IT'S A BEAUTIFUL WORLD, 47min., Canada
Directed by Victor Kushmaniuk
Join Global Heroes and adventurer Jeff Fuchs on a thrilling expedition deep into the heart of Colombia's lush and vibrant Amazon rainforest.

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Get to know the documentary host Jeff Fuchs:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

A great desire to peer into places and lives that revolve around the idea of restoration - in whatever form it takes. Restoration through meals, through intention, and through simple communing...and to perhaps remind that it is often in the smallest of deeds that our spheres of life can progress.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

It needs to be said here that there were two diligent (and by the end, obliterated) editors who had the mountain's worth of time splicing, cutting, watching, screaming, and watching some more. Our cinematographer and editor Sergio and our producer Amir were doing the late-night-early-morning, maniacal hours on this. From conceiving the idea to actually having something workable took about 6 months, though it didn't actually air until a couple of months after that.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?

Restorative deeds

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

Apart from getting permission to film in a region where there had recently been an assassination (to do with mining and lumber issues along the Amazon) the major obstacle was to absolutely maintain our own philosophy of 'simply documenting' without disturbing the people's stories and their day-to-day lives. We as a team were very clear with ourselves (and our subjects) that we wanted to be entirely non-intrusive. We were there to gently take in what we could without disturbing the flow of life and the flow of the realities of living along the Amazon - in a time where so much outside change is imposed.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?

There was delight in feeling that the intentions of our piece were understood and that the fragments of the world that we explored revealed something real - nothing was construed. There was also a feeling that the pacing and emphasis on the small stories were seen for what they were - and that everything was dictated by that grand river, the Amazonas.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?

First time was years ago in the Himalayas while on a 52-day trek portion of the Tea Horse Road. I had consumed a bucket load of butter tea, was slightly delirious with exhaustion and thought that, 'some moments in life (anyone's life) need the full sensory expression and visceral impact to give context'...and film (when well done) does offer up a way to fix a time and space like few other mediums.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?

A toss up between "The Grand Budapest" by Wes Anderson or "Princess Mononoke" by Hayao Miyazaki

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?

Anything that can keep a festival interactive and accessible to as many people as possible. Interviews, sit ins, Q&A's, and maybe background reveals that make the film making process more intimate, I think always help add more context to a project. I do believe strongly in the idea that access and interactivity are the keys.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?

Simple and straightforward

10. What is your favorite meal?

If I'm to answer this for the present tense and 'right now' it would be 'Bableves' - a Hungarian 5 course meal built around bean soup. It is what my grandmother used to prepare and it has to do as much with the context of the meal as it does the actual meal.

11. What is next for you? A new film?

An return to the Himalayas for an expedition along an old trade route and more filming for our 'It's a Beautiful World' series.