The government of New Brunswick has handed the management of millions of acre of Crown land to six multinational corporations. In Forbidden Forest, we meet two very different men united by a passion to save the forest and to bring some of this public land under community control.

 

Jean Guy Comeau is an Acadian woodlot owner who fought his way out of poverty and retired after nearly 40 years in a pulp mill. Born to a wealthy family, Francis Wishart is a painter and winemaker with homes in France and New Brunswick. Together, they travel to Finland - home of UPM-Kymmene, one of the largest licence holders of New Brunswick Crown lands - to urge company officials to practice responsible forestry. They go head-to-head with the New Brunswick government in an effort to secure a new, community-based forestry policy.

 

Forbidden Forest is a tale of corporate greed, lax government oversight and people passionate about the places they love.

 

Directed by: Kevin W. Matthews

Producers: Kent Martin, Lloyd Salomone

Editor: Kevin W. Matthews, Jonathan Collicott

Music: Paul Steffler

Produced by: Timber Colony Inc. and the National Film Board

 

Watch Film: https://www.nfb.ca/film/forbidden_forest/