A Suite of Films for a Critical Moment in BC's Forest Sector

The Project

Community forestry in British Columbia is at a turning point. With the provincial government mandated to expand the community forest program, and widespread concern about the failures of the conventional forest sector (from the erosion of timber value to biodiversity loss to the collapse of rural economies), community forests represent a different model. One that works.

The BC Community Forest Association needed films that could make that case: to policymakers, to the public, to communities weighing whether community forestry might be right for them. And they needed those films to last, to still be a compelling, cinematic argument for community forestry ten years from now, not just a snapshot of 2024.

Olam Films was brought in to build that body of work from scratch.

The Challenge

Community forestry doesn't look the same everywhere. That's part of its strength, and part of what made this hard.

Across BC, different community forests are oriented toward very different values. Some prioritize wildfire risk reduction. Others focus on recreation access, biodiversity and ecosystem-based management, or sustaining local mills and rural employment. Each community has its own relationship to the land, its own history, and its own reasons for doing things differently.

The challenge was to profile five geographically and culturally diverse community forests (Creston, West Boundary, Chinook, Logan Lake, and Sunshine Coast) in a way that honored those differences while still weaving a coherent, accessible argument that the general public could follow and be moved by.

Too much complexity and you lose the audience. Too much simplification and you lose the communities whose stories you're telling.

The Approach

Olam Films worked across all five locations to capture the specific texture of each community forest (the people, the landscapes, the values they were managing for) and then structured the material so that each community's story could stand on its own as a short film, while also serving as a chapter in the larger feature.

This gave the Association real flexibility: a ten-minute flagship film for screenings, policy conversations, and long-form audiences; shorter cuts for web and social; and five individual films that each participating community forest could use for their own communications.

The result is a body of work that holds up across multiple audiences and contexts, shot and edited to remain relevant well into the future. Not a campaign, but a record.

The Result

The film landed well with the BC Community Forest Association, the Ministry of Forests, and each of the five participating communities. The client's vision was a film that would still be making the case for community forestry a decade from now. That's what was delivered.

The timing mattered too. The future of community forestry in BC is still being written. This film is part of that argument.

The Films

Full Film

What this project demonstrates

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  Complexity into clarity: synthesizing five distinct communities, geographies, and value systems into a single coherent film

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  One production, many uses: flagship film, shorter cuts, and five individual community films, all from a single shoot

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  Policy-aware storytelling: understanding the landscape-level stakes and shaping the narrative accordingly

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  Built to last: shot and edited to remain relevant and persuasive years from now, not just at launch

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  Satisfied all the way around: client, ministry, and all five participating communities were happy with the result

From the client

“I had the pleasure of working with Olam Films on the new films for the BC Community Forest Association. They really got us, and brought a thoughtful and supportive approach to every step of the process. Their creativity, professionalism, and ability to capture authentic stories made the whole experience a pleasure. I'm so proud of the films we created together to highlight community forests across BC. Thanks to the Olam Films team for the great collaboration.”