Synopsis
When Filmmaker Andrew Kaineder (Andy) learns that the forest surrounding the tallest known Spotted Gum in the world, Big Spotty, is under threat from native forest logging in his hometown, he wants answers.
It doesn’t take much digging for Andy to work out that the story of this particular compartment of land, just south of Ulladulla and home to the iconic tree, is only one piece of the convoluted and somewhat disturbing natural land management puzzle in Australia.
His focus quickly moves from an investigation into one patch of forest to a national inquiry into the industry at large. As he visits some of Australia’s most controversial logging locations, and meets the people fighting for the trees that remain, the power of community helps him to face the destruction head on.
Can he save Big Spotty in time?
Story
Clear-Cut follows filmmaker Andrew Kaineder’s journey from disbelief to action as he investigates the cowboy native forest logging industry, beginning with the shocking realisation that logging is set to resume on the fire-ravaged forests of the NSW South coast, home to the world’s tallest spotted gum, Big Spotty, and where Andy grew up.
As Andy’s focus shifts from a fight to save the 70.93m iconic tree to a national inquiry, he unpacks one unimaginable example of deforestation after another. Stories of the destruction of the promised Great Koala National Park in NSW, forest clearing for beef cattle in QLD, and logging of the endangered Jarrah forests of WA and Australia’s largest temperate rainforest in Tasmania are shared through the characters Andy meets along the way.
Part investigative documentary, part satire and part eco-adventure, Clear-Cut is a grassroots declaration of resilience that exposes deforestation for what it is: unsustainable, uneconomical and downright ludicrous. It’s a contradiction to moronic modern day land management that speaks to the broader disconnect humans have with the natural world today.
Production Stage
- Development
- Production
- Post-production
- Completed
- Outreach
DURATION: 60 MINUTES
Issue area
HUMAN RIGHTS & SOCIAL JUSTICE
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