Nature Canada

In the Wake of the Flood Released on DVD

If you’re a fan of Margaet Atwood and her recent novel, The Year of the Flood, you’ll want to check out In the Wake of the Flood, a documentary by Ron Mann released last week that chronicles her unique approach to the traditional book tour.

For those of you who weren’t there at her Canadian stops, the tour was a creative blend of book reading,  interpretation, and hymnal singing. The performances drew crowds and glowing reviews across the country and internationally.

In the Wake of the Flood (Teaser) from filmswelike on Vimeo.

It’s been described as a major international literary event – each tour stop saw local actors and singers perform a script based on The Year of the Flood, with Atwood as narrator. The novel, which melds science, religion and nature, explores Atwood’s vision of an environmentally blighted, plague-ridden, and genetically altered future. It follows the 2003 publication of her dystopian novel Oryx and Crake, expanding on the storylines and characters in this post-apocalyptic world.

At four of her Canadian stops she used the spotlight to raise awareness about Nature Canada and its regional partners in bird conservation, saying:

“Conserving our precious migratory birds requires a united international effort. With partners like Nature Canada located along the world’s many bird flyways, BirdLife is providing a safer journey for our endangered globetrotters, but it needs more support.”

Donations made at Atwood’s Year of the Flood performances went directly to support conservation work in Important Bird Areas in Canada.

Nature Canada is the Canadian co-partner, with Bird Studies Canada, of BirdLife International, a global alliance of conservation organizations working together for the world’s birds and people. As BirdLife in Canada, Nature Canada delivers the Important Bird Areas Program, which aims to identify, conserve and monitor a network of sites that provides essential habitat for bird populations. Margaret Atwood is the Joint Honorary President of BirdLife’s Rare Bird Club with her husband, Graeme Gibson.

The Year of the Flood performances have been a terrific opportunity to raise awareness about Nature Canada and our partners engaged in bird conservation. It’s a tremendous honor to have support from as tireless and dedicated an advocate for nature as Margaret Atwood.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of In the Wake of the Flood DVDs will go directly to Nature Canada. Buy your copy from Sphinx Productions!

In his review for Macleans magazine, Brian D. Johnson wrote: “Taking us behind the curtain of Margaret Atwood’s travelling medicine show, ‘In the Wake of the Flood’ offers a candid, revealing portrait of the author as activist oracle – Atwood is the ultimate camp counseller, mounting a pageant to save the planet with a birdsong in her heart and a silent spring in her step.”

We’ve enjoyed watching it and we hope you do too!

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