An Interview With Roost 2020 PDX Director, Irene Tejaratchi Hess

Just as nature inspires us to create, the things we create inspire us to get closer to nature.

This is at the heart of why OEC is a proud sponsor of this year's Portland EcoFilm Festival . Hosted at the Hollywood Theatre, this annual event is an opportunity for filmmakers around the world to showcase their work - all centered on the environments we live in, the people who live in them, and the deep relationship between the two.

For this year's festival, OEC is sponsoring a special screening of More Than Human, a collection of short films "celebrating kinship with our more than human relatives." We sat down with Portland-based director, Irene Tejaratchi Hess - whose film Roost 2020 PDX is included in the collection - to talk about the inspiration behind the project, how it evolved through the turmoil of 2020, and the power of film in environmental storytelling.

Read the interview below, and be sure to join us on April 30 for the More Than Human screening to see Roost on the big screen!

Where does your connection to nature come from?

I grew up in New York City. Even in an urban area, there was nature all around.We'd see raccoons, rabbits, and gorgeous birds like cardinals. But what really shaped my love of nature was spending summers in Puerto Rico with family on my mom's side. We stayed with them at the foothills of El Yunque rainforest. It was a dream. At night, it's a symphony of frogs, insects, owls - just the most beautiful sounds to fall asleep to. Even as a child, I recognized how powerful and healing nature can be, especially coming from the city. Those were the best days of my childhood.

Can you share a bit about your background as a filmmaker?

My background in wildlife documentary film started at the PBS series Nature . I began as a production secretary, and eventually learned the ropes of producing and editing. After that, I started making very short films of my own; little labors of love with no intended audience. I just wanted to document wildlife and be outside. I kept pursuing it, and over time got more and more serious about my filmmaking.

Tell me about Roost. What's it about, and what inspired it?

I became obsessed with the crow roost in Portland when I lived downtown and saw thousands of them gathering along the park blocks before roosting for the night. I was fascinated by both the science and the visuals, especially during the pre-roost. Seeing 20,000 crows flying over the Willamette and downtown Portland is a really powerful experience - there's a wild energy about it that makes you feel incredibly alive. I think part of that is witnessing truly wild phenomena amidst traffic, high rises, and people going about their day.

I began filming Roost in 2020. My goal was to explore why crows roost and pre-roost, how crows communicate, and the mysteries surrounding the roost. I had planned to interview crow biologists in Washington, and also highlight the notion that this is a phenomena that we humans - with our limited lens, city lives, and ideas of what defines intelligence - can appreciate without fully understanding. But then COVID, the protests, and wildfires happened and shifted my focus. I was going out almost every night, occasionally filming the protests. Later, when reviewing what I'd filmed, I saw connections between my original ideas and the footage of lockdown, protests, and the orange skies of the wildfires. The film explores themes like how the systems we live in disconnect us from nature - and from each other, how our actions impact the environment we live in (like how does tear gas affect our bodies, the crows, the river), and the beauty of the power in numbers - something crows clearly know how to do quite well. I hope those themes come through when people watch the film.

Did filming change how you saw crow behavior?

Yes. Filming magnified things I had read about, like how juvenile crows help their parents raise new chicks. I watched a family nest in my courtyard and started recognizing individual birds - one had a little white spot on their wing, another was a brownish hue, and so on. You read about how these birds show up and care for each other, but seeing it in action makes it feel more real. A big theme in the film is power in numbers, and what nature can teach us about that. Seeing thousands of crows flying together during the pre-roost then roosting together in the trees at night is a beautiful, vivid illustration of that.

What do you hope audiences take away from the film?

I hope people see that we have each other, and that there's power in looking out for one another. That's something we can learn a lot about from crows, and from other species. I also want people to reconnect with nature - it's a refuge, and we've become disconnected from it and don't respect it enough. There's a kind of wonder there, and an understanding that everything is interconnected. We need to take care of each other - and the wildlife, the trees, the rivers, and all the systems we're part of.

Why is film such a powerful medium for environmental storytelling?

Film combines visuals, natural sound, and music into a sensory experience that can immerse people in a story in a way that's unique to the medium. If you can make someone feel like they're inside it, they're more likely to connect with it. Focusing on wildlife is something not everyone stops to do. Filming the beauty of nature helps us slow down and appreciate what we might otherwise take for granted. And I love that I can use music to help convey what can't be fully captured visually - the excitement of being in nature.

What gives you hope right now?

Mr. Roger's idea of "looking for the helpers" really resonates with me, especially if I'm having a hard day. The people doing work at all levels, from artists to activists, small offerings to large-scale action, give me hope. My son and family give me hope. And then of course there's Nature. It's medicine. Mother Nature is a badass.