Holy Wood Dust

From Viennale

Victor Kossakovsky’s documentaries often focus on grand topics, such as human construction (ARCHITECTON, 2024) or the planet’s use of water (AQUARELA, 2018). In his latest film, the director addresses climate change and deforestation, although his angle is unique. HOLY WOOD DUST considers the European fir tree from two different perspectives. Following a massive storm in the Dolomites, crews work to clear out felled trees to make way for new cultivation. Meanwhile, Kossakovsky examines the Christmas tree industry, showing how thousands of firs are planted, harvested and eventually discarded. HOLY WOOD DUST is ultimately about the havoc that human beings wreak on the natural world. While extreme weather threatens old growth forests, capitalism turns these living things into yuletide timber. Much like Christmas itself, the fir tree’s traditional role in pagan rituals has become more commercial than spiritual. Because the fir is overloaded with symbolism, it ceases to be recognised as a part of a complex ecosystem. Kossakovsky quite literally asks whether we can see the forest for the trees. (Michael Sicinski)