A tall man with a warm smile walks along country roads, a backpack over his shoulders and a banjo around his neck, strumming his way through Northern California. He does not speak, communicating with his machine and a kind of self-created sign language.
This was the unusual scene witnessed by residents of Point Reyes and other cities in the 1970s. The man they looked at was named John Francis, and although he walked at a slow pace, there was a purpose to his walk. He handed out a printout to a few people, which said: “John gave up the use of motor vehicles shortly after the San Francisco Bay oil spill in 1972. Since 1973, he has kept his vow of silence.”
John Francis, back in the day
Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Green Docs
Oscar-nominated documentary Planetwalkerfrom L.A. Times Short Docs and Bloomberg Green Docs, takes viewers on a journey with Francis, who walked across California and eventually across the United States to “raise environmental awareness and promote earth stewardship and world peace.” Filmmaker couple Nadia Gil and Dominique Gil, who have directed several films about the outdoors, first heard about Francis through an article.
“I don’t think it was more than two paragraphs about John,” Nadia recalls. “It was kind of a compilation, like ‘10 Black People You Should Know in Outer Space…’ So, I was like, ‘I’m going to turn the pages and find out who these people are.’ And I looked at John’s story and I felt like, ‘This is amazing…’” Moved, I went up to Dom and said, “I think I've found our next story.”
“I think it wasn't until I sat across from John and sat down with John that I realized he really had a voice in all the ways to bring this story to life,” Dominic adds.
Animated sequence in “Planetwalker”
Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Green Docs
Planetwalker He uses contemporary news accounts of Francis' travels, as well as the recollections of friends, John's younger brother, and John Francis himself – along with evocative animation – to trace his remarkable path. Abandoning the spoken word allowed him to somehow circumvent the negative stereotypes projected on African Americans.
“The silence put him in another state of mind,” says Joan Peterson, who met Francis at the time. “He doesn't have to prove himself anymore.”
As the film shows, Francis created deep connections with people through his radiating presence and hand movements that managed to speak volumes. The documentary explores how he earned a bachelor's degree in science, math, and creative writing at a college in Oregon, then earned a master's at the University of Montana — all without speaking. Later, he taught at the college, again without speaking. Over time, he obtained a doctorate degree. at the University of Wisconsin, researching oil spills.
For 17 years, he maintained his silence. It came against his natural inclinations.
John Francis Today
Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Green Docs
“I went to a Catholic high school and thought I had a career — very funny — as a monk,” she tells Deadline. “They took me to a monastery, and they said, ‘Well, John, these guys have a code of silence where they don’t talk.’ And I said, ‘Oh, that won’t work for me, I’m sorry.’ So, I left and said, ‘This is the end of that career.’ And after 10 For years I find myself wandering around California without speaking.
When he first embarked on his journey to share his environmental message, he found himself getting into verbal spats with some who rejected his mission.
“I got angry about it, and I was arguing with people and [then] I realized that I was going to be 27 years old, and I was going to do something different. I won't talk for today. I was reading The hobbit…And hobbits give Christmas presents to people – not themselves. They do not expect gifts. They give it to their community. And I thought I would give my community the gift of my silence for one day. So, I turned 27 and didn't speak, and they were very happy. “Thank you, John, thank you for this wonderful gift.”
Over time, he began to find other benefits of silence.
Animated sequence in “Planetwalker”
Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Green Docs
“I started by being in nature and just listening; Being around people, just listening; “I'm not ready to argue with someone who might say something, but I appreciate that I can learn if I listen and open my mind,” he says. “The first year it was like, 'Oh my God, I'm going to have to do this another year!' It's taken me 17 years of walking across America and meeting all kinds of people. But the vehicle of walking and silence allowed me to hear and know things that I would not have been able to hear if I had continued to talk and had the mindset that I knew everything.
The silence and the discoveries it brought broadened his perspective on healing the planet.
“The road was also a teacher and the people, too, were teachers. And so I learned from the people how we are all part of the environment,” says Francis. “And if we are all part of the environment, the way we treat each other is our first chance to do something positive for the environment.” … It's like, 'Hey, wait a minute, we're part of this.' We have to treat each other better because when we treat each other, it will show in the physical environment around us.
He continues, “That's when 'Environment' became about human rights, gender equality, civil rights, and all the ways in which we relate to each other. That's when I decided: Oh, you have to start talking and say that.”
The moon over Point Reyes, California, in the movie “Planetwalker”
Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Green Docs
Planetwalker It appears at a time when discourse among people has collapsed, and there seems to be no consensus even on factual matters.
Director Dominique Gil
Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Bloomberg Green Docs
We made a lot of noise not only about this issue [the environment]“But a lot of other things no longer make sense,” notes Dominic. “Science can be questioned, but it cannot be; Or we need a lot of scientific evidence to prove that it is impossible to make progress. If we disassemble everything, we will only get one original instrument. This, as John always says, is how we treat each other. It is, in fact, the basis of all good science, all progress, all political progress. Realizing the message can be so simple is so counterintuitive to the way I was taught and so valuable.
Planetwalker It is broadcast on the LA Times website, Bloomberg News website and YouTube.
Director Nadia Gill
Courtesy of Dominique Gil
“[It’s] “It's available for free, which we also like because this is the film we want people to see, and lowering barriers to entry is important to us,” says Nadia.
Nadia says it was gratifying to be shortlisted for the Oscars because “we come from left field. We weren’t on any of the short film lists.” [of predictions]like round things. I think people are still learning about our film in real time and how good it is. And so we're very grateful to finally get to number 15 [finalists] Where everyone should go out and watch the movie. Hopefully, the film can stand on its merits.
“It's really nice to feel like this film is being appreciated not just for its status as a film, but because people realize the importance of this message,” Dominic adds.
