Heeding The Messenger

The Jackman Humanities Institute Program for the Arts presents:
Heeding The Messenger (Songbirds and the Scale of Climate Change)
Friday Nov 6, 2020
in cooperation with the IHPST, Victoria University, and Cinema Studies Institute,
University of Toronto

Heeding the Messenger is a one-day interdisciplinary event inspired by, and culminating in, a screening and round table discussion of Toronto film-maker Su Rynard’s 2015 documentary film The Messenger. Echoing the mythical role of birds as divine messengers, the film sets out to discover what we should learn from the recent and rapid decline of migrating songbirds around the globe. In concert with scientists, naturalists, activists, museum curators and concerned citizens, Rynard follows the migration routes of songbirds to critical points of observation–from downtown Toronto to deforested Costa Rica, drought-ridden Turkey, and Manhattan’s 9/11 memorial–seeking insight into the ecological and environmental causes and consequences of songbirds’ decline.

Heeding the Messenger brings together STS and sound studies scholars, participants in Rynard’s film, and the director herself to explore the themes and issues raised in the film and by the plight of songbirds in general. Engaging local and global perspectives, speakers and participants will speak to multiple aspects of contemporary climate change, offering a multivocal and multifaceted account of affective and ecological dimensions of the Anthropocene.


Birds in Flight
10:15  Welcome
Iris Montero (Brown University)  Into the Archive of Trans-species Migration in Greater Mexico
Kristoffer Whitney (Rochester Institute of Technology) Migratory Birds, Shifting Habitats, and the “Lost” Science of Phenology
Rachel Mundy (Rutgers University) Song at the End of Modernity
 12:00 Lunch Break
The Messenger
13:00   Screening of The Messenger, a documentary by Su Rynard
15:15   Roundtable Discussion
Su Rynard (Film Director)  / Bill Evans (Old Bird, Inc.)  / Michael Mesure (FLAP) / Chris Guglielmo (Western University)  / Alejandra Martínez-Salinas (CATIE) /  Çağan H. Şekercioğlu (University of Utah) Bridget J. Stutchbury (York University)
17:30   Conclusion


All events are free and everyone is welcome.  Please register here: https://messenger.eventbrite.ca to receive the link to the online event and documentary screening


Event organized by Lucia Dacome, Angelica Fenner and Rebecca J.H. Woods in collaboration with Oana Baboi and Sarah Qidway.

Lucia Dacome is an Associate Professor and Pauline M.H. Mazumdar Chair in the History of Medicine in the IHPST. Angelica Fenner is an Associate Professor in the Cinema Studies Institute at Innis College and in the German Department of St. Michael’s College. Rebecca J.H. Woods is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and in the IHPST.

Educators: Stimulate discussion with The Messenger!

Embraced by audiences the world over – The Messenger has had critical festival and North American theatrical success.  Rest assured this is hardly good-bye for the award-winning documentary about songbirds.   Many educators have been asking us if the film can be shown on campuses, in schools and in libraries. Yes, we want The Messenger to be seen and discussed by educators everywhere!  In fact we are even organizing a Canadian Campus Tour in partnership with our National Outreach partner Bird Studies Canada. It kicks off in September.

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Ontario Teachers Federation event

 

The Messenger is the most scientifically sound and beautiful film about songbirds I have ever seen. You heart will be opened to their plight and your brain to the action you can take to help save them.

Steven Price, President, Bird Studies Canada

 

 

 

Those who have seen the film will understand its power to enlighten and challenge students of all ages. Teachers and instructors will find the film inspires interesting discussions about our environment.  It can also be used to explore interdisciplinary connections to the avian issues that are depicted in the film.

Check back in to our Educators page, late October as we will have a free study/discussion guide available for teachers.

Here are just a few subject areas where we think the film has relevance.

  • Climate change
  • Loss of Habitat
  • Nature’s influence on Art and Culture
  • Biodiversity
  • Biology
  • Protecting the environment
  • Agriculture and pesticide use
  • Urbanisation and city planning
  • Advancements in tracking Technology for animals
  • Careers in environmental science and biology
  • Women in Science
  • Nature conservation
  • Photography and Filmmaking

Beyond the subject matter of the film is its innovative approach to capture the film’s subjects in  some ground-breaking cinematography.  A vital tool for filmmaking students working in non-fiction and fiction alike!

Educational DVD’s and Blu Rays have bonus material including behind-the-scenes footage, and a deleted scene.

The film is currently available for Educational use in the USA through our distributor Kino Lorber. 

Canadian libraries and schools can now pre-order The Messenger with institutional/educational and/or public performance rights for late fall delivery. Details here.

Another leading Bird conservation organization had this to say:

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The Messenger is riveting, emotionally engaging, and visually extravagant from the first frame to the last. Up-to-the-minute facts on how birds communicate about environmental change are interwoven with gripping stories about the perils faced every year by these amazing world travelers. This is a must-see movie for anybody who values the natural world or wonders about its relationship to humans.    

John Fitzpatrick, Executive Director, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

As stunning as The Messenger is in theatres, we expect the film will be appreciated on many small screens in classrooms around the world too.

To participate in the Canadian Campus Tour request a screening here.

For educational purchase, more info here.

If you are interested in a personal use home video, check out this page of our website.