tasmedia.org

The Wilderness Society fundraiser

Film Showing:
Whatever Happened to Brenda Hean?

Whatever Happened to Brenda Hean? tells the remarkable story of Brenda Hean – one of the leaders of the world’s first environmental political party, the United Tasmanian Group, whose fight to save Tasmania’s Lake Pedder from a massive hydro-electric scheme lead to her mysterious disappearance in 1972. Thirty-five years later award winning Tasmanian filmmaker Scott Millwood (Wildness) undertakes a quest to discover the truth.

The quest takes us on a journey into the landscape and eccentric community of Tasmania, painting a portrait of an inspirational woman whose environmental values still resonate today.

Screening details
The Wilderness Society fundraiser
When: Sunday 5 October, 4.00pm
Where: State Cinema, 375 Elizabeth Street Hobart
Tickets: $15 available at the door

Filmmaker Scott Millwood will present a Q&A after the film. The accompanying book will be available to purchase on the day.

A Launceston screening will be organised shortly. Stay tuned.

The story of Brenda Hean is not well known but highly significant to a world trying to deal with environmental issues as an international community. The story of her founding the first Green political party in the world in order to save an alpine lake provides a microcosmic mirror to the world’s pressing environmental issues - global warming, deforestation and climate-change. The manner in which she and her supporters spoke of environmental issues throughout the Pedder campaign is even more relevant today.

Brenda Hean is an inspiration. She was in many ways an ordinary person leading an ordinary life who had an extraordinary epiphany when the Lake she loved was threatened. The transformation of ordinary people into activists and dissidents is always fascinating but all the more because Brenda Hean was in her early sixties and a woman prior to both the women’s movement and the emergence of environmentalism. She reminds all of us that it is never too late to create change.

For more information visit: www.brendahean.com