FILM
UPDATE Garden on the Move A Half-Hour Documentary that Explores the Unprecedented Feat of Merging Two World-Class Plant Collections Interview with Pedro Pablo Celedรณn, Founder & Director, Barefoot Productions Photos Courtesy of Barefoot Productions
1. Tell me about the "Garden on the Move" film. Garden on the Move follows the story of the Wallace Desert Garden Collection's move to its new location at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. The film presents audiences with the challenges facing the relocation of an entire botanical garden, the move of close to 6,000 plants and trees from the Wallace Desert Garden to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Both garden founders, H.B. Wallace and Colonel Thompson, loved the desert environment and were committed to finding ways arid land plants could benefit mankind. It seems fitting that although the gardens were started 75 miles from each other and eighty years apart, together, they are much more than the sum of their parts and will further the founders' original intent. GOTM explores why these plants are important, why biodiversity is essential, and why moving this garden to its new location was vital to its survival. But questions and dilemmas aren't the only things this film has to offer; it also provides unique solutions to issues raised by climate change, food security, and water shortages.
18 | Boyce Thompson Arboretum | Winter 2020
2. How did the film project get started? In 2015, my company, Barefoot Productions, was brought on to produce a 5-minute video for the Wallace Desert Gardens in Scottsdale, AZ. The original project was to document the dismantling of their 6,000+ piece collection of rare, full-grown desert plants and trees, which were being donated to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, located 75 miles away in Scottsdale. It quickly became apparent that there existed a much larger story than a physical move across Arizona, as dramatic as that already was. That original short-form video was used to raise funds. The short aroused enough interest to produce this half-hour documentary, which explores more than just the allure and value of desert ecosystems. In this new format, we wanted to bring to the forefront the personalities and pathways involved in passing the baton from one idiosyncratic garden to another, along with all the unprecedented work required for the literal merger of two astounding plant collections.
