Director Lucy Walker On CBSN Documentary ‘Deliver Your Personal Brigade’ – CBS San Francisco
(CBS local) – Forest fires have been and remain one of the greatest problems plaguing the United States of America and the world. As recently as this month, thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes after a rapidly spreading fire hit Sacramento and Northern California. The story of the forest fires and the problems they cause our world is the subject of a new CBSN Films documentary by twice Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker, titled Bring Your Own Brigade.
The film is a two-hour documentary that will premiere in limited numbers on Friday, August 6th, and will be screened on August 20th on Paramount +. CBS Local’s DJ Sixsmith spoke to Walker about being in California to share about the forest fires, what she has learned from the experience and future of American forests.
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“It’s been an amazing journey to make this film. I’ve made a lot of documentaries, but this one was about where I moved to. I moved to California and the hills were on fire. I come from England and thought about the last great fire in 1666, ”said Walker. “I thought we solved the fire and I come to California and thought why is the hill burning and what are we doing wrong. I have accompanied individual firefighters and local residents through these fatal incidents and it has been quite a long journey. In some places it was terrifying, moving and incredibly impressive. The film has many different chapters and the characters in the film are incredibly stunning. “
“Bring Your Own Brigade” celebrated its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2021 and shows you what a wild fire season in California looks like. It also shows what the personal toll of these natural disasters looks like.
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“I really wanted to understand what it means to lose your home,” said Walker. “I couldn’t believe the decision that people would stay and defend their own home. I am a chicken. If there’s a fire, you can hear me having a panic attack in the film. I was scared, even if the fire was a bit far away. I was really impressed with the firefighters and first responders and the residents who chose and stayed to fight. “
Walker said the film’s biggest challenge is addressing all of the different levels of the fire problem in this country and around the world. The filmmaker hopes that viewers can learn more about the history of the forest fires, why they continue to be such a problem, and the physical and emotional toll they are taking on people around the world.
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“I didn’t just want to give people a horror movie experience because it’s really worse than a horror movie, because it’s just the worst thing to be in those hellish experiences,” said Walker. I wanted people to understand exactly what was going on in these incidents. The audience can put together what is true and what is really happening. I think we can and will live better with the reality of fire in our landscape in the future. “
