Moving the Giants: A Film of One Man’s Inspired Quest to Save Ancient Trees
Twenty years ago, David Milarch, a northern Michigan nurseryman with a penchant for hard living, had a near-death experience. After this experience, angels let him know that the earth was in trouble. Its trees were dying, and without them, human life was in jeopardy. The solution, they told him, was to clone the champion trees of the world – the largest, the hardiest, the ones that had survived millennia and were most resilient to climate change – and create a kind of Noah’s ark of tree genetics. Without knowing if the message had any basis in science, or why he’d been chosen for this task, Milarch began his mission of cloning the world’s great trees. Many scientists and tree experts told him it couldn’t be done, but, twenty years later, his team has successfully cloned some of the world’s oldest trees – among them giant redwoods and sequoias. They have also grown seedlings from the oldest tree in the world, the bristlecone pine Methuselah.
When Michael Ramsey, award-winning film director/producer met David Milarch, they formed an instant bond. When Michael learned about the story behind David Milarch’s quest to replant the millions of giant redwoods that were cut down and leaving only 5% of them left standing, he was compelled to create this beautiful short film, “Moving the Giants.”
From the website www.ancienttreearchive.org we read: The film is a finalist at the Banff Mountain Film & Book Festival. Premiering on November 7 at the festival on the same day via Video on Demand, proceeds from the sale of “Moving the Giants” will support Archangel Ancient Tree Archive and tree planting efforts around the world. Our deepest gratitude goes out to Michael Ramsey and Spoken Image for this wonderful gift of support.