Hadwin's Judgement

A compelling hybrid of drama and documentary, this feature film covers the events that led up to the infamous destruction of an extraordinary 300-year-old tree held sacred by the indigenous Haida nation of Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. Inspired by John Vaillant's book The Golden Spruce, the film introduces us to the complex character of Grant Hadwin, a logging engineer and survivalist who lived and worked happily for many years in BC's ancient forests. Witnessing the devastation wrought by clear-cutting, Hadwin was finally driven to commit what some would say was an extraordinary and perverse act, one that ran contrary to all he had come to value. Interweaving speculation, myth and reality, the film charts Hadwin's emotional crusade against the destruction of the world's last great temperate rainforest and explores the possible motives for his unprecedented crime.