Director Su Rynard will be at both screenings for a Q&A! 

A Hot Docs 2015 Top Ten Audience Favourite, THE MESSENGER takes us on passionate journey around the world, from the Boreal Forest through to the mountains of Northern Turkey and on to the streets of New York City. We learn that the migratory patterns of the songbird are an essential component of our planet’s complex ecosystem.

Our environment is changing at a rate that the songbird cannot keep pace with the adaptation demanded of them. Director Su Rynard provides us with a frightening account of the perilous future the entire planet faces should the current trend of human interference continue without intervention.

The alarming use of pollutants such as pesticides, the annihilation of our forests through clear cutting, the rapidity of climate change, and industrial agricultural methods, such as monoculture, are causing the disappearance of migratory songbirds at a disquieting pace. As the film explores, we may be at the state of this being irreversible.

Through skillful narration and camerawork, THE MESSENGER takes on a visually stunning and intimate journey into the endangered world of the songbird and the need for immediate intervention to prevent their extinction.