Raze a forest, displace people — all for a two-week sport event. This is the story of Mount Gariwang, a formerly protected mountain in South Korea that was partially bulldozed to build an alpine ski venue for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic & Paralympic Games, resulting in the displacement of local residents (both human and non-human) in the area.
‘Mount Gariwang: An Olympic Casualty‘ is a short documentary that grapples with questions that transcend sport mega-events and geographical boundaries, such as: what inequalities are perpetuated in environmental controversies?; how are environment-related decisions made and whose voices are featured or marginalized in the process?; what assumptions underline dominant approaches to ‘sustainability’ and how do they influence our ability to imagine alternative and preferred ecological and socio-political futures?
This documentary was developed through a collaboration between Vancouver-based journalists and filmmakers Jordan Wade, David Gauthier and Connor Lang (see Jordan and Connor’s company Storyhero Media) — and Liv Yoon (doctoral candidate in UBC’s School of Kinesiology and Liu Scholar at the Liu Institute for Global Issues) and Brian Wilson (Director of UBC’s Centre for Sport and Sustainability and Professor in the School of Kinesiology).
Based on Liv’s doctoral dissertation research, this documentary includes original interviews conducted in February 2018 in the lead up to, and during, the Games, as well as original video footage at Mt. Gariwang and other relevant locations around PyeongChang.
Aligned with SSHRC-funded research on Sport Journalism, Peace and Environmental Issues, this project was an attempt to implement a set of ‘best practice’ criteria associated with environmental journalism and comunication, while pursuing knowledge translation and a public sociology activity through media production.
The trailer for the documentary is available here.
This event is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a catered reception.
