Nature & NurtureMore than two million lakes and 42 national parks; bears, wolves, cougars, moose, and bald eagles in 3.62 million km2 of forest; northern lights and the Niagara Falls – with this year’s Main Focus on Canada, dedicating a programme to the country’s awe-inspiring nature and its abundance of natural resources was a no-brainer. Then again, contemporary Canada is a highly industrialized and urbanized country with multi-million cities like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
The phrase «nature vs. nurture» is often used to juxtapose genetics and other biological factors with the influence of exposure and experience on human and animal behaviour. The title of this programme is to be taken more literally: The films feature many of Canada’s magnificent natural habitats and the people and animals who take care of them, protect them, live off them, and – alienated from nature in a heavily industrialized society – also pose a danger to them. Sometimes, civilization clashes with nature. Other times, however, they have learned to coexist and cohabit in the same spaces. The programme explores the tenderness but also the tension between these states of being.
With a variety of documentary, fictional, and experimental shorts, Nature & Nurture travels through different parts of Canada, through its seas, forests, and mountains, to First Nation villages and traditions, through ice and snow, but also into the lives of climate activists and teachers, a pregnant woman working on a farm, and siblings fighting in the woods. With a changing pace, the programme shows how majestic nature is, how humans try to preserve it or save it from the damaging effects of globalization, how they try to coexist with it, and finally, how humans can be part of nature themselves.
Curated by Anita Magni and Laura Walde
Mit freundlicher Unterstützung von: 
