Documentary director Ron Mann laments the loss of our celluloid heritage.

Q & A with Margaret Atwood

Meeting author 'like touching art'

Ron Mann is that rarity among Canadian filmmakers, a documentary specialist who has been able to produce and direct his films independently, with a minimum of government funding, all the while reaching out to a substantial audience that stretches beyond Canada to the US and Europe.

Magic mushrooms and Margaret Atwood double bill in the Yukon

Margaret Atwood is by far creative in her environmental approach when she combines the arts to humour, relax and ease the tension in all of us. Rather than cornering us and making us feel isolated when presented with environmental issues, In the Wake of the Flood tells us that your journey to help solve some of these issues should just be as graceful as Atwood’s.

... there is definitely something admirable that anyone can find in this film: Atwood takes her fame and uses it to shed light on issues of importance – something all artists should take to heart.

It turned out to be a special day for Atwood, for Sudbury, for environmentalists, for birds everywhere — and, thanks to the extraordinarily persistent and talented veteran documentary director, Ron Mann — for lovers of another endangered species, great Canadian cinema.

In the Wake of the Flood: A close examination of Margaret Atwood’s reinvention of the book tour.

In the Wake of the Flood: Can you really go wrong watching Margaret Atwood talk for 45 minutes? Not really. The Canadian novelist and national treasure is intellectual candy, and this short documentary from Ron Mann let’s us suck on her hard message of climatic cataclysm with a surprising degree of pleasure.

Margaret Atwood's Got Issues, and Ron Mann's Got 'Em on Tape

"For me, the concern is cultural history, and this is Margaret Atwood, and this is Margaret Atwood reinventing the book tour. I thought, 'How tragic this would be if there was nobody that would film this for posterity.' So, it was about an archive project, for me."

Video interview with RON MANN for IN THE WAKE OF THE FLOOD at Planet in Focus, Toronto

When Canadian filmmaker Ron Mann began his new documentary, "In the Wake of the Flood," his wife gave him some advice. Don't piss off Margaret Atwood.

Ron Mann pays tribute to the author’s unconventional brand of activism in his new film at Planet in Focus

“There’s a certain kind of fatigue with environmentalism, where it’s all about how depressing it is. But what Margaret represents for me is hope, that we can all actually do little things to have an impact. That’s the difference between the 1960s and today: It’s not what you’re against; it’s what you’re for,” Mann says.

VIFF: Margaret Atwood's passion takes flight in flood's wake

Video interview with Ron Mann speaking at a Planet in Focus press conference about his opening night gala film, In The Wake Of The Flood.

She's got MacGyver smarts: She can defuse even the most explosive topics with a snip of her trenchant wit, and she can fashion prescient prose from the loose ends, failed experiments and a slop pile of technology.

Can you really go wrong watching Margaret Atwood talk for 45 minutes? Not really. The Canadian novelist and national treasure is intellectual candy, and this short documentary from Ron Mann let’s us suck on her hard message of climatic cataclysm with a surprising degree of pleasure. Filmed over the course of her book tour for In The Year of the Flood, Mann’s movie captures an artist at the top of her game as she engages with fans, as well as environmentalists. The film spins off in several directions as it addresses the disappearance of wild birds, the moral implications of non-action and the life of the literary lioness at the centre. Mann’s laid-back approach may not winnow the message down to a kernel, but it does pop and amuse as it educates.

“Ultimately, Margaret Atwood is providing an inspiration to many people, and that’s what I hope the film is doing,” he continues. “In every city and town there are people who are working toward solutions, collectively.”

documentary itself does offer more insight into Atwood, who seems to be getting livelier as she ages, than the premise might suggest: she travels with a stash of bird-friendly coffee, she wheels her own luggage around, and she gardens like a pro. These scenes really are a treat, no quotation marks required.

In the Wake of the Flood, a documentary on Canadian literary powerhouse and environmentalist Margaret Atwood by acclaimed filmmaker Ron Mann (Go Further, Comic Book Confidential), gets its North American premiere during the green-themed Planet In Focus festival, happening October 13 to 17 in Hogtown.

"In the Wake of the Flood, Toronto filmmaker Ron Mann's documentary about Margaret Atwood's unusual book tour for her novel The Year of the Flood, will open this year's Planet in Focus film festival in Toronto. The festival also plans to honour Atwood and fellow novelist and partner Graeme Gibson with the Canadian Eco Hero Award given annually for outstanding contribution to environmental awareness."

"Writer Margaret Atwood is directing her talents towards conservation in an innovative and energetic fashion"

"Somewhere in Toronto's grid-locked core, someone has written the following words in apparently "pretty" handwriting: "Margaret Atwood for mayor."

“I’m so pleased that In The Wake of the Flood will be screening at Possible Worlds, Sydney’s 5th Canadian Film Festival in Australia,” says Atwood. “This festival is bringing together relevant films from Canada engaging work on an international stage. Ron Mann and I are thrilled that In The Wake of the Flood will be a part of it.”

"In the Wake of the Flood," directed by Toronto-based Ron Mann, will screen Aug. 4 at the Possible Worlds Canadian film festival in Sydney."

"She's using her art to reach people with her message. And she's not afraid to address the failure of political guidance and leadership when it comes the environment, either,'' says Mann."

"Thankfully, Canadian director Ron Mann got it all on film for his documentary In the Wake of the Flood. “There is a marvelous convergence of creative energies coming together around Margaret’s stage performance that I felt important to document,” Mann said. The doc will make its debut this August at Possible Worlds, an annual Canadian film festival in Sydney, Australia; it screens at home in the fall."

"Edinburgh book and film festivals to join forces - Architect Norman Foster and author Margaret Atwood to spearhead partial tie-up between festivals"

"Doc on Margaret Atwood's 'Year of the Flood' book tour to debut in Sydney"

"The film by Toronto director Ron Mann will screen Aug. 4 at the Possible Worlds Festival, an annual festival of Canadian film in Sydney. "The film by Toronto director Ron Mann will screen Aug. 4 at the Possible Worlds Festival, an annual festival of Canadian film in Sydney"

"Ron Mann's doc on Margaret Atwood to premiere in Australia"

"I make films about heroes of mine and Margaret Atwood is definitely a hero of mine"

Ron Mann to document Atwood promo events