Then the Wind Changed

On February 7, 2009, an all-consuming forest fire swept through the Australian state of Victoria, killing 173 people. Hardest hit was the tiny village community of Strathewen. The following day, newspapers dubbed it "The Valley of Death." Filmmaker Celeste Geer survived the disaster and spent two years recording her family and fellow villagers as they set about rebuilding their lives. The tragic stories neighbors tell about lost family members cut to the core. Geer employs a very personal style to chronicle this community. Little by little, people manage to construct their houses and their lives once more. One person finds meaning in growing crops, another in showing schoolchildren around the disaster area. All of them attempt to regain control over their lives. The villagers support each other in this process, and the community becomes even more closely knit as new initiatives unfold. But time alone doesn't heal wounds, and they are in need of new shared rituals. Nature, too, heals slowly. Charred trees make way for a new growth that seems even more intensely green than before the fire. It is sometimes beautiful, but as Geer says in the voice-over, "It can feel like a slap in the face."