and planetary patterns changed or evolved in the process of making the film?

We conceived of the idea of Incandescence with the intention of exploring our relationship to fire in the context of increasing megafires due to climate change. As the process of making the film unfolded, our understanding of fire evolved, especially as we spent time learning from Indigenous fire keepers, whose ancestors had practised cultural burning for thousands of years. We knew that fire can be scary, fire can be dangerous and destructive. But fire is also good for the land, when we work with it. Forests that have unburnt fuel accumulating, combined with climate change, have created a deadly combination in which fires burn hotter and bigger. The low-intensity fires of a prescribed burn reduce fuel load, rejuvenate the soil and activate certain pine cone species to release their seeds. The banning by settlers of traditional practices has contributed to the rise of megafires. Getting back to cultural burning practices, and a collaborative approach between wildfire agencies and Indigenous fire keepers, are important ways forward as we navigate this era of increasing wildfire risk.

2. The film takes a deeper focus on the experiences of the non-human world (plants, animals). How important was it to shift the perspective away from human experience to offer a wider and more encompassing picture of how wildfires impact the natural world?

It was very important for us to explore how wildfire impacts ecosystems, to include the perspectives of a range of creatures and plants, as we so often see the world through a fragmented, human lens—and often even narrower than that, through the lens of our particular identity. We need to see the world as the complex system it is. For Incandescence, we wanted to extend it beyond humans, as the story is bigger than us. The animals featured include beavers, who are known as ‘nature’s firefighters’ because the wetlands they create help to slow the spread of fire. Deer, coyotes, bears, bees, bighorn sheep and osprey all feature in the film, moving through the cycles of the seasons, including wildfire season, and are all impacted by fires that are burning hotter and longer than before.

3. What were the particular challenges of filming in environments where wildfires were taking place? Did your team collaborate closely with frontline workers to ensure safety as well as access during the filmmaking process?

The biggest challenges of working on a film about wildfires were safety, access and ensuring we did not get in the way of emergency response efforts. We collaborated closely with an independent wildland firefighting outfit, Rider Ventures, as well as BC Wildfire, and safety was always their top concern. We participated in safety briefings, wore proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and followed strict safety protocols that were overseen by the fire-crew leaders.

Rider Ventures called us their ‘film family’ and truly embraced the project. BC Wildfire also supported our film with two camera people who are experienced wildland firefighters. Because of their training, they were able to capture images in situations that wouldn’t have been possible for our crew, getting right up close to some major fires.  We also collaborated with local residents who are experienced videographers and captured some stunning footage—such as David Newcomb, a former news cameraperson who was right there filming in the early days of the White Rock Lake fire.

4. As megafires become a regular occurrence, impacting greater numbers of people in immediate and often tragic fashion, do you see this leading to increased awareness of climate change? How do you see Incandescence playing a part in this evolving understanding of the changing nature of the planet?

We can’t ignore the causes that contribute to the regular occurrence of megafires. There is definitely an increased awareness of climate change. As humans we need to dive into adaptation and mitigation. The two need to happen at once and are not mutually exclusive.

Incandescence offers an immersive, firsthand experience through communities impacted by wildfires, an exploration of our relationship to fire and how that relationship is impacted by the changing nature of our planet. Through this experience we hope to inspire empathy, deeper levels of understanding and action.

5. Do you think that crises like megafires can act as an inflection point, bringing people and communities together to search for better and more sustainable solutions?

As we experience more and more climate events such as megafires, we can direct our attention to how to preserve and protect our communities and prevent future events from happening. We can look at building our communities as a path to sustainability. Supporting each other, knowing each other, sharing ideas. In the immediate aftermath, being able to provide mental health support for those directly impacted, housing and living support for those who are displaced. And moving into the future, working together with Indigenous practices with the land, re-building and constructing with fire-resistant and sustainable materials, fuel mitigation and moving away from using fossil fuels. Crisis can bring out the best in us, as we learn to work together for our own survival.