CHICO — Filmmakers Ralph Bloemers and Trip Jennings have made a film centered on a very scary occurrence in nature and have encouraged conversation about it.
Their award-winning film, “Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire,” takes viewers on a journey with top experts in the nation to better understand fire. The film is narrated by Golden Globe and Emmy nominated Actor David Oyelowo.
The film follows a harrowing escape from Paradise as the town ignited from wind-driven embers and burned within a few hours of the Camp Fire’s start. It then continues to the more recent fires of the past two years, when Oregon, California and Colorado suffered their worst wildfires in recorded history, according to a press release.
Jennings founded Balance Media and has worked with National Geographic for over a decade. His films have won dozens of awards around the world and have aired on major networks on every continent. For nearly two decades, Bloemers has worked on wildfire and community safety, restored burned trails and assisted the scientific community with bringing their knowledge and research to the public. Both have made short films before.
“This is the biggest film I’ve ever worked on,” Bloemers said.
Bloemers and Jennings met in Oregon when Jennings was showing a student film when he was in college about the Biscuit Fire and screened it at the University of Oregon. Bloemers saw the film and the two started talking.
“We were very impressed with each other,” said Jennings. “This guy knew what he was talking about.”
Both were thinking about their relationship with fire and nature. The Biscuit Fire burned 500,000 acres in Southern Oregon in 2002. Both men wanted to help the community make sense of what happened. They set up cameras showing wildlife and took elementary school kids to see the forest after two years had gone by to see how it was doing.
“People understanding what happened was a healing moment for them,” said Bloemers.
Jennings said he saw a disconnect between public conversation and a rudimentary understanding of the best science out there and thought he could bring the two things closer together. Jennings was encouraging an important story to add to the conversation.
Jennings said fire doesn’t completely destroy everything and that it has a role in the ecosystem. He did some prescribed burn filming in southern Oregon and met some people from the Yukora tribe who said prescribed burns are important. Both Jennings and Bloemers hail from Virginia but have lived in Oregon for more than half of their lives.
“Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire” has been shown in many film festivals and has won many awards. Bloemers did a number of special events in 2022 in fire impacted communities in Sonoma County and in Oregon. The filmmakers were invited by the communities to bring the film to them. They connected with folks who do nationwide theatrical releases. They got a request from the Chico community to show the film.
“It’s been really interesting and special to bring the film to fire impacted communities and we were thanked for making a film about people we have been through,” said Bloemers.
The film has been shown at more than 140 shows and special events.
“There is nothing like seeing it on the big screen,” Bloemers said.
The majority of the work for the film was completed by Bloemers, Jennings and their editor and associate producer Sara Quinn but had a crew too. Bloemers carried gear and did wildlife photography.
The Yurok tribe south of Grants Pass, Ore. had an impactful relationship with wildfire.
“We learned so much from them,” said Jennings.
Part of the film is about preventing homes from igniting and burning and how to modify homes and spaces to be wildfire resistant.
“Regardless of how you feel about what the government does or does not do, anyone can get involved. We hope the film is empowering and people can learn what to do to prevent home and community loss,” said Bloemers.
The film will be shown on all streaming platfoms in mid-June, including Apple play and Google and YouTube and Amazon.
“Trip and Sara are both amazing at connecting people and gaining trust,” said Bloemers. “They have relationships with scientific communities. I’m so grateful for the two of them. The film is compelling to watch and accessible to people.”
After the film is shown on April 6-7, Jennings and Bloemers will hold a question and answer portion. They expect both film showings to sell out.
Tickets can be bought for the April 6 Chico showing at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/elemental-reimagine-wildfire-nationwide-film-premiere-april-6-chico-ca-tickets-591836969307. Tickets for the April 7 showing can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/elemental-reimagine-wildfire-special-screening-april-7-chico-ca-tickets-591844913067.
”Elemental is an outstanding film that deserves the widest possible viewing. In a visually stunning manner, it distills what we’ve learned about wildland fire over the decades and provides a road-map for badly needed changes that will benefit thousands of people, particularly in fire prone communities,” said former United States Forest Service Chief Michael Dombeck.
“Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire” will be shown at the Pageant Theater April 6-13. More information about the film can be found on Instagram under elementalfirefilm and on Facebook under Elemental, Reimagine Wildfire.
