Ryan Ermacora

Life in Cortes Island, B.C. as local oyster farmers ply their trade amidst a rapidly changing environment.

The film depicts the lives of the two sole residents of an abandoned company town while unfolding a complex labour history and revealing the vestiges of environmental degradation. Combining large format cinematography and an inquiry into the archival record, it interlaces past and present.

Empire Valley contemplates cinema’s ability to transmit a confluence of times through landscape—whether that time be geological, personal or political. Situated within Tsilhqot'in territory in central British Columbia, the film addresses the way in which a landscape is carved out and altered in order to suit particular economic conditions. Further than solely contemplating the environmental, economic and social implications of this site’s history, this film is an attempt to grapple with the aesthetics imposed on the landscape by agricultural practices, erosion, and the traces of colonial ideologies.

An examination of the contrast between the industrial environments of the Okanagan Valley’s fruit orchards and the upscale vacation spots that surround them. The film documents the daily routines of migrant farm laborers alongside the leisure activities of tourists and retirees inhabiting the same landscape.

A lyrical study of the nearly abandoned company town west of Bella Coola that all but withered and died once its existence no longer made financial sense. Ryan Ermacora and Jessica Johnson invite us to marvel at the stark contrast between the vibrant coastal forests and the manmade structures that have fallen into ruin. An almost spectral presence is on hand to impart tales of a rebellious past and we’re left to consider the grim fates that sometimes befall grand schemes.