Georgina Willis Takes On The Stunning Small World of Insects in her feature Insect O Cide
A new film directed by Georgina Willis is due for completion at the end of the year. It’s a truly captivating film that captures the problem of a looming insect decline and the huge ramifications of the fall in the number of insects globally.
As I spoke to Georgina I realised how important this issue is to our survival. “Without insects we simply would not be able to live on the planet. They are one of the foundations of our lives as a species.”
The film is called Insect O Cide and is a stunning visual piece. Each insect takes up the screen in a completely new way, as Willis says they are ‘portraits of the insects and their world.’ All the insects were taken to a makeshift lighting studio to be filmed. It gives the film a very different visual feel.
The film explores the many issues that are leading to a dramatic decline in insects. Each country is now facing a decline in its diversity of its insect species. There are so many factors that are feeding into the decline and there is a real possibility of an insect armageddon. Georgina Willis’ new film traces the outline and explores ways to reverse the decline. The pressure on insect populations comes from everything from a loss of habitat to the use of commercial pesticides.
Insect O Cide explores the issues whilst offering an intimate view of the lives of these small animals. The cinematography is incredible offering a new perspective on the colour and life of these creatures. “We are used to looking up at the sky and the universe to find wonder but if we looked down and around into the world of the small we would see the most fascinating things living alongside us that we unknowingly depend on for our own existence.
“I think our natural state is to live in fear of insects; to feel threatened by their presence. We need a huge cultural shift to be able to appreciate their importance and to realise we can’t live on the planet without them.”
The film explores the idea that our Western culture has lost its connection with nature and this is threatening our existence. Georgina makes the point that even the film culture has contributed to a fear of insects. She explains that if you wanted to create a horror movie you just scale up an insect and let it roam amongst us. “When we have created scary fiction we have used a larger scale insect as the basis of this creature either from here, or another imagined world. We need to begin to appreciate them and just observing them is the first step. We have to begin to change our culture so that not only do we see them, but we realise that our life on Earth depends upon them.”
The visual skill that saw Georgina Willis’ film Watermark, selected for Cannes, is evident in this new feature documentary.
Article written by Michael Rosen.
