Weeping Rocks

Seventy-nine-year-old entomologist Art Shapiro has spent 53 years researching the biodiversity of Central California by recording butterfly populations. His method is also known as slow science: he has been repeating the same walks for decades. This has enabled him to record an alarming decline in butterfly numbers.

In Weeping Rocks, directors Karlis Bergs and Andrew Siedenburg literally follow in Shapiro’s footsteps. They join him on his walks, observing him in the same way he studies changes in nature. His wife calls him “an exaggerated form of a human.” This seems to be confirmed when the camera captures his collection of butterflies, meticulously pinned and catalogued.

Shapiro’s world revolves around fixed patterns, but even he can’t escape the transformations taking place—California’s increasingly severe wildfires, as well as his own deteriorating health. He remains admirably down to earth in his observations: “Fifty years isn’t enough for me to understand what the fuck is going on.” Weeping Rocks is thus a reflection on the passage of time and the acceptance of change.