Sugaring

LOGLINE:

Sugaring is an audiovisual meditation on the traditional practice of maple syruping in rural New Brunswick, Canada.

SYNOPSIS:

There is nothing more meditative and Canadian than the “tinking” sound of sap dripping into a bucket on a warm spring day. It is always the first true indicator that the thaw has taken hold and winter’s icy reign is finally coming to an end. Trees are budding, wildlife begin to stir from their long winter’s nap, birds playful chirps fill the air and in sugar shacks deep in the maple woods, the evaporators fire roars to life once again.

Sugaring is a celebration of the process and arduous yet rewarding task of extracting and producing this raw and defining national product. The film follows Graydon Dingee, a man in his late sixties, whom despite the advent of modern technologies, prefers the more traditional and time-consuming practice of harvesting using metal buckets. Graydon takes the viewer on a journey through his maple woods and not only explains the process and its simplicity but speaks very candidly about what this tradition means to him and why like him, we should all lick our plates clean.

CREDITS:

Director: Clem McIntosh
Producers: Clem McIntosh & Sandy Hunter