Luc MARESCOT

Why this film?

“I met the famous botanist Francis Hallé on an expedition on top of the giant trees of Madagascar 20 years ago, and since then I always wanted to help him. At 83 years old, he has, and still does, dedicate his whole life to protect the tropical forests. Because he knows them so well and knows that humanity depends on their good health. I see Francis Hallé as a Don Quixote of the green ocean, fighting bigger issues than what he can cope with.

So, to do my share, I did 12 documentaries in all the tropical forests of the world. But documentaries are often seen by people already convinced, so I decided to take on a new weapon, one I wasn’t used to: a movie, for theaters. Good movies bring emotions, and only emotions can convinced people to change their behaviours; not arguments.

I may not be the one who will do THE films that will change the destiny of the tropical forests, but it is good that the movie industry does the job and produces movies that move people in a sense that they accept and wish to change their behaviour, to reach a better world, respectful of the nature around us. The nature we are part of.”

“Green Forests and the Red Carpet” is not a movie yet; it is a feature documentary telling a universal story: the one of a man who decides to make things change. And how he manages to reach his goal, from Los Angeles to Cannes, Berlin, Papua New-Guinea, Amazonia, Africa….

It works like a Trojan horse film: the viewer travels around the movie industry, but at the end gets what the film director really stands for: the health of the tropical forests and the lifetime fight of Francis Hallé.

The movie: The Botanist, is the next step.