On this edition of Your Call's One Planet Series, we discuss Planetwalker, a short documentary about Dr. John Francis, an environmental activist who witnessed an oil tanker collision in the San Francisco Bay in 1971.
The sight of oiled birds on the shoreline caused him to give up motorized transport and rely solely on his own two feet. Months after that, he took a vow of silence convinced that listening rather than adding fuel to any fire was the way ahead. He didn’t talk, but he kept on walking clear across the country and back again.
Planetwalker focuses on the period of John's life from the oil spill through his meandering 20-year journey across the States where he resumes speaking to work on oil spill legislation with the US Coast Guard. During this time, it seemed like the whole world, every creed and color, saw John pass by and interacted with him if only fleetingly. By tracking some of these people down, the film explores the weblike and sometimes deeply personal consequences of John’s decades of pilgrimage.
Guests:
Dr. John Francis, visiting associate professor at the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dominic Gill, award-winning filmmaker and co-director of Planetwalker
Resources:
Planetwalker begins a run at the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael on August 9. Each screening will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers and Dr. John Walker.
Pacific Sun: ‘PLANETWALKER’: One Step at a Time
