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Oak #419 (0+)

USA, German, 2006, colour, 52 min.
Director: Robert Harding Pittman
«Oak #419» is a documentary about the protest movement led by John Quigley, who spent 71 days living in a 400 year old oak tree in Los Angeles County, to try to save it from being cut down for a new highway. The roadway is to lead to the next projected 20,000 unit housing development. The movement became much bigger than just this tree, receiving great media attention. The tree became the «proverbial line in the sand» between nature, and the voracious urban sprawl of L.A. The protestors strive to reclaim democracy in today's divided neo-conservative America. What is «progress»?

Robert Harding Pittman

Robert Harding Pittman

grew up in Boston and Hamburg. After having been an environmental engineer, an area that continues to inform his work, he received an M.F.A. in Photography and Film/Video at CalArts (USA). His main interest is how different cultures interact with the environment and how they manage «development». Currently he is working on «Concrete Coast», a photography and documentary film project about the impact of tourism on the culture and environment on Medeiterranean Spain.

FILMOGRAPHY

«Coal, Earth, Home», 2005; «OAK #419», 2006.
USA, German, 2006, colour, 52 min.
Director: Robert Harding Pittman
«Oak #419» is a documentary about the protest movement led by John Quigley, who spent 71 days living in a 400 year old oak tree in Los Angeles County, to try to save it from being cut down for a new highway. The roadway is to lead to the next projected 20,000 unit housing development. The movement became much bigger than just this tree, receiving great media attention. The tree became the «proverbial line in the sand» between nature, and the voracious urban sprawl of L.A. The protestors strive to reclaim democracy in today's divided neo-conservative America. What is «progress»?