Directed by
Martina Vídenová
Country of Origin
Portugal
Runtime
11:17
It is encouraging that forest fires have been receiving more media attention. However, large areas of forest keep burning in many places around the planet, which the media ignore.
The climate crisis is not always the main cause of the high number of such fires.
Since the end of the 1980s, Portugal has usually been ranked first when it comes to statistics on the number of forest fires in Europe. In 2017 alone, a sixth of all forested areas there burnt down, which represented about 60% of all the territory lost to fires in the EU that year, and more than a hundred people died in local forest fires. Most forest fires in Portugal are started intentionally. Another major problem for Portugal is the eucalyptus, an invasive and highly inflammable tree, which has been widely planted since the 1980s due to its profitability in the pulp and paper industry; eucalyptus monoculture causes forest fires to spread quickly and uncontrollably. Providing information and ending passivity is essential to solving the wildfire problem in Portugal.This video was recorded in Pinhal de Leiria (Portugal) to honor the memory of the forest fire victims, as of all ecosystems destroyed annually by fires.
This video was recorded in Pinhal de Leiria (Portugal) to honor the memory of the forest fire victims, as of all ecosystems destroyed annually by fires.
Conductor: Jan Wierzba
Orchestra: mainly members of Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música
Choir: mainly members of Coro Casa da Música
Director Biography – Martina Vídenová
Martina Vídenová (*1985) is a film music composer and a musicologist living and working in Prague. Her compositions are rooted in contemporary classical music, especially minimalism which often combines with electronic and ambient music. As a composer, she participates in multimedia projects cooperating with filmmakers, visual and conceptual artists. She has cooperated on long-term basis with Vladimír Turner, a documentarist and activist whose work is related to political activism and art interventions in the public space. Martina has concentrated mainly on projects focused on environmental issues.