Tales from the Białowieża Forest – short documentary film

The Partnership foundation from Poland invites us to watch their film titled “People for nature. Tales from the Białowieża Forest“. The documentary is a poetic meeting with people involved in the protection of the Białowieża Forest from the Nature and Culture House set up at an old schoolhouse in Teremiski. The film brings together the personal micro-stories of three activist women. They talk about what brought them to the Białowieża Forest and how they fell under the spell of the natural world of the forest. The heroines of the film are: writer and film screenwriter Joanna Pawluśkiewicz, educator and therapist Katarzyna Paterek and Grażyna Chyra, a tour guide around the Białowieża National Park and Białowieża Forest. They talk sensitively about activism and its hardships, values, nature education, and shared responsibility for the place where they live and work. In the film, Adam Wajrak, a journalist, will speak about the unique nature of the Białowieża Forest, which constitutes only 0.6 percent of Polish forests: “Why is this so extraordinary? Because this is the best preserved temperate lowland forest. And these were the forests that were transformed most rapidly by humans. This forest remained … and is incredible” – he argues. “My great public dream is for the Białowieża Forest to finally be permanently protected. It would be best if the entire area was protected as a national park” – he says.