Venice follows the life of trees from the mountains to the Vatican

What begins in the mountains of northern Italy ends beneath the lights of St. Peter’s Square. In “Holy Wood Dust,” Russian director Victor Kossakovsky follows the paths taken by trees after they are felled or brought down, tracing their journey from forests to the Vatican.

The documentary, produced with Spanish backing, premiered out of competition in Venice Open, a festival section for new works in different formats, including auteur films, documentaries and series. Botanist and science communicator Stefano Mancuso, founder of the field known as plant neurobiology, guides the film’s unusual exploration of the life of trees.

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the desire to observe, to question and to transform the invisible into something tangible

The story starts with the devastating storm that swept through the Paneveggio forest in the Italian Alps in October 2018. The storm toppled numerous Norway spruce trees, whose wood was used to make prized instruments, including Stradivarius violins. Mancuso enters the dense ecosystems with children, showing them how trees grow, the “microworlds” they contain and their vulnerability, particularly in the face of human activity.

The film also follows reforestation efforts while showing how fir trees are cultivated for commercial use, including as Christmas decorations in homes around the world. Kossakovsky records the felling and even the blessing of the large tree traditionally sent from the mountains to the Vatican each year to decorate St. Peter’s Square for Christmas. The director says the film reflects an alliance between cinema and science, which share “the desire to observe, to question and to transform the invisible into something tangible.” “Holy Wood Dust” invites viewers to “radically rethink the animal kingdom from a new and revolutionary perspective,” according to the film’s production notes.

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radically rethink the animal kingdom from a new and revolutionary perspective