INSECT_ O_ CIDE – A Documentary Feature Film by Georgina Willis

Interview by John Thomas with the Director Georgina Willis

John Thomas (JT): I am going to start by asking you how you came to do this amazing film that Stephen Fry recently urged everyone to watch?
Georgina Willis (GW): It has been a long journey to make this feature documentary. We originally made it as a one hour documentary and then we went back to edit again to make it into a feature documentary. It has been several years longer to get it to this stage where we only recently completed the edit. A very long journey that has been a roller coaster. The idea for the film came to me was after reading about the dramatic insect declines that have been happening around the world. There had never been a film that clearly explained how this would impact our lives and I set out to explain why if they go-we go.

John Thomas (JT): I recently watched your Cannes selected film, Watermark, that has now become a bit of an indie classic. So controversial for its time as it dealt with mental health long before any of us were talking about it, and the first independent film to be selected. Although they are very different films, both share a strong visual style. Do you think visuals are the driving force in your films?
Georgina Willis (GW): Yes. Certainly. All the films I imagine as visual pieces and I think that is the driving force. The visuals are the engine driving it. Although it is hard to compare these two films as Watermark was so ‘out there’ and it was going to places that were so controversial and it upset a lot of people for not only its topic, but it was quite experimental. But yes to answer your question visuals should almost be able to tell the story by themselves and I think the soundtrack is really important too.

John Thomas (JT): How did you get Professor Dave Goulson, to become the narrator of Insect O Cide? It is a big name in the insect world to join your film?
Georgina Willis (GW): Strangely I just contacted some entomologists to see if anyone would be interested in narrating the film. I explained that I wanted to make a film that highlighted the importance of insects. And I was lucky enough to speak to Dave and he was just such a great person, and amazing at taking ideas that are quite academic and making it very easy to understand. He wrote the brilliant Times Bestseller, Silent Earth, about the potential insect apocalypse and its potential devastating effect on humans. Many of those ideas are in the film and he has a brilliant way of conveying those ideas.

John Thomas (JT): You have remained a very maverick ‘hands on’ type of filmmaker. It is very much an indie film that looks very big budget. What inspires you to be drawn to a small crew and the indie scene?
Georgina Willis (GW): I always loved the way Agnes Varda worked and I think when you get experience filming and being the cinematographer you are thinking clearly of the edit as you go so you are juggling lots of things but learning to control the process and shape it as you go. Indie films allow for very creative films that are in turn the result of very creative problem solving as you go. Indie films are more fluid because you sometimes hit an obstacle that you must overcome with a new plan to get the result as there is no big budget or large crew to solve it for you.

John Thomas (JT): Insect_O _Cide has already won a lot of film awards and was praised by both Dame Joanna Lumley and Stephen Fry for being an outstanding film that everyone should see. How does this long journey feel?
Georgina Willis (GW): It was absolutely incredible to have both Stephen Fry and Dame Joanna Lumley praise the film.
They both saw the film and are both passionate about the environment. The film is about the impending insect apocalypse and the importance of us changing direction before its too late. It was incredible to have their endorsement to bring this film to a very wide audience.

John Thomas (JT): The film goes a long way to criticise the pesticide companies for their destruction.  I read that Dame Joanna Lumley said after watching your film  “When it is blindingly obvious that we are killing off the planet that sustains us, the only home we know, by refusing to give up the use of pesticides, I would sit the powers that be and the manufacturers of this certain form of death in a darkened room to watch this heartbreaking and important film.”  Your film has a lot of support out there for  raising this issue. It feels very radical to address these issues so directly. Was this your personal passion for the film?
Georgina Willis (GW): I think the film is controversial for not holding back on the impact of pesticides on insect populations and we were extremely moved by what Dame Joanna Lumley said about our film. She has been an amazing environmental activist .As we say in the film the tactics used by these pesticide companies are very similar to those used by tobacco companies in the past. They have the money to deflect and confuse things enough to keep on supplying chemicals that are detrimental for all living things. We also take aim at fertilisers as well, and the way they take away habitats for insects. The destruction of everything is big business. Ans all this is covered by directly in Insect O Cide.

JT: Do you think that being an independent film gave you more freedom to tackle the big issues relating to insect decline?
Georgina Willis (GW): Yes. Absolutely. I think we were able to go further and say more and call it as it is. Without insects humans could not live on the planet. We rely on them and we need to change direction and begin to understand why our lives depend on them.

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