Saskatchewan-based post house Bamboo Shoots’ inaugural documentary prize has been awarded to a film about a missing ex-logger-turned-eco-terrorist accused of cutting down a beloved spruce tree.

The winner of the $25,000 prize, created by parent co Angel Entertainment to promote Bamboo Shoots, is Hadwin’s Judgement: The Making Of An Environmental Terrorist, written and directed by Sasha Snow (Conflict Tiger) and produced by Elizabeth Yake (Everything’s Gone Green, It’s All Gone Pete Tong)

The win earns the doc team $5,000 cash and a $20,000 facilities and services package.

Out of all the submissions put forth, Hadwin’s Judgement was the film the jury felt has the most theatrical potential, explains Bamboo Shoots co-president Bob Crowe.

“Grant Hadwin, who the story revolves around, was arrested and charged with killing this 300-year-old tree of the Heida Nation on the B.C. west coast. And although on the face of it, it’s this really horrible act that he did, there’s strong indication that he was actually, in his twisted way, motivated by wanting to protect forests. So it makes for a very interesting character study,” Crowe tells Playback.

Hadwin’s Judgement also had strong financial support, which helped it stand out among about a dozen contenders for the inaugural award, explains Crowe.

NFB had committed $400,000 of the film’s $1-million budget, and about $200,000 was in place from a UK coproducer, says Crowe, leaving little doubt that producers would have trouble completing the financing.

Ultimately however, it’s the dramatic potential of the story that won over jury member Cam Haynes, of Canadian distribution company Union Pictures.“The story of a home-grown eco-terrorist has a true shot at making it in the theatrical world,” Haynes says, in a release.

A distribution release deal for the film has not yet been confirmed.

Photo: Doug Hay, Flickr Creative Commons

It’s the film the jury felt has the most “theatrical potential,” explains co-president Bob Crowe.