Frédéric Back, the legendary Canadian animator, is a treasure. Especially at times like these, when the weekend's events feel simultaneously so surreal and all too real. And so, if the past few days have been as strange and unsettling for you as they have for me, I can recommend nothing better than watching his Oscar-winning The Man Who Planted Trees. It is an amazing achievement, technically, visually, and allegorically. It's incredibly thought-provoking and inspirational, and I think we could all do with a bit of both at the moment.
The story of one shepherd's long and successful singlehanded effort to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the Alps in Provence throughout the first half of the 20th century. (It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1988.)
Attribution(s): All posters, publicity images, and stills are the property of National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and other respective production studios and distributors.