An image from the film "Incandescence" by Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper.
Image Credit: National Film Board of Canada
March 02, 2025 - 12:00 PM
Anyone who has spent a summer in the Okanagan knows the tragedy and fear that comes along every wildfire season, but a pair of documentarians want to highlight the people who can see some hope through the smoke.
Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper are documentarians who focus on climate change and their latest film “Incandescence” is about wildfires in the Okanagan. The documentary is premiering in Vernon on March 10, with screenings planned in Kamloops, Falkland and Kelowna.
“When you make documentaries, you're always looking for hope and possibility. You find that in the helpers, they are the people who are responding to a crisis and that's something that we always try to do,” Ami said.
The documentary focuses on conversations with firefighters and Indigenous Elders, as well as others who are doing what they can to reduce the impact of wildfires.
“One of the organizations that we filmed with is the Animal Lifeline Emergency Response Team or ALERT. And they go and rescue animals during wildfires as well as house them during evacuations. They also go to where animals were, that had to be left behind to feed the animals,” Ami said.
Ripper said they tried to set the documentary apart from other wildfire movies by trying to make it more captivating so it doesn’t have talking head interviews or a musical score.
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“'Incandescence' is quite different in that it's a very cinematic, immersive experience,” Ripper said. “One of the aspects of the film is that we also look at the notion of good fire and cultural burning and Indigenous practices around fire.”
The pair’s last documentary "Metamorphosis" was about climate change disasters around the world and this time around, as British Columbians, they wanted to focus on their own backyard.
“We were interested in making a place-based film and the Okanagan is one of the most fire prone areas in Canada,” Ami said. “Often when we hear about wildfires, once the fire's over, we don't hear anything anymore. And the impacts continue over time.”
They made "Metamorphosis" 10 years ago, and Ripper said unfortunately you don’t need to travel to see the consequences of climate change.
“As time goes on, if you want to explore the climate crisis, you don't have to go anywhere,” he said.
The documentary is a production of the National Film Board of Canada and it was chosen for the Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival, Victoria Film Festival and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
After it makes the rounds in the festival circuit and its premieres around the Okanagan it will be streamed for free on the film board’s website.
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